DETROIT -- San Diego manager Dick Williams never warned his pitchers about the moving home plate in Tiger Stadium.
They thought they knew all about the park, with its smooth infield and nearby fences.
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Then something happened that hadn't shown up on any scouting report. When the Padre pitchers threw the ball inside, the plate danced outside. And vice-versa. At least it seemed that way.
Of course, not every pitch was a ball. One collided with Marty Castillo's bat and landed in the upper deck for a two-run homer. Another bounced in the dirt for a wild pitch. And a third hit Kirk Gibson to force in a run.
The Detroit Tigers managed only seven hits Friday night but all the generosity from the good Padres enabled them to post a 5-2 victory and take a 2-1 lead in the World Series.
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'The 11 walks weren't pretty,' said Williams, echoing the sentiments of most of the 51,970 fans.
After all, they had come to see the Tigers swagger, not walk. But after three innings, Padres catcher Terry Kennedy was playing catch, not baseball. Things got so dull the crowd was too bored to do the 'wave'.
'Thank goodness they were walking a lot of people,' said Detroit manager Sparky Anderson. 'We left 14 men on base, but we're just not hitting.'
The 11 bases on balls, four off loser Tim Lollar, four off Greg Booker, and three off Greg Harris, tied a World Series record set by the Brooklyn staff in 1956 and tied in 1957 by Milwaukee Braves pitchers.
'The ball just didn't go where I wanted it to,' said Lollar.
'It was like a bad dream,' added San Diego pitching coach Norm Sherry. 'You expect 11 walks in the Rookie League, not in the majors. Timmy's had a problem with walks all year, and he had another problem tonight.'
The Tigers did all they could to avoid capitalizing. Their 14 LOB tied a Series record for a nine-inning game set by the 1910 Chicago Cubs and tied in 1971 by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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'We had so many chances, but we just couldn't put it out of reach,' said catcher Lance Parrish.
Actually, San Diego shouldn't receive all the credit for Detroit's victory. The Tigers helped themselves by making some key plays on defense.
With two on and one out in the fourth, Castillo smothered Bobby Brown's grounder then crawled to third to force a diving Kurt Bevacqua. In the seventh, center fielder Chet Lemon saved a run by overhauling Kennedy's drive with a one-handed grab. And with one out in the ninth, second baseman Lou Whitaker back-handed Tony Gwynn's grounder to force Luis Salazar.
'I'm not worried about our slump,' said Lemon. 'We have an excellent defensive ballclub. And if we keep it up, we'll win our share of ballgames.'
Meanwhile, Milt Wilcox overcame a sore right foot and pitched a gutty six innings for the victory.
The Tigers, who have scored first in every one of their six post-season games, took a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Lemon singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and took third on a fly to center. Castillo, author of only four homers this season, hit a 1-2 pitch for the game-winner.
'He threw all fastballs except one slider which was in the first,' said Castillo. 'I fouled off a couple of fastballs after that slider and by that time I had him timed. The ball I hit was just in a bad location.'
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At this point, the Padres developed a stratgey. If Detroit was going to hit strikes out of the ballpark, then they simply wouldn't throw any.
Whitaker walked and scored on a double by Alan Trammell. Kirk Gibson walked and Parrish had an infield single to load the bases. At this point Booker relieved and walked Larry Herndon to force in a run.
After San Diego pulled within 4-1 in the third on Steve Garvey's RBI groundout, Detroit made it 5-1 in the bottom of the inning.
Darrell Evans, Whitaker and Trammell walked to load the bases. Harris entered and all those people who expected him to walk Gibson were wrong. Harris hit Gibson, forcing home the fifth Detroit run.
That snapped a streak of 21 1-3 straight scoreless innings by the San Diego bullpen and put the game out of reach. Graig Nettles lifted a sacrifice fly in the seventh to pull San Diego within 5-2 but Willie Hernandez relieved and finished for the save.
Eric Show, who surrendered five gopher balls in his two post-season starts, pitches for San Diego today against Detroit ace Jack Morris.
'Eric has had two off starts, so he owes us something,' said Williams.
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'I am happy that Jack Morris is going for us,' said Anderson. 'Morris has been in and out lately, but when he mows them down from the sixth inning on like he did the other night, that's vintage Morris. He pitches best on the fourth day.'
Despite the 2-1 lead and two more home games, Anderson still views the Series with caution.
'This thing is not going to end in five games,' he said. 'It's going back to San Diego all right.'
Williams agreed -- sort of.
'We're going back to San Diego,' said Williams. 'I just want to take them with us.'
