Battle of the Bay by Gary Peterson

Author:Gary Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2014-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

7. Dravecky’s Comeback

It didn’t take Matt Williams long to start paying dividends. The young third baseman, who had made the team despite finishing spring training on an 0-for-18 skid, was sent down on May 1 with a .130 average and was recalled July 23 after hitting 26 home runs in 76 games at Triple A. His first seven games back with the Giants were a mixed bag. He batted .261, a marked improvement over his first 25 games of the season. But five of his six hits were singles. He had one double—but no home runs and only one RBI.

The Giants needed a lift as they reached Los Angeles with a 4–7 record on what was becoming a hellish 14-game road trip. They had been outscored 56–32, had seen closer Steve Bedrosian blow two saves, and had lost three and a half games off their four-and-a-half-game division lead.

Their first game against the Dodgers was no easy assignment. Like Atlanta Braves slugger Dale Murphy, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela had tormented the Giants. His 14–16 career record against San Francisco was somewhat misleading; since his major league debut on September 15, 1980, no pitcher had recorded more victories over the Giants, thrown as many shutouts (four), or compiled a better ERA than Valenzuela’s 2.93 (minimum 150 innings pitched).

Through four innings of the Tuesday, August 1 game, Valenzuela and the Dodgers led the Giants 1–0. Leading off the top of the fifth, Williams launched a home run to left-center field to tie the game. The Giants scratched out two more runs in the sixth. When Valenzuela was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Giants held a 3–2 lead. Williams led off the ninth with a double that sparked a two-run rally. The Giants won 5–2. “He’s a changed man,” Kevin Mitchell said of Williams. “And you could see it,” Will Clark said, backing up Mitchell’s assessment 24 years later. “When he had been sent down, he was not a happy camper. But to his credit, he basically said, ‘Next time I come back up there, I’m going to do it to where they can’t send me back down.’ And he did.”

The Giants fortunes seemed unchanged even in victory. Winning pitcher Scott Garrelts had to leave the game in the sixth inning with a sore elbow. And it was determined that Rick Reuschel’s sore groin would cost him at least one start. It was beginning to look like the plague of 1988 all over again for the pitching staff. Reuschel was placed on the 15-day disabled list. And starting pitcher Atlee Hammaker injured his left knee while running the bases. He had to be carried off the field and was placed on the 21-day DL after the game. He was headed for arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage and a four-week recovery.

Mitchell gave San Francisco a 3–0 lead with a first-inning homer in the series finale Thursday night, but the Dodgers scored the game’s final six runs. The team’s sick bay was bulging at the seams.

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