Cubs’ Magic of Summer Turned to Dust in Fall

For six months, Manager Don Zimmer seemed to run his Chicago Cubs team with a wand and a crystal ball. No matter how strange the moves he tried, almost all of them worked.

In two games against the New York Mets, he started the runners with the bases loaded, one out and a full count. In each case, the Mets’ pitcher forced in a run with a walk.

When the Mets’ season ended, Darryl Strawberry predicted the Cubs would beat the San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship Series. “It just seems like this is their year,” Strawberry said.

The year did not belong to Zimmer and the Cubs. Only the summer did. October brought about a fall. That wonderful run by Chicago and its leprechaun of a manager ended in the National League Championship Series. The Cubs looked like a different team.

“I could write a book about these last three games” Zimmer said. “Nothing went right. (Will) Clark hits the ball down the right-field line. It hits off (Andre) Dawson’s glove (for a triple). He probably catches that nine out of 10 times. We play hit-and-run with (Joe) Girardi. Both infielders cover. It turns into a double play. But that’s the way the series went.”

Zimmer was asked if all the breaks worked in San Francisco’s favor.

“Well, most of the time you make your own breaks,” he said. “We’re not going to sit back here and think that the Cubs should have won. They won four games before we could even get to the second game. I guess in a seven-game series you’d have to say they’re the best team.”

It was not a good series for Dawson, who was 2 for 19 and left 20 runners on base. It was not a good series for Greg Maddux, who allowed a National League playoff-record 12 runs. And it was not a good series for Zimmer, either. After all three games at Candlestick, he had to explain at least one key move that didn’t work. More than once he responded by saying, “I manage this team the way I want to manage it.”

Here are some of the key decisions that Zimmer made that contributed to the Cubs’ elimination:

--After gaining a 2-0 lead in the first inning of Game 3, Zimmer twice orders intentional walks, one to Kevin Mitchell and one to Terry Kennedy, a .239 hitter. The walks help the Giants score three runs.

--In the seventh inning of Game 3, Zimmer brings in Les Lancaster to face Robby Thompson, though Thompson is 4 for 11 in his career against Lancaster, including a home run in Game 2. Lancaster, who later said he didn’t know the count, serves up a game-winning, two-run homer. The Cubs fall behind, 2-1, in the series and their closer, Mitch Williams, still has not faced a batter after saving 36 games during the regular season.

--In Game 4, Zimmer orders another intentional walk to Mitchell to load the bases for Matt Williams, who promptly drives in two runs with a single.

--Also in that game, the Cubs have the tying run on third in the fourth inning with two outs when Zimmer allows his starting pitcher, Maddux, to bat. Maddux, who had been struggling on the mound, grounds out. He is knocked out in the bottom of the inning.

--The score is tied and Will Clark is on second in the fifth inning. First base is open. Left-hander Steve Wilson is pitching to Matt Williams. This time, Zimmer chooses not to use the intentional walk, although the next two scheduled hitters bat left-handed. Williams, in an epic at-bat that included 12 pitches, hits the game-winning homer.

--In Game 5, the Cubs have a 1-0 lead when they get their leadoff batter on base in the seventh. Ryne Sandberg, a .290 hitter with 30 home runs, is the batter. Zimmer orders him to bunt. Sandberg had one sacrifice in 672 plate appearances this year. Sandberg does move the runner to second, but now it is left to Marvell Wynne to get the run home. He grounds out. Now with first base open, the Giants intentionally walk the hot-hitting Mark Grace to get to Dawson, who bounces back to the box for the third out.

--The Giants tie the score in the bottom of the inning Then, with two outs in the eighth, starter Mike Bielecki appears to tire. He extends himself while walking Candy Maldonado and Brett Butler.

That brings Zimmer to the mound. Zimmer figures he will ask Bielecki how he feels before deciding whether to leave him in or replace him with Lancaster or Williams. Bielecki, who has thrown 127 pitches on three days’ rest, says he feels fine. So Zimmer leaves him in. Bielecki walks Thompson on four pitches.

“I guess I was a little tired,” Bielecki said later. “I wanted to get that last out and take it from there. I tried to reach back, and there was nothing there.”

That walk allows Clark to bat with the bases loaded. Zimmer brings in Williams to face him. But Clark lashes a two-run single that provides what would be the winning run in the Giants’ 3-2 victory.

When Zimmer was asked what he told his players after the game, he said, “That the Giants are going to the World Series, and that we weren’t losers. That’s all. We played too hard and too great all year. I mean, here’s a team leaving Arizona that nobody gave a chance to win nothing. And the way these guys played all year, I couldn’t be more prouder of any team I’ve ever been on in my whole life.”