A Hopping Good Series

"That was as good as you'll see Mike Caldwell," said Simmons. "He changed speeds and threw sinkers and sliders. When he started, he was low and away, on the black. I said to myself, 'This will be nice for a while.' It stayed that way."

Caldwell, 33 and sporting something of a paunch, is known as Mr. Warmth. Actually, his T shirt says MR.—— WARMTH. By his own admission, he's grouchy and irritable. "I've put my fist through more things than you can find," he says. According to Sal Bando, the Brewers' morale coach, "Caldwell's a very grumpy, sarcastic, gross person. The name is from Don Rickles. You know, Mr. Warmth. Simmons used to call him Trash Can and Roto-Rooter. He's very filthy."

The Cardinals also thought he was being unsanitary. "He might have been throwing me screwballs," said Hernandez, "but I never saw a screwball drop like that. I didn't ask the umpire to look at the ball because I fouled off all the screwballs, or spitballs. When the balls rolled on the ground, they dried up."

Said Caldwell, "Sometimes it bothers me when I'm accused of throwing a spitter because it detracts from what I've done. But I also take it as a compliment because, evidently, I had pretty good stuff." Caldwell took another pull of his Lite beer. "Right now I'm going to sit back and get as drunk as I want to get."

That the Brewers were drinking Lite and Miller High Life was also something of an upset. The Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee had 10 cases of each delivered to Busch Stadium, unbeknownst to the top Cardinal management. Said Buddy Bates, attendant in the visitors' clubhouse, "When it came in the door, I walked the other way. Mr. Busch doesn't kid around about stuff like that. I could be collecting unemployment."

Mr. Busch had something else to worry about. His Cardinals were flat.

GAME 2

Herzog assessed the St. Louis chances beforehand. "Their guy has won 280 games, our guy has won nine. Their guy makes $900,000 a year, our guy makes $35,000. It don't look too good for us on paper."

It don't look any better on the field in the bottom of the sixth. Milwaukee's Don Sutton, who has actually won 264 games, counting postseason victories, and who actually makes $700,000, is nursing a 4-2 lead. He has two outs, with a man on third. But he walks the Cardinals' George Hendrick after going 0-2 on him. And now he faces Darrell Porter, once booed in St. Louis, now cheered.

With the count 1-2, Sutton throws Porter, a lefthanded pull hitter, a high outside slider. With the Brewers in a dramatic overshift against him, Porter hits the ball into the leftfield corner to drive in two runs and tie the game. "Porter turned the game around," Sutton would say later. "He'll hit that ball down there about as often as Halley's comet comes around, but he did it."