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Moose's one moment in the national baseball spotlight came as third base coach for the Angels in the 1986 ALCS (we might have been too distracted to dwell on it). He looked bad, but a star player who continues to be touted as an overlooked HOF candidate, looked worse.
BOSTON — The horns were pinned on the wrong man Wednesday. It was veteran second baseman Bobby Grich, not third-base coach Moose Stubing, who was the goat as the Boston Red Sox flogged the California Angels to square the best-of-seven American League playoff series at one victory for each side.
There were five errors, two other defensive misplays and a pair of baserunning boners. As Gene Mauch, the ``Little General`` who manages the Angels, said after the game: ``No sense in me describing what happened. I don`t understand it myself.``
Mauch was asked for his view of the play on which Bobby Grich was thrown out after rounding third base.
``Goodbye,`` Mauch replied and walked out of a crowded press conference.
Grich didn`t want to talk about it, either. But Stubing, in his second season as the Angels` third-base coach, stood at his locker and played the good soldier.
``My fault,`` Moose insisted. ``All my fault. They tricked me. They got me.``
But good old Moose, 6 feet 3 inches and 250 pounds, an obscure figure in the world of major league baseball, was covering up. To some extent it was his fault, but essentially it was Grich`s boner.
Seventeen years in the AL and Grich forgot that a runner such as himself, possessing only ordinary speed, doesn`t score from second on a sharp single to left field in Fenway Park, where there is no left field. In another park, yes, but not in Fenway, where it`s only 315 feet to the wall and where the left-fielder plays no more than 180 to 200 feet behind the shortstop.
It was the sixth inning and the game was still on the line, the Angels trailing by only 3-2. One out and two men on, Grich at second and Dick Schofield at first, both having reached with singles.
Bob Boone, next up, lined a single to left field. Grich, the potential tying run, took off in the foolish belief that he had a chance to score. As he approached third, Grich looked to Moose for the sign. Should he round third and continue for home? Or hold up at third?
Moose was frozen. He didn`t give a sign.
And so Grich didn`t stop--not until he was about 20 feet past the bag and after left-fielder Jim Rice had thrown to third baseman Wade Boggs, who fired back to shortstop Spike Owen covering third. Aware he was dead, Grich tried to retreat to third, but Owen had the ball and Grich was an easy out.
Angry, Grich bounced his helmet, threw both arms skyward in despair and screamed at good old Moose.
``They did it right,`` Moose said later, praising the Boston defense. ``I did it wrong.``
Moose explained he stopped Grich ``verbally`` and insisted his mistake was that he ``didn`t see the cutoff man.``
But the cutoff man was not a factor. If the throw had gone through to the catcher--and Rice has a good arm--Grich would have been out. If he had held at third, the rally would have been alive: bases loaded and only one out. Instead, there were two outs and the Angels had runners at first and second. Gary Pettis struck out, and the Red Sox were out of the inning, their lead intact.
Later, Grich said he apologized to Moose for throwing his helmet and for shouting.
But Grich refused to admit he was to blame. ``I never got a sign,`` Grich said. ``Apparently, he was giving a verbal command, but I can`t read lips.``
It was a tough day for Grich. One inning earlier, in the fifth, with the score tied at 2-2, he was unable to handle Dwight Evans` routine pop-up behind second base that fell for a run-scoring double and put the Red Sox ahead to stay.
In the seventh, Grich was charged with the Angels` third and final error, gumming Bill Buckner`s grounder. That mistake triggered a three-run rally that broke the game open and sent the Red Sox ahead by four at 6-2.
``I didn`t see Moose throw his arms up when Grich lost that pop-up, or when he didn`t come up with Buckner`s grounder,`` said a Boston veteran.
``What Grich did to Moose was bush.``
Still, there was no complaint from Moose.
``Baseball is an emotional game,`` he said. ``I can understand why Grich was upset.``
What was difficult to understand was that the Angels, usually sound on defense, could have such a poor day with the glove. In addition to Grich`s boot, they committed two other errors in the seventh inning, a fumble by third baseman Doug DeCinces on a double-play grounder and a wide throw to first by shortstop Schofield while attempting a double play. The three errors in one inning tied a playoff record.
``I`ve seen games like this before but never in the playoffs,`` said California`s Don Sutton, a 21-year major leaguer. ``It was ugly, wasn`t it?`` Reggie Jackson, another ancient warrior, tried to laugh it off.
``I`ve seen thousands of games like that,`` he said, smiling. ``I`ve caused a few myself.``
But Jackson refused to admit the loss was fatal. ``I agree it was unusual for us to play like that, but how many times will you see Roger Clemens pitch as poorly as he did in the first game? These things happen. It`s all part of the circus.`` |
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