Bombers take 2 of 3 in pitching dominant series vs Tribe

8/7-8/9 - Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Yankees 1, Indians 0
Vic Raschi vs Mike Garcia
A call to arms visited the famed "mistake by the lake" today.  In a riveting pitcher's duel Vic Raschi one upped Mike Garcia.  Both hurlers fanned 7.  Raschi did his in 8 innings as he threw 2 hit ball.  Garcia did his in 9 as he got the coveted complete game, but not the valuable win thanks to a solo run that the Bombers scored in the 6th.  New York, which is known for winning via the long ball won this one playing small ball.  Rickey "my hammy is good" Henderson led off the 6th with a single and stole second, but was not able to score on Mantle's single with 1 out.  After Reggie Jackson struck out it came down to Roger Maris' clutch 2 out RBI single to carry the day.

Yankees 2, Indians 1
Allie Reynolds vs Bob Lemon
More great pitching once again.  New York carried a 2-0 lead into the 8th when the Tribe scored their first run of the series after being blanked for 16 consecutive innings.  Dave Righetti would be summoned from the pen to get the final 5 outs and make Roger Maris solo shot in the 4th stand up for his second game winning RBI in a row.  Bob Lemon, who went the distance was the hard luck loser, giving up 2 runs and fanning 4 in a complete game effort.

Indians 2, Yankees 1
Mel Stottlemyre vs Bob Feller
The Tribe managed to salvage a win in the series thanks to the the rocket right arm of one Rapid Robert Feller.  Bob kept his team in it by blanking the Bombers for 7 innings after giving up an RBI single to Maris in the top of the first.  Sinker ball specialist Mel Stottlemyre matched Feller by posting 7 shutout innings of his own.  An unearned run in the 3rd courtesy of a rare error by "the Scooter" Phil Rizzuto allowed the game to be tied a 1-1.  It didn't take long for the Indians to win this one in extras.  Ron Guidry replaced "Stotts" and pitched a perfect 9th, but he never was able to record an out in the 10th.  Ron Hassey led off with a walk.  Dale Mitchell's single put runners on the corners for Bobby Avila, who delivered the game winning hit.

Tigers take 2 of 3 from O’s

8/7-8/9 - Memorial Stadium
Tigers 8, Orioles 3
Denny McLain vs Scott McGregor
The top 3 batters in Detroit's lineup (Ron Leflore, Harvey Kuenn & Al Kaline) each had 3 hits.  Frank Bolling also had 3 hits as Motown's offense was just too much for Scotty McGregor.  Boog Powell hit 2 long balls and knocked in all 3 of Baltimore's runs as Denny McLain posted a quality start and Mike Henneman recorded a neat 2 inning save.

Tigers 7, Orioles 4
Hank Aguirre vs Mike Flanagan
Cal Ripken's bases clearing double provided 3 of the 4 runs for the  O's who jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first only to see Flanagan give 3 runs back in the 2nd.  A two run single by Lance Parrish followed a RBI double by Ray Boone.  Unfortunately for the O's their first inning outburst would result in all the runs that they would score on the day.  An RBI singles by Al Kaline and George Kell would give the Tigers the lead in the 5th.  Insurance runs in the 6th and 7th would seal the deal.  Frank Larry (4 2/3 IP) and John Hiller (3 1/3 IP) pitched brilliantly in relief for Aguirre who barely made it out of the first and never returned for the second.

Orioles 4, Tigers 1
Mickey Lolich vs Jim Palmer
Must games don't usually come around in game 6 of the regular season, but the O's entered this contest 0-5 and something had to give.  Ace Jim Palmer toed the rubber and while he wasn't brilliant, his results were.  Palmer walked 6 in 8 innings worth of work and didn't strike out one.  On most days a linescore like that would spell doom and gloom.  Today it worked just fine as Palmer only gave up 4 hits and 1 run.  Tippy Martinez and Ed Watt closed out the 9th inning to give the O's their much needed first win of the campaign.  A 3 run outburst in the 2nd off of Lolich was all Palmer would need on the day.  Paul Blair's 2 run triple scored Doug DeCinces and Davey Johnson.  Blair would sacore two batters later on a sac fly by Merv Rettenmund that narrowly missed going out.

Bosox take 2 of 3 from Brew Crew

8/7-8/9 - Milwaukee County Stadium
Brewers 6, Red Sox 1
Roger Clemens vs Teddy Higuera
Boston inexplicably started a worn out Rocket only to see him done in 2 1/3 innings worth of work.  Quite honestly it wouldn't have mattered one bit since Teddy Higuera tossed a two hitter while going the distance.  The only blemish on Higuera's day was a Ted Williams solo shot in the 4th.  The bottom of Milwaukee's lineup did most of the damage.  Jim Gantner (8th spot) went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and in the 9th hole BJ Surhoff was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI and a homer.  Six different Brewers scored runs in this contest.

Red Sox 5, Brewers 4
Frank Sullivan vs Bill Travers
A see-saw battle saw both starters exit the game with identical 7 IP / 4 ER linescores.  Boston took the lead for good in the top of the 8th when Bill Castro gave up a "Tater" to the "boomer" George Scott.  Sparky Lyle pitched the final 2 scoreless frames to notch the save.  Wade Boggs went 3 for 4 to increase his season aver age to .588.  Ben Oglivie was also 3 for 4, so his average is at a whopping .625.

Red Sox 9, Brewers 7
Dennis Eckersley vs Mike Caldwell
The rubber match was a wild one.  Neither starter was effective, especially Caldwell, who made his career on being basically a "Yankee killer".  That part of his resume would have no effect on the Bosox who run up his cash register to the tune of 7 ER's in 4.2 innings.  With the score 9-4 Boston's pen began to melt down by giving up 3 runs in the 8th.  Tom Burgmeier and Ellis Kinder each had issues, so they had to rely on Dick Radatz to throw a perfect 9th to save it.  Dewey Evans had a perfect 4 for 4 game at the plate.  Rico Petrocelli had 3 RBI's.  Boston had 17 hits total.  Milwaukee had 15 hits.  In a losing effort Paul Molitor went 4 for 5 with 5 RBI's.  Rob Deer went 3 for 5 to raise his average to .385 on the season which shocks everyone.

Friars take 2 of 3 from Cincy

Game 1 at San Diego,

Mario Soto and Bruce Hurst threw strong games  However, Hurst earned the win with support from rightfielder Dave Winfield. Winfield smashed a 3-run homerun and drove in another run to lead the Padres over the powerful Big Red Machine. Juan Eichelberger pitched 2 innings in relief, and dispite giving up a pair of solo homeruns in the 9th to Gus Bell and Ted Kluzewski, earned the save. Leadoff man Bip Roberts collected 3 hits, scored 3 runs and drove in a pair for San Diego...Final Score: San Diego 8....Cincinnati 5

Game 2 at San Diego,

The Reds evened the series with a shellacking of the Padres. Gary Nolan pitched into the ninth inning but was relieved by Clay Carroll to help finish out the game for Cincy.  The Reds put up a pair of runs in the second, fourth, and eighth innings to work over the Padres. San Diego starter, Eric Show pitched 5 innings surrendering 4 runs before being relieved by Dan Spillner.  Frank Robinson hit his second homerun of the tourney and Johnny Bench hit his first. Joe Morgan collected three safeties in the victory.  Final Score....Cincinnati 6....San Diego 1.

Game 3 at San Diego,

This game was a slugfest classic. Padre lefty starter, Randy Jones was rocked 10 runs in six innings of work but was taken off the hook with a late rally by the Padre offense.  Cincinnati held a 10-4 lead heading into the seventh until the pesky friar offense kicked in.  The Pads plated 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 10-8.  Steve Garvey tied the game in the 8th inning with a 2-run homerun into the big seats in left.  The beleaguered Red bullpen was roughed up as Borbon, Charlton, Purkey, Franco, and Dibble could not put Padre offensive fires out.  The game was decided in the bottom of the ninth as they loaded the bases with one out.  Luis Salazar hit a slow roller to secondbasemen Johnny Temple for the force but Dave Concepcion's relay to first was not in time to complete the double play which would've ended the inning. Final Score: San Diego 11....Cincinnati 10.

--submitted by Joey Scigliano--

Bucs sweep ‘Spos

Aug 7 – Bryn Smith vs. Vern Law

Quite a pitchers’ battle!  Bucs take a 1-0 lead in the 2nd on Willie Stargell’s solo HR.  That’s all old Pear Body would give up.  Gary Carter would tie the game in the 4th with a solo blast of his own, 1-1.  And...that’s all Law would allow.  In the 8th, Tim Burke gives up an innocent walk.  With two outs, Barry Bonds draws a walk as a pinch hitter.  Up next is Jay Bell, and he delivers a single to left center, deep enough to score Johnny Ray from 2nd, and the Pirates take a 2-1 lead.  Top of the 9th, Roy Face on to try to nail it down.  Andre Dawson leads off with a single.  Carter flies out.  With one down the Expos try the running game, but Manny Sanguillen’s throw beats Dawson for the 2nd out.  Tim Wallach lines out, and the Pirates take the opener, 2-1.

Mon  1  7  1

Pit     2  8  0

W – Law (1-0), L – Burke (0-1), S – Face (1).  HR – Carter (1); Stargell (2)

Aug 8 – Scott Sanderson vs. Dock Ellis

Dock Ellis escaped trouble inning after inning and the Pirates used  three home runs to beat Montreal 5-1.  Ellis, who worked 6.2 innings allowing just 1 run, had men on base in every inning but the 2nd.  It was a frustrating day for the Expos, who had a man thrown out at the plate in the 5th and hit into a DP to prevent a 7th inning rally.  For the Pirates, they trailed 1-0 in the 4th when Tony Pena homered to give them a 2-1 lead.  Bobby Bonilla led off the 5th with a solo HR, and later that inning Tony Pena singled in the 4th run.  Andy Van Slyke capped the scoring with a solo HR in the 6th. 

Mon   1  7  0

Pit      5 12  2

W – Ellis (1-0), L – Sanderson (0-1).  HR – Pena (1), Bonilla (3), Van Slyke (1)

Aug 9 – Steve Rogers vs. Doug Drabek

This one slowly slipped away before a 4-run 7th sealed a 9-0 Pittsburgh win.  The Pirates sweep  of Montreal is a rarity, perhaps the first time in KOD that this has happened (check?).  Again Montreal could not get a key hit when needed, having 6 men on base in the first 3 innings, but scoring no runs.  The Pirates got a run in the 2nd on Dick Groat’s RBI double, then two more in the 3rd on Andy Van Slyke’s lead off triple, Bonilla’s double, and later Johnny Ray’s sac fly.  Ralph Kiner’s single in the 4th made it 4-0, which is how it stayed until the 7th.  Matty Alou’s PH single made it 5-0, then Van Slyke’s 3-run HR sealed the game.  Another meaningless run made it 9-0. 

Mon   0  6  1

Pit      9 16 1

W – Drabek (1-1), L – Rogers (0-1).  HR – Van Slyke (2)

--submitted by Jesse Elicker--

Cubbies sweep Phightins

Game 1
It was opening day in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field as the Cubs hosted the Philadelphia Phillies. It was not friendly to the Phils, as the Cubs pounded Phils starter,Chris Short for 7 runs in the first 4 innings. Chicago would add 8 more runs over their last three at bats. When Shorts could get nobody out, Ron Reed was brought in to stem the Cubs tide, but he gave up 5 runs. Woody Fryman tried next and only gave up 1 run. It was Gene Garbers turn next and he gave up 2 more.
Ken Holtzman, who had the good stuff all day, pitched 8 innings for Chicago and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits. Holtzman had to leave the game in the 9th with a sore arm and Bruce Sutter closed out the game for the Cubs. Ernie Banks popped two long balls in the bleachers and Andre Dawson hit his third of the year, while Ron Santo hit his first of the year.
The Cubs cruised to the final of 15-3.

Game 2
The 2nd game of the series was much closer, but a 1 run win is just as good as 12. Chicago started "Big Daddy" Rick Reuschel, the NL CY Young winner in KOD 11. "Big Daday' promptly gave up a couple of hits and a sacrifice fly as Philadelphia took a 1 run lead. Reuschel would help his cause in the bottom of the 2nd by smacking a double to left which scored Dawson to tie the game. In the Cub half of the 3rd, Dawson would hit his 4th home run of the year. It would be a 2 run poke to Waveland and Chicago would have a 3-1 lead. The Phillies would tie it up in the top of the 5th as 'The Bull," Greg Luzinski would double to right and Bob Boone would follow with another double,scoring Luzinski. Philly starter, Jim Konstanty would slap a base hit to right,scoring Boone and it was tied.In the 8th, Chicago would wrap a couple of base hits around an intentional walk and retake the lead, 4-3. In the top of the 9th, Richie Allen would rattle one down into the right field corner for Philadelphia and would score on a well executed squeeze to tie it up. In the bottom of the 10th, Ryne Sandberg would single home Rick Monday, who had led off the inning with a single, and Chicago would take an exciting game 2 by a 5-4 margin.

Game 3
"We didn't even show up for the series, and Robin Roberts left his head at the breakfast buffet at the hotel," so said the Philly manager, Justin Ryan. Chicago pounded,Philadelphia starter Robin Roberts for 4 runs in the 2nd  on a Rick Monday lead off double, followed by a Fergie Jenkins triple. Ryne Sandberg would single and Ernie Banks tripled and that was followed by a Bill Buckner sac fly. 4 runs by the Cubs and the game was done. Cubs starter, Fergie Jenkins would give up only 4 hits over the course of 9 innings. Hank Sauer would hit his second dinger of the year and Rick Monday would knock his first of the year. Mike Schmidt hit his first for Philadelphia, accounting for Philly's 2 runs, but it was not enough as Chicago wins game 3, 7-2.
--submitted by Jim Walden--

A’s take 2 of 3 from Chisox

Oakland Coliseum - 8/7-8/9
GAME 1 - A's 2, White Sox 1
Billy Pierce vs Rick Langford
Harold Baines doubled home Nellie Fox in the top of the 1st for what would be the Chisox only offensive digit on the day.  Billy Pierce was tasked with the near impossible assignment of making that lone run stick.  For the better part of the day it looked like Pierce was going to get done.  Then just like that in the bottom of the 7th Joe Rudi led off with a triple and Gene Tenace followed that up with an RBI double to tie the game at 1.  Bill North was called on to pinch hit for Vic Power with the sole goal of bunting the slow footed Tenace over to third.  North's bunt wound up in the gold glove of the hard charging Robin Ventura, who made a split second decision to throw th third to cut Tenace down.  Kudos to Luis Aparicio for putting the rotation play on and executing it to perfection.  Oakland looked to have blown a golden opportunity.  North immediately stole second in an effort to attone for his sin of not getting Tenace to third.  North would prove to be a repeat sinner on the following play as he was gunned down by Harold Baines at the plate on Dick Green's single.  Oakland at this point really looked like a team that was destined to shoot itself in the foot by blowing so many golden opportunities to take a late inning lead.  Rickey Henderson was then give an intentional pass to create a force on the bases since Green snuck into second on the play at the plate.  Bert "Campy"  Campaneris stepped to the plate and delivered a clutch RBI single off of Hoyt Wilhelm, who by this time was in to replace the hard luck Pierce.  Neither team scored in the 8th, so Dennis Eckersley was called on to close out the 9th and protect a 1 run lead.  "The Eck" nearly got fouled up on his first pitch as Floyd Robinson hit one to the track in right that Canseco caught just on the edge of the outfield grass.  Aparicio tried to bunt himself on, but a hard charging Feris Fain, who replaced McGwire for defense, nipped Little Louie by a hair with his throw to Green who was covering first.  Jim Landis was Chicago's final hope and he did little to create a buzz with a ho-hum two hopper that Campy easily fielded at short to end the game.

GAME 2 - White Sox 11, A's 4 (15 inn)
Joe Horlen vs Bob Welch
A rare blow out extra inning win was recorded by the Chisox.  After carrying a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 9th the Chisox could not seal the deal.  Once again Wilhelm had trouble late.  Today's trouble came in the form of a solo shot by light hitting second baseman Tony Phillips.  The game headed to extra's and the Chisox looked to once again put it away when they scored a solo run off of reliever Rick Honeycutt in the top of the 10th on single to right by Nellie Fox that Jose Canseco booted into a run.  Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, performs miracles in August too as evidenced by his 10th inning lead off tape measure job off of Wilhelm to once again tie the game up.  Neither team would score in the next 4 extra frames.  John "Blue Moon" Odom looked rock solid for the A's until the wheels fell completely off his proverbial wagon in the top of the 15th.  Chicago would go on to send 13 batters to the plate in that half inning and score 8 runs to make the game a blow out and Odom's ERA soar through the stratosphere.  Minnie Minoso had a 2 run double in the 15th.  Greg Walker followed with a 2 run triple and a few batters later Ozzie Guillen had a 2 run single.  The floodgates surely opened wide.  Eddie Fisher, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief wasn't able to stick around long enough to get the win, which went to Bobby Thigpen.  Starters Joe Horlen (6.2 IP / 1 ER) and Bob Welch (7 IP / 1 R) didn't factor into the decision and their efforts became barely noticed like a page 32 retraction in Saturday's paper.

GAME 3 - A's 9, White Sox 4
Gary Peters vs Catfish Hunter
The highly publicized pitcher's duel between respective aces (Peters & Hunter) never materialized.  Both squads scored early and often with the A's jumping out to a 4-1 lead on the heels of a Gene Tenace 3 run shot in the bottom of the 2nd.  Chicago answered right back with 3 in the 3rd off of Hunter who has looked more like a joker than an ace in his first two early season starts.  Peters was gone before the second inning expired and the Chisox went to their pen early and often.  In all 6 relievers came on board as manager Dan Holm wore out the sod between the third base dugout and the mound.  After a rough first 3 innings Hunter battened down the hatches and pitched 4 shutout innings until he handed the ball off to reliever Paul Lindblad, who got the save thanks to 2 scoreless innings of his own.  Rickey Henderson's 2 run blast off of Thigpen in the 9th turned a 3 run lead into a 5 run blowout.  Oakland's base stealing merchant had himself a 3 for 4 day where he scored 3 runs and knocked in 2.