A call to arms…’69 Amazin's take 3 of 4 from ‘65 Dodgers

8/16-8/17 - Dodger Stadium
GAME 1 - Mets 3, Dodgers 1 (11 inn)
Call this one a Cy Young award grudge match.  Last season Tom Seaver and Don Drysdale both suffered by playing on sub par teams.  Both however amped up their game and battled each other for the NL Cy Young, which Drysdale eventually won.  In this much hyped opening game matchup both Tom Terrific and Big D lived up to all the hype.  The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 6th when LA posted a solo run on the board when Drysdale himself homered to deep left field.  For those of you thinking that it must have been a fluke, guess again.  In 1965 Drysdale hit over .300 and had 7 homers.  The man can flat out hit.  Those '69 Amazin Mets have more intangibles than one can count.  They found a way to scratch out a run in the top of the 7th when Jim Lefebvre booted an Art Shamsky slow roller.  Tommy Agee singled Shamsky over to second and Cleon Jones doubled him (Shamsky) home to tie the game.  Drysdale was about to show us just why he's so great.  Most mortal pitchers would have been flustered with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out, but not Big D, who jammed Ed Kranepool and forced the Met 1st baseman to pop out to shallow center.  Agee tried to score but "3-Dog", Willie Davis gunned him down at the plate as Johnny Roseboro applied the tag.  Neither team could score again in regulation, so off to extra innings they went.  Unlike today's pampered and overpaid starters, who would have been long gone from the game, both Seaver and Drysdale stayed on the hill.  In the top of the 11th Drysdale inexplicably threw at Seaver and wound up hitting the tall righthander from Fresno.  Two batters later Shamsky tripled to dead center to score Seaver who looked really winded from his jaunt around the bases.  A sac fly by Agee scored Shamsky to make it 3-1.  Not taking any chances on Seaver's health, Met manager Andy Weinrib brought on reliever Tug McGraw to close it out in the bottom of the 11th.  After getting Maury Wills to ground back to the box for the first out McGraw gave up a clean single to Junior Gilliam.  Groundball outs by Ron Fairly and Lefebvre ended the marathon game and gave Seaver a bit of revenge for losing out the Cy Young last season.

GAME 2 - Dodgers 1, Mets 1
No better way to get a win after a loss than to put the Great Sandy Koufax on the hill.  If ever there was a blue chip stock for pitching it would be the shy and reserved competitor from Lafayette High School in Brooklyn.  Koufax was matched up against another lefty, Jerry Koosman.  Kooz won both the 2nd and 5th games in the '69 series, so there is no doubting his pedigree in big situations.  LA scored first by posting 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the third.  On most days, 2 runs means nothing.  Unfortunately for the Amazins' those two runs were put in the possession on Koufax, who treats runs like they were the Hope Diamond.  New York's folly in the bottom of the third started when Kooz hit Willie Davis with an inside slider.  Davis attempted to steal and was thrown out easily by the rifle armed Grote.  John Kennedy hit a slow roller up the line at third that was booted by Wayne Garrett.  After Koufax struck out looking Maury Wills hit one into the gap that easily turned into a 2 out run scoring triple.  Lou Johnson walked to put runners on the corners and once again Koosman was let down by his defense as Ken Boswell booted a room service hop to second.  Jerry Koosman would leave the game in the 8th for a pinch hitter and walk away giving up only 3 hits and 2 unearned runs.  Koufax gave up a solo homer to Shamsky in the 5th.  As shocking as it was to see a lefty homer off Koufax, it was  even more shocking that Swoboda the righty wasn't in the lineup in the first place.  It all came down to the 9th inning when Agee led off with a clean single for the 3rd hit of the day off of Koufax.  Garrett, who usually platoons with Ed Charles and doesn't face lefties had to face Koufax and fanned easily.  A wild pitch on a 2-1 count to Cleon Jones allowed Agee to move to 2nd.  Jones got a hold of the next offering and hit it deep to the opposite field only to see it fall into the glove of a waiting Ron Fairly.  Agee moved over to third, but Kranepool flew out weakly to left to end it.  Koufax fanned 11 and walked none in this classic pitcher's duel.

8/18-8/19 - Shea Stadium
GAME 3 - Mets 5, Dodgers 4
Finally some runs got posted to the big scoreboard out in right center.  After seeing arguably the best 1-2 / lefty,righty punches on the hill the fans got to see the less heralded #3 starters.  LA's Claude Osteen went 6 and gave up 3, while New York’s young fireballer Gary Gentry equaled that in 7 innings of work.  LA took a 4-3 lead after in the 8th when Gentry faltered and reliever Ron Taylor could not prevent the bleeding from getting worse.  Errors by the normally sure handed Harrelson and Boswell contributed to the runs.  Gentry had a shutout going until Jim Lefebvre launched a 2 run shot over the 410 mark in dead center.  Bob Miller replaced Osteen and after throwing 2 innings of perfect relief looked to close it out in the 9th.  Things went according to plan when Harrelson flew out to shallow center for out #1.  Boswell struck out looking and the Shea faithful began heading up the ramp to the 7-train.  Shamsky came on board to pinch hit for Nolan Ryan, who bailed out Taylor.  Shamsky singled to center, which at the time only seemed to prolong the agony.  Agee then worked out a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 out and rookie Wayne Garrett heading to the plate.  Garrett swung at Millers first  offering and hit a flare to left, which safely landed on the turf in front of a hard charging Lou Johnson.  Shamsky scored easily and the game was now tied.  Steady Eddie Kranepool came to the plate and looked squarely into the Dodger dugout expecting to see their manager on the top step heading out to bring in lefty Ron Perranoski.  That call to the pen never came and Krane lined a walkoff single to right to score Agee and once again show why these amzing Mets are truly Amazin'.

GAME 4 - Mets 6, Dodgers 2
In a battle of wily veterans Don Cardwell bested 1955 World Series MVP Johnny Podres.  Neither veteran would get a decision, but Cardwell did go an inning and a third more than his counterpart plus giving up one less run.  The score was tied at 2 heading into the bottom of the 8th thanks to a Maury Wills manufactured run.  Wills walked against reliever Nolan Ryan, then easily stole 2nd off the big Texan's slow methodical delivery.  Ron Fairly bunted him over to third and Jim Lefebvre hit one just deep enough to Agee in center to score the fleet footed Wills.  Have no fear, the magic is here.  The magic can simply be defined as the intangibles the Amazin Mets bring to games in the latter innings.  Once again they chose to victimize former original Met Bob Miller, who left to go to LA after 1 season, so that the Mets could bring back Brooklyn fan favorite Duke Snider.  By this time Snider was long retired after his 1 year cameo as a Met, but Miller was still producing dividends for the pitching strong Dodgers.  He would pay even bigger dividends to the Mets as an adversary than he ever did as component.  The 8th started with Swoboda singling to center, but getting forced out on a botched bunt attempt by Garrett.  Boswell singled to put runners on 1st and second for Jerry Grote who hit an opposite field gap double that rolled all the way to the 396 mark thus scoring  Garrett.  With the Mets now up 3-2 Art Shamsky was called upon to pinch hit for Ryan and once again the Met Magic came to life.  Down 0-2 in the count Shamsky fouled off 5 consecutive pitches before he got the one he liked.  Miller's offering was dead red over the hear of the plate and Shamsky turned on it and hooked it into the lodge section just outside the foul pole .  Shamsky's 3 runs shot gave the Amazin's a 4 run lead that Tug McGraw easily protected with a perfect 9th inning in relief.