Remember the sizzling, scintillating summer of 1977 when Billy Martin’s Yankees stormed past the Red Sox and went on to capture their first World Championship in 15 years by beating the Dodgers in six games as Reggie Jackson blasted three home runs in the grand finale?
In this series, The Post takes you back 30 years to one of the greatest seasons in Yankee
ARLINGTON, Tex.-Mike Torrez is running out of things to say, Reggie Jackson isn’t, Graig Nettles can’t give you an explanation, and the Yankees keep on winning. Welcome to a mighty interesting pennant race, pardners.
It was 8-1 here last night, the Yankees’ sixth straight, and 11th in 12 times. In those 12 games, the Yankees have scored 91 runs on 128 hits. And last night the Yankees didn’t do it to any swiss-cheese club. The Rangers themselves had been smokin’, taking nine of their last 12, and 31 of 40 while surging to the top of their division. Make that past tense, presently. They’re now in second place, trailing the White Sox by .002.
And the grumbling New Yorkers who came home from the West Coast 12 days ago as close to shambles as could be? Well, they’re placid and congenial these days just two and a half behind the Red Sox (who lost in Kansas City).
“We are playing so well,” said Jackson, “we are feared. We have the psychological advantage. The other team has been winning-Boston has won 17 of its last 20-but they are aware of us. They know what the Yankees can do. We are blessed with so much.”
And suddenly it has all come together. Some players believe it is because individually, each Yankee realized it was getting too late. One player feels his teammates understood they were being embarrassed around the league by their play. Jackson believes it has come together because, “It is that time of the year. It is business time, it is professional time. I would say the whole word is professionalism.”
But Nettles didn’t have a psychological explanation. “I couldn’t tell you why things have come together,” he said. “And, you know, there doesn’t always have to be a special reason. People are always looking into things, a lot of times for things that aren’t there.
“To me, simply, we’re getting great pitching; a combination of good pitching and hitting. When you do that, it’s hard not to look good.”
The pitching last night was courtesy of Mr. Torrez, who put forth his sixth straight masterful effort, his sixth straight complete game victory. It was a four-hitter-he didn’t allow his first hit until there was one gone in the fifth-and didn’t encounter his first ambush until the eighth, while he held a 7-0 lead.
“What else can I tell you?” he asked pleasantly, after raising his record, once a dismal 8-10, to 14-10. “Just give me the ball every fourth day and I’ll go out after them.” The win was Torrez’ fourth in 13 days, and in the six-game surge he has allowed but eight earned runs, four in the last four gems.
“This isn’t to take anything away from Dock, we know what he meant to us,” said Lou Piniella, “but we all knew Torrez had better stuff than Dock. It was just a matter of acclimating himself to our team.” Torrez, who came over from Oakland in an April 27 deal for Dock Ellis has done so, yes indeed.
And so, seemingly, has Jackson, who did the big hitting last night. He seems more comfortable. “You come to the ballpark with a purpose in your mind,” he said, after a three-hit game, which included his 22nd home run and three RBIs which raised his total to 75.
“For me, there is more purpose, more things going on, more direct direction. There’s a definite focal point now.”
Which is the top. Last night, for a couple of innings, it seems as if the Yankees were going to have to work hard for their win. But a 1-0 game after three blew open when they scored five unearned runs in the fourth off former tormentor Roger Moret.
Willie Randolph had singled with one away when Bucky Dent sent a line drive toward right. Dave May retreated, then slapped the ball away, a beautiful leaping save, which got him an error on the routine drive. Mickey Rivers doubled him in, Roy White was walked intentionally, and Thurman Munson, with the bases loaded, tapped to third. But Toby Harrah allowed the ball to skip under his glove, bringing in the frame’s second run. More then threw a 57-foot fastball, which bounced off the play, a wild pitch, which allowed Rivers to score, and then Jackson home two through a drawn-in infield.
“All I have to do with the infield in is make contact,” said Jackson, playing with a bruised right knee. In the seventh he hit a line drive into the rightfield bleachers. And Roy White’s ninth-inning homer wrapped the scoring.
Meanwhile Torrez had been breezing into the eighth, when he tired and gave two hits and a walk, spoiling the shutout bid. “It was humid,” he said. “I went through three (uniform) tops out there.”
And the Yankees went through another team another night. For the first time they do indeed look like the best team money can busy . . . or a general manager could put together.
“Right now,” said Nettles, “we’re playing like we should have been playing all year.”