Sand-Lot Scramble

Casey Stengel could hardly be blamed if he suffered from a severe case of dej`a vu last week. He saw baseballs popping out of gloves, skittering between legs, dropping to the ground after third strikes. He watched unearned runs prance home as errors appeared on the Scoreboard almost as often as hits. Casey might well have thought that he was reliving those burlesque days in the early '60s when he managed the infant New York Mets to three consecutive seasons in last place. But now Stengel was sitting in the stands. Not one but two teams were playing loosey-goosey, and both clubs were nominally the best in the land. Yet the Mets and the Oakland Athletics played the World Series as if it were a sand-lot scramble.

Both teams have well-earned reputations for eccentricity, and they reached the Series with strong pitching and tight defense. Oddsmakers favored the A's because of their better hitting, but the minimal expectation was for crisply played baseball. Some of the man-to-man match-ups had the potential for classic tests: Superpitchers Tom Seaver of the Mets and Jim Hunter of the A's, superior Shortstops Bud Harrelson and Bert Campaneris, Bullpen Stars Tug McGraw and Rollie Fingers, and, finally, two dramatically different managers and strategies. Yogi Berra had won the National League pennant by patiently waiting for the return of injured regulars and then sticking with one lineup down the stretch. Dick Williams had shuffled his mustachioed A's in and out all season in a blur of gaudy green-and-gold uniforms.

Scrounged Runs. The production had no sooner opened, though, when the jester started to steal the hero's lines. Met Second Baseman Felix Millan, who made only nine errors all season, gave the A's the first game when he let an easy ground ball slip past his glove. "The ball never bounce," said the Puerto Rican sadly after the 2-1 loss. In view of the anemia that was suddenly afflicting red-blooded A's hitters like Reggie Jackson, Williams could only welcome the gift. Said he: "We'll scrounge all the runs we can."

Scrounging runs was hardly the phrase to describe the second game's scoring. It was an error orgy. The Mets won 10-7 on three runs in the twelfth inning. The game featured six official errors and four other balls that got lost in the outfield glare but were scored as hits. Eleven pitchers appeared, and the game lasted a record-breaking 4 hrs. 13 min. All of which only paved the way for A's Owner Charlie Finley to make the most sensational error of all: the banishment of Second Baseman Mike Andrews, who had contributed to the loss with two errors in the twelfth. Finley bullied Andrews into agreeing to go on the inactive list. L'affaire Andrews finished Finley--at least as far as his team was concerned.

Wearing Andrews' number 17 on their arms in protest, the A's unloaded years of accumulated grievances against their boss. Reggie Jackson asked to be traded, saying: "For once I'd like to play some place where it's pleasant." The biggest bomb came from Dick Williams, who announced to his players that he would quit after the Series and probably manage the New York Yankees, a fourth-place team. Williams is the eleventh A's manager in the past 13 years.

New Goat. But family strife is routine for the A's, and they went into the third game no more dispirited than usual. Now it was the Mets' turn to fumble things away, the specific goat being Catcher Jerry Grote, who failed to hold a third strike pitch. That set up the A's unearned winning run in the eleventh inning. The score was 3-2--the third consecutive game decided by unearned runs. The fourth game was lost by the A's in the very first inning, when Third Baseman Sal Bando booted a surprise bunt by Felix Millan with a runner at first. Bando was not charged with an error, but if he had fielded the ball cleanly he would have had an excellent chance to force Wayne Garrett at second and double up Millan at first. Instead of a double play, the Mets had two men on base. Rusty Staub, sore shoulder notwithstanding, stroked a home run. Superb pitching by Jon Matlack gave the Mets a 6-1 victory. Even so, the home crowd's biggest ovation was not for Matlack or Staub. The fans rose for two thundering cheers when Mike Andrews, reinstated by Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, pinch hit late in the game. Even Finley managed a sheepish smile as Andrews walked back to the dugout after grounding out.

On Thursday night, play tightened up considerably as the Mets shut out the faltering A's 2-0. Two errors--one by each team--did not figure in the scoring. A's Leftfielder Joe Rudi continued to make spectacular catches against the fence. Bud Harrelson contributed another flawless performance at shortstop for the Mets. Nevertheless, after five games, the two best teams in professional baseball had totaled 15 errors.

Two more were committed by the Mets in the sixth game as they lost to the A's 3-1. Those errors did not lose the game, but another poor play did. In the 3rd inning, sore-shouldered Rusty Staub made a weak throw from right that allowed the A's winning run to score. The A's scored an insurance run in the 8th after the Mets' second error. The A's shook off their amnesia in the seventh game, remembering how to hit for the money. Campaneris and Jackson slugged Oakland's only home runs of the series. The Mets almost snagged a final miracle in the 9th inning thanks to an error, but the A's won, 5-2, and were champions again, despite themselves.

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