August 29, 1986: The Yankees are in an injury crisis, and it gets worse in the middle of their game against the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome.
Manager Lou Piniella puts out this lineup:
CF Rickey Henderson
2B Willie Randolph
1B Don Mattingly
RF Dave Winfield
DH Ron Kittle
LF Gary Roenicke
3B Wayne Tolleson
C Joel Skinner
SS Mike Fischlin
Henderson, Randolph, Mattingly, Winfield were the usual starters at those positions. The Mariners' starting pitcher was Mark Langston, a lefthander, so Kittle, righthanded, was the designated hitter, instead of the lefty-hitting usual, Mike Easler. Same in left field, with righty Gary Roenicke starting in place of the lefty Dan Pasqua. Nothing odd about that.
But the usual 3rd baseman, Mike Pagliarulo, was injured. Butch Wynegar, a very valuable player as a good catcher who could switch-hit, was injured for the season on July 29. So the catcher had to be Joel Skinner, who was good defensively, but was batting just .203.
The shortstop position had become a nightmare. Bobby Meacham had been injured since June 11, and was almost ready to return, but not quite. (He played again on September 2.) Paul Zuvella, a decent fielder but not much of a hitter, had also been injured on July 29. And Dale Berra, who clearly had not inherited his father Yogi's hitting ability, had been injured on July 25. So Tolleson, not much of a hitter, had become the shortstop, but was moved to 3rd base to fill in for "Pags." That left Fischlin as the shortstop, and he was batting .202.
The starting pitcher was Ron Guidry, the best Yankee pitcher of his generation. He had won 22 games the year before. But this season, he seemed to have given everything up the season before. He didn't get out of the 2nd inning, allowing 5 runs. By the time Brian Fisher and Bob Shirley were done, it was 4 innings, and the Mariners led, 12-5.
Not that the Yankees weren't trying. The game began with walks to Henderson and Randolph, and a home run by Mattingly. In the 2nd, Fischlin walked, and Henderson, not known for his power, homered. It was 5-0, and then the M's scored their 12 unanswered runs.
Piniella brought in Tim Stoddard. As a member of the 1974 North Carolina State basketball team, and of the 1983 Baltimore Orioles, he is the only man to win both an NCAA Tournament and a World Series. (Kenny Lofton, also briefly a Yankee, is the only other man to play in both a Final Four and a World Series.) He pitched 4 scoreless innings, to give the Yankee bats a chance to come back.
I watched the whole game on WPIX-Channel 11, starting at 10:00 PM, Eastern Time. After all, it was late Summer, and I didn't have to go to school the next day -- which was a Saturday, anyway. I saw Henderson lead off the top of the 5th with a home run. Langston, usually effective against the Yankees, imploded against them, much as he would do for the San Diego Padres in the 1998 World Series, and was replaced by the righthanded Mark Huismann. Seeing this, Piniella pinch-hit Pasqua for Roenicke, and he singled 2 runs home to make it 12-9. But with the bases loaded and 1 out, Piniella sent the lefty Claudell Washington up to pinch-hit for Skinner, and he grounded out. Then "Sweet Lou" sent Mike Easler up to pinch-hit for Fischlin, and he hit a drive to center field that Seattle's Mickey Brantley couldn't handle, and it was 12-11.
But now, in addition to putting Easler in left field and Pasqua, normally a left fielder, at 1st base, Piniella had to replace his catcher and his shortstop. He put rookie Juan Espino, in only his 35th major league game, behind the plate. He moved Tolleson to shortstop. And then he really rolled the dice, and put a lefthanded fielder at 3rd base: Mattingly. Lefthanders don't play 3rd, or short, or 2nd, because they have to turn to throw to the bases. (Only 2 lefthanded throwers have played 3rd base since.) The M's bunted on him, but he fielded them cleanly. He even started an inning-ending double play. He ended up fielding 5 ground balls, without an error.
Like Pagliarulo, Pasqua had a swing tailor-made for the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium, but a tendency to strike out too much, especially against lefthanded pitchers. Unlike Pags, he was not a great fielder, or even a good one. But the Kingdome had a right field pole only 316 feet from home plate, nearly as short as Yankee Stadium's, and he led off the top of the 7th with a home run, to tie the game, 12-12.
Winfield led off the 9th with a single. Kittle flew out. Pasqua drew a walk. Tolleson flew out. Espino, the emergency catcher, doubled Winfield home. Dave Righetti, on his way to a single-season record (which only lasted 4 years) of 46 saves, finished the Mariners off. Yankees 13, Mariners 12. It ended at 1:25 AM Eastern, I watched the whole thing, and it was worth it.
Mattingly started 2 of the next 3 games at 3rd base, making an error in the 1st of those, and the Yankees lost them both, 1-0 and 6-2, with a 3-0 win with Mattingly at 1st base in between. The Yankees went 15-21 from July 25 to September 1, and, of those 21 losses, 8 were by just 1 run. Despite going 20-11 the rest of the way, finished 5 1/ 2 games behind their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, in the American League Eastern Division.
Dennis Rasmussen went 18-6, and Bob Tewksbury went 9-5, but Guidry was just 9-12, Joe Niekro went 9-10, and no other starting pitcher won more than 7. The Yankees had acquired lefthanded starter Britt Burns from the Chicago White Sox in the previous off-season, but he had an injured hip, and never threw another professional pitch. In 1984, they had traded Shane Rawley to the Philadelphia Phillies for Marty Bystrom. He was also injured. Both he and Burns were done at age 26.
If Burns had been able to pitch, and had matched his 18-11, 3.96 ERA performance with the '85 ChiSox, or if Rawley had given the Yankees the 11-7, 3.54 performance he had given the Phils, the Yankees would have won the Division. The Red Sox beat the California Angels for the Pennant, so the Yankees could have. Then, there would have been a Subway Series against the Mets. And Dave Righetti, especially that year, was no Calvin Schiraldi or Bob Stanley -- and Don Mattingly was still fully healthy, unlike Bill Buckner.
The Yankees were at least in contention for the AL East title going into September in 4 straight years: 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988. They finished 2, 5 1/2, 9 and 3 1/2 games back. They needed 1 more good starting pitcher, or maybe 1 fewer injured hitter, every year. It would take until 1995 to make the Playoffs again, and 1996 to win another Pennant.
*
August 29, 1986 was a Friday. Glee actress and singer Lea Michele was born.
These other Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Shea Stadium. Bob Ojeda outpitched Rick Honeycutt. Mookie Wilson went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Joe Carter went 5-for-5 with 3 home runs and 4 RBIs. Wade Boggs went 2-for-4. Knuckleballer Tom Candiotti went the distance, outpitching Tom Seaver. The Mets legend, recently acquired from the White Sox, made just 4 more appearances for the Red Sox before being injured, and retired.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-5 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at the Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Bill Gullickson pitched a 3-hit shutout. Willie McGee got 2 of them. Buddy Bell hit a home run.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Robin Yount did not play. Paul Molitor went 1-for-4. George Brett went 0-for-4.
* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Rookie Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 13-12 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). So Yankees-Mariners wasn't even the single highest-scoring game on the West Coast that night. Nor the biggest comeback: The Angels scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win it, on 2 walks, 4 singles, a double, and a game-winning home run by Dick Schofield Jr.
Reggie Jackson did not play for the Angels. For the Tigers, Chet Lemon went 3-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs.
* And the Oakland Athletics swept a doubleheader from the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 and 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Dave Stewart pitched a 7-hit shutout in the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Eddie Murray went 1-for-8, and and Cal Ripken went 1-for-7 with a walk.
* And the game scheduled between the Montreal Expos and the San Diego Padres, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, was postponed because a piece of concrete fell from the Olympic Tower onto the field. The game was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Expos won the 1st game, 10-1. Bryn Smith went the distance for the win, and went 1-for-3 with 3 RBIs in his own cause. The Padres won the 2nd game, 5-4. Uncharacteristically, Tony Gwynn went 0-for-8 on the day.
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