GAME 4 (Stade' Oympique): (88)Expos 5, (72)Royals 4 - 11 innings
Up 3 games to 0 the Expos decided to tap 5th starter John Dopson to start the game. On the brink of elimination the Royals did not have the luxury of going to a lesser arm, so they hoped to get one more stellar performance from hard throwing rookie, Steve Busby. Whether it was nerves or fatigue, on can only speculate. What one is certain of is the fact Busby was lifted after only getting 2 outs in the 1st for veteran Bruce Dal Canton. Royal manager Milo Miller made one of those judgment calls that really paid off. Busby was shaky and the Expos already had 1 run and were threatening to score more. With runners on 1st and 3rd and 2 out Dal Canton got Tim Wallach to fly out to short center and minimize the damage. Certainly in a regular season game or even if the series were tied, Busby would have been given every chance to continue on.
With no margin for error Miller had to make the move, and Dal Canton rewarded his skipper with 6 rock solid innings in relief. KC tied the game up in the 3rd when Lou Piniella singled home Amos Otis from second. The Expos answered right back when Tom Foley hit a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to make it 2-1. Not to be outdone Paul Schaal hit a solo shot of his own and the game stood tied again at 2. That's the way it would stay until the 6th when Dopson hurt his own cause by allowing the opposing pitcher (Dal Canton) to reach first with one out on an throwing error charged to Dopson. Otis then walked and Rojas doubled Dal Canton home to make it 3-2 KC. Dopson was now officially in a jam, with runners on 2nd and 3rd, nobody out and the heart of the KC lineup due up. With 1st base open, and with John Mayberry on deck intentionally walking Richie Scheinblum was not an option. Instead Dopson reared back and struck out the hard hitting Scheinblum on 5 
pitches to make it 2 out. As Mayberry strolled up to the plate he had to be thinking that there was no way on earth the Expos were going to pitch to him. If that was his thought he was dead on right as Dopson issued him an intentional pass in order to face the less lethal righthanded Piniella, who grounded weakly to Foley at second to end the inning and keep the score at 3-2. HOF pitcher Tom Seaver says that every hurler has 3 or 4 must outs that he needs to get in order to win a game. This was one of those moments for Dopson. By getting Scheinblum and Piniella out he prevented KC from posting a big inning, which would have put the game out of reach. The bottom of the 7th saw the Expos tied it on 3 successive singles, which included a pinch hit RBI from Otis Nixon. The bottom of the 8th saw Raines single his way on and then steal second, which might have been a questionable move since that opened up 1st base and allowed KC to intentionally pass the Expos cleanup hitter Andres
Galarraga. Mitch Webster, who replaced the injured Hubie Brooks in the 4th inning, singled off of Al Fitzmorris to score the speedy Raines and give the Expos a 4-3 lead, which they would take into the 9th. Reliever Jeff Parrett started the 9th hoping to close it out for the 'Spos. Scheinblum worked out a walk on 6 pitches and sent notice that this was not going to be a mere formality. Montreal was going to have to earn this win. Andy McGaffigan came on to get John Mayberry who slammed a game tying double off the right field wall. KC had life ! Piniella was intentionally passed to create a force at any base. Kirkpatrick, who has one heck of a batters eye took the count full and worked out a 
walk to load the bases with only 1 out. Just like that Montreal went from the precipice of closing out the game and series to losing the game entirely. With the infield drawn in pinch hitter Bobby Knoop grounded sharply to Galarraga at first who went home to force Carl Taylor who pinch ran for Mayberry. Light hitting Freddy Patek came up looking to walk and was forced to swing at a 2 strike pitch which was weakly popped back to McGaffigan for the 2nd out. With a 1-2 count on pinch hitter Bob Oliver, KC manager Milo Miller took a bold initiative and sent Piniella in an attempt to steal home and the game. Burke, who no doubt was shocked beyond belief recovered just in time to nail Lou at the plate on a low throw that Oliver could not get his bat on. Game 4 headed to extra innings. The 10th inning was uneventful for both teams. The 11th inning played out to be a classic. With closer Tim Burke on the mound the for his second inning the Royals hoped to take advantage. Scheinblum, like he's done time and time again this season seized the moment and slammed a lead off double down the right field line. Burke hoped to get off easy facing Taylor, who stayed in the game after pinch running for Mayberry. Taylor grounded out to third and
failed to advance the runner, which violates the rules learned in baseball 101. Royal reliever Paul Splittorff (goat) was forced to bat for himself, since there was nobody left to relieve in the pen. Splits is a darn good hitter for a pitcher and for some reason Burke felt the need to over respect him and walked him on 5 pitches to make it 1st and 2nd with 1 out. A wild pitch would put runners on 2nd and 3rd, with Ed Kirkpatrick coming to bat. Montreal brought the infield in and Kirkpatrick obliged them by popping up to 2nd for the second out. Bobby Knoop came on to bat for Schaal and was intentionally passed to load the bases for the banjo hitting Patek, who flew out weakly to right. The Expos half of the 11th started poorly. Wallach grounded out to Patek and Hudler went down looking. Mike Fitzgerald (hero), who entered the game in the 7th as a pinch hitter jumped on Splittorff's first pitch and barely missed a walk off homer. The ball bounced around and was mishandled by Otis in center, which allowed Fitz to wind up on 3rd with a two out triple. Tracy Jones was then tapped to pinch hit for Burke, who after 2 innings was done anyway. Jones, who destroys lefties, never saw a pitch and was intentionally passed on 4 straight soft tosses. The following batter, Dave Martinez, was intentionally walked as well to create a force everywhere and for the lefty Splittorff to face Tom Foley, who's next hit off a southpaw just 
might be his first. If imitation is the finest form of flattery, KC's Milo Miller would have been extremely flattered when his Montreal counterpart decided to send Mike Fitzgerald home for the steal. Unfortunately for Miller and his Royals Montreal netted a different result on the same play choice as Splits threw the ball inside and by the time catcher Ed Kirkpatrick dove across the plate Fitzgerald had touched home and thus presented us with one of the wackiest endings for a World Series ever. The final 2 games of the series ended in bizarre fashion: a walk off walk and a walk off steal of home. Montreal won their second KOD championship in a row and presented their manager with 4 championships in 6 seasons. Special congrats have to be handed out to KC and their gritty manager Milo Miller, who kept his overachieving charges in it all year and presented the Expos with a World Series battle that was epic, even though the series only went the minimum 4 games.
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