Mauch Ado About Nothing in 1982

Before there was “one strike away,” there was “one win away.”

Before Angel fans cursed Dave Henderson, for the two-run, two-out, two-strike home run that robbed the Angels of a World Series appearance in 1986, Angel fans bemoaned a collapse in the 1982 American League championship series. The Angels won the first two games of the best-of-five series against the Milwaukee Brewers, then lost three in a row on the road and lost out on the World Series.

As Angel Manager Mike Scioscia learned this week, when his failure to use closer Troy Percival in a late-inning loss in the playoff opener evoked howls of criticism across the country, postseason managerial decisions are second-guessed, and third-guessed, and fourth-guessed. Two decades after the collapse in Milwaukee, the series is remembered here not for a villain such as Henderson but for two decisions by Angel Manager Gene Mauch.

The Angels whipped the Brewers in two games at Anaheim Stadium, with Tommy John pitching a complete game in an 8-3 victory and Bruce Kison pitching a complete game in a 4-2 victory. The series shifted to Milwaukee, with the Angels one victory away from the World Series.

Don Sutton, who would pitch for the Angels in the 1986 playoffs, beat them, 5-3, in the first game in Milwaukee. Geoff Zahn started that game for the Angels, with Ken Forsch expected to start the next day.

That day could have been the highlight of Forsch’s career, with the chance to pitch the Angels into the World Series--and against the St. Louis Cardinals, for whom Forsch’s brother, Bob, pitched.

But, on the day Sutton beat Zahn in the third game, Mauch told Forsch he would not start the fourth game.

Did Mauch explain why?

“He tried to,” Forsch said. “I didn’t want to hear it.”

For the series, Mauch said, four starters were one too many, even if the starters had not pitched on three days’ rest during the regular season.

“Everybody does it now,” Mauch said. “You’ve got a five-game series. You’re not going to go with four different pitchers. You want to get that thing over with.”

The strategy backfired. The Angels lost the fourth game, 9-5; John did not survive the fourth inning.

In the fifth game, Kison could endure five innings but no more.

“Kison didn’t have any skin left on his middle finger,” Forsch said. “He had a blood blister. There was blood all over the ball every time he threw. It was a really gutsy performance.”

Kison handed a 3-2 lead to a bullpen that was the Angels’ weak link all season. Luis Sanchez worked a scoreless sixth, but the Brewers put the tying and winning runs on base in the seventh.

Left-handed Cecil Cooper (.313, 32 homers, 121 RBIs) was the batter. Mauch had left-hander Andy Hassler available but stuck with Sanchez.

“Hassler might have gotten Cooper out,” Mauch said, “but who’s going to pitch the eighth and ninth inning? I did what I knew had to be done.”

That strategy backfired too. Cooper singled home two runs, and the Brewers won, 4-3, to advance to the World Series. The Angels returned home, losers of three games in a row.

“I would have much rather seen a left-hander facing Cecil Cooper, I can tell you that,” Angel third baseman Doug DeCinces said. “Cecil was one of the best hitters at that time, and Andy was nasty against left-handers. Gene just didn’t have confidence in him, I guess.”

But DeCinces can sympathize with his old manager. DeCinces still lives in Orange County and attends Angel games, and he sees in this year’s team the missing link from the 1982 team.

“In Gene’s defense, it wasn’t like we could go get Percival,” DeCinces said. “We just didn’t have a guy like that.”