Game: Twins vs. Cardinals (World Series Game 6)
Date: October 24, 1987
Announcer: Al Michaels

I love Michaels. He’s not an analyst by any means; his knowledge of all sports seems fairly mediocre. But he can call what he sees. Certainly better than most anyone else the past 20 World Series.

For the longest time, I thought that Hrbek won game six for the Twins. As it turns out, the REALLY big hit came from Don Baylor the inning before, and the game-winning RBI went to Steve Lombardozzi. But one could argue that Hrbek guaranteed the victory.

Dan Gladden’s grand slam in game one was improbable, but what happened in the sixth inning here was nigh impossible. With one out and the bases loaded, Bob Forsch got Brunansky to pop out. Up next was Hrbek, so Whitey Herzog very correctly called in Ken Dayley to face him. Here were their respective splits that season:

Hrbek versus lefties: 225/290/370, 6 homers in 138 at bats.
Dayley versus lefties: 247/337/301, 0 homers in 73 at bats.

The last time Dayley had given up a homer to a lefty was October, 1985 to Darryl Strawberry. Hell, Dayley had only given up three PERIOD since that homer to Strawberry. He was way more likely to throw Hrbek four straight balls. Hrbek had been pretty brutal all postseason long, especially against lefties.

McGee Goes Back!

Man, I got shivers again.