Royals Go From 2-0 in Ninth to 0-2 in Series

The I-70 Series rolls out of Kansas City today, headed for St. Louis.

The Royals, however, will make the trip by air, the wheels having come off in the ninth inning of an apparent 2-0 win over the Cardinals Sunday night.

St. Louis rallied for a 4-2 victory that rekindled memory of Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda’s pivotal pitching decisions in the ninth inning of consecutive divisional playoff games against the Cardinals.

Lasorda was joined on the managerial hot seat by Kansas City’s Dick Howser, who watched Charlie Leibrandt allow a succession of ultimately fatal hits before calling on relief ace Dan Quisenberry.

Terry Pendleton, whose three-run double was the crusher, lifting the Cardinals from a 2-1 deficit, said he was surprised that Leibrandt was still pitching.

Pendleton’s manager, Whitey Herzog, defended his counterpart, pointing out that the Cardinals had not hit Leibrandt hard for eight innings, and did not hit him hard in the ninth.

Leibrandt, who did not have to apologize for his performance, apologized later for his unwillingness to discuss the final, frustrating events with the media.

A few feet away, slumped in front of his locker in a stunned clubhouse, Kansas City center fielder Willie Wilson reflected on the fact that the Royals now trail in the best of seven series 0-2 and said, “You get tired of being down. You get tired of giving games away.”

Did he feel disgust and despair?

“All of the above,” Wilson said.

Said George Brett: “We’ve lost a lot of games like that, but in a playoff or World Series you can’t let it happen. At this time of the year, it’s like a disaster.

“We could have won both games here, but you can’t pout, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. We’ve got to keep scratching and clawing. Maybe the off day tomorrow will help us erase it from our memory banks.”

What the Royals can’t erase is the fact that they will now become the 10th team to try to win a World Series after losing the first two games in their own park. What they can’t erase is the fact that the other nine teams failed to do so.

Said Pendleton, laughing: “We want to continue that tradition.”

There was no laughing in the Royals’ clubhouse.

While it came down to that one inning, to the manager’s decision to stay with Leibrandt in the ninth, the Royals lost this one in other ways, too.

Familiar ways.

An impotent offense additionally weakened by the absence of idled designated hitter Hal McRae has produced only three runs in the two games.

The Royals had at least one base runner in every inning except the fifth Sunday night, but scored only in the fourth, failing to capitalize on nine hits, including two doubles and a single by Frank White, who replaced McRae in the cleanup spot.

A single by Wilson, a hit-and-run double by Brett that scored Wilson and an ensuing double by White that scored Brett represented the substance of the Royals’ attack.

Danny Cox pitched tenaciously as the St. Louis starter, working seven innings. Ken Dayley pitched the eighth and Jeff Lahti the ninth.

The Royals grounded into three double plays and had yet another runner put out at home, their third in the two games. Buddy Biancalana attempted to score from second on a sharp single to left by Lonnie Smith with two out in the seventh and was easily gunned down by Tito Landrum.

Leibrandt, 17-9 with a 2.88 earned-run average during the regular season, took the two-run lead and made it seem like 22. He struck out six and walked one through eight innings, allowing only a single by Pendleton in the third and a single by Landrum in the fourth.

Then, on Leibrandt’s second pitch of the ninth, Willie McGee bounced a hard grounder down the third-base line.

The ball hit the seam separating the synthetic surface from the dirt around the third-base bag and caromed over the head of a diving Brett, who said later he was confident he could have speared it but not sure he would have thrown out McGee.

McGee reached second with a double, but could not advance as Ozzie Smith grounded out and Tommy Herr flied out.

Two outs. Still a 2-0 lead with Jack Clark batting. The count went to 3-0. Clark got the hit sign. Said Herzog: “He’s always going to have it when he represents the tying or winning run.”

Clark responded by grounding a single through the hole on the left side, scoring McGee. Now it was 2-1 with Landrum batting. Leibrandt got within a strike of his win, taking it to 2 and 2 when Landrum, who is 9 for 18 as the replacement for injured Vince Coleman, flared a half-swing double down the right-field line, putting Clark on third.

Howser now ordered an intentional walk to Cesar Cedeno, loading the bases. Quisenberry had been throwing in the bullpen through all this, but the left-handed Leibrandt stayed to face the switch-hitting Pendleton, who had a 2 and 1 count when he looped a double down the left-field line, clearing the bases.

Quisenberry was now summoned to issue an intentional walk to Darrell Porter, after which pinch hitter Andy Van Slyke flied out to end the decisive inning.

Pendleton, hitting .233 in the playoffs after hitting .240 in the regular season, said it is always something of an insult when the preceeding batter is walked.

Of Leibrandt, he said: “I felt he was tired. I didn’t think he’d be in the game for me. I thought he’d be out earlier. He threw me a screwball that didn’t turn over. I didn’t hit it good, but I hit it good enough to drive in three runs. After five months of doing nothing with my bat, I was glad to get the chance to do something.”

Howser said his whole approach to that final inning was based on his belief that Leibrandt still had quality stuff. He said that he did not bring on Quisenberry to pitch to either Landrum or Cedeno because he knew the Cardinals would counter with the left-handed hitting Van Slyke.

Left-handers hit .320 against Quisenberry this year, but Howser said that had nothing to do with it, either. Nor, he said, does Quisenberry’s 4.06 ERA after six postseason appearances, including Saturday night, when he gave up three straight hits in the ninth.

“Quiz is going to give up runs. He’s going to get hit,” Howser said. “But he’s been the best relief pitcher in baseball for the last five years. I have a lot of confidence in him. This had nothing to do with my confidence in Quiz.

“I started that inning with the idea that it was Charlie’s to win or lose. They got some two-strike hits and some seeing-eye hits, but I didn’t see where he had lost any stuff.

“I felt he had the best chance of anybody against their right-handed bats--not just Quiz, anybody. I didn’t see where a change would have made sense. I was trying to keep my best pitcher in the game.