BASEBALL
	5.20.05 The 1985 World Series Well, this weekend the St. Louis Cardinals are in Kansas City to face the Royals for their annual interleague matchup.  This is also the 20 year anniversary of the Royals World Series victory over the Cardinals.  Royals fans are proud of their World Series win, and they should be, as it was an exciting seven game series.  Many fans remember the series for Don Denkenger's blown call during the ninth inning of Game 6 and many St. Louis fans blame the call for the World Series loss. I have never been in that camp, though.  It was clearly a bad call, but bad calls happen sometimes in sports and over time they happen pretty evenly to everyone.  This particular bad call happened at a particularly inopportune time for the Cardinals, but that's part of the game. But did the call really decide the World Series?  Let me set the stage: It is Game 6, the Cardinals lead the series 3 games to 2 and lead the game 1-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth.  They bring in their rookie closer (so much a rookie that he still qualified for rookie status the next season, in which he won the rookie of the year), Todd Worrell.  The first batter of the inning grounds to the first baseman, who tosses to Worrell covering.  It was a close play, but the runner was clearly beaten to the bag.  Denkenger calls him safe. From this point on, everything that both teams did has been changed by the call, so it is impossible to really say what would have happened if the call had been made correctly.  The next batter singled; first and second with no outs.  The next batter grounds to the pitcher, who throws to third for the forceout.  Could that have been a series-ending double play if Denkenger had made the right call on the first batter?  Who the hell knows, Worrell would have been pitching differently and the strategies would have all been changed. Then, there was a passed ball, moving the runners to second and third with one out.  This is another key play because it changes things once again.  The Cardinals decide to intentionally walk the batter to load the bases, creating a force out at any base.  Unfortunately, the next batter singles, driving in two and winning the game.  Also in there somewhere was a dropped foul ball that would have been the second out, also changing the strategies for everyone involved. So, rather than the blown call being the direct cause of the winning runs scoring, it was one of several factors that lead to the Cardinals ninth inning breakdown. Taking this a level further, the Cardinals took a 3-1 series lead into Game 5 in their home ballpark, but starting pitcher Bob Forsch couldn't make it through the second inning, giving up 4 runs.  Meanwhile, Danny Jackson only gives up 5 hits and one run, pitching a complete game for the Royals.  In addition, Todd Worrell was asked to pitch 2 full innings in this game, only two days before being asked to close out the series in Game 6 (and remember that he was a rookie with only 17 games of major league experience going into the playoffs). Going back even further, the Cardinals swept the Royals in Kansas City the first two games of the series and had an opportunity to take a dominating 3-0 series lead on their home field, but Juaquin Andujar, who went 21-12 with a 3.40 ERA in the regular season, only lasted four innings.  Meanwhile, Bret Saberhagen gives up only 6 hits and one run in pitching a complete game for the Royals. Which brings us to Game 7.  The Cardinals had John Tudor pitching for them.  Tudor went 21-8 with a minuscule 1.93 ERA during the regular season and had given up just one run in 17 innings in his previous two starts during the World Series.  But in Game 7 he could only go 2.1 innings, getting torched for five runs.  Later, Andujar is brought in the game to relieve but only lasts one batter, walking a man and then getting tossed from the game, along with his manager, for arguing balls and strikes with... you guessed it... Don Denkenger. There are other, overall factors, as well.  Such as the fact that the Cardinals batted a paltry .185 with a .517 OPS for the series compared with their .264 and .714 during the regular season.  Meanwhile, the Royals batted .288 with a .747 OPS compared with their .252 and .712 for the regular season.  There is also the fact that Rookie of the Year Vince Coleman (.267 1hr 40rbi 110sb during the regular season) did not play after having the automatic tarp run him over prior to the series. So, in conclusion, Denkenger's call was atrocious.  It was a factor in deciding the World Series, but it wasn't THE factor.  There were plenty of reasons why the Cardinals lost to the World Series and I don't believe that call was any more important than the absence of Vince Coleman, the (over-?)reliance on a rookie relief pitcher, the meltdown of Juaquin Andujar, or the total lack of hitting by the Cardinals.
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