Redbirds take 2 of 3 from Bravos

The St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves squared off in a three game inter-division series. They split the first two games, each tense, close, well played games in which the final margin of victory was a single run. The Cardinals then overwhelmed Warren Spahn and several relievers in the third game to win by a football-like 14-7 margin.

The opener in St. Louis saw Bob Gibson and Johnny Sain take the mound. After a scoreless first, Atlanta drew first blood on a single by Rico Carty, a walk to Joe Adcock, and a two-out single by shortstop Johnny Logan.

The Cardinals overtook the Braves by scoring 2 in the 3rd on a single by Tommy Herr, a sacrifice bunt by Gibson, and two out doubles by Curt Flood and Stan Musial. The Braves then leap-frogged back in front on a two-out, two run single by Billy Bruton, plating Joe Torre and Johnny Logan.

Each team tallied in the ninth, with the Cardinals leaving the potential tying run on third and winning run on first as Lou Brock grounded out to end the game.

The next two games switched to Georgia, and the Cardinals especially liked hitting in that ballpark. They started quickly in game two against Phil Neikro as Lou Brock singled leading off the game, and after Curt Flood grounded out, '40s era St. Louis swifties Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter hit back to back triples. Ken Boyer then plated the third run of the inning on a ground out.

Nelson Briles earned the start, his second of the year, after pitching brilliantly in his prior start, and was touched for two runs in the third on a Glenn Hubbard single, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch, then a walk to Jeff Blauser, and singles by the twin greats from the Milwaukee days, Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron.

The Redbirds padded their slim one run lead with two in the sixth on Musial's second triple of the game, and Ken Boyer's 5th home run of the season. The Braves got back to within a run again in the 7th on a single by Bruton, and a home run by the red hot Jeff Blauser. That ended Briles' day on the hill, as the Cardinals called on Al Hrabosky to finish the inning.

Curt Flood's 3rd home run of the year, off of Tom House who had come in to pitch the eighth, put the Cards on top by 2. But the Braves came back with a run of their own off Lindy McDaniel on a Del Crandall double, a single by Felipe Alou moving Crandall to third, and a sac fly by Dale Murphy.

After Dom McMahon pitched around two hits to put up a goose egg in the Cardinal ninth, Todd Worrell came on to save it. But he wasted no time in giving up the save as the first batter, Bill Bruton, homered to tie it.

The Cardinals didn't fold however, as Worrell did not allow the Braves to win it, thus sending the game to extra innings. Lou Brock lead off the 10th against Rick Camp, the fourth Brave hurler, with a single, and sped around the bases to score on a double off the bat of Flood.

That was all the visitors needed as Bob Forsch came on and struck out the side in the ninth, with a single by Alou in between Ks number one and two, to nail down the win.

Game three turned out to be a laugher as the Cardinals pounded out 20 hits and hit three home runs, scoring 14 times to coast to a victory. They had a 14-3 lead in the seventh when the Braves got off the deck and got four of their own to make it an offensive day all around.

Ken Boyer had 4 hits, including his sixth home run, while Joe Torre contributed three hits and his third homer to the Cardinal effort. Hank Aaron hit numbers 9 and 10 for Atlanta, with four hits of his own and four RBI. Curt Simmons probably had his worst start of the season, yet came away with a relatively easy win as Warren Spahn dropped to 2-4 on the season.

--submitted by Bike Mike--