Knucksie's luck, or lack thereof

Last night's suspended World Series game reminded me of a rainy night in St. Louis, 26 years and change ago.   

It marked Joe Torre's first postseason appearance as a manager. For the second time in his career, Phil Niekro was tabbed to pitch an NLCS opener (he was the ace of the 1969 NL West champion Braves -- that year was Knuckie's best; he logged 284 innings, won 23, walked 57 and struck out 193). 

Niekro, the Cy Young runner-up in '69, lost to Cy Young winner Tom Seaver in the knuckleballer's postseason debut (in the inaugural NLCS). Both Hall of Famers pitched poorly; the Braves scored five runs off Seaver, and Niekro gave up nine runs, though only four were earned. A throwing error by Orlando Cepeda in the 8th proved costly. 

Knucksie was much sharper in Game 1 of the '82 NLCS. He had a shutout through four, leading 1-0. Then the rains came. Another half inning and the Braves would've had a win (though no postseason game should ever be decided in less than nine innings). 

In the do-over, St. Louis and Bob Forsch shut out the Bravos 7-0. Niekro returned in Game 2 and left the game leading 3-2 after six. Once again he'd be denied playoff satisfaction. 

Gene Garber coughed up the lead, with Ken Oberkfell, yes, Ken Oberkfell, delivering the game-winning single in the bottom of the 9th. Another former Brave, Bruce Sutter, was dominant in that series, winning one game and saving another. He retired all 13 Braves he faced. 

--CB

Comments

[pascualperezfan]

you hit the nail on the head when you identified the over achivers for the cards in that three game sweep,,obie and sutter,,the two schmoes that were acquired by mullen...the ATL scouting staff crew consisted of mullen and his lazy cronies whose scouting trips consisted of the 81 home games to the opponents ( hence the ex cards to join the team),,,,we trade young LHP dayley for him,,,we sign sutter for like 5 years for a guy whose arm is ready to fall off,,,he was that much better then garber or bedrock ,,,hence the 84-90 joke,,and also add eskasky to the mix later,,he hit huge vs the braves in AFC,,so lets sign him for three years,,,,yup,,good job ( that was cox bad move with nick-o) however not a mullen fan,,,hung onto the like of hubby/chambliss/ramirez approx 2 to 3 years longer then he should have
the what ifs of the 80's
keeping jacoby and putting him at 3rd and moving horner to 1b sooner and dumping chambliss
deal komminsk for some BP balls and let butler take the job,,give albert hall a full time gig and let him patrol CF and steal 90 bags a year and score 100+ runs a year,,,i can go on,,i digress

[clete boyer fan]

I am STILL pissed off about that rainout, especially since there was only moderate rain going when they stopped the game in the middle of the 5th. The umps WAITED for the rain front to arrive, and it did after about 20 minutes. The friggin' rain didn't stop until later that week.

[PepeFreeUs]

Still bitter about that one, too.

'69 and '74 are leading contenders but don't overlook Phil's season that same year of '82.

[Tokyokie]

I'm still bitter about Niekro's start getting washed out. Although I'd argue his best season was 1974.

[rankin' rob]

I remembered that same set of circumstances when I heard that the 'Series game had been suspended. In '82 we had the lead and our ace on the mound. Once that was washed away, we had nothing for St. Louis. Of course, we then picked up Oberkfell and Sutter but it turned out that Oberkfell could only hit the Braves, and Sutter was tainted with the curse of Hrabosky. Oberfell ended up the perfect symbol of Braves futility during his stay here. Thanks for the bummer memories, CB.