Yu Darvish just Dave Goltz’d the fans

Phil Gurnee ♦ November 2, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

Watching the game unfold last night I was struck with a little bit of deja vu. It was kind of eery how game seven mirrored the last time I had sat at Dodger Stadium in a must-win game against the Houston Astros.

It was Oct 6th, 1980 and the Dodgers had just swept the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium to force a play-in game for the 1980 postseason.  The town was in a frenzy and arrived at the game in huge spirits with full expectations that a victory was only a few hours away.

I had gotten tickets and talked my Dad into taking a day off from work as it was a Monday and the game was going to be played during the day.  The crowd was on its feet during the player introductions and stayed that way for most of the game.

Dave Goltz was the pitcher and with the crowd pumped up to full volume an error was made by Steve Garvey at 1st base.  Just like an error was made by Cody Bellinger. Two runs ended up scoring and the Dodgers were down 2 – 0 in the 1st, just as they were down 2 – 0 last night after one inning.

In the 3rd inning, it all came apart with Goltz allowing two more runs on an Art Howe two-run home run. George Springer hit his two-run home run in the 2nd inning to chase Darvish. In 1980 they waited until the 3rd inning to chase Goltz.

Either way, in both games the team was down 4 – 0 in 1980 after three innings and down 5 – 0 in 2017 after two innings.

The two big differences between the games were Houston scoring three more runs in the 4th against Rick Sutcliffe while Houston never scored again last night once Yu was removed.

In both games, Houston never scored again after the fourth inning.  In 1980 it was 19-year-old Fernando who pitched two scoreless innings along with Stever Howe. Last night it was Brandon Morrow, Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, and Alex Wood.

In both games, the fans had been bent by the failure of the starting pitchers for the Dodgers to make it a competitive game but they never gave up. Until the last out, they cheered and cheered hoping for some offense.

In both games, the Dodger 1st baseman batted fourth and didn’t collect a hit while making an error in the 1st inning.

Three times in 1980 the Dodgers had two runners on base but kept failing to get the big hit. Last night it seemed the Dodgers had runners on base every inning except the last one.

The final score last night was 5 – 1, in 1980 it was 7 – 1. The two players who threw out the first pitch last night played in that game in 1980, Steve Garvey and Rick Monday.

For one year I didn’t forgive Dave Goltz for his piss poor pitching performance but 1981 happened. We outlasted Houston in the NLDS and went on to win the World Championship. 

It would not surprise me the slightest if that happens in 2018.