NLCS - '83 Expos (2) vs '51 Braves (4)
GAMES 6-7 - Olympic Stadium
Game 7...Oh, the finality of it all (quote to John Madden). There is a lot of pressure on both the players and the managers when your whole season lies in the balance of the outcome of 1 game. Boston manager Terry Priest decided to choose Max Surkont as his game 7 starter. Montreal's Marc Weiss went with Bryn Smith. To cut to the chase, Terry made the better choice. Surkont rewarded Terry with a complete game victory and only 2 unearned runs allowed. Those runs came late in the game (8th inning) when Tim Raines hit a 2 run homer. Up until that point Surkont was dominant and economical (105 pitches). Smith on the other hand blew the proverbial "stinker". By the end of the 3rd inning he was gone. After giving up 4 runs on 7 hits Smith's day and his team's season were for all intents and purposes gone.
Boston scored 3 big runs in the top of the second when Bob Elliott led off with a double and Earl Torgeson doubled him home. After Sibby Sisty fanned Roy Harstfield singled home Torgeson. Surkont flew out to right and with 2 outs Sam Jethroe came through again with a clutch RBI single. The Braves added another run the following inning when Sisti singled home Walker Cooper with 2 out. That would be all for Smith, who clearly had nothing in his arsenal. Ray Burris would come on for the Expos and give up another solo run in the 4th when Cooper doubled home Willard Marshall. That would be all the runs that the Braves would score
off of Burris during his 5 stellar innings of relief work. After the game his manager was quoted as saying, "Why didn't I start the big man ??? I wish I had a crystal ball to see into the future...unfortunately I don't and my gut said that Smith could do the job. Obviously I was wrong." The word "wrong" would be an understatement. That one choice changed the course of the Expos' season.
Boston scored another insurance run in the top of the 9th off of Bob James. Surkont had more than enough cushion by this point and was able to retire the first 2 batters he faced in the bottom of the 9th before Al Oliver singled to right. Tim Wallach was up next and he grounded Surkont's 2-2 offering to Buddy Kerr at short. Kerr, who came in to the game in the 8th as a defensive replacement, did not boot another ball like he did the previous inning. Instead, he fielded it cleanly and tossed it to Torgeson at first for the final out as the Braves clinched manager Terry Priest’s first NL Pennant. Boston will now sit tight and wait to see the results of the ALCS.
Braves win series 4-3
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