‘84 Tigers take 2 of 3 from ‘91 Twins

Wednesday September 17 at HHH Metrofome

Lance Parrish led off the 4th with his third homer of the season.  Doubles by Darrel Evans and Howard Johnson put another run on the board to give the Tigers a 2 run lead.  In the bottom of the fourth, Chuck Knoblach and Kirby Puckett led off with singles  Two groundouts produced a run and cut the lead to 1.  It stayed that way to the bottom of the 8th.  With one out, Brian Harper doubled and came home on Gene Larkin's single to tie the game.  After a ground out moved Larkin to second, Chili Davis singled him home to give the Twinkies their first lead of the game.  The Tigers came right back Walks to Larry Herndon, HoJo and Lou Whitaker loaded the base with one out.  Alan Trammell singled home one run and Kirk Gibson singled home two more. The Twins got one back in the bottom of the 9th but it wasn't enough.  Aurelio Lopez got the win (1-0, 9.20) with Willie Hernandez getting a save (6 saves, 0.00)  Rick Aguilera took the loss (0-1, 1.75)  Tigers 5  Twins 4

Thursday September 18 at HHH Metrodome

The Twins scored first, picking up single runs in the first and second innings.  In the first, Puckett doubled and scored on Kent Hrbek's single.  In the second, Larkin singled and came home on Randy Bush's triple.  The Tigers tied the game in the 5th on Herndon's two run single.  Then the Motor City Cats broke the game open in the sixth, scoring five times highlighted by Chet Lemon's grand slam homer (2).  Parrish added a solo homer (4) in the 9th as the Tigers cruised 8-2.   Milt Wilcox evened his record (2-2, 2.84) while Scott Ericson remains winless (0-5, 6.18)  Tigers 9 Twins 2

Friday September 19 at Tiger Stadium

Tiger starter Dave Rozema never got untracked (2-1, 8.91) as he surrendered 6 runs in 2.1 innings.  The Tiger bullpen would hold the Twins in check the rest of the way but the damage was done.  Randy Bush did the biggest damage with a two run single in the 1st and a two run double in the third.  The Tigers got three back in the second but that was all they could get as Alan Anderson scattered 10 hits over 6.1 innings to earn the win (4-2, 4.68)  Paul Abbott picked up his first save (1 save, 1.38)  Twins 6  Tigers 3

--submitted by Tom “Crash” Davis--

‘67 Redbirds take 2 of 3 from ‘55 Boys of Summer

Game 1 at St. Louis: Brooklyn 1, St. Louis 5

Two historical National League franchises hooked up in an inter-division series, as the famous “Boys of Summer” from the borough of Brooklyn took on the Midwestern legacy that is the St. Louis Cardinals. A rivalry that peaked in the 1940s when the two franchises accounted for all but one of the NL pennants between 1941 and 1947, it is always fun when these two clubs get together even with the time warp that we live in on the fields of KOD baseball.

Cardinal manager Bike Mike went with young righthander Jim Cosman to open the series, against Dodger ace Don Newcombe. Lefty Steve Carlton was rested and available, but with the Dodgers heavy right-handed hitting lineup, Bike chose to skip Carlton’s spot in the rotation.

Cosman was sharp early on, as never faced more that four Brooklyn hitters in any of the first five innings. The Cardinals started fast on offense as well, scoring two in the first on singles by Curt Flood and Orlando Cepeda, and Mike Shannon’s two-out two-run double. Shannon added a run scoring single in the third.

It was 3-0 Redbirds in the sixth when Cosman retired leadoff hitter Pee Wee Reese on a grounder to fellow shortstop Dal Maxvill, then signaled to the dugout that something was wrong. He looked at his hand, tried throwing a couple of pitches, then left the game to a round of cheers that included a standing ovation, as a blister on his right middle finger knocked him out of the contest. Nelson Briles took over.

The Dodgers got on the board in the seventh, and the Cardinals added two more in the eighth to complete the scoring. Ron Willis hurled the final two frames to close out the Cardinal victory.

Game 2 at St. Louis: Brooklyn 5, St. Louis 1

In a game that was almost an exact mirror image of the first game, the Dodgers turned the score around behind Johnny Podres and evened the series at a game apiece. The line scores of the two games were almost identical, with the clubs switching places:

Game 1: Brooklyn 1-4-0

St. Louis 5-13-0

Game 2: Brooklyn 5-14-0

St. Louis 1-5-0

Ray Washburn took the hill for the Cardinals, and turned in his worst outing of the year getting roughed up for 12 hits in 5 innings. Brooklyn opened the scoring in the second on singles by Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Don Hoak, and Podres, the latter  two plating the runs. Podres came in to the game hitting .077, yet went 2 for 3. Hoak added a homerun in the fourth, and a sac fly in the fifth to finish 3 for 3 with 3 RBI hitting in the number 8 spot. Campanella also chipped in three hits, and Hodges two.

Podres turned in 7 2/3 innings of five hit, one run ball, while Clem Labine finished up the Dodger win.

Game 3 at Brooklyn: St. Louis 9, Brooklyn 1

The series shifted to Brooklyn and cozy Ebbets Field, quite a change from expansive Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The rubber match saw Billy Loes take on Bob Gibson.

Loes struggled with his command in the first, as Curt Flood ripped a sharp single to center, and Roger Maris walked. The dangerous Orlando Cepeda came to bat, and just missed his pitch hitting a fly to deep center that Duke Snider caught in front of the warning track.

Mike Shannon then worked Loes for another walk, loading the bases. Struggling Tim McCarver came up, and promptly jumped on a Loes fastball and deposited it into the right field bleachers for a grand slam.

Giving Bob Gibson four runs is a pretty safe bet, but the Dodgers still had 27 outs to work with. And Gibby looked like he might have his own control problems, as he promptly walked Pee Wee Reese to start the game. Junior Gilliam then forced Reese, and stole second. After retiring Duke Snider, Roy Campanella doubled to score Gilliam, before Gibson retired Gil Hodges on the fly bal to center that Flood made a nice running catch on.

After that though, Gibson got in to a groove and was sharp the  rest of the way, surrendering only two singles over the last eight innings, while striking out five and walking none. McCarver added a second home run in the fourth, this one of the solo variety, and the Cardinals put four more late runs on the board to make the game a blow out.

A young Dodger lefthander by the name of Tom Lasorda came in to hurl in the ninth, and was obviously overwhelmed by being on a major league mound as he uncorked three wild pitches in the inning. The poor kid is probably an introverted and shy youth, one of many who are but shooting stars in the major leagues and after their brief moment in the sun are never heard from again. You can bet your life savings that this will be the case with young Mr. Lasorda.

--submitted by BikeMike--

‘73 A’s play spoiler by taking 2 of 3 from ‘20 Tribe

9/17-9/18 - Oakland Coliseum
GAME 1 - Indians 5, A's 4
Jim Bagby (5-2, 2.57) had a neat little 5-0 shutout going until the A's made it real interesting with 4 runs in the home half of the inning.  After Tris Speaker hit a 2 run triple to post 3 runs in the top of the inning the A's were given up for dead.  Then in the bottom of the frame Joe Rudi singled home Ray Fosse and Reggie Jackson hit a mammoth 3 run homer, which would be Bagby's wakeup call to start concentrating again.  "Bags" was able to get the next 5 batter in a row to complete the game and hold on for a 1 run victory.

GAME 2 - A's 7, Indians 3
With no score in the game Derron Johnson hit a grand slam off of Caldwell (3-3, 3.98) to give the A's a nice lead.  Unfortunately for Oakland Catfish Hunter (4-4, 3.26) was in a generous mood and gave up 3 runs to the Indians in the 7th.  The A's answered back with 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning as Campy Campaneris bunted his way on and proceeded to steal both 2nd and 3rd, then scored on a Reggie Jackson double.  Sal Bando singled Reggie home to make it 6-3 and Campy doubled Ray Fosse home in the following inning to make it 7-3.

9/19- Legue Park
GAME 3 - A's 3, Indians 1
Kenny Holtzman (6-2, 2.76) continued with his magical spell over AL hitters.  O'Neill led off the 3rd with a line shot homer to break the ice and put the Tribe up 1-0.  Stan Coveleski (3-4, 2.30) continued to be a hard luck pitcher as that one run would be all his offense would afford him.  Holtzman would fare better when his team spotted him 3 runs in the top of the 4th when Dick Green, who came off the bench to fill in for the injured Ted Kubiak, hit a 2 run shot after Reggie scored on a error by Bill Wambsganss.  Holtzman played tricks on the heavily lefty Cleveland lineup and went the distance to notch his 6th win.

‘93 Jays take 2 of 3 from ‘85 Royals

Game 1

at Kansas City,

The Royals jump out to an early 2-0 lead as they score single runs in the second and fourth innings. Frank White hit his team leading 8th homerun in the fourth for the Royals.  Toronto ties the game 8th inning with two runs of their own. The game goes into extras and the Royals win it when Paul Molitor hits a leadoff homerun and Toronto pushes across another run off beleaguered reliever Mike Lacoss. The Royals threaten and score a run in the bottom half but came up short. Blue Jays 4....Royals 3.

Game 2

at Kansas City,

Danny Jackson and Pat Hentgen squared in the second game of this series in muggy Kansas City.  The Royals put up four quick runs in the first as the hot hitting Frank White hit a three run bomb to left, his 9th, to lead the charge.  This lead approved to be short lived as the struggling Danny Jackson surrendered four runs in the top half of the second.  Both pitchers were on their game after that until the top of the eight inning.  Cedeno singled followed by a walk to catcher Knorr and then Devon White smacked a pinch hit, three run round tripper to give the bird hosts a 7-4 lead.  Mike Timlin came in to close the game out for the Blue Jays in the ninth and despite giving up a run, earned his 7th save. Pat Hentgen evens his record at 2-2 and Joe Beckwith gets tagged with the loss and now becomes 0-1.  Paul Molitor collected 3 hits to lead Toronto. 

Game 3

Skydome, Toronto,

Bud Black was stellar for the Royals as he went the distance to earn his second win.  The hitting star was Lonnie "Skates" Smith as he banged out three hits including 2 triples that led to 3 RBI.  Black surrendered one run on seven hits. He struck out only one batter but was clearly in command. Stottlemyre got the loss and moves to 2-4. Final score: Kansas City 7....Toronto 1

--submitted by Joey Scigliano--

Standings and Leaders as of Week 8

 

 

‘02-Angels take 2 of 3 from the ‘07-Sahx

9/13-9/14 - Fenway Park
GAME 1 - Angels 4, Red Sox 3
Things looked good when the Sahx jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead off of Kevin Appier in the bottom of the first.  Mike Lowell doubled home Dustin Pedroia for the first run of the game with 1 out.  Big Papi singled home Lowell for run number 2 and Jason Veritek singled home Papi with run number 3.  John Lester had himself a nice lead and was cruising until he hit the fifth inning.  After Adam Kennedy singled, David Eckstein singled to put runners on the corners.  Scott Spiezio walked and up stepped Tim Salmon who hit the game breaker.  Salmon launched a majestic shot arching high over the Green Monstah seats for a huge grand slam. The Angels were able to get to the 9th to hand the ball off to Troy Percival who fanned 2 to notch his 6th save of the season.

GAME 2 - Red Sox 13, Angels 6
Six Boston homers gave Tim Wakefield (3-1, 4.54) more than enough runs to win.  Amazingly those homers came from 6 different Red Sox players.  David Ortiz hit his 9th and Jason Varitek went 4 for 4 and hit his 2nd.  Manny Delcarmen pitched a perfect 2 and 1/3 innings to close it out.

9/15- Edison Int Field
GAME 3 - Angels 2, Red Sox 0
Aaron Sele had a 4 hit shutout for 6 innings then gave way to the pen, as 4 Angel relievers combined to hold down the vaunted Red Sox offense.  On the back end Troy Percival got the final 2 outs to post his 7th save of the season.  Boston's Curt Schilling (4-2, 3.18) had a shutout of his own until the he gave up a 2 run shot to Adam Kennedy in the bottom of the 5th on a day where runs would come at a premium.

‘03 Fish take 2 of 3 from ‘95 Braves

9/13-9/14 - Pro Player Stadium
GAME 1 - Braves 6, Marlins 5
Down 5-4 and heading into the top of the 8th the Braves rallied to score 2 runs off of embattled Marlin reliever Braden Looper (1-5, 4.30).  With 2 outs David Justice singled to right and light hitting backup catcher Charlie O'Brien walked to bring up Jeff Blauser, who was pinch hit for by Dwight Smith who delivered a clutch RBI double.  Mark Lemke followed Smith with a go ahead RBI single.  Pedro Borbon Jr. would throw a perfect 9th to get the save.

GAME 2 - Marlins 3, Braves 1
Dontrelle Willis (2-1, 3.30) went six strong innings allowing just 1 run and fanning 7.  Atlanta could muster just 1 run when Marquis Grissom singled home Jeff Blauser in the top of the 5th.  By that point Florida still had a 2-1 lead thanks to Willis helping out his own cause with a 2 run single in the 2nd.  A Chipper Jones throwing error on a grounder by Gonzalez would have been the second out of the inning, but instead it helped advance the runners into scoring position.  Floriad posted a much needed insurance run in the 8th when Pudge Rodriguez singled and stole second and was eventually doubled home by pinch hitter Todd Hollandsworth.  Looper pitched a perfect 8th to atone for his fiasco from yesterday and Urbina closed it out for his 6th save.

9/15- Fulton County Stadium
GAME 3 - Marlins 3, Braves 1
A rain delay of just over an hour and a half in the 2nd inning limited the effectiveness of both team's starters.  Steve Avery of the Braves allowed no runs, but was done after 3 innings.  Chris Redman (3-2, 6.84) of the Marlins allowed 1 run in 5 and 1/3 innings of work.  Long reliever Jason Schmidt of the Braves was victimized for all 3 Marlin runs in the top of the 6th when Mike Lowell went yard with a 3 run shot that accounted for all of the runs the Marlins would get / need on the day.

‘20 Tribe takes 2 of 3 from ‘85 Royals

Game 1 at Cleveland:  CLE 8, KCR 5

Mark Gubicza and Caldwell faced off in this one but Cleveland's swatters got the best in this one as they put up a 6 spot in the fifth to win it.  Seven consecutive Cleveland batters reached base in the inning to chase Gubicza. Tris Speaker and Larry Gardner drove in 2 runs apiece for the tribe. Pat Sheridan collected 3 hits for the Royals.  Caldwell went the distance to improve to 3-2 while Gubicza sinks his record, 0-2.

Game 2 at Cleveland:  KCR 8, CLE 6

Buddy Black and Guy Morton had a solid pitcher's duel that was not decided until extra innings.  Black surrendered 3 runs on 7 hits through 9 innings and was replaced by Dan Quisenberry in the 10th inning. Both teams were tied at 3 runs going into the 10. The Royals plated five runs off of relievers Niehaus and Clark. Niehaus earned the loss.  Frank White drove in three runs while collecting 2 hits.  Black earns his first victory of the season. Quisenberry still has struggles as he threw one inning but allowed three runs on four hits as Kansas City won 8-6.

Game 3 at Kansas City:  CLE 3, KCR 1

Cleveland lefty, Duster Mails pitched a strong game as he went the distance in a nicely paced game.  Mails evens his record at 1-1 as he gave up only one run on five hits.  Charlie Liebrandt pitched a solid game but got the short end of the decision because KC's bats were silenced.  Liebrandt goes to 2-4 on the year. 

--submitted by Joey Scigliano--

‘91 Twins take 2 of 3 from ‘93 Jays

9/13-9/14 - Skydome
GAME 1 - Blue Jays 6, Twins 3
Have no fear, Jack Morris (1-1, 2.65) is everywhere.  In fact the great Jack Morris is represented on 3 teams this season, which is truly a testament to how great and underappreciated he is.  Message to BBWAA:  Vote this man into the HOF.  It's not a fluke that he played on 3 different franchises that won a World Championship.  Today he represented Toronto...and yes he represented them well.  Morris gave up just 3 hits and didn't allow a Twin runner to touch home.  David West (0-1, 4.26) was victimized for 4 runs in the 4th, which was all the scoring Morris would need.  With one out in the 3rd Turner Ward smoked a 2-1 offering deep into the night for a 3 run shot.  Minnesota would score 3 runs in the 9th to make this game interesting against Morris' replacement Castillo.  The game was plagued by all around sloppy play in the field as both teams combined for 5 errors.  Toronto's Ed Sprague made his 7th miscue of the season.

GAME 2 - Twins 9, Blue Jays 3
Al Leiter barely escaped the top of the first as 8 Twins came to the  plate in a 3 run outburst.  Pedro Munoz delivered a huge 2 out single to right to score Greg Gagne and Kent Hrbek.  Minnesota added to it's lead with runs in 3 consecutive innings.  1 run in the 5th, 2 runs in the 6th and 3 runs in the 7th provided more than enough insurance for Allan Anderson (3-2, 4.75).  Bedrock (Steve Bedrosian) finished up with an uneventful final 2 innings.

9/15- HHH Metrodome
GAME 3 - Twins 4, Blue Jays 3 (16 inn)
Jack Morris made his second appearance in the series, this time representing Minnesota.  Morris had a decent outing, going 7 1/3 and giving up 3, but did not figure into the decision.  His opposing number, Dave Steward also went 7 innings and did not figure into the decision either.  In fact Toronto would feature 4 more pitchers who did not figure into the decision and Minnesota would have 3.  This is what happens when you have a marathon 16 inning contest that nobody seems capable or worth of winning.  Both teams played the "match game" to get to this point.  With no score in the game both teams scored solo runs in the 4th.  They matched each other again with solo runs in the 6th and 8th, and of course they did the same by posting goose eggs for the next 7 innings.  Minnesota finally ended it in the bottom of the 16th when Kirby Puckett, who was 6 for 8 of the day and a triple short of a cycle, singled home Greg Gagne for the walk off win off Mike Timlin.

‘76 Reds sweep ‘46 Cards as the Plummer makes a house call

9/13-9/14 - Sportsman Park
GAME 1 - Reds 8, Cardinals 4
Coming into this series the Cards had the best record in the NL.  Cincy was just starting to get hot as evidenced by the fact that they were sitting atop their respective division.  Fred Norman (5-0, 2.72) started the game and allowed just 2 hits and 1 run (a solo shot by Dusak in the 5th) over 8 innings of craftsman like work.  Norman had to be good, because going into the 9th he was protecting a 2-1 lead.  For the first 8 innings both teams looked like two heavyweight prize fighter feeling each other out and keeping things close to the vest.  The 9th inning however resembled the 15th round of a Rocky movie with both heavyweights slugging it out toe to toe.  Cincy landed 6 haymakers, which at the time looked to have blown the game wide open.  Cardinal reliever Mury Dickson was betrayed by the glove of his best hitter, Stan  Musial who booted a routine grounder as Cesar Geronimo led off the 9th.  Danny Driessen hit a 2 run shot to cap off the inning.  To their credit the Cards did not fold up their tent. St. Louis  posted 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the frame off of reliever Wil McEnaney.  Terry Moore hit a big double to start the scoring.  Unfortunately for the hometown fans the Cards just ran out of outs as their comeback came up short.

GAME 2 - Reds 5, Cardinals 0
Pat Zachry (1-2, 3.15) finally got some run support late in the game to get a win.  "Zach" has been pitching well of late, but the Big Red Machine just hasn't been able to get the big hit for him.  With neither team able to score the Reds finally broke the ice in the top of the 7th when backup catcher Bill Plummer led the inning off with an unlikely triple.  With the infield drawn in Zachry grounded out to third and Plummer was forced to hold.  Pete Rose ran down to first after he worked out a walk.  Dave Concepcion hit a sure DP ball to Marty Marion at short, but Rose hustled his butt to second so fast that Marion was forced to go to first for the sure out as Plummer strolled home easily to make it 1-0.  Ken Griffey Sr. lined a single to right to score Rose, then stole second and scored on a Joe Morgan hit to make it 3-0 Cincy.  In the 9th Plummer and Dave Concepcion hit solo homers to add two insurance run.  Pedro Borbon Sr. pitched the final 2 innings to record a save.

9/15- Riverfront Stadium
GAME 3 - Reds 6, Cardinals 1
Jack Billingham (3-1, 3.55) was only able to go 6 innings, but the Red pen slammed the door shut on the fading Cardinal offense.  With the score tied a 1 apiece the Cards erupted for 4 big runs in the bottom of the 4th off of Howie Pollet (2-3, 3.96).  Three consecutive singles by Doug Flynn, Bill Plummer and Bob Bailey accounted for the first run.  A suicide squeeze executed to perfection by Billingham scored Plummer for run number 2.  A Pete Rose single accounted for run number 3 and a George Foster single would take credit for the 4th run.  Cincy would go on to sweep this series and take firm control of first place in their division.  St. Louis' 3 losses put them in a dead heat with the '55 Dodgers and the '08 Phillies.  All 3 teams have identical 17-10 records with 11 games to play.

‘70 O’s take 2 of 3 from ‘73 A’s to move back over .500 mark

9/13-9/14 - Memorial Stadium
GAME 1 - Orioles 4, A's 3 (13 inn)
Classic matchup between 5th starters, who guiled their way through 5 to 6 innings of mediocre work.  Dave Hamilton of the A's was staked to a 3-0 lead, but in classic 5th starter form he had that one blow up inning (the 4th) where he gave up 3 runs, which tied the game.  Both bullpens were stretched to the limit due to the early exits of their respective starters and the anemic offenses that forced 13 innings of play.  Oakland blew a great chance to win it in the 12th when Joe Rudi led off with a walk and Reggie Jackson singled him over to second.  Sal Bando, who's expertise is in power hitting, was called on to bunt over the runners and failed miserably by forcing Rudi at third for out #1.  With Gene Tenace at the plate Jackson and Bando executed a perfect double steal, which in essence made up for the botched bunt.  Derron Johnson, who has been Oakland's lone clutch hitter all season was tasked with bringing in one or both runners with 1 out.  Oriole reliever Pete Richert got away with making a bad pitch when Johnson smoked a hump backed liner to third.  Unfortunately for Johnson and the A's third base is patrolled by the human vacuum cleaner, Brooks Robinson, who eats up line drives like it was candy.  Dick Green followed the dejected Johnson, and met the same result.  This time Robinson dove to his left to come up with a one hopper that he easily tossed to Boog Powell at first to nail the hustling Green.  Innings like that usually spell doom for the team that couldn't  capitalize.  That doom would come in the form of a 1 out double by Don Buford off of Darrold Knowles in the bottom of the 13th.  Paul Blair would follow with a hard liner to left that was hit so hard Blair couldn't advance past third.  With runners at the corners Boog Powell stepped to the plate to give the A's the lefty / lefty matchup they wanted.  Powell, who is a free swinger, locked in and shortened his stroke to line one to right to easily score Buford for the win.

GAME 2 - Orioles 11, A's 5
The normally reliable Catfish Hunter (3-4, 3.30) faltered down the stretch by giving up 3 big homers to the O's.  Hunter was struggling to protect a tenuous 4-3 lead when Ellie Hendricks launched a 2 out / 2 run shot in the 6th.  A 2 run shot by Paul Blair in the 7th would put the O's up by 3.  Baltimore would score 3 more runs in the 8th and take this game handily.  Hunter has been a victim of lack of run support most of the season, but his penchant for giving up the inopportune long ball has not helped his cause one bit.  Frank Robinson and Boog Powell both had 3 hits on the day with Powell increasing his average to .340 and Robinson boosting his to .327.

9/15 - Oakland Coliseum
GAME 3 - A's 7, Orioles 3
Call Kenny Holtzman "the stopper".  Oakland's lanky southpaw has consistently followed up A's losses with a clutch win.  Holtzman (5-2, 3.02) had a 7 run lead going into the 9th when he gave up 2 meaningless runs, which only served as a blemish on his ERA, but not an indictment of his skill.  The game was tied at 2 when Oakland exploded for 4 quick runs in the bottom of the 4th.  Gene Tenace led the inning off with a solo blast to left.  After Sal Bando walked and Jesus Alou singled, Derron Johnson hit a tape measure shot to dead center of of Oriole starter Mike Cuellar.  Oakland would add 2 insurance runs in the 8th when Alou singled home Bando and Johnson singled home Alou, who reached second on an errant throw to the plate.  Those two runs made is 7-1 and assured the A's of not getting swept.

‘67 Redbirds sweep ‘57 Braves to move into 1st Place

9/13-9/14 - County Stadium
GAME 1 - Cardinals 10, Braves 3
The Redbirds shot off the opening salvo with a huge 5 run top of the first off of Milwaukee's spot starter Taylor Phillips (0-2, 9.64).  Phillips was bad, but he can't take all the blame since HOF third baseman Eddie Mathews booted an Alex Johnson grounder to open up the floodgates.  Bob Gibson (2-1, 2.60) went the distance even though he kind of lost his edge a bit with his team in "rout" mode.  Feared slugger Orlando Cepeda was walked 4 times by Milwaukee's pitchers.  St. Louis manufactured 10 runs on 10 hits, which is a unique ratio for sure.  Hank Aaron, who lost his 22 game hitting streak in Milwaukee's last game got right back on the horse and went 2 for 4 in a losing effort.

GAME 2 - Cardinals 16, Braves 3
Milwaukee trotted out 5 pitchers with each being less effective than the other.  Jim Hughes (5-1, 2.44) cruised for 8 innings with a huge lead and Mike Torrez came on to pitch the 9th with a 13 run lead.  Orlando Cepeda, who walked 4 times in yesterday's game went 3 for 4 with 5 RBI's in this contest.  Julian Javier went 4 for 5 and hit 4 RBI's and his 3rd homer of the season.  Speedy Lou Brock continues to impress with his power as he slugged his 8th round tripper of the season.

9/15- Busch Memorial Stadium
GAME 3 - Cardinals 4, Braves 3
The Braves squandered a quality outing by HOF'er Warren Spahn (8IP/3ER) by not scoring enough runs.  The Cards manufactured the game winning run off of reliever Don McMahon when Lou Brock singled with 1 out in the home half of the 9th and stole second off of backup catcher Carl Sawatski.  Julian Javier, who took a strike to allow Brock to steal, delivered a line shot opposite field single to score Brock easily and secure the series sweep.

‘55 Boys of Summer sweep ‘71 Lumber Company

9/13-9/14 - Ebbets Field
GAME 1 - Dodgers 5, Pirates 4
The Duke of Flatbush greeted Bob Moose harshly in the bottom of the first with a 2 run homer to put 'dem Bums up 2-0.  Johnny Podres was nursing that lead until Richie "gravedigger" Hebner singled home Gene Clines with 2 outs in the 4th.  The score stayed 2-1 Dodgers until the 7th when the Lumber Company solved Podres and exploded for 3 runs to give Bob Moose a 4-2 lead.  Brooklyn answered right back in the bottom of the inning with 3 runs of their own thanks to shoddy fielding and poor pitching by Moose.  After Jackie Robinson and Sandy Amoros led off with singles Frank Kellert was sent up to pinch hit for Podres.  Kellert ripped a liner to third that Hebner knocked down, but then airmailed his throw to first, which allowed Robinson to trot home uncontested.  Pee Wee Reese bunted the runners up 90 feet into scoring position.  Junior Gilliam was given a free pass to create what Red Barber would call "Bases FOB" (Full of Brooks).  Jim Nelson was then brought on board to relieve Moose.  Nelson tried to be too cute in his pitch selection to "the Duke" and wound up walking him to tie the game.  Nelson was able to get Campanella to ground out to short, but Kellert easily scored the go ahead run on the transaction.  Clem Labine toed the rubber in the 8th and was able to get the heart of the Pirate order out without incident.  The top of the 9th started out nicely for Labine as he was able to get pinch hitter Milt May to ground out to Robinson at third and Manny Sanguillen to ground to Reese at short.  Shockingly, Pirate manager Mark Angle allowed reliever Jim Nelson to take his turn at the plate even though he represented the final out of the game.  Angle's hunch proved to be wise as Nelson lined a single to center to keep the inning going.  Rennie Stennett followed with a hit of his own and just like that the Flatbush faithful began to worry as if this was a game 7 in the fall classic.  Due up next was lefty Al Oliver, who would not have an opportunity to face Labine as lefty Karl Spooner was summoned from the pen to get the final out.  Once Spooner was announced into the game rookie Richie Zisk was announced to pinch hit for Oliver.  Spooner won the battle vs the overmatched youngster who grounded out weakly to Robinson at third to end the game.

GAME 2 - Dodgers 9, Pirates 7
Billy Loes (3-2, 3.67) received great offensive support as the Dodgers knocked around Pirate starter Dock Ellis (6 innings / 7 runs).  With the score 9-2 and the game seemingly in hand Loes was replaced by Russ Meyer, who did his darndest to let the Lumber company back into the game.  Pittsburgh posted 5 unanswered runs in the top of the 9th all with 2 outs.  After pinch hitter Milt May singled, Stennett and Hebner hit back to back triples.  Roberto Clemente followed with an RBI double and Willie "Pops" Stargell cranked his 11th homer of the season into the Mobil station on Bedford Avenue.  By this point pitchers were scurrying in the Dodger pen like sewer rats on McKever place.  Al Oliver was going to be Meyer's final batter of the day no matter what the outcome.  Thankfully for Hilda Chester and the rest of the Dodger Syn-pho-ny Meyer was able to get Oliver to ground out to Gilliam to end it.  Brooklyn escaped with a narrow victory in a game they should have put away easy.  Typically Brooklyn drama.  Don Hoak went 3 for 4 for the Dodgers and was a homer short of the cycle.

9/15- Three Rivers Stadium
GAME 3 - Dodgers 13, Pirates 0
Carl Erskine (2-3, 4.96) took the hill and had his legendary curveball working to perfection today.  "Oisk", who has had a feast or famine season was in total control from the get go.  Having a 8 run lead by the 4th inning didn't hurt Erskine's chances one bit.  Pirate starter Nelson Briles looked like he was tossing balloons for Home Run Derby contestants.  Gil Hodges, who raised his season average back to .400 hit his 6th homer and the ever so hot Duke Snider went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI's while clobbering his 7th round tripper.  The real story offensively was "Oisk", who not only authored a complete game shutout, but he went 3 for 5 with 4 RBI and a homer.  The hard throwing righty from Indiana more than earned his keep as he completely dominated the Bucs from the hill and the batters box.  NY Post scribe Dick Young couldn't  leave this happy moment alone.  The acerbic scribe had to tweak Dodger catcher Roy Campanella, by highlighting that his backup Rube Walker went 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored in the 3 time MVP's absence.  Rest assured, there is no catching controversy in Brooklyn.  Campy is the man and Rube plays on occasion to rest the veteran backstop.  That Dick Young will stop at nothing to sell papers in Gotham city.