WORLD SERIES : Notes : Worrell’s Reputation Fanning Out

ST. LOUIS —  Someone asked Cardinal reliever Todd Worrell if, back in Little League, he was the kind of pitcher that parents didn’t want their kids to face.

“A little bit,” he said. “I had a reputation growing up of being one of the better pitchers on the team.”

That reputation hasn’t stopped growing. Thursday night, Worrell struck out all six Royal batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings, tying a World Series record.

Worrell, the Biola graduate who has an 0.84 earned-run average in postseason play against the Royals and Dodgers, fanned Buddy Biancalana, Danny Jackson and Lonnie Smith in the sixth. In the seventh, he got Willie Wilson, then had George Brett losing his bat on a third strike before blowing three pitches past Frank White.

“I didn’t even know I had done it (tied the record) until I got in the locker room,” said Worrell, who was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh. “I never even thought I’d be in a World Series, never mind tie a record.”

Worrell tied a record held by two pitchers: Horace Eller of the Cincinnati Reds in 1919 and Moe Drabowsky of the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.

Eller struck out six in a row against the Chicago White Sox, a team that later had eight players banned in the famous “Black Sox” gambling scandal.

Drabowsky did it against the Dodgers as he allowed just one hit in 6 innings of relief, striking out 11, a Series record for a relief pitcher. Drabowsky fanned Jim Barbieri, Maury Wills, Willie Davis, Lou Johnson, Tommy Davis and Jim Lefebvre in succession before Wes Parker flied out.

Through five games, Kansas City pitchers were 0 for 12 at the plate, with 7 strikeouts. Danny Jackson had fanned five straight times, tying a record last tied by Mike Shannon of the Cardinals in 1964, before Jackson reached first base on Ozzie Smith’s throwing error in the eighth.

That’s hardly a shocker: American League pitchers were hitless in their last 31 at-bats coming into the Series and were 1 for their last 55. Tim Stoddard of Baltimore got the last hit, in 1979.

Someone asked Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog if he had considered asking Ozzie Smith to scratch his backflip routine because of the risk involved, especially with Vince Coleman already hurt.

“No,” Herzog said, “because the Mr. and Mrs. (August) Busch are here and they like it.

“I wish I could do that (flip),” Herzog added. “Wouldn’t that be something if I tried that when we ran out to be introduced? Maybe I can try it at an old-timers’ game.”

Said General Manager Al Rosen, when the Giants had reacquired pitcher Bill Laskey from Montreal Thursday after trading him during the season for Dan Driessen: “Nobody ever said I was completely sane.”

Tom Haller was the Giants’ general manager at the time that Laskey was traded.

Laskey’s response: “I’m happy, I guess.”

Reggie Jackson, a member of the ABC-TV team, said a New York Post story that he will return to New York as player-manager of the Yankees was pure fabrication, the product of a “writer looking for a way to make headlines at the World Series. It’s preposterous.”

Angel General Manager Mike Port is expected to announce either today or Monday which of the eight potential free agents the club will attempt to retain. It’s anticipated that Rod Carew, Juan Beniquez and Al Holland will be advised to test the market, that an effort will be made to sign Donnie Moore, Don Sutton and Bobby Grich, and that conditional arrangements will be made with Geoff Zahn and Ken Forsch, who are coming off shoulder and arm operations, respectively.

Owner Gene Autry said the club would not pursue Kirk Gibson, expected to be the most coveted name in the free-agent market.

“We’re not going to bid against Detroit,” Autry said of Gibson’s current club. “We’re not going to go into the market at the level that Kirk Gibson will demand.”

Gibson is expected to be seeking a five-year contract at $1.5 million per year.