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| Houston Astros pitcher Mike Scott, in centre, pitching a no-hitter to clinch the National League West Division title in 1986. Source: https://www.astrosdaily.com/history/19810926/ (may be subject to copyright) |
A lot had changed over the next five years, as the Houston Astros
began to re-tool and change. They would change managers and players, but in
1986 found themselves in the National League Championship Series again. Once
more it would take extra innings to determine their fate.
Rebuilding
The Astros dropped to fifth in the National League West in 1982, 12
games back of Atlanta, and fired manager Bill Virdon, replacing him with Bob
Lillis. I remember how sad that made me, because I thought Virdon had been an
excellent manager.
They would finish third in 1983, six games back of the Dodgers; tied
for second in 1984, 12 games back of San Diego; and third in 1985, 12 games
back of the Dodgers.
Houston also began to assemble the pieces that would return them to
contention for a championship. Don Sutton was traded to Milwaukee for three
prospects in 1982 including Kevin Bass.
Bill Doran was called up the same year and got in some games. The next
year, he took over at second base where he would stay for the next seven years.
Before the 1983 season began, the Astros traded utility player Dan
Heep to the New York Mets for pitcher Mike Scott, who had been largely
ineffective in New York. Scott would learn the split-finger fastball from guru
Roger Craig. He went from going 5-11 in 1984 to 18-8 in 1985, and became the
ace of the Houston pitching staff.
Late in 1984, the Astros made another September call up. This time it
was Glenn Davis, who would earn the starting job at first base in 1985. That
September, Houston also traded longtime starter Joe Niekro to the New York
Yankees for pitching prospect Jim Deshaies.
After the 1985 season, Houston fired Manager Bob Lillis and dipped
into the coaching staff of the defending National League champion St. Louis
Cardinals, hiring third base coach Hal Lanier.
Before the season, the Astros made another move, acquiring Billy
Hatcher from the Chicago Cubs for Jerry Mumphrey.
Lanier would bring a new attitude to the team, and all these young
players would gel with the remaining veterans from their earlier championship
teams to make Houston a contender again.
Hot start
After dropping the first two games of the season, the Astros went 14-4
the rest of the month to enter June in first place.
Lanier moved to a three-man starting rotation with Nolan Ryan, Bob
Knepper, and Mike Scott, while slowly bringing along Jim Deshaies.
The Astros were inconsistent in June, going 13-13 in the month, but
remaining in first place.
It was more of the same in July, as the Astros played below .500
baseball, going 14-15, but amazingly starting July up half a game with a record
of 41-34.
In July they rebounded to go 16-11, pushing their record to 57-45, and
leading the division by 4.5 games going into the dog days of August.
The Astros went 16-12 in August, and 73-57 overall, pushing their lead
to seven games.
They had an 18-9 record in September, making their record 91-66
overall, entering the final week of the season with a nine-game lead in the
division.
Houston wrapped up the season going 5-0 in October, to finish the year
with a 96-66 record, their best in franchise history to that point.
Incredibly, Mike Scott pitched a no-hitter on September 25 against San
Francisco, to clinch the division. That was his 18th and final win
of the year against 10 losses. He would go on to earn the Cy Young Award as the National League’s top pitcher.
Houston also hosted the all-star game in 1986, sending Mike Scott,
Kevin Bass, Glenn Davis, and Dave Smith to the National League team.
Now, awaiting them in the National League Championship series were the
New York Mets, champions of the National League East with a record of 108-54,
21.5 games ahead of second place Philadelphia.
National League Championship Series
The Astros were back in the championship series after six years, while
the Mets hadn’t been there since 1973.
The teams would hook up for a tough, hard-fought battle.
Dogfight
The series opened on October 8 at the Astrodome. The Astros sent their
ace Mike Scott to the mound to face Dwight Gooden, the Mets’ ace. The two
hurlers would not disappoint. Scott went the distance, pitching a complete
game, five-hit shut out, striking out 14 and walking one. Gooden allowed just
one run over seven innings, but it was costly. Glenn Davis led off the second
inning with a solo home run. It was the difference in the game as the Astros
won 1-0 to take an early lead in the series.
The teams returned to the Astrodome diamond where Houston sent
fireballer Nolan Ryan against Bob Ojeda. The Mets got the better of the Astros
as Ojeda went the distance and New York scored twice in the fourth inning and
three more times in the fifth to take an insurmountable lead. Houston got one
back in the home seventh but that was it as the Mets tied the series with a 5-1
win.
The series moved to Shea Stadium where Houston’s Bob Knepper faced Ron
Darling, on Oct. 11. The Astros drew first blood with two runs in the first
inning then made it 4-0 on a two-run home run by Bill Doran in the top of the
second. New York got all those runs back in the bottom of six keyed by a
three-run home run off the bat of Darryl Strawberry. The Astros took a 5-4 lead
in the seventh. Knepper then turned the game over to the bull pen, only to have Dave
Smith surrender a walk-off, two-run home run by Len Dykstra to win the game
6-5.
Game 4 was on Oct. 12 in New York. Sensing a loss would put the Astros
in a 3-1 hole, they sent Mike Scott back to the mound on three days rest to
face Sid Fernandez. Scott pitched another gem, going the distance, allowing
just one run and three hits. He got run support from Alan Ashby with a two-run
home run in the second, and a solo blast by Dickie Thon in the fifth inning, to
make 3-1 the final score.
Game 5 was also in New York, as the teams locked into a pitchers’
duel, as Nolan Ryan faced Dwight Gooden on Oct. 14. Ryan would allow one run in nine innings, while Gooden would
allow Houston just one run in 10 innings. The Astros opened the scoring in the
top of the fifth only to have Strawberry tie it in the bottom of the fifth with
a solo homer. There would be no more scoring through nine, 10, and 11 innings.
Finally, in the bottom of the 12th the Mets broke through with the
winning run off Astro reliever Charlie Kerfeld to win 2-1 and need one more win
to advance to the World Series as the teams headed back to Houston.
Game 6 was on Oct. 15 and would be one for the ages. After battling 12
innings the day before, the teams were back at it again. Houston gave starter
Bob Knepper an early lead with three runs in the first off Met starter Bob
Ojeda. Knepper was strong, pitching eight scoreless innings heading into the
ninth inning. Disaster struck as the Mets cashed in three to tie the game and
send it back to extra innings – again. There would be no scoring through the
10, 11th, 12, and 13th innings. Then, in the top of the
14th, the Mets manufactured a run to lead 4-3. Houston did not give
up though, as Billy Hatcher homered in the bottom of the 14th to tie
the game 4-4. The Mets would score three in the top of the 16th, but
that lead was not secure. The Astros scored two and had the tying run in scoring
position and the winning run on first when Kevin Bass struck out to end the
game.
The Mets were heading to the World Series and, after giving it all
they had, and playing the equivalent of another 10-inning game on top of the
six games they played, the Astros were going home. Mike Scott had been named
the most valuable player of the championship series with a microscopic 0.50
earned run average in two victories.
Stray thoughts
I have some odd memories about this series.
This series featured one of the few players I have seen play live. It was
New York pitcher Sid Fernandez who was in the Dodgers chain and started his
journey to the majors at Henderson Stadium with the Lethbridge Dodgers of the
Pioneer League.
The series took place in October of 1986, when I was in my first
semester of Grade 12. It was in Physics 30 one afternoon when Derek Flaman, one
of my classmates, had been watching the game at lunch time, and said it
looked like they could play forever. He was not far off, as they did go 16
innings.
I watched one of the games at night and, I have to admit, did not know
some of the players. One who I remember distinctly was Houston reliever Charlie
Kerfeld, primarily because he wore sunglasses, at night, when he came into
pitch. He threw a lot of heat, and I joked he wore sunglasses so he wouldn’t
get burnt by the gas he was throwing.
Parting thoughts
It was the end of a great run for the Astros. Interestingly, all three
losses were to the eventual World Series champions – Philadelphia in 1980; Los
Angeles in 1981; and New York in 1986. Each time, they lost in a different
format too – 1980 was a best-of-five championship series; 1981 was a
best-of-five, unique divisional series; and 1986 was a best-of-seven
championship series.
The Astros also did have several players who persevered and played for
all three teams – Terry Puhl, Jose Cruz, Nolan Ryan, Alan Ashby, Denny Walling,
Craig Reynolds, and Dave Smith.
The Astros went through an interesting transformation too, from a team
loaded with pitching to a team that had three solid starters and a lot of
offensive weapons.
However, unlike after 1981 when the Astros re-tooled, after 1986 they
faded into the background, taking a decade to get back to the playoffs, close
to another decade to get to the World Series, and another decade to win the
World Series.
Still, the Houston Astros of the ‘80s were fun to watch, and it seemed
always a game away from the World Series.
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