4/19/84: Bve-Bye 35-5

 It was an historic season on paper. On the paper known as Cards & Dice baseball, it's just another season. 104 wins, a lot of historic landmarks. One landmark, the landmark known as 35-5 will be impossible to reach, that is because the C&D gods have determined that the 1984 Tigers were just an average team. The record through 10 games: 5-5.

You can say Bye-Bye to that historic start in this replay because of Steve Balboni, who in game 10, struck 2 home runs, driving in 3 as the KC Royals dethroned the Tigers, 4-1. Bret Saberhagen shut down the Tiger bats on just 5 hits, striking out 4. Kirk Gibson slugged a solo homer in the 2nd and started a last-ditch Tiger rally with a 1-out single in the 9th. After Larry Herndon flied to right, Dave Bergman drilled a single to center setting up Chet Lemon, who would face relief ace Dan Quisenberry to prolong the game. Suffice to say, it would end on a "sour" note with Lemon striking out. Bye-Bye 35-5

It is inconceivable that Tigers can win 30 in a row in C&D to duplicate 35-5, so we'll just accept this replay for what it is, you can't recreate magic with 3 standard dice and a D-20. You can create magic though and, in this case, it's Steve "Bye-Bye" Balboni doing it at a Ruthian/Marisian pace. I'm resigned to the fact the 84 Tigers will have a challenge to repeat history, it'll just have to happen with different milestones. KC and Toronto are the early front-runners in 84 in C&D; the Tigers will settle for the sidelines until something magic does happen.  

But here, it's Bye-Bye 35-5.

KCR 4-7-1 DET 1-5-0 WP-Saberhagen LP-Petry SV-Quisenberry HR-Balboni (2), Gibson. KCR 9-3 DET 5-5

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