Clark Puts It Out of Sight : Two Home Runs, Including Grand Slam, Beat Cubs, 11-3

For the San Francisco Giants’ young first baseman, “The Thrill” has always been just a nickname.

Wednesday night, it was a description.

Limping, smirking, pointing, Will Clark took three swings that leveled the Chicago Cubs. He doubled into the ivy, hit a home run into the bleachers and hit a grand slam into the street to lead the Giants to an 11-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the National League championship series.

In the most prolific night in championship series history--his six RBIs set a single-game record for both leagues--Clark stunned a crowd of 39,195 at Wrigley Field while thrilling his teammates into superlatives.

“Some guys wilt from pressure situations, other guys thrive on them. . . . Will is one of those other guys,” Giant catcher Bob Brenly said. “You think of Will, you think of Reggie Jackson. Put the lights on and he comes to life.

“Get Will Clark up there with the world watching . . . and he’ll find something to thrill you about.”

Or in the case of the Cubs, something to make you ill.

“It was disgusting to watch all those guys coming past home plate,” Cub catcher Rick Wrona said. “To see Clark keep coming in and doing a circus high-five, pointing at people in the stands, yelling . . . it gave me a stomachache.”

Clark was not pointing at Cub fans, but at family. And the high-fives, well . . .

“This is the kind of game you dream about since you are a little kid,” Clark said. “I ain’t going to say it’s the best game I’ve had . . . but it’s pretty much up there.”

Hampered by a bruised right knee, Clark followed Brett Butler’s leadoff single and Robby Thompson’s sacrifice bunt in the first inning with a shot into the left-field gap that rolled to the ivy. He limped into second with a run-scoring double.

“Didn’t even feel the knee until after the homers,” Clark said with a grin.

Two innings later, after the Cubs had closed the gap to 3-2 on Mark Grace’s two-run homer off Giant starter Scott Garrelts, Clark picked a full-count curveball nearly off the ground and powered it into the right-field bleachers for a homer.

After the Cubs closed the gap again in the third inning with Ryne Sandberg’s home run, Clark put the game away in the fourth. With the bases loaded, he hit the first pitch from Cub starter Greg Maddux over the brick right-field fence and onto Sheffield Avenue for an 8-3 Giants’ lead.

Clark said the most amazing thing wasn’t how far it went. It was how it felt.

“I hit it so good, I didn’t even feel it,” he said. “You see the pitcher, you see the ball, you see the bat . . . but sometimes, you don’t feel the contact. You just look up, and the ball is gone.”

Said teammate Pat Sheridan: “What I liked was what Andre Dawson did. He just stared at the ball. Never even moved. You knew nothing was going to stop it.”

Many of the other Cubs were staring at the ball, but with different reason. Two moves by Cub Manager Don Zimmer before the home run had left many frozen in disbelief.

With runners on second and third with one out, Zimmer chose to walk left-handed hitting Butler to load the bases and set up a match between the right-handed Maddux and the right-handed hitting Thompson.

“Butler has always been a thorn in our side, and I was hoping to get the double play,” Zimmer said.

But it was a huge risk for two reasons. If he didn’t get the double play, then Clark would get a chance to bat that inning. And this season, in 547 at-bats, Thompson had grounded into just six double plays.

The Cubs could not even get Thompson to hit the ball on the ground, as he popped to shortstop. And up came Clark.

At this point, Zimmer ran to the mound to talk to a seemingly tired Maddux. Left-handed reliever Paul Asssenmacher was ready in the bullpen.

Said catcher Wrona: “I thought, from the way the conversation went, that he was going to take Maddux out.”

Said Clark: “I guess you could second-guess Zimmer for that . . . but I won’t.”

Turns out, Zimmer had already made up his mind. Maddux was staying.

“I had decided earlier, if he got Robby Thompson out, he was going to pitch to Clark,” Zimmer said.

One pitch later he regretted that move, as Clark had the first NL playoff grand slam since his hitting coach, Dusty Baker, hit one for the Dodgers in 1977 against Philadelphia.

“Isn’t that strange?” Baker asked later.

And the Giants weren’t through. Kevin Mitchell powered a three-run homer off reliever Steve Wilson in the eighth to complete the scoring.

And suddenly, as irrational as it may sound, the Giants are thinking sweep, while the Cubs are thinking, uh-oh.

“I’d be lying if I said we don’t want to take this in four straight,” the Giants’ Matt Williams said.

Admitted Grace: “If they keep playing like this, it’s going to be a very short series.”

Clark, who added a sixth-inning single to give him an NL playoff record-tying four hits, isn’t likely to slow down much, if any. As his teammates will confirm, his .333 batting average this season, not to mention his 23 home runs and 111 RBIs, didn’t come from just talking.

“He’s the kind of guy who takes every at-bat personally,” Giant pitcher Mike Krukow said. “It’s never about the game--the score could be 9-0 or something. It’s always about you against me.

“He’ll go home tonight and be happy, but it won’t last through tomorrow. He’ll walk in here and he’ll look mad about something and it will all start again.”

Added Williams: “It’s hard to say what Will did is no big deal, but . . . I mean, we’ve been seeing it in big situations all year.”

Williams, who is also known for his big hits, showed a big glove Wednesday in making several line-drive stops while playing a shallow third base in defense of Garrelts, who allowed three runs in seven innings.

“After about the fifth inning, Scotty came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you really are my friend, I don’t want to get you killed,’ ” Williams said with a smile. “I told him I understood. Tonight there was no choice, I had to play close to the plate because they have about five guys who will bunt on you. I just hope my instincts survive.”

* MIKE DOWNEY: Page 8

MOST RBIs, ONE GAME, IN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES A list of players with the most RBIs in a game in league championship series history:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

6 Will Clark San Francisco 1989 5 Steve Garvey San Diego 1984 5 Bob Robertson Pittsburgh 1971

AMERICAN LEAGUE

5 Don Baylor Angels 1982 5 Paul Blair Baltimore 1969