Oct. 5, 1977 – ALCS Game 2: Royals 7, Yankees 2
- Sal Maiorana
- Oct 5, 2017
- 3 min read
NEW YORK – Reggie Jackson was often a blowhard, and sometimes you wondered if what he was saying was really what he thought, or if he was just saying it for effect.
What he said in the aftermath of a miserable day in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series was exactly what he thought, and he was dead on in his assessment of the Yankees one-sided loss to the Royals.
“We were beaten by a better team, that’s it,” he said. “Today, October the fifth.”
The Royals left no doubt about this as they bombed Don Gullett for four runs inside two innings before he left with a sore shoulder, then tacked on three more against Dick Tidrow.
Gullett walked the leadoff man in the top of the first, Fred Patek, on four pitches, and four pitches later, Hal McRae launched a two-run home run. “I don’t want to imply that I’m a genius,” said Royals manager Whitey Herzog, “but I did bat Patek leadoff today because (Don) Gullett sometimes starts off wild high, and Patek did draw a walk on four pitches. And the second man did hit it out of the park.”
And then in the second inning, after retiring the first two men, he walked Darrell Porter, allowed a single to Frank White, and Patek followed with a two-run double.
Gullett got McRae on a lineout, then didn’t come back out for the third, and the Royals made it 6-0 on John Mayberry’s long two-run homer. At that point, it was pretty much over, as tough lefty Paul Splitorff lasted eight innings for Kansas City and permitted only two runs – Thurman Munson’s two-run homer in the third.
After the game, Billy Martin opined that Gullett was done for the season, though Gullett denied this. “I’m just saying what the doctor told me,” Martin said. “You can write whatever you want. Gullett’s arm is bothering him and he probably won’t pitch the rest of the year.” Gullett’s response was, “I didn’t feel good in the bullpen; I didn’t have good stuff out there. I just couldn’t get loose. I didn’t have any velocity. But I think I’ll be able to pitch again. I’d like to get another shot, but that’s up to Billy. I’m definitely disheartened, but I’m not giving up.”
If the Yankees didn’t get their act together, and quick, it wasn’t going to matter what Gullett’s availability would be.
It was not a happy Yankee dugout during Game 1 of the ALCS.
“It gives us a one-game lead,” said Herzog, whose team won 16 straight games in September to run away with the AL West, and overall won 24 of 25
in a remarkable stretch that topped the great Yankee run that began in mid-August. “I think we’re a better ballclub than anyone, especially on our artificial turf. And our club doubled its output of home runs over last year. The last two months we lost only a handful of games. It was the damnedest thing I ever saw.”
Jackson stood at his locker, beer in hand, trying to be philosophical about the whole thing and believing that the Yankees would be able to bounce back.
“They beat the hell out of us,” said Jackson, who went 0-for-4. “When they get up 6-0, what are you going to do? That lets them relax and puts all the pressure on us. Every time up, you know you have to produce. I don’t like it (being a game behind), but I’ll probably play better.”
Interestingly, it would take a little time for that to happen for Reggie, but in the end, he certainly played better.
In the NLCS at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers pulled even with a 7-2 victory over the Phillies as Don Sutton pitched a complete-game and was backed by Dusty Baker’s grand slam homer in the fourth inning off Jim Lonborg that broke a 1-1 tie.
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