Friday, June 22, 2012

Top MLB Playoff Performances: Dodgers, Garvey Mentioned

ESPN has another one of its crazy subjective lists, the top 25 single-game performances in MLB history. Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers, in 1965's Game 7, grabbed #7 on the list:

7. Sandy Koufax, Dodgers: 1965 World Series, Game 7

9.0 IP, 3H, 0R, 3 BB, 10 Ks
Result: Dodgers 2, Twins 0
Series: Los Angeles Dodgers win in 7

He was pitching on just two days' rest, but then, so was his counterpart on the Twins, Jim Kaat. He'd already lost a game in this World Series, but then, so had Kaat, who matched up with him in Game 2 (a 5-1 Minnesota victory) and Game 5 (a 7-0 Dodgers win). But Koufax had one disadvantage in Game 7 that Kaat didn't have to work through: arthritis. In other games through his too-short (12 years) career, Koufax might have been more dominant, more effective, than he was in this one -- including a then-record 15-strikeout dazzler in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series against the Yankees. But this performance stands out as perhaps his most glorious moment, as he battled through the sore arm and the fatigue to keep the Twins scoreless in a complete-game, 10-strikeout, 2-0 shutout. He still had the remarkable fastball at the end, striking out Earl Battey and Bob Allison to end the game.

But guess who else made the list? Our own father, Steve Garvey, tied for 15 in the 1984 NLCS, Game 4:

15. (tie) Steve Garvey, Padres: 1984 NLCS, Game 4

5 AB, 4 H, 1 R, 5 RBI
Result: Padres 7, Cubs 5
Series: San Diego wins in 5

Lee Smith, one of the most imposing relievers in the game, on the mound for the Cubs. Tony Gwynn, who'd singled, on first. Bottom of the ninth in a 5-5 game. Garvey at the plate. A stage set for drama. And Garvey delivered it. His home run to right-center won the game for the Padres and kept them alive in the five-game championship series. (They won the next game, too, to advance to the World Series.) The home run was Garvey's fourth hit of the game, adding to a double and pair of singles, and it gave him five RBIs.

7 comments:

Hideo Nomo said...

Psh. No Lima Time?

Franklin Stubbs said...

Honorable Mention: Matt Holliday's balls.

Fred's Brim said...

I think Dad had more hits in that game than we did in three games in Oakland

Franklin Stubbs said...

*cries*

Steve Sax said...

We definitely got fewer hits than Rod Carew

Franklin Stubbs said...

WAY less than Sadaharu Oh.

*pours some out for Yauch*

Dusty Baker said...

Yauch?

(cries)