10/2/1981 - Royals Stadium
A's 4, Royals 2
Langford vs Leonard
Three Oakland homers accounted for 3 of the 4 runs that the team scored. Tony Armas hit his 12th, Dave McKay hit his 4th and Wayne Gross notched his 9th. All 3 solo shots were off Dennis Leonard, who saw his record fall to 1-7 for the season. Rick Langford went the distance and gave up 2 runs on 6 its to increase his record to 6-4. Curiously, A's leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson went 0-5 while getting to wear the not so coveted "Golden Sombrero".
10/3/1981
A's 9, Royals 4
Norris vs Gale
It was a rocky road at first for Oakland's Mike Norris. After allowing two two run homers in back to back innings, first to Amos Otis, then to Willie Aikens, Norris posted bagels the rest of the way. Oakland's roller coaster offense got itself back in gear with a 6 run outburst in the 6th 4th inning. Shooty Babbit's bases clearing triple followed RBI singles by Rob Picciolo and Rickey Henderson. Tony Armas' sac fly to center closed out the scoring in the 4th. Dwayne Murphy's 3 run blast in the 8th handed Norris the game with a neat little bow on it. Gale took the loss and saw his record drop to 4-3, while Norris got the win to finish the year at 8-1 (3.24). Many feel that Norris' impressive season will get him mention for the AL Cy Young award.
10/4/1981
A's 6, Royals 5 (15 inn)
Keough vs Gura
Heading into the game the A's needed a win to lock down a post season slot. A win would give them a sweep of the series and an outside shot at winning the AL West. With the score knotted at 1-1 the Royals took a 4-1 lead with a big 5th inning. Hal McRae led off with a triple, then Otis walked. Frank White's single scored McRae. UL Washington's squeeze bunt scored Otis and Willie Wilson's double scored White. Oakland didn't give up and used the long ball in order to get right back in it. A two runs shot by Cliff Johnson with 2 outs in the 7th made it a one run ball game. An opposite field solo shot by Picciolo in the 8th tied it up. A two out homer to dead center by Mike Heath off of Larry Gury, who was still in the game, put the A's ahead by 1 run heading into the bottom of the 9th. Oakland was 3 outs away from a series sweep. After getting the first 2 outs, Matt Keough, looked like he was going to get himself a tough, but hard fought complete game win. Amos Otis' two out double ended Keough's day. After an intentional walk to pinch hitter May reliever Tom Underwood needed to get light hitting UL Washington out to end it. Washington, who is primarily known for the piece of lumber that he keeps between his teeth (a toothpick), as opposed to the one he swings with his arms, used the latter to line a double to right center to tie the game up. A 6 inning war of attrition too place as the game headed into the 15th inning still deadlocked. Both teams had ample chances to chase across a run, but neither was capable of sealing the deal. Juan Berenguer, who had pitched 3 scoreless innings, might have gone one too many. After giving up a single to Rickey Henderson and allowing him to steal second, he was 
replaced by Ken Brett, who got Dave McKay to fly out to deep center. Henderson strolled to third and was now 90 feet away from scoring the go ahead run with just 1 out. Brett now had the coveted lefty vs lefty matchup in his favor vs Dwayne Murphy. "Murph" jumped on the first pitch and hit a rope that Clint Hurdle had to track down in the power alley just shy of the warning track. Henderson easily tagged and scored to make it 6-5. Jeff Jones came out to the mound for his 2nd inning of work with a chance to close it out. After Dave Chalk lined out to second, UL Washington once again let his bat do the talking with a clean single to right. While Washington's bat did the talking his feet did the walking. In fact they walked a bit too far off of 1st and Mike Heath threw behind him to catch him napping for out number 2. John Wathan swung at the next pitch and hit a two hopper to the "Chicken", Fred Stanley, who came on as a defensive replacement. Stanley easily fielded the ball and got Wathan by 3 strides to end the season in fine fashion. Oakland will sit back to see the results of Texas/California, with an outside chance of winning the division.
A's 4, Royals 2
Langford vs Leonard
Three Oakland homers accounted for 3 of the 4 runs that the team scored. Tony Armas hit his 12th, Dave McKay hit his 4th and Wayne Gross notched his 9th. All 3 solo shots were off Dennis Leonard, who saw his record fall to 1-7 for the season. Rick Langford went the distance and gave up 2 runs on 6 its to increase his record to 6-4. Curiously, A's leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson went 0-5 while getting to wear the not so coveted "Golden Sombrero".10/3/1981
A's 9, Royals 4
Norris vs Gale
It was a rocky road at first for Oakland's Mike Norris. After allowing two two run homers in back to back innings, first to Amos Otis, then to Willie Aikens, Norris posted bagels the rest of the way. Oakland's roller coaster offense got itself back in gear with a 6 run outburst in the 6th 4th inning. Shooty Babbit's bases clearing triple followed RBI singles by Rob Picciolo and Rickey Henderson. Tony Armas' sac fly to center closed out the scoring in the 4th. Dwayne Murphy's 3 run blast in the 8th handed Norris the game with a neat little bow on it. Gale took the loss and saw his record drop to 4-3, while Norris got the win to finish the year at 8-1 (3.24). Many feel that Norris' impressive season will get him mention for the AL Cy Young award.
10/4/1981
A's 6, Royals 5 (15 inn)
Keough vs Gura
Heading into the game the A's needed a win to lock down a post season slot. A win would give them a sweep of the series and an outside shot at winning the AL West. With the score knotted at 1-1 the Royals took a 4-1 lead with a big 5th inning. Hal McRae led off with a triple, then Otis walked. Frank White's single scored McRae. UL Washington's squeeze bunt scored Otis and Willie Wilson's double scored White. Oakland didn't give up and used the long ball in order to get right back in it. A two runs shot by Cliff Johnson with 2 outs in the 7th made it a one run ball game. An opposite field solo shot by Picciolo in the 8th tied it up. A two out homer to dead center by Mike Heath off of Larry Gury, who was still in the game, put the A's ahead by 1 run heading into the bottom of the 9th. Oakland was 3 outs away from a series sweep. After getting the first 2 outs, Matt Keough, looked like he was going to get himself a tough, but hard fought complete game win. Amos Otis' two out double ended Keough's day. After an intentional walk to pinch hitter May reliever Tom Underwood needed to get light hitting UL Washington out to end it. Washington, who is primarily known for the piece of lumber that he keeps between his teeth (a toothpick), as opposed to the one he swings with his arms, used the latter to line a double to right center to tie the game up. A 6 inning war of attrition too place as the game headed into the 15th inning still deadlocked. Both teams had ample chances to chase across a run, but neither was capable of sealing the deal. Juan Berenguer, who had pitched 3 scoreless innings, might have gone one too many. After giving up a single to Rickey Henderson and allowing him to steal second, he was 
replaced by Ken Brett, who got Dave McKay to fly out to deep center. Henderson strolled to third and was now 90 feet away from scoring the go ahead run with just 1 out. Brett now had the coveted lefty vs lefty matchup in his favor vs Dwayne Murphy. "Murph" jumped on the first pitch and hit a rope that Clint Hurdle had to track down in the power alley just shy of the warning track. Henderson easily tagged and scored to make it 6-5. Jeff Jones came out to the mound for his 2nd inning of work with a chance to close it out. After Dave Chalk lined out to second, UL Washington once again let his bat do the talking with a clean single to right. While Washington's bat did the talking his feet did the walking. In fact they walked a bit too far off of 1st and Mike Heath threw behind him to catch him napping for out number 2. John Wathan swung at the next pitch and hit a two hopper to the "Chicken", Fred Stanley, who came on as a defensive replacement. Stanley easily fielded the ball and got Wathan by 3 strides to end the season in fine fashion. Oakland will sit back to see the results of Texas/California, with an outside chance of winning the division.
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