Last night, I was jonesin’ to roll the bones so I called my buddy Brando. John Brandeberry, who lives cross town in Champaign and is the owner of Rising Bamm Beanos in the Illowa APBA League. He’s always up for some APBA and readily agreed. As it was, the University of Illinois football team were playing Baylor in the Texas Bowl AND their basketball team was playing their Big Ten opener after that so with the TV on, we would have some background entertainment.
But what would we play? Our IAL series were already done for 2010. We would have to play some APBA “just for the fun of it”. Before heading to Brando’s, I went downstairs to peruse my APBA sets. Almost by fate, I came across the 1984 set and San Diego was the first team I saw. “Aha!”, I thought” How about a rematch between the 1984 NL playoff teams, the Padres and Cubs. Since then, I’ve never forgiven Steve Garvey for his fourth game homerun.
This wasn’t going to be a totally accurate replay of the series… we didn’t use the exact lineups or rotations. It was a pretty loose affair. We didn’t even have the XBs (my Cubs had four non-pitchers on the bench). But since the idea was to have some fun it didn’t matter. Also, since we had plenty of time between the two Illini games, we extended the series to best of seven
For a quick reminder for those non-Cub fans who don’t remember, this was a nasty point in Cubs history. The actual 1984 Cubs won the first two games only to lose the last the last three thanks in part to Steve Garvey’s heroics. Leon Durham has been given goat status for his error in game 6 but I won’t go there. No player should be blamed for losing a whole series for one error (Bill Buckner haters, are you listening?).
Game 1
The series was pretty tight. The Cubs gave Rick Sutcliffe plenty of support in a 10-6 win. RF Keith Moreland hit two solo homeruns and Ryne Sandberg hit one. Gary ‘Sarge’ Matthews went 4 for 5 with two rbis.
Chicago 10 San Diego 6
W- Rick Sutcliffe
L- Dave Dravecky
HR- Ryne Sandberg, Keith Moreland 2
Game 2
The Padres battled back with a close one. Kevin McReynolds was the bulk of the Padres’ offense with a sixth inning two-run homer. Starter Eric Show didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning. With a 3-0 lead, he did give up two run that inning on a Leon Durham homerun.
San Diego 3 Chicago 2
W- Eric Show
L- Steve Trout
S- Craig Lefferts
HR- Kevin McReynolds, Leon Durham
Game 3
With momentum, the Padres win another one-run game. This was a see-saw battle with each team scoring a run and the other scoring another in response. The Padres just managed to eke one more to win 4-3. Al Wiggins went 2 for 4 with a double and two runs. Ed Whitson gets the win and this time Goose Gossage comes in for the save.
San Diego 4 Chicago 3
W- Ed Whitson
L- Dennis Eckersley
S- Goose Gossage
HR- Bob Dernier
Game 4
The Cubs tied up the series 2-2. The score was 6-3 but it was closer than that. The Padres managed to get two runners on base in the ninth inning and get the tying run on base. Ron ‘Penguin’ Cey was 2 for 4 with a homer and a double with two rbis. Leon Durham chipped in with 3 for 3 performance. He had two doubles and two rbis.
Chicago 6 San Diego 3
W- Scott Sanderson
L- Mark Thurmond
HR- Ron Cey
Game 5
Chicago then took the series lead with a victory in game 5. Rick Sutcliffe continued to shine and almost shut out the Padres. He gave up two runs in the ninth inning. Offensively, Gary Matthews and Ron Cey hit dingers for the Cubs.
Chicago 5 San Diego 2
W- Rick Sutcliffe (2)
L- Dave Dravecky (2)
HR- Ron Cey (2), Gary Matthews
Game 6
The series continues to be a back and forth affair. San Diego won game 6 on the back of Eric Show’s performance. He gave up just one run in eight innings. Kevin McReynolds hit his second homerun of the series.
San Diego 4 Chicago 1
W- Eric Show (2)
L- Steve Trout (2)
HR- Kevin McReynolds (2)
Game 7
The Cubs hit three homeruns in the rubber match Ryne Sandberg went 3 for 3 scoring three times including one of those homeruns. The other two homers belong to Leon Durham and Jody Davis who had been pretty quiet until now. Dennis Eckersley got the finale win.
Chicago 6 San Diego 4
W- Dennis Eckersley
L- Ed Whitson
HR- Jody Davis, Leon Durham (2), Ryne Sandberg (2)
Chicago Cubs win the series 4-3
Rick Sutcliffe was awarded the series MVP based on his 2-0 record with 15 IP, 6 ER, 5 BB and 8 Ks.
Some interesting points:
The Chicago had to live with two OF-1s (Moreland and Matthews) but overall their defense was great and it really helped. I count ten double plays through the seven games. I’m not sure how many were with a man on second but it was enough for Brando to start grumbling about the ‘damn Cub defense’.
This wasn’t the year with Ryno’s fantastic year with 40 homeruns (that was 1990) but he did have 19 triples for the Cubs in 1984 and that was good enough for a single column 2 (1-2-6-6). That provides for a tasty card. One of his homeruns was a 2 with runners on first and second. And yes, I looked it up just to make sure.
I’m not sure if I would bet money on the 84 Cubs to win every series against the 84 Padres. The Cubs had slightly better hitting and better fielding but it’s hard to beat a team when they can trot out a B starter four times. In any year, let alone the 80’s.
I will say this: it was fun playing this series. It brought back memories (yes, some painful, I admit). I hadn’t thought about Keith Moreland in ages. He had been on my Illowa APBA League team for several years and is on my list of favorite mediocre baseball players (see Todd Zeile, etc… Jamie Moyer used to be on that list but he’s not really mediocre anymore is he?). Many forget that Dennis Eckersley was a great starter before becoming a star reliever. This is one of primary reasons I love APBA. I credit the game for knowing my baseball history.
Oh, one more thing… Garvey didn’t hit one single stinkin’ homerun.
Hey, maybe “Zonk” will get the broadcasting job?
interesting piece of trivia about Moreland… he actually got 8 votes for MVP the next year (’85). He hit .307 with 106 rbis and ended up 17th in the voting.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1985.shtml#NLmvp
McGee won the award based on his .353 avg. Me? I would have voted for Dave Parker.
I guess there has to be a 1984 “what if” World Series now.
I though that when you went to 7 games that it would be the Cubs traditional luck to have won it in 5 but have lost it in 7 but you must have been rolling pretty good!
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I loved that team. Out of curiosity I didn’t see any mention of Tony Gwynn, and probably one of my favorite cards on that Cub team Bobby Dernier. Didn’t he have a 11-11-10-10 on that card? I don’t have the set any longer unfortunately.