Friars take 2 of 3 from ‘Spos as Garvey turns back the clock

8/29-8/30 - Jack Murphy Stadium
Padres 3, Expos 2
Andy Benes vs Steve Rogers
Fate plays a huge part in the outcome of games and real life.  It was big Nate Colbert's fate to pull a muscle in his rib cage on his first swing during his first at bat.  It was Steve Garvey's fate to be called on in a pinch to replace Colbert and shine like a bright star.  You never know how these things play out.  San Diego lost their lone 30+ home run gun and had to replace him with an aging superstar with mid level power at best.  Garvey's first AB was a simple 4-3 ground out to end an inning.  His second at bat would be the difference maker in the game.  With runners on 2nd and 3rd Dave Winfield was issued an intentional pass in order to face Garvey with 2 out.  Popeye turned back the clock to his Dodger hey day when he was a certifiable doubles machine and did just that...he slammed a bases clearing double off the right center field wall to make it 3-0.  Steve Rogers, who walked 8 on the day, battled with his control, but his biggest problem was Garvey's two bagger.  For the better part of the afternoon it looked like Padre starter Andy "Merchant of" Benes would be able to make that 3 run lead hold up.  Montreal would chip away at that lead with a Tim Raines single / stolen base run in the 5th to make it 3-1.  After striking out Hubie Brooks to start the 8th Benes gave up a single to Warren Cromartie.  Dawson flew out weakly to center, but Gary Carter lined a two out single to right to put runners on he corners.  Ellis Valentine was called on to pinch hit and he delivered a 2 out RBI single to make it 3-2.  With the tying run 90 feet away Tim Wallach hit a slicing bullet headed for the right field line.  Once again fate was on the side of Garvey, who left his feet and snow coned the ball in his glove for the final out of the inning.  An inch higher and the game is tied.  Could Colbert have made that play ?  Highly unlikely.  Gary Ross would set the Expos down in the 9th to get his second save of the season in this "edge of your seat" classic.

Padres 5, Expos 1
Dennis Martinez vs Bruce Hurst
Welcome back El Presidente !  On second thought, who needs ya !  Dennis Martinez returned from a two week stink on the DL to give up 4 runs in 7 innings of torture.  From the onset it was easy to see that Martinez was not sharp.  He did gut it out and get out of trouble time and time again, but that type of effort just won't cut it when Bruce Hurst tosses a complete game 4 hitter.  Hurst’s lone mistake on the day was a lead off homer by Tim Raines way back in the first.  After that it was pretty much smooth sailing for the crafty lefty.

8/31 - Olympic Stadium
Expos 6, Padres 5 (11 innings)
Randy Jones vs Bill Gullickson
For the better part of the evening it looked like Padre ace Randy Jones was in firm control of the Expos as he was gunning for the Friars first series sweep of the season.  Heading into the bottom of the 7th San Diego built up a comfortable 4-1 lead.  It would all come crashing down with one Ellis Valentine pinch hit swing of the bat.  With 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th Valentine was called on once again to pinch hit for Mendoza line candidate Pepe Frias.  On a 2-1 pitch Valentine hit a line shot that hooked just inside the fair poll to make it a 1 run game.  The left for dead Expos now had life.  Jones looked to close the game out himself in the bottom of the 9th.  Tim Wallach went down swinging on 3 pitches for the first out.  Pinch hitter Mike Fitzgerald hit a one hopper to second that caught a seam in the astroturf and handcuffed Big Roberts at second, which allowed Fitzgerald to reach first.  That error would prove costly as Chris Speier singled to put runners on the corners and "the Rock", Tim Raines singled home the game tying run to send the contest into extra innings.  Andres Galarraga hit a bomb that somehow died on the track in right center or the game could have been over in the 9th.  A scoreless 10th was followed by a scoreless top of the 11th thanks to swingman David Palmer's 2 perfect innings of relief for the 'Spos.  Lefty Dave Dravecky started  the 11th for the Friars and easily got Palmer and Speier to ground out weakly to Luis Salazar at third.  Tim Raines would single to right.  Everyone in the house knew Raines was going to try to steal second and that's exactly what he did.  Dravecky was concentrating on the hitter, Hubie Brooks, and not paying much attention to Raines considering there was 2 outs.  Now Dravecky had to worry about "the Rock" scoring and he lost his focus and grooved a 2-2 pitch to Brooks who served it into left center to score the speedy Raines to salvage at least 1 win for the 'Spos in this battle of the 1969 expansion teams.

Tribe sweeps Halos to reach .500

8/29 - Anaheim Stadium
Indians 16, Angels 6
Bob Lemon vs Nolan Ryan
HEADLINE:  Express Derailed
Nolan Ryan was assaulted by a reinvigorated Tribe offense that posted 10 runs in just the first 4 2/3 innings.  To date this was Ryan's worst outing for sure.  The Tribe posted 20 hits in total with 4 of them going to DH Andre Thornton.  8 RBI's and a 4 for 4 day are more than enough to make Thornton the offensive star of this contest.  Tito Francona and Dale Mitchell had 3 hit days themselves.  Bob Lemon went the distance for the win after surviving a 4 run onslaught by the Halos to give up just 2 runs the rest of the way.

8/30 - Anaheim Stadium
Indians 4, Angels 3
It looked so good for Dean Chance and the Halo who finally broke through and scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to take a 3-1 lead over the Tribe.  That would all come crashing down in the top of the 9th thanks to walks, errors, timely hitting and a botched hit and run play that saw a turtle of a runner score the winning run.  Woodie Held's pinch hit single knocked in 2 runs to tie the game.  Rocky Colavito's botched hit and run turned out to be the winning play.  Chance would get the loss, since the runs would be charged to his record even though they scored on Bryan Harvey's watch.  Lost in the mix was the shutout ball that Sudden Sam McDowell threw for 5 innings before he burnt himself out.

8/31 - Municipal Stadium
Indians 7, Angels 6 (11 inn)
Rudy May vs Bob Feller
  Rod Carew's RBI single in the top of the 9th scored Brian Downing and tied the game up a 6-6.  Narleski blew his chance at a save by giving up that tying run.  Neither team scored in the 10th.  The Angels went down in order in the top of the 11th with Gary "Ding Dong" Bell on the hill for the Tribe.  Chuck Finley was doing well for the Halo's in extra's, but gave up a lead off single to Thronton.  With one out Francona singled to put runners on the corners.  Jim Hegan lifted a high fly ball to center and Thornton scored easily to clinch the series sweep for Cleveland.

Motown take 2 of 3 from Chi-town

8/29 - Comiskey Park
Tigers 8, White Sox 1
Jack Morris vs Billy Pierce
The only shocking part of this game was the fact that the Chisox got just 1 run and not 7. Typically in games like this he great Jack Morris would pitch to the level of his competition and just win.  Today the Chisox were able to get 11 hits off of Morris, but they could only compile that into 1 measly run.  With the Tigers up 1-0 after 4 innings, Billy Pierce fell apart completely.  Detroit would score runs in clusters over the next 3 innings to put the game out of reach.  Willie Horton's grand slam in the 5th made it 5-0 and the Tigers never looked back.

8/30 - Comiskey Park
White Sox 4, Tigers 3
Denny McLain vs Joe Horlen
Chicago nicked McLain for solo runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th.   Four different guys delivered RBI tallies.  Minnie Minoso would go 3 for 4.  Carlos May, Nellie Fox and Jorge Orta would each have 2 hit days for the Southsiders.  Joe Horlen was cruising until Al Kaline broke up his shutout with a homer in the 9th.  Horlen, clearly tiring, started the 9th, but couldn't close the door.  Lou Whitaker's two out two run homer put a scare into the hometown fans, but Bobby Thigpen was able to save the day by getting Harvey Kuenn to ground out weakly to Fox at second to end it.

8/31 - Tiger Stadium
Tigers 13, White Sox 5
Gary Peters, vs Hank Aguirre
Neither starter was all that effective.  Both were gone before the 7th inning came to its logical conclusion.  A big 3 run outburst by the Pale Hose in the top of the 7th temporarily tied the game up at 5-5.  The functional word here is "temporary", since the bottom of the inning the Tigers forced Eddie Fisher to sing "turn out the lights" as Chicago's righty relieve gave up 5 of the 8 runs that Detroit would score that inning.  Hoyt Wilhelm would throw some kerosene onto the fire himself by allowing 2 more runs to score before ending the carnage.  12 batters in all would step to the plate for Detroit in the 7th.  Reliever Mike Henneman would get the win despite giving up a run in his inning and a third stint.  Ray Boone's 3 run shot in the third gave Detroit their first lead of the day.  Al Kaline was the offensive star of stars going 4 for 5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.  Detroit had 17 hits, but also had 9 batters strike out including Ron Leflore and Lance Parrish 3 times each.

Jints take 2 of 3 from “swooning” Cubs

8/29 - Polo Grounds
Cubs 8, Giants 6
Rick Reuschel vs Juan Marichal
A huge 4 run outburst in the bottom of the 4th looked to put the home team in the driverseat with a 2 run lead and the Domincan Dandy on the mound.  4 consecutive walks and a wild pitch helped contribute to Big Daddy's woes so much so that he was given the hook.  Chicago's pen came threw in the clutch, allowing just 1 run the rest of the way.  This gave the Cub offense a chance to catch up, which they did thanks to the generosity of one Stu Miller.  Marichal left the game after 5 non-descript innings, but he did have a lead.  Miller gave up that lead in his first inning of work, the 6th on a two out pinch hit 3 run homer by Hank Sauer.  The "Hawk", Andre Dawson would poke one down the right field line for two more runs in the 7th.  Bruce Sutter would post his 5th save of the season by tossing a perfect 9th.

8/30 - Polo Grounds
Giants 5, Cubs 4
Greg Maddux vs Larry Jansen
Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks led off the game with a triple to dead center then scored on a Glen Beckert squeeze play.  The Jints answered right back as the Say Hey kid doubled home Will Clark with 2 out and The Baby Bull singled him home to give the home team a 2-1 lead.  Chicago would tie it in the third on a Ron Santo RBI single, but once again the Jints would plate two in the bottom of the frame to double up Chicgo 4-2.  Willie Mays would go deep to score his star pupil Bobby Bonds, who led off the inning with a single.  Jim Ray Hart's single with one out in the bottom of the 6th would easily score Will Clark to make it 5-2.  Young Greg Maddux, still learning his craft, would be done after 7 innings of up and down ball.  Maddux, who's season record fell to 0-2, gave up 5 runs in his 7 inning stint.  Jansen would leave after six innings and stand poised to post the win.  Relievers Scott Garrelts and Hoyt Wilhelm did their best to muck up the 9th, but the Cubs could only come within 1 run of tying before Wilhelm struck out Ryne Sandberg looking on a 2-2 floater.

8/31 - Wrigley Field
Giants 7, Cubs 3
Johnny Antonelli vs Ken Holtzman
Tied 3-3 after 4 innings of play the Jints managed to score the final 4 runs of the game to hand a marginally effective Antonelli his second win of the season.  If Antonelli was marginally effective, Holtzman would be considered marginally ineffective thanks to his 5 runs allowed in 6 innings and throwing an inflated 121 pitches over that rocky road.  Willie Mays hit his 12 round tripper to lead all NL sluggers.  Matt Williams and Monte Irvin finally hit their respective 1st homers of the year.  Alvin Dark and Mays both had 2 RBI's as did Hank Sauer for the Cubbies, who in the words of manager Jim Walden, "are in full scale swoon".

Brew Crew takes 2 of 3 from Royals to move to within 2 games of 1st in AL East

8/29 - Royals Stadium
Brewers 6, Royals 2
Teddy Higuera vs Bret Saberhagen
The "Brew Crew" jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 2 innings and forced the offensively challenged Royals to play catchup, which is not their strong suit.  "Stormin" Gorman Thomas' bases clearing double accounted for all three runs in the top of the first.  Cecil Coopers 2 run single took care of the scoring in the second.  Amos Otis' RBI double and Danny Tartabull's RBI single in the bottom of the 3rd made it a 3 run game, but the Royals would get no closer.  Teddy Higuera went the distance to improve his record to 4-2.  Sabes dropped to 2-2, and based on his 2.08 ERA the Royals need to start hitting for him.

8/30 - Royals Stadium
Royals 8, Brewers 3
Mike Caldwell vs Kevin Appier
Caldwell disasterious campaign was the right tonic for KC's stagnant offense.  Amos Otis and Lou Pinella both had 3 hit days and KC as a team posted 16 safeties.  Frank White, Tartabull and Pinella all hit homers.  In limited action Sweet Lou's season average sits at a gaudy .500.  Appier went 7 2/3 before giving way to Steve Mingori.

8/31 - County Stadium
Brewers 16, Royals 10
Dennis Leonard vs Jim Colburn
Slugfest in Milwaukee saw the Brew Crew exploded for 5 huge runs in the bottom of the 7th to break open a 1 run game.  Gorman Thomas had a 3 homer day and accounted for 5 RBI's and of course 3 runs scored.  Yount, Molitor and Surhoff also went deep for the Brew Crew.  Bill Castro was spectacular pitching the final 3 scoreless innings to protect Milwaukee's lead.  In a rare start Clint Hurdle went 4 for 5 in a losing effort.  George Brett was 3 for 4 with 4 RBI and home for the Royals, but for some reason is still batting 6th.  Brew Crew moved to 2 out of the AL East lead.

Twins take 2 of 3 from 1st place Bombers

8/29-8/30 - Metropolitan Stadium
Twins 3, Yankees 0
White Ford vs Jim Perry
The "killer", Harmon Killebrew's 13th round tripper of the season and Bob Allison's 2nd combined with 8 shutout innings from Jim Perry to knock off the Bronx Bombers.  Whitey Ford gave up just 2 runs in 7 innings worth of work, but his offense never showed up to support him except for "the scooter", Phil Rizzuto's 2 hits.  Minny got only 5 hits on the day, but made them count.  Rick Aguilera notched his 5th save of the season with a perfect 9th inning capped off by fanning Mantle and Mattingly to end it.

Twins 6, Yankees 3
Vic Raschi vs Jim Kaat
Raschi had his worst performance of the season and was tagged with his first loss.  "Kitty" had a rock solid 7 1/3 inning stint and gave up just 3 runs.  Earl Battey's 3 run shot in the bottom of the 2nd got the scoring started.  Killebrew's RBI double in the second was followed up by Kirby Puckett's RBI double.  Mantle would hit his 8th homer in the 8th, but the Bombers were still down by 3, which was the final margin.

8/31 - Yankee Stadium
Yankees 2, Twins 1
Camilo Pascual vs Ron "Gator" Guidry
Lousiana Lighting only fanned 2, but he was in control for 7 2/3 innings of 1 run ball.  Ron Guidry, who rebounded from a horrific first start, is now out of manager Mike Hopcroft's dog house.  New York's offense is still puzzling their manager.  This game would be won on Gator's left arm and solo homers from Graig Nettles and The Mick.  Bob Allison's sac fly in the 8th got the Twins on the board.  Tony Oliva narrowly missed hooking one into the short porch in right to tie it.  Carew would follow with a double and Gator would be done.  The Goose would come on to put out the fire by blowing 3 heaters by Killebrew.  Rags would pitch a scoreless 9th for his 3rd save.

Reds take battle of 1st place teams with 2 over Phightin’s

8/29-8/30 - Crosley Field
Reds 13, Phillies 5
Chris Short vs Tom Seaver
Tom Terrific returned from the DL to give his team 5 solid innings.  While "the franchise" was scraping off the rust he was still more than effective.  The Big Red Machine supplied more than enough runs to chase Chris Short after 5.  A 3 for 5 day by "Doggie", Tony Perez, resulted in 2 RBI's and 3 runs scored.  Johnny Bench would got 2 for 4 and score 3 runs himself as the Reds cooled off the ever so hot Phightins.

Reds 5, Phillies 3
Curt Simmons vs Jose Rijo
A 2 run double in the top of the first would be all the runs that Rijo would allow in his 7 innings of work.  Rijo would also fan 7 then hand the ball off to the "Nasty Boys", who gave up just 1 unearned run.  Dave Concepcion's 3rd inning lead off homer was followed up by an RBI double by Frank Robinson to tie the game a 2-2.  A two run shot by Eric Davis in the 5th gave Cincy a 2 run lead.  Perez' RBI double bumped the lead to 3 runs.  Rob Dibble earned the save by getting the final 2 outs to break up Phillies rally.

8/31 - Veterans Stadium
Jim Maloney vs Terry Mulholland
Phillies 10, Reds 5
After scoring 3 runs in the top of the 7th the Reds looked poised to go for the sweep.  Their 1 run lead would not last long as the Phightin's torched relievers Don Gullett and Bob Purkey for 5 huge runs.  A two run homer by Bob Boone set the stage for a two run single by Larry Bowa.  Reliever Woodie Fryman would pitch to one batter to end the 7th and wind up with the win.  Mulholland had his first bad outing of the year which saw his ERA "balloon" to 2.80 after giving up 5 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings.  Pete Rose, doing double duty for both teams, would go 1 for 5 for Cincy and 3 for 5 for Philly.  The "secretary of defense" Garry Maddox would go 3-6 in the lead off spot and score 2 runs.  Barry Larkin would post a 3 for 4 day in vain.

A’s take 2 of 3 from Bosox

8/29-8/30 - Oakland Coliseum
Red Sox 19, A's 5
Dennis Eckersley vs Jim "Catfish" Hunter

4-5 for the Splendid Splinter

Forget Catfish, Jim hunter was more like Cat food and the Boston Red Sox were a pack of hungry felines.  Boston exploded for 6 runs in the top of the 1st, an inning that Hunter never completed.  11 batters in all would come to the plate with Hunter departing after getting just 2 outs.  Dewey Evans' 3 run blast was the big blow that sent Hunter to the showers.  Oakland would answer back with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, but Boston never stopped hitting in this one sided blow out.  Ted Williams went 4 for 5 with a homer and 2 RBI.  Evans and Freddy Lynn both had 4 RBI days.  Pete Runnells and Bobby Doerr had 3 RBI days.  Dennis Eckersley would fan 9 and go the distance for his 4th win of the season.  Oakland wasted multi homer games from Bill North and Reggie Jackson, who hit his 9th and 10th of the season.

A's 7, Red Sox 1
Bruce Hurst vs Vida Blue

Nothing to be Blue about with a CG victory and 1 ER

Oakland tattooed Hurst right from the onset.  3 runs in the first thanks to a bases clearing double by Gene Tenace was backed up by 4 more runs in the 7th.  Vida Blue finally found his stride and went the distance fanning 7 and giving up just one solo run in the 8th.  Mark McGwire added a solo homer in the 2nd for his fourth roundtripper of the season as the A’s easily won this contest going away.

8/31 - Fenway Park
A's 9, Red Sox 4
John "Blue Moon" Odom vs Luis Tiant

Bash Brother Canseco goes 3 for 5 & hits 5th HR

Oakland jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 3 innings, but the Bosox battled back to cut the lead to 1 thanks to a 3 run homer by Teddy "F'in ballgame" Williams in the bottom of the 5th.  Oakland would answer right back with 4 runs of their own in the 6th off of reliever Bill "Spaceman" Lee.  Terry "Grapes of Wrath" Steinbach led off the inning with a shot over the Green Monstah and was followed by Jerry Lumpe walking and Bert Campaneris singling.  Back to back RBI single by Rickey Henderson and Billy North made it a 4 run lead.  A sac fly by Ferris Fain bumped the lead to 5, which was the final margin.  Rick Honeycutt and Jack Aker finished out the final 2 1/3 innings in relief of Odom.  Bob Stanley threw three scoreless innings in relief for the Sahx after Tiant and Lee imploded.  Jose Canseco would bump his season average up to .298 by going 3 for 5 with 2 RBI and his 5th homer of the season.  Reggie hit his 11th of the season as the Bash Brothers came alive in this series.

KOD 12 - Weekly Newsletter - Featuring Cubs Corner by Jim

Click here to see the Newsletter
with our new feature:  Cubs Corner.  Every week we will highlight an article from a different manager on his franchise.

Stros take 2 of 3 from Amazin’s

Jon Matlack	Glenn Davis	Mike Scott

Astros lose the opener of the series with the NYM as Jon Matlack allows only 1 run in 8 IP. Hojo and Mazzilli lead the Mets to the 6-1 win. Houston then fights back for a late Rally in game 2; scoring 4 runs off the Mets bullpen staff of Ray Sadecki and Roger McDowell. Astros smacked 3 home runs, including the 5th of the year by Glenn Davis. Final Astros 9-8. Ken Forsch gets the win, Dave Smith closes out the final 2 innings in style.  Game three saw the respective "aces" face off with Mike Scott at home vs. Doc Gooden; both pitched well but Scott was victorious. Scott was 1 out away from a CG, with 0 earned runs and 9 Ks. Gooden went the CG with 8 Ks in 8 innings. Jose Cruz Jr (.297, 6 SB) was a run producer with 2 RBI. Terry Puhl in is first start of the year, and back up SS Craig Reynolds knocked in the other runs in the 4-1 Houston win.
--submitted by Mike Johnson--

Bucs stop Friars

Aug 25 – Bruce Hurst vs. Dock Ellis

Pirates score 3 in the 3rd on an RBI single by Dave Parker and a 2-run single by Willie Stargell to take a 3-1 lead.  The Padres tie it in the 4th on an error, then consecutive hits by Bruce Hurst, Gene Richards, and Tony Gwynn.  Bottom of the 6th, Manny Sanguillen homers to put the Bucs up 4-3.  The Padres threatened in the 8th when they got two on with two out, but Dave Giusti got Gene Richards to ground out to end the threat.  Giusti then pitched a perfect 9th for the save and a 4-3 Pirates’ win.

SD   3 12  0

Pit   4   7  2

W – Veale (1-0), L – Hurst (1-3), S – Giusti (1).  HR – Sanguillen (1)

 

Aug 26 – Randy Jones vs. Bob Friend

San Diego jumped to a 3-0 lead with back-to-back solo HR by Nate Colbert and Benito Santiago in the 2nd, and a Colbert sac fly in the 3rd.  Dave Parker’s HR in the 3rd made it 3-1, and they tied it in the 4th on PH Donn Clendenon’s 2-run single.  Bottom of the 6th, Randy Jones ran out of gas.  Five singles and a walk scored three runs and gave the Bucs’ a 6-3 lead.  In the 7th, Juan Eichelberger came on and was left in to take one for the team.  Over two innings Eichelberg walked 6 batters, gave up 6 hits, and was tagged for 9 runs, and the Pirates finished the day with a 15-3 win.  Dave Parker finished with 4 RBI for Pittsburgh.

SD   3   8  1

Pit 15 20  1

W – Tekulve (1-0), L – Jones (1-2).  HR – Colbert (3), Santiago (2); Parker (7)

 

Aug 27 – Vern Law vs. Steve Arlin

Steve Arlin didn’t have it, and then was left in until literally his arm was injured and he had to leave the game.  At this point is was 13-0 and the game was over.  The clubs finished the game, 21-2 Pittsburgh.  Law went all 9 for the Pirates.

Pit  21 22  0

SD    2   8  3

W – Law (3-0), L – Arlin (0-1).  HR – Stargell 2 (7, 8), Bonilla (7); Roberts (1), Gaston (1)

--submitted by Jesse Elicker--

O’s finally take a series…

Orioles take 2 of 3.  Brian Harvey still upset at being called by the wrong name. Check out his, uh, performance in Game 1 where he never got an out in the 9th.  The O’s were down 4-3 and Harvey was brought on to close out the game.  A lead off single to Al Bumbry was followed by consecutive walks to Don Buford and Don Baylor to load the bases.  Mr. Talkative, Eddie Murray, who specializes in grand-slams took the less explosive route for the walk off instead.  Murray lined one right up the middle to score Bumbry and Buford as Harvey walked dejectedly off the mound.

In Game 2, Jim Palmer didn’t pitch great (7.1 IP / 4 ER), but he  did pitch better than Witt (5 IP /6 ER).  Brooks Robinson had 3 RBI’s and Ken Singleton had 2.  California got homers from Wally “Absorbine” Joyner and Jim Fregosi, but still came up 2 runs short.  Hoyt Wilhelm was shaky in relief, but still got the job done for his first save of the year.

California rallied from 3 down to tie the game up in the 6th.  Homers by Don Baylor and Joyner squared the contest up.  A sac fly by “Mr. October”, Reggie Jackson in the 8th scored Joyner to put the Halos up for good to salvage the final game of the 3 game set.  Bryan Harvey pitched a perfect 9th to redeem himself for his game 1 gaffe.

--Bryan Harvey update contributed by Douglas Zaner--

Jints take 2 of 3 from declining Redbirds

The Cardinals season continues to crumble after a nice start, as the Giants pretty much dominate a three game inter-divisional set. The Cardinals managed to eek out a 1-0 win in game two behind the efforts of Curt Simmons, Ernie Broglio, and Todd Worrell.

But other than that, it was just about all Giants. St. Louis did jump out to a 6-2 lead in game one, as Silent George Hendrick was inserted into the lineup against lefty starter Johnny Antonelli, and paid dividends by clubbing two home runs good for 5 RBI. But the Giants closed it to 6-4 in the 6th, and then Lindy McDaniel had a an 8th inning meltdown, giving up 5 earned runs to hand the game over to the Giants. The big blow was a two-out grand slam off the bat of shortstop Alvin Dark.

After the game two nail biter, the Giants made it look easy at home in game 3. They hit four home runs, including number 10 from the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays, to overwhelm the Cardinals in a 9-1 route.

--submitted by Bike Mike--

North Side Swoon…

In the post series press conference, Manager Jim Walden held court. When asked about his feelings on the series, Walden had this to say : " I guess we forgot to put our major league baseball pants on today. When they had the ball we couldn't get any hits, much less score runs and when we had the ball we couldn't get anybody out. I wonder if Herman Munster's still available? Maybe Jethro Bodine, but he couldn't throw a lick without possum grease, so he's out, maybe Ellie Mae, they say she could throw better than Jethro anyway. Oh,well, we're sitting at five hundred and there's lots of baseball left to play, but we need to play better down the stretch."

Game 1
Wrigley Field     Time 3:58   77°   Light Rain    Attendance 32,838
John Smoltz   W (1-2)    Bill Hands L(3-1)
Atlanta 17  Chicago 1
The first pitch from Hands ended up in the left filed seats. One pitch and one swing from Bill Bruton and the Braves had a one run lead. The Cubs would answer in their half of the 1st as Ernie Banks would tie it up with a shot to left himself. In the top of the second, the first pitch of the 2nd inning by Hands was deposited in the center filed seats by Joe Torre. The Cubs would not answer in their half of the 2nd. Atlanta would continue to pound Cubs pitching as they belted out 21 hits and would score 15 more runs. Of the 21 hits by Atlanta 6 would be home runs topped by Eddie Matthews, who hit 3.

Game 2
Wrigley Field   Time  3:21   76°   Light Rain   Attendance   31,898
Lew Burdette W(3-1)   Fergie Jenkins  L(3-1)
Atlanta  12  Chicago Cubs 7
The second game of the series produced less Brave's runs and more Cub runs, it still ended with Atlanta taking the win. Chicago took an early one run lead in the bottom of the 1st. Eddie Matthews would start the 2nd for Atlanta with a home run and the Braves would add 2 more in the inning. Chicago would tie in the bottom of the 2nd on a Mark Grace 2 run shot to left. A 2 run shot by Andre Dawson in the Cubs 3rd would put Chicago ahead. The Cubs would keep that lead until the 5th. That's when not only the wheels came off for Chicago, but the engine threw a rod and the water pump blew a leak. Six runs would score for Atlanta powered by a Hank Aaron 2 run poke and a Jeff Blauser solo shot. Chicago was done. They would creep closer by getting runs in the bottom of the 5th and 6th, but again, Cub pitching allowed Atlanta to score 3 more in the 8th and that was that.

Game 3
Fulton-County Stadium    Time  2:24    85°  Light Rain   Attendance  39,003
Rick Reuschel  L(0-1)    Phil Niekro  W(5-0)
Chicago  0   Atlanta  4

The series moved back to Atlanta for the finale and "Nucksie" threw a gem in posting his 5th win of the year against no loses. The Braves pushed a run across in the 1st on a Hank Aaron base hit rbi.  Three more Braves runs in the 5th would do it for Atlanta. With Phil Niekro's flutterball working, he would only give up 3 hits to the Cubs, all singles, while only walking 2.

Thanks to Bill Keller for filling in for Ron Burdette. Ron, your Braves didn't miss a beat with Bill at the helm.
--submitted by Jim Walden--

Amazin’s sweep Bucs

8/22 - Forbes Field
Mets 3, Pirates 1
Dwight Gooden vs Steve Blass
Doc Gooden (4-0, 2.20) let the NL know that he is aiming to be the Cy Young Award recipient.  Doc fanned 5 in 7 2/3 innings worth of work, while only allowing 1 run in the 8th when he was tiring.  Steve Blass gave up just 1 more run than Doc, but they do not give awards or victories in baseball for "almost's".  The game was scoreless until the 6th, when Kevin McReynolds doubled home Lee Mazzilli with 2 outs.  Mazzilli, who in this series will be referred to as "the other Maz" lifted a sac fly to right to score Gary Carter to make it 2-0 New York.  The "other Maz" show would continue in the 9th as the Brooklyn native singled home Carter once again for New York's third and final run.

8/23 - Jets 16, Steelers 12
Jerry Koosman vs Vern Law
It could have been Bob Walk vs Mark Bomback in this one and it wouldn't have mattered.  Both offenses went into overdrive to produce this football score.  It could have been Bradshaw vs Namath judging by the results.  New York would post 24 hits, which for the Amazin's is like a week's worth of offense.  The "Straw-man", Darryl Strawberry broke out of his season long slum by going 4 for 5.  "Kid" Carter was 3 for 6 with a homer.  Pittsburgh posted 4 homers in a losing effort, including 2 by Bill Madlock.

8/24 - Mets 9, Pirates 6
Tom Seaver vs John Candelaria
Once again pitching meant little as both teams went toe to toe in another offensive showdown.  Keith Hernandez' 3 for 5 day included a 2 run shot and 4 RBI's.  Mex also made a huge play diving for a ball in the whole and turning one of his patented 3-6-3 DP's to get the Metsies out of trouble.  Ralph Kiner hit two homers and had 3 RBI's.  Every met starter, including Seaver had at least 1 hit.  The top three in NY's lineup (Agee, Millan & Hernandez) went 8-14 with 5 runs scored and 6 RBI's total.  Tug McGraw would pitch a perfect 9th for his first save of the season.

Phightin’s sweep Redbirds

Cardinals have lost 5 straight and 9 of 12, while the Phillies are on a rampage. Phils totally dominate in this series - Cardinals never really in it and never had the lead during the entire series!  - quote attributed to Cardinal manager Bike Mike after the series.

8/22 - Busch Memorial Stadium
Phillies 4, Cardinals 2
Robin Robers vs Curt Simmons
Chalk this one up to the Phightin's pen not allowing a run, while the Cards pen gave up 2.  A Garry Maddox sac fly in the 8th broke a 2-2 deadlock.  A Mike Schmidt solo shot to lead off the 9th gave Philly a 2 run lead.  Jim Konstanty got the win and Tug McGraw posted his 6th save with a perfect 9th.

8/23 - Phillies 5, Cardinals 2
Terry Mulholland vs Bob Gibson
Terry Mulholland (3-0, 1.88) continues to surprise and confound the NL with his dominant pitching performances.  1 run and 6 k's over 6 innings is as good as it gets for Philly's "other" lefty.  Cardinal starter, HOF'er Bob Gibson was not his dominant self at all.  Battlin' Larry Bowa went 3 for 5 and scored 2 runs.  Greg Luzinski hit his first homer of the year as a pinch hitter.  Ken Boyer and Ted Simmons would combine for 4 of St. Louis' 6 hits.  Boyer would score both Cardinal runs.

8/24 - Phillies 9, Cardinals 0
Chris Short vs Steve Carlton
A 4 hit shutout by Chris Short would be the story of the day.  Short, who was 0-2 heading into the game with an inflated ERA finally gave his team the pitching performance they were expecting. Philly's offense bombarded St. Louis to the point of submission.  Johnny Callison had a 3 for 5 day to boost his season average to an unbelievable .517.  Mike Schmidt homered for the 7th time this season and is still shockingly hitting 7th.

Bombers take 2 of 3 from Detroit in a slugfest

8/22 - Yankee Stadium
Yankees 6, Tigers 2
Mickey Lolich vs Mel Stottlemyre
Al Kaline's 2 runs shot in the top of the first was all the scoring the Tigers could muster up vs Mel Stottlemyre.  Known by all to be the most unfortunate Yankee, Mel joined the team in 1964 just in time for their final pennant run, then got injured in 1975 and missed their next dynasty.  Here in KOD Mel is now 3-0 with a 2.37 ERA, because he's finally pitching for a team that can score runs.  Mickey Mantle's 3 run shot in the bottom of the 1st gave the Bombers a 3-2 lead.  Roger Maris' solo shot tow batters later made it 4-2 as the Bombers never looked back and Mel blanked Detroit for the final 8 innings.

8/23 - Tigers 11, Yankees 9
Jack Morris vs White Ford
Shockingly both offenses bombarded each team's respective ace.   Ford and Morris had identical linescores (6 IP / 7 ER) and neither factored into the decision.  Detroit seemingly busted the game open with a four spot in the top of the 9th off of Ralph Terry, who's quite used to giving up big hits in that inning.  Charlie Maxwell's 3 run shot might pale in comparison to Mazeroski's shot off of Terry, but trust me it was just as important to the fans back in Motown.  New York wasn't going to go easy in this contest.  The Bombers would score 2 runs in the bottom of the frame to make it a nail biter.  John Hiller would get the win for Detroit, but not survive the 9th. Charlie Fox and Willie Hernandez had to come in from the pen to lock it down.  Hernandez would record his 3rd save in the process.

9/24 - Yankees 10, Tigers 5
Frank Lary vs Vic Raschi
Both teams scored 3 runs in the 1st innings, but New York would explode with 4 big runs the following inning and never look back.  The middle of New York's lineup:  Mickey Mantle (2-4), Don Mattingly (4-5) & Joe DiMaggio (4-4) went a combined 10-13 with 7 RBI.  Joe D was a star amongst stars with his 4 for 4 day that included a homer and 5 RBI.  The Yankee Clipper helped pace an offense that banged out 16 hits.  Vic Raschi was not at his best, but with this kind of offensive support he did not need to be.  Raschi increased his record to 4-0 with a 2.73 ERA.  Gossage and Righetti combined to get the final 6 outs as the Yanks took the rubber match.