1972

[EdTarbusz]

Pregame: One of the biggest stories of the off-season was the hold-out of 1971 AL Cy Young winner and MVP Vida Blue. Blue wanted his 1971 salary to tripled and Charlie O Finley said 'no way'. The hold-out dragged on into the season and Commishoner Bowie Kuhn decided to involve himself. Amid much acrimony form both sides, Blue finally signed on May 4th. His first scheduled start was for last Thusday against the Angels but the game was rained out. Rumors are swirling that Finley suggested very strongly to manager Dick Williams to start Blue today against the White Sox because: a)Finley is a Chicago native and wants to see Blue pitch well against the White Sox and b)because only 4 day games are scheduled today and this should guarantee the A's a nationally televised showcase. The A's got off to a slow start, but now are in what is basically a three way tie for second place with Chicago and Minnesota (Minnesota is one percentage point behind Oakland and Chicago). Last night the White Sox eked out a 4-3 win over Oakland behind the pitching of unheralded Tom Bradley. Chicago manager has decided to start Wilbur Wood on short rest. Wood has already started 13 games this season and has shown no sign of arm strain. Both Wood and Tanner estimate that Wood could get 50 starts this season, and Wood wants to start both games of a doubleheader at least once.

Starting pitchers: Wilbur Wood (7-5 1.74) vs Vida Blue (0-0 0.00)

Starting Line-ups

Chicago White Sox

3 Walt Williams RF .327-0-2
2 Mike Andrews 2B .177-1-8
15 Dick Allen 1B .315-7-25
14 Bill Melton 3B .247-7-25
17 Carlos May LF .297-5-17
48 Rick Reichardt CF .244-2-19
12 Ed Herrmann C .263-1-10
1 Luis Alvarado SS .167-1-9
28 Wilbur Wood P .105-0-0

Oakland A's

19 Bert Campaneris SS .246-2-10
26 Joe Rudi LF .300-3-11
9 Reggie Jackson RF .273-7-30
6 Sal Bando 3B .250-4-25
5 Mike Epstein 1B .295-11-25
2 Angel Mangual CF .204-0-3
10 Dave Duncan C .109-0-2
8 Larry Brown 2B .273-0-1
35 Vida Blue P .000-0-0

Rarely used Angel Mangual gets the start because newly acquired (mainly for his defense) Ollie Brown is on the DL.

Temperature is in the 60s.

1st inning

CHI
Williams grounds out 4-3
Andrews flies to LF
Allen walks
Melton Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

OAK
Campaneris grounds to SS
Rudi flies to CF
Jackson grounds out 4-3
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI 0
OAK 0

2nd inning

CHI
May HBP
Reichardt doubles off the left field wall-May scores CHI 1 OAK 0
Herrmann lines past Epstein for a single-Reichardt scores CHI 2 OAK 0
Alvarado Ks
Wood bunts for a single-Herrmann to second
Williams flies to CF
Andrews grounds into FC 4-6
2r 3h 0e 2l

OAK
Bando flies to LF
Epstein lines to RF
Mangual flies to CF
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI 02
OAK 00

3rd inning

CHI
Allen doubles to left center
Melton flies to LF
May pops to SS
Reichardt Ks
0r 1h 0e 1l

OAK
Duncan singles to left
Brown singles to center-Duncan to second
Blue sacrifice bunts 5-4-Duncan to third-Brown to second
Campaneris grounds to SS-runners hold
Rudi flies to CF
0r 2h 0e 2l

CHI 020
OAK 000

4th inning

CHI
Herrmann grounds to 2B
Alvarado singles to center
Wood bunts into FC 5-4 (Alvarado out at second)-Wood takes first
Williams walks-Wood to second
Andrews Ks
0r 1h 0e 2l

OAK
Jackson singles to center
Bando singles to Alvarado who throws wild to second!-Jackson to third-Bando to second
Epstein singles to right-Jackson scores-Bando to third CHI 2 OAK 1
Mangual doubles off the left field wall-Epstein to third CHI 2 OAK 2
Duncan singles-scoring Epstein and Mangual CHI 2 OAK 4
Brown flies to CF
Blue bunt singles down third base line-Duncan to second
Campaneris singles to left-bases loaded
Rudi GIDP 6-4-3
4r 7h 1e 2l

CHI 020 0
OAK 000 4

5th inning

CHI
Allen singles to third-Bando is hit on the neck by the ball, but will remain in the game
Melton Kc
May GIDP 6-4-3
0r 1h 0e 0l

OAK
Jackson Ks
Bando flies to CF
Epstein walks
Mangual grounds into FC 4-6
0r 0h 0e 1l

CHI 020 00
OAK 000 40

6th inning

CHI
Reichardt hits a HR to center CHI 3 OAK 4
Herrmann Ks
Alvarado flies to CF
Wood grounds out 6-3
1r 1h 0e 0l

OAK
Duncan walks
Brown GIDP 6-4-3
Blue Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI 020 001
OAK 000 400

7th inning

CHI
Williams grounds out 6-3
Andrews singles to center (Knowles warming up)
Allen walks-Andrews to second
Melton flies to LF
May flies to CF
0r 1h 0e 2l

OAK
Campaneris grounds out 6-3
Rudi singles to left
Jackson Ks
Bando grounds into FC 5-4
0r 1h 0e 1l

CHI 020 001 0
OAK 000 400 0

8th inning

CHI
Reichardt singles to left (Knowles warming up again)
Herrmann grounds into FC 1-6-Herrmann takes first
Alvarado lines to RF-Jackson makes a snow cone catch!!
Pat Kelly (.221-2-8) bats for Wood
Kelly Ks
0r 1h 0e 1l

OAK
For CHI-Terry Forster (0-0 1s 0.00) pitching
Epstein walks
Mangual pops out to C (foul)
Duncan fouls out to C
Brown pops out to 1B
0r 0h 0e 1l

CHI 020 001 00
OAK 000 400 00

9th inning

CHI
For OAK-Mike Hegan now playing first
Williams walks
For OAK-Rollie Fingers (1-0 0s 1.42) now pitching
Andrews grounds into FC 6-4-Andrews to first
Jorge Orta running for Andrews
Allen Kc
Melton Kc
0r 0h 0e 1l

Final score

CHI 020 001 000-3 9 1
OAK 000 400 00x-4 10 0
W-Blue (1-0)
L-Wood (7-6)
S-Fingers (1)

Vida Blue isn't at his sharpest, but but pitches well enough for the win. Wilbur Wood has only weal inning, but it's enough for the A's to take the game.

Other games:

DET 000 000 121-4 9 0
NYY 000 000 000-0 5 0
W-Coleman (6-3)
L-Stottlemyre (3-5)
Joe Coleman has no problems shutting out the first place Yankees, as the Tigers struggle to get back to the .500 mark. Big blow for the Togers is Dick McAuliffe's 2 run HR in the 8th inning.

TEX 000 000 100-1 8 1
MIN 022 000 10x-5 9 0
W-Blyleven (5-7)
L-Paul (2-4)
Bobby Darwin hits 2 HRs to lead the Twins to victory. 5 of the 9 Twins hits are for extra base hits.

MON 000 020 000-2 4 1
CHI 410 001 20x-8 12 2
W-Hooton (3-5)
L-Morton (3-7)
Carl Morton can't it beyond the second inning, while Hooton pitches a great game that is only marred by Bob Bailey's 2 run HR. For the Cubs, Jim Hickman is 4 for 5 with 4 RBI.
Night Games

CLE
BAL
Rained out

MIL 000 001 041 0-6 10 0
BOS 000 003 021 1-7 16 2
W-Peters (1-0)
L-Linzy (1-2)
Good starts by Ken Brett and Rogelio Moret (his first start of the season) are wasted by their respective bullpens. Each Red Sox starter has at least one hit. Eight of the nine Breers starters reach base. Highlight for the Brewers: former Red Sox Billy Conigliaro steals home on a botched squeeze play. He collides with Duane Josephson, knocks the ball loose and is called safe. Billy C leaves the game and will be out for a few days.

KC 410 000 100-6 7 1
CAL 000 000 000-0 4 0
W-Nelson (6-0)
L-Clark (0-7)
Rickey Clark's nightmarish season continues, He gives up 4 walks and 5 hits in 2 innings. Roger Nelson (a latecomer to the Royals rotation) continues his excellent season with a 0.69 ERA. John Mayberry, now a regular after years as a bench player on the Phillies, continues his excellent season going 2 for 3 with 2 walks, scoring 2 and driving in 2 runs.

PHI 000 000 000-0 9 1
PIT 000 001 00x-1 8 1
W-Moose (8-2)
L-Selma (3-7)
Tense pitchers duel won by Bob Moose, who is now tied with Juan Marichal for NL lead with 8 wins. Phillie leave 5 RISP. Only run of the game is scored on a fielders choice.

NYM 100 200 000-3 7 2
STL 000 000 002-2 5 2
W-McAndrew (3-2)
L-Gibson (6-5)
Despite 9th inning rally by the Cardinals, Jim McAndrew outduels Bob Gibson. Willie Mays leads off game with his 649th career HR. Mays remains number two on the All time HR list, Hank Aaron is third with 647.

SFG 011 000 000-2 5 0
ATL 100 310 00x-5 12 0
W-Niekro (7-2)
L-McDowell (2-8)
Sam McDowell's difficult transition to the NL continues as he gives up 10 hits, 5 walks and 5 runs (4 earned). Gil Garrido and Mike Lum each have 3 hits for the Braves.

SD 020 100 440-11 18 1
CIN 001 001 101-4 11 2
W-Arlin (7-3)
L-Nolan (2-4)
Cincinnati's pitching woes continue. Leron Lee and Jerry Morales each have 4 hits for the Padres. Fred Kendall and Dave Campbell each have three hits for the Padres. Pete Rose has 3 hits and scores 3 runs for the Reds. Steve Arlin pitches a CG and strikes out 10. This loss drops the Reds back into last place.

LAD 200 000 000-2 11 2
HOU 201 031 01x-8 9 1
W-Dierker (5-2)
L-Osteen (3-6)
Larry Dierker gives up 11 hits buts stymies the Dodgers attack with the help of 4 DPs. Bob Watson has 4 RBi. The Astos beat up on Claude Osteen and cruise to an esy victory, holding off the second place Dodgers.

[EdTarbusz]

June 3, 1972 Game of the week

Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals

Back-up game: Pittsburh Pirates at San Francisco Giants

Pre-game: After a quick start the Royals have been playing .500 ball, winning 5 of their last 9. While this was going on Oakland went on a 6 game winning streak and passed Kansas City into first place, leaving the Royals one game out. The middle of the line-up lead by John Mayberry has continued to hit the ball hard. The Bob Oliver trade allowed Richie Scheinblum to enter the starting line-up and he is hitting well, having 5 RBI last night. The pitching staff has been holding up well, although Mike Hedlund has been a disapointment. With Hedlund having problems Roger Nelson has moved into the starting rotation and has a 7-1 record with 5 shutouts. Observers were wondering if Kansas City's second place season in 1971 was a fluke. Thus far in 1972 Kansas City appears to be a real contender.
Boston has been sputtering along at a sub .500 pace going 2 and 4 during the last week and losing 9-5 to Kansas City last night. Their offense and starters have been adequete but the bullpen has been unreliable. Yaz and newly acquired Danny Cater have been having rough times and highly touted rookie Carlton Fisk has been hot and cold. Less touted rookie Ben Ogilvie, Reggie Smith and Rico Petrocelli have been hitting the ball well.
Starting Pitchers:

Ray Culp (4-6 3.97) vs Paul Splittorff (6-4 3.52)

Starting Line-ups:

Boston Red Sox

2 Doug Griffin 2B .300-0-7
12 John Kennedy SS .263-0-4
8 Carl Yastrzemski LF .259-2-24
7 Reggie Smith CF .259-7-27
6 Rico Petrocelli 3B .260-9-29
14 Ben Ogilvie RF .319-3-14
5 Danny Cater 1B .159-4-13
24 Duane Josephson C .250-2-4
21 Ray Culp P .238-0-1

Kansas City Royals

10 Paul Schaal 3B .173-1-11
1 Cookie Rojas 2B .271-3-18
26 Amos Otis CF .278-2-16
7 John Mayberry 1B .337-9-40 (tied with Bobby Murcer for AL lead in RBI)
9 Lou Piniella LF .294-2-34
5 Richie Scheinblum RF .318-4-19
12 Jerry May C .097-0-3
37 Freddie Patek SS .244-0-8
34 Paul Splittorff P .400-0-3


Weather is in the 70s with the wind blowing in.

1st inning

BOS
Grffin Kc
Kennedy grounds out 5-3
Yaz Ks
0r 0h 0e

KC
Schaal flies to CF
Rojas walks
Otis singles to center-Rojas to second
Mayberry fouls to LF
Piniella flies to CF
0r 1h 0e 2l

BOS 0 -0 0 0
KAN 0 -0 1 0

2nd inning

BOS
Smith grounds out 6-3
Petrocelli walks
Ogilvie grounds to Patek who throws over Mayberry's head for a two base error-Petrocelli to third & Ogilvie to second
Cater Ks
Josephson singles to left-Petrocelli scores-Ogilvie is thrown out at the plate 7-2!! BOS 1 KC 0
1r 1h 1e 1l

KC
Scheinblum grounds out 3-1
May Ks
Patek grounds out 1-3
0r 0h 0e

BOS 01 -1 1 0
KAN 00 -0 1 1

3rd inning

BOS
Culp singles to center
Griffin grounds into FC 6-4
Kennedy Ks
Yaz walks-Grffin to second
Smith grounds out 6-3
0r 1h 0e 2l

KC
Splittorff grounds out 1-3
Schaal walks
Rojas lines to 3B
Otis Ks
0r 0h 0e 1l

BOS 010 -1 2 0
KAN 000 -0 1 1

4th inning

BOS
Petrocelli pops to 3B
Ogilvie Kc
Cater grounds out 6-3
0r 0h 0e

KC
Mayberry flies to CF
Piniella grounds through Kennedy for a single
On a hit and run Scheinblum singles to center-Piniella takes third
May grounds into a FC 6-4-Piniella scores-May takes first BOS 1 KC 1
Patek singles to left-May takes second
Splittorff Ks
1r 3h 0e 2l

BOS 010 0 -1 2 0
KAN 000 1 -1 4 1

5th inning

BOS
Josephson Ks
Culp grounds out 6-3
Griffin flies to CF
0r 0h 0e

KC
Schaal flies to CF
Rojas flies to CF
Otis lines to CF
0r 0h 0e

BOS 010 00 -1 2 0
KAN 000 10 -1 4 1

6th inning

BOS
Kennedy grounds out 6-3
Yaz grounds out 4-3
Smith Ks
0r 0h 0e

KC
Mayberry grounds out 4-3
Piniella flies to CF
Scheinblum flies to CF
0r 0h 0e

BOS 010 000 -1 2 0
KAN 000 100 -1 4 1

7th inning

BOS
Petrocelli grounds out 6-3
Ogilvie hits a HR down the right field line BOS 2 KC 1
Cater flies to RF
Josephson grounds out 4-3-Rojas's throw just beating Josephson to the bag!
1r 1h 0e 0l

KC
May fouls to 3B
Patek grounds out 1-3
Splittorff doubles to left-center
Schaal singles to center-Spittorff takes third
Rojas grounds into a FC 6-4
0r 2h 0e 2l

BOS 010 000 1 -2 3 0
KAN 000 100 0 -1 6 1

8th inning

BOS
1 Phil Gagliano (.361-0-3) batting for Culp
Gagliano flies to CF
Griffin grounds out 5-3
Kennedy K2
0r 0h 0e

KC
For BOS-37 Bill Lee (1-3 1s 26.1ip 3.42 25h 8bb 14k) now pitching
Otis flies to CF
Mayberry singles to center
Piniella grounds out 6-3-Mayberry takes second
Scheinblum singles to center-Mayberry scores BOS 2 KC 2
30 Steve Hovley running for Scheinblum
19 Bobby Knoop (.208-0-5) batting for May
Knoop Ks
1r 2h 0e 1l

BOS 010 000 10 -2 3 0
KAN 000 100 01 -2 8 1

9th inning

BOS
For KC-Hovely stays in game in RF-Ed Kirkpatrick now catching
Yaz flies to CF
Smith flies to LF
Petrocelli flies to CF
0r 0h 0e

KC
Patek singles to center
For BOS-Bolin warming up
Splittorff bunts into a DP 3-6-3
Schaal grounds out 6-3
0r 1h 0e 0l

BOS 010 000 100 -2 3 0
KAN 000 100 010 -2 9 1

10th inning

BOS
Ogilvie fouls to C
Cater grounds out 5-3
Josephson lines to SS
0r 0h 0e

KC
Rojas grounds out 6-3
Otis singles to center
Mayberry singles to center-Otis to third
Infield is pulled in
Piniella singles over short-Otis scores BOS 2 KC 3
1r 3h 0e 2l

BOS 010 000 100 0-2 3 0
KAN 000 100 010 1-3 12 1

Winning pitcher-Paul Splittorff (7-4)
Losing pitcher-Bill Lee (1-4)

This win combined with Oakland's loss puts the Royals back in first place.

Other games

CAL 000 000 010-1 5 0
CLE 000 020 01x-3 8 1
W-Wilcox (3-5)
L-Messersmith (5-5)
Jack Brohamer drives in two with a double to give the Indians all the scoring they need against the Angels. Milt Wilcox goes the distance and pitches his way out of several jams, the Angels leave 6 RISP. Buddy Bell and Ray Fosse each have two hits. Bell has hitting well since his return from Portland.

TEX 000 300 000 001-4 17 0
MIL 000 001 200 002-5 10 0
W-Slaton (1-6)
L-Lindblad (3-3)
Tense game between both of the ALs last place teams. The Rangers hit the ball hard but can't capitalize, leaving 8 RISP and grounding into two DPs. The Rangers break the tie in the 12th but the usually reliable Paul Lindblad can't close the game out giving up three hits and a SF in the bottom of the 12th. Dave May leads the Brewers with 4 hits. Larry Biitner, Toby Harrah and Dick Billings each have three hits for Texas.

OAK 000 021 000 0-3 8 0
BAL 000 010 002 1-4 7 0
W-Cuellar (6-3)
L-Holtzman (7-3)
A re-match of the teams from the 1971 ALCS. Light hitting Orioles scrap for two in the bottom of the ninth to tie the the game (the tying run scoring on Belanger's SF) and then winning in the 10th on Merv Rettenmund's HR. This duel of lefties ends Oakland's six game winning streak, and a KC win today will mean a tie for first place. All of the Oaklnd runs came as result of HRs by Joe Rudi and Sal Bando.

MIN 100 000 010 0-2 9 2
DET 000 000 101 1-3 12 0
W-Seelbach (1-2)
L-Strickland (0-1)
With one out in the bottom of the 9th pinch-hitter Al Kaline hits one into RF upper deck to tie the game. In the bottom of the 10th, Kaline walks with the bases loaded to win the game for Detroit. Danny Thompson was the hitting star for the Twins with a HR and a double, scoring both Minnesota runs. However, in the bottom of the 10th Thompson committed an error on a possible DP ball which helped lead to the unearned game winning run scored by Norm Cash. This win puts Detroit at one game under .500.

NYY 010 000 110-3 9 1
CHI 000 020 000-2 7 0
W-Beene (3-0)
L-Bradley (6-4)
S-Lyle (4)
Late inning rallies push the Yankees past the White Sox. Hard luck Mike Kekich has a good start for the Yankees and Tom Bradley pitches well for Chicago. Yankees bullpen shuts White Sox down allowing no base runners in the final 3 innings. Role players John Ellis, Rusty Torres and Jerry Kenney come up big for the Yankees in the late innings.

ATL 000 003 010-4 9 1
NYM 001 010 000-2 8 0
W-Kelley (4-4)
L-Gentry (3-5)
S-Upshaw (3)
Oscar Brown's 6th inning double capped a Braves rally that was the difference against the Mets. Tom Kelley has a good start for the Braves.

CIN 100 000 001-2 3 0
PHI 010 000 000-1 4 0
W-Billingham (7-1)
L-Carlton (6-6)
Tight pitchers duel between two of 1972s best pitchers. Reds score winning run when Tony Perez doubles home Johnny Bench in the 9th. Greg Luzinski homers for the Phillies.

STL 002 000 000 0-2 7 2
LAD 000 200 000 1-3 12 0
W-Brewer (1-1)
L-Wise (7-5)
After starting the season 7-0 Wise loses his fifth in a row. Bill Russell drives in the Dodgers winning run. Bill Singer pitches well for LA but was pulled for a PH in the ninth. St Louis is currently on an eight game losing streak enduring consective sweeps by the Cubs and Mets.

PIT 000 100 100-2 7 0
SFG 010 000 002-3 7 0
W-McMahon (6-0)
L-Briles (5-3)
After pitching 8 strong innings Nelson Briles weakens in the 9th inning and gives up a two single to pinch hitter Jim Howarth to score the winning runs. Juan Marichal goes for his 9th win but leaves the game while Giants are behind 2-1.

Night Games:

HOU 000 000 311-5 10 0
MON 100 000 000-1 6 1
W-Reuss (6-2)
L-McAnally (2-8)
Consecutive HRs by Cesar Cedeno and Jim Wynn put the game out of reach. Ernie McAnally shuts out the hard hitting Astros for 6 innings, but a late inning surge, include a HR by Roger Metzger win it for the Astros.

CHI 100 000 010-2 8 1
SDP 000 000 000-0 5 1
W-Jenkins (9-2)
L-Norman (5-6)
Jenkins wins NL leading 9th victory while pitching his second shutout. Clarence Gaston has 3 hits for the Padres. Norman strikes out 9 in his losing effort.

[EdTarbusz]

Standings after the games of June 3, 1972

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 28 15 0.651 -
Baltimore 26 18 0.591 2.5
Detroit 23 24 0.489 7.0
Boston 21 23 0.477 7.5
Cleveland 21 24 0.467 8.0
Milwaukee 15 31 0.326 14.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Kansas City 29 20 0.592 -
Oakland 27 19 0.587 0.5
Minnesota 25 23 0.521 3.5
Chicago (A) 23 23 0.500 4.5
California 21 27 0.438 7.5
Texas 20 32 0.385 10.5


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Chicago (N) 28 21 0.571 -
Pittsburgh 28 21 0.571 -
St Louis 25 23 0.521 2.5
New York (N) 19 27 0.413 7.5
Philadelphia 21 31 0.404 8.5
Montreal 17 31 0.354 10.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Houston 32 22 0.593 -
Los Angeles 27 22 0.551 2.5
San Francisco 30 25 0.545 2.5
Atlanta 26 24 0.520 4.0
Cincinnati 25 26 0.490 5.5
San Diego 24 29 0.453 7.5

[EdTarbusz]

Some random notes from the season thus far:

0405 HouCin (opening Day) A scare in Cin as Bobby Tolan goes down making a play in CF (he missed all of 1971 with an injury ), but he is listed as day to day. The Reds won 4-3 in 10 innings. Cedeno and Rose each homered. Watson homered in the top of the 10th to put the Astros up 3-2, but the Reds scored two in the bootom of the 10th to win the game. Morgan, Menke, Billingham, Geronimo, May and Helms each faced their old team after the 11/29/71 blockbuster trade. 1971 was a disapointing year for both the Reds and the Astros.
0406 OakChi-Dick Allen hits a 3 run HR, off Ken Holtzman, in his first AB with the White Sox. White Sox win 3-1, Oakland only scoring one unearned run in the 8th.
KCTex-first game in Arlington; Dave Nelson hits a two run HR in 6th to tie game 2-2 but KC wins 3-2 in 12 innings.
CalMin-Andy Messersmith hurls opening day shutout beating Twins 3-0. Light hitting Jeff Torborg hits 2 run HR.
HouAtlN-Phil Niekro Hurls opening day shutout 2-0.
NYPit-Mets first game in the post-Gil Hodges era is rained out in the first inning.
0407 ChiMon-Glenn Beckert HBP on his hand and leaves game. He is day to day.
PhiStL-Bob Gibson hurls a 3 hit shutout to beat Steve Carlton (former Cardinal) making his Phillies debut 2-0.
0408 BalNY-with Yanks ahead 3-0, Powell hits 3 run HR in the 7th to tie the game. Bernie Allen hits 2 out HR into the monuments in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. This is the 3rd consecutive 1 run victory of the Yankees over the Orioles. The AL champs start the season 0-3.
KCTex-Rangers win their first game in Arlington-Mike Hedlund of the Royals pitches a 2 hitter and loses game 2-1.
CalMin-Clyde Wright leaves game with arm injury-he is day to day
ChiMon-Billy Williams hits 515 ft HR off Mik Marshall into pool at Jarry Park; it is a three run HR that ties game 7-7 in the top of the ninth. Williams is the first hitter to face Marshall in 1972. Mike Jorgensen scores winning run on WP by Tom Phoebus.
0409 BalNY-Yankees conclude a 4 game sweep of the Orioles.Frank Robinson's successor Merv Rettenmund is off to 1 for 14 start. In the 6th inning he is thrown out at third trying to tag up which effectively kills an Oriole rally. Orioles end up lsoing 3-2. The Yankees win 3 of the 4 games by 1 run.
OakChi-White Sox complete 3 game sweep of A's.
CalMin-Nolan Ryan throws a 1 hitter in his debut with California. Ryan had a no-hitter for 7 innings, but Jim Nettles opened the 8th with a single. Ryan walked 7 and struck out 13. The Twins commit 5 errors in the game. For Twins: Dan Monzon fouls a pitch off his foot-he is day to day.
AL player of the week: John Mayberry, KC
HouAtl-Ralph Garr injured-goes on 15 day DL-Larvell Blanks called up.
NL player of the week-Doug Rader HOU
0410 MilBal-Orioles win their first game-Don Baylor scores winning run on a throwing error by Ellie Rodriguez (Baylor and Brooks Robinson were attempting a double steal). San Diego and Oakland remain the only teams without a win.
BosCle-Indians home opened is a great pitchers duel between Gaylord Perry and Luis Tiant. Perry scores only run of the game in the 11th. Perry also has 2 hits in the game (each team only has four hits).
SDHou-Don Wilson pitches a 1 hitter in Houston home opener as Astros smash Padres 21-0. Jim Wynn drives in 6 and Cesar Cedeno drives in 5 and has 5 hits and scores 4 runs.
0411 BosCle-Tidrow hit in the face by a batted ball-he is day to day.
0412 ChiMin-Jim Perry leaves game with arm injury-he is day to day. Tom Bradley records 15 strikeouts.
TexOakN-A's win 3-2 in 10 innings. They are the last team to record their first win.
SFCinN-Bernie Carbo injured making a play in right. He will be out for about a week.
SDHouN-Larry Dierker hits a foul off of his foot-he leaves game and is day to day.
AtlLAN-Willie Davis leaves game after being hBP on his wrist-he is day to day.
0413 ChiMin-Min 8 Chi 3-White Sox are last team to lose a game-debut of Rich Gossage.
SDHouN-Leron Lee is a single short of hitting for the cycle. Good comeback extra inning win for Houston.
0414 TexCalN-Don Stanhouse injures his arm in the first inning-he is going on the 15 day DL.
MinOakN-Denny McLain injures arm-status TBD-won't go on DL-will probably miss a start.
LACinN-Hal McRae hits 2 run HR in the bottom of the 9th-Cin wins 4-3.
AtlSDN-Hank Aaron hits his first HR of the season-he now needs 74 more to pass Babe Ruth.
ChiKCN-Ed Hermann ejected and suspended for 3 games.
0415 ChiKC-Bobby Floyd injured after on field collision and leaves games-he is day to day. Amos Otis injured in the field-he is day to day.
PhiChi-Milt Pappas injures his arm while pitching-he is day to day.
LACin-Ted Uhlaender injured in the field-he will miss a week.
0416 NYBal#1-Rich McKinney hit by liner in field-leaves game-day to day.
ChiKC#2-Cookie Rojas injured in on-field collision-he is day to day.
0418 SFSDN-Dave Kingman injured in the field-he is day to day. Leron Lee HBP-will gp on 21 day DL.
0419 CleBos-Boston sweeps series with Cleveland-Boston wins all three games by one run.
SFSDN-Johnny Jeter HBP-will be out for a week.
Kansas City first team with double digit victories (11) after doubleheader sweep of Oakland.
0420 ChiPitN-Nelson Briles hurts his arm while pitching in the cold weather-he will miss a week (and probably one start).
0421 StLMonN-Tim Foli injured in on-field collision with Ken Singleton-Foli is day to day.
PitPhiN-Phillies behind 8-3 in the bottom of the 8th-they score 6 runs and win 9-8. Richie Hebner hits 2 HRs and has 5 RBI.
0422 NYBos-Duane Josephson injured by a foul tip-has to go on DL.
0423 NYBos-At least one run is scored in 9 of the 10 innings played.
ChiNYM (DH)-Cubs shut out Mets in both games of DH.
HouSF-Lee May has 6 RBI in Astros 9-6 win.
0425 DetTex-Bosman hits McAullife-McAullife charges mound-Bosman injured in melee-Bosman is day to day-McAullife is also day to day and gets a 3 game suspension.
ChiHouN-Every Astros starter gets at least one hit, but Cubs win 6-3.
NYSDN-Jim Fregosi hurts himself swinging-he is day to day. Tommie Agee crashed into CF wall and is carried off on a stretcher-he will go on 21 day DL.
0426 PhiSF-the two teams combine for 11 hits, 9 of which are XBH. Giants win 4-3. Carlton has 13 Ks.
MonLAN-Tom Walker injures himself pitching-he is day to day.
NYSDN-Jerry Grote injures himself swinging-he is expected to miss 2 months.
SD-fires manager Preston Gomez-Don Zimmer becomes 2nd Padres manager.
0427 CinPitN-Willie Stargell hits 3 consecutive HRs off Gary Nolan. He Ks when going for a 4th HR. Pirates win 7-5.
0428 MinNY-Dan Monzon hit by a line drive and leaves game-he will miss a week.
CalBalN-Orioles win 2-1 in 17 innings. Nolan Ryan goes 15 innings giving up only 2 hits. Ryans and Palmer (13 IP) strike out 25 between them.
CleKCN-Del Unser injured after crashing into wall-he is day to day. Amos Otis has 5 RBI in Royals 8-2 victory.
NYLAN-Tom Seaver and Tommy John each strike out 12-Mets win 3-1. This is Seaver's first good outing of the season.
0429 AtlPit-Darrel Evans hit by line drive-he will miss at least a week.
StLHouN-Jose Cruz HBP-he is day to day.
PhiSDN-Bill Champion is ejected for hitting Steve Arlin with a pitch-He also gets seven game suspension.
0430 CinChi-Wild finish at Wrigley-going into the bottom of the 8th the game is tied 1-1-Ron Santo hits a a two run HR to put the Cubs ahead 3-1. In the the top of the ninth, led by solo HRs by Johnny Bench and Tony Perez (a clutch HR) and Bernie Carbo's 2 run PH double, the Reds score 5 to go up 6-3. In the bottom of the ninth Ed Sprague is thrown out of the game for disputing balls and strikes when he walks the first hitter he faces (Randy Hundley). Joe Gibbon comes in and pitches 1/3 of an inning giving up 2 hits and and walk and allowing two runs to score. He leaves the game with the Reds clinging to a 6-5 lead. Pedro Borbon comes in with one out and runners and first and third. With the infield in Glenn Beckert grounds to second allowing Jose Cardenal to move to second with Don Kessinger holding at third. Billy Williams singles to center allowing Kessinger to score easily tieing the game-jose Cardenal also comes in just beating the throw to the plate to win the game. Gibbon has been terrible this season and his career with the Reds may be over.
AtlPit-Dock Ellis hits Ron Reed with a pitch and is ejected and suspended for seven games. Reed will miss at least a week. Clemente's second hit of the game puts him at 99 hits short of 3000.
NYLA-Bottom of the ninth-Dodgers down 1-0 load bases with one but can't score.
0501 PhiLAN-24th batter, Willie Davis, is the frst batter of the game to reach base when he singles in the bottom of the 4th. LA wins 1-0 as Al Downing pitches a two hitter. Dick Selma holds the Dodgers to four hits.
0502 Cubs-Joe Pepitone unexpectedly retires. He is eligle to return on June 30, 1972.
CleTexN-Ray Lamb hurts his arm while pitching-he will miss a week.
ChiBalN-Rick Reichardt ad Ellie Hendricks leave game after collission at plate-Reichardt is day to day.
CalNYN-Clyde Wright throws a two hitter but Angels lose the game 1-0. Roy White hits a triple that just gets by Ken Berry and then scores on Felipe Alou's ground out.
MonSDN-Dave Campbell hit by line drive-he is day to day.
0503 ChiBalN-Jim Palmer injures his arm while pitching-will miss a week.
MonSD-Larry Stahl injured fielding a ball-he is day to day.
0505 ChiCleN-excellent pitchers duel between Gaylord Perry and Wilbur Wood. Cleveland wins 2-1. Chicago cant't capitalize on a KC loss.
0506 HouChi-Billy Williams's second HR of the game goes 485 ft onto Sheffield Ave.
SFPhi-Don Money suspended for three games after charging mound when HBP by John Morris.
MinBos-John Kennedy injured on a play in the field-he will be out for a week
NYOak-John Ellis injured in a collision at the plate with Dwain Anderson-Ellis is day to day
0507 KCBal-Fred Patek goes 5 for 5 as Royals beat Orioles 9-4.
LAMon-Al Downing hurts himself while pitching-he is day to day.
0509 KCCleN-John Lowenstein is a double short of hitting for the cycle-he hits a grand slam and has 6 RBI as the Indians beat the Royals 8-1.
LANYN-Bill Singer injured while pitching-he is day to day. Bill Buckner is a double short of the cycle as Dodgers win 11-5.
PitAtlN-On a hit by Roberto Clemente, Marty Perez and Rico Carty collide in the field-Perez is day to day-Carty is taken off the field on a stretcher and will go on 21 day DL.
0510 TexBalN-Dick Billings splits his finger while catching-will miss at least a week and may go on DL.
DetChi-Tom Haller injured his hand while catching-he will go on DL.
BosCalN-in a 14 inning game Doug Griffin of the Red Sox goes 7 for 7 (6 singles and 1 double). For the Angels Leo Cardenas goes 5 for 7. The Red Sox win 6-5. In the 14th inning the Red Sox score 4 runs, and the Angels score 3 runs (the last two on a Vada Pinson HR) in the bottom of the inning.
0511 HouStL-Comeback of the year is staged by the Cardinals. In the bottom of the 6th the Cardinals are down 13-1. Dave Roberts is cruising along but loses it giving up 5 runs and leaves the game after a Ted Simmons HR, but the Astros are still winning 13-6. Seldom used Wade Blasingame comes in and pitches a terrible 2/3rds of an inning giving up 5 walks, including 3 in a row with the bases loaded. He leaves the game with Astros ahead 13-12. Tom Griffin comes in and gives up 2 hits finally ending the inning with the Cardinals having taken the lead 14-13. That is the final score. In this game the Astros bat around in the 1st and 2nd and the Cardianls bat around in the 6th. Every starter except for Doug Rader and Rick Wise (who never came to the plate) had at least one hit. Every starter except Doug Rader, Dal Maxvill and Rick Wise scored at least one run.
SFMonN-for the first time since 5/24/1951 the Giants play a game without Willie Mays on their roster. The Giants beat the Expos 3-1.
0512 BalChiN-Mike Andrews hits a foul off his foot-he is day to day.
LAPhiN-Claude Osteen throws a three hitter but the Dodgers lose 3-2-the Phillies get three runs and three hits in the first inning and don't get another hit for the rest of the game. Osteen only gives up 2 walks for the rest of the game. Osteen's record drops to 2 and 5.
PitHouN-Richie Hebner hit in the head by a line drive-he will go on 15 dey DL.
0513 MilMin-Jerry May suspended for 3 games for charging mound.
BalChiN-Rick Reichardt hits for the cycle as the White Sox knock off the Orioles 11-1.
StLCinN-Luis Melendez and Matty Alou collide in the field and leave game. Alou will miss a week and Melendez will go on 15 day DL. Reds win 8-0.
0514 ChiAtl-Glenn Beckert injured running the bases-he is day to day.
PitHou-Vic Davillo gets a spot start and goes 4 for 4 and walks 3 times for a perfect day at the plate.
StLCin#1-Joe Morgan and Dal Maxville collide on the basepaths-Maxville will be out for at least a week. He may go on the DL.
0515 TexKCN-Richie Scheinblum and Cookie Rojas collide in the field-Rojas leaves game and is day to day.
OakCalN-Eddie Fisher injured his arm while pitching-he will miss a week.
LASDN-Bill Russell charges mound after being hit by Bill Greif-both leave game and are day to day. Russell gets a 3 game suspension.
0516 BalDetN-excellent pitchers duel between two of this seasons best pitchers Pat Dobson and Mickey Lolich. The Tigers win 1-0 on a first inning run.
AtlHouN-Hank Aaron is injured running the bases-he is day to day. Houston loses and LAs victory over the Padres moves the Dodgers into first place.
0517 NYY-send Jack Aker to Cubs to complete trade.
MinChi-Chi 1 Min 0 in fastest game of the season (so far) 8 minutes.
CinSF-Reds hit 6 HRs as they beat Giants 16-10. Reds score in 7 of the 9 innings. The 4th inning is the only inning in the game with no runs scored. The only starters on either team without a hit are the starting pitchers.
BalDetN-Johnny Oates hit by foul tip-he is day to day. Andy Etchebarren hit by a foul tip during the same AB and also leaves game. Later in the game Ellie Hendricks is kicked out for arguing balls and strikes. The Orioles have losy all three of their catchers. Rookie Bobby Grich has to come in and catch.
TexKCN-Mike Paul suspended for a week after hitting Cookie Rojas.
ChiPhi-Tom Hutton and Denny Doyle collide in the field-Doyle is day to day.
LASDN-Curt Blefary, while making his debut with the Padres, is hit on the hand by a foul and will be out for a week.
0518 OakCalN-Mike Epstein and Sandy Alomar each have 5 RBI. Going into the bottom of the 6th the Angels are down 7 to 3, but score 6 runs. Angels win 9-8. Nolan Ryan strikes out 13.
MonNY-Tom Seaver comes within 2 outs of pitching the Mets first no-hitter. Bob Bailey's ninth inning HR ends Seaver's bid. Seaver ends up with a two hitter as Mets win 5-2. It is Seaver's 99th career win. 4 of the Mets runds are unearned.
HouLAN-Lee May, hitting for the cycle, goes 5 for 6 with 2 HRs, 6 RBI and scores 4 runs as Astros beat Dodgers 15-4.
0519 NYPhiN-Gary Gentry hurts himself while pitching, he is day to day.
AtlSFN-Hank Aaron hits 3 HRs as Braves win 9-6. Aaron now has 646 career HRs, 3rd on the All Time HR list. Willie Mays is second with 648. Mays has two HRs this season, Aaron has 7.
0520 CleDet-Eddie Leon is injured in on-base collission with Norm Cash-Leon is day to day.
CalChiN-Dick Allen falls into dugout chasing a foul ball-he leaves the game and is day to day.
NYPhiN#2-Darrell Brandon injures his arm while pitching-he will miss a week.
HouLAN-Dick Dietz injured by a foul tip-he will be out for at least three months.
0521 BalMil-Brewers beat Orioles 3-2. Milwaukee is the final team to get their 10th win.
OakKC-Ollie Brown and Dick Green collide in the field-Green leaves field on a stretcher-both will probably go on DL (Brown may not).
HouLA-unbelievable finsh-in the top of the ninth the Astros are behind 9-5, but score five runs, highlighted by Cesar Cedeno hitting a triple with the bases loaded. The Dodgers enter the bottom of the ninth behind 10-9. With one out Bill Russell singles and pinch hitter Willie Crawford hits a HR-Dodgers win 11-10.
AtlSF#2-Dave Kingman hits a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 9th to give the Giants a 7-6 victory.
0523 BalBosN-the Red Sox commit 5 errors during an unusually cold night. They lose to the Orioles 11-3.
MinKCN-Cesar Tovar injured while fielding-he is day to day.
PhiMonN-Mile Jorgenson leaves game after hitting the railing chasing a pop up-he is day to day.
0524 CleNYN-10 inning scoreless tie ends with Bobby Murcer's HR off Phil Henigan. Yankees win 1-0.
MilDetN-Jim Lonborg takes a no-hitter into the 8th-he ends up giving up 2 hits in 8 IP. The Brewers win 1-0. The Tigers have runners on 1st and 3rd in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs when Dave May makes a great catch off of Norm Cash's shot into the gap.
CalOakN-Vida Blue's first scheduled start for 1972 is rained out.
0525 KCCalN-Jim Rooker makes his first start of the year and shuts out the Angels. The Royals hit 5 HRs and explode for 17 runs. The Angels ground into 4 DPs.
0526 MilBosN-Bill Parsons injured while pitching-he is day to day.
TexMinN-Danny Thompson hit on the head by a pitch-he is day to day. Rick Dempsey hit by a foul tip-he will go on the 21 day DL.
KCCalN-Nolan Ryan injured whild throwing a pitch-he will miss a week.
SFAtlN-Ron Schueler hurts his arm while pitching-he is day to day.
0527 MilBosN-Billy Conigliaro injured in home plate collision with Duane Josephson-Conigliaro is day to day. Brewers fire Dave Bristol as MGR. He will be replaced by Del Crandall. Crandall will take over on May 30th. Roy McMillan will be interim MGR. Crandall wil be the franchises 3rd MGR.
SFAtlN-Paul Casanova injured by a foul tip-he will be out for about a week.
0528 KCCal-Tom Burgmeier hurt while pitching-he is day to day.
ChiOak-Jim Hunter injures his arm while pitching-he will miss a week.
MonChi-Milt Pappas hurts his arm while pitching-he will miss a week.
NYStL-Wayne Garrett and Jerry McNertney collide at home plate-both leave game and are day to day. This turns out to be the winning run in the Mets 3-2 win. This is Tom Seaver's 100th career win. After seven straight wins to start season, this is Rick Wise's 3rd consecutive loss. This loss (combined with Pittsburgh's win over Philadelphia) drops St Louis into 2nd place behind the Pirates.
0529 OakTex#2-Diego Segui pitches a one hitter as Iaklnd beats Texas 10-1. The Rangers run is the result of a walk, fielders choice and error by Ron Clark. The Rangers only hit is a 5th inning single by Tom Grieve.
KCMin-Steve Braun goes 5 for 5 as Twins beat the Royals 7-5.
MonChi-Bill Stoneman injures his arm while pitching-he is day to day.
PhiPit#1-Lumbering Greg Luzinski has two triples-he drive in 4 as the Phillies beat the Pirates 7-3.
CinHouN-George Foster and Joe Morgan collide in the field-Foster is day to day. Doug Rader scores what proves to be the winning run on this play as the Astros beat the Reds 2-1.
0530 PhiNYN-Steve Carlton vs Jerry Koosman-teams combine for 20 strikeouts and zero walks. Phillies win 4-1.
OakTexN-A's win 5-2-after a slow start they have now passed Kansas City into first place.
0531 NYMilN-Ron Theobald injured after HBP-he may go on DL.
BosBalN-Tommy Harper crashes into the CF wall trying to make a catch off of Brooks Robinson-he leaves the game and will miss a week.
KCMinN-Royals win 2-0-Roger Nelson pitches his 5th shutout of the season.
ChiCalN-Jim Lyttle goes 5 for 6 in his 1972 debt-White Sox win 9-7 in a wild game that sees the lead change 6 times. Wilbur Wood and Nolan Ryan are the starters but neither lasts the 6th inning. 17 of 18 starters have at least one hit. Mile Andrews of CHI has no hits, but walks twice.
PhiNYN-Roger Freed hits a 500 ft HR off Jon Matlack
0601 DetCleN-Longest game of the season so far goes 21 innings. The Tigers tie the game 2-2 in the top of the 8th when Aurelio Rodriguez drives in two with a double and then the teams play 12 innings of scoreless ball. Buddy Bell finally scores the winning run on a Tom McCraw single. Good pitching performances by starters Gaylord Perry and Tom Timmerman are long forgotten by games end, and not much offense: the Indians only get 9 hits and leave only one man in scoring position. The Tigers have 14 hits and leave 5 RISP.
NYMilN-Mike Ferraro falls in dugout going after a foul-he is day to day.
StLChiN-Burt Hooten injures his arm while pitching-he is day to day. Cubs win 6-4 concluding a 3 game sweep of St Louis. Rick Wose who started season 7-0 has lost 4 straight decisions.
PhiNYN-Mets win 1-0 in 12 innings. Jim McAndrew (2 hits) and Tug McGraw (0 hits) hold the Phillies to two hits. Deron Johnson has both of the Philles hits.
0602 CalCle-After starting the season with 7 straight losses Rickey Clark gets his first win of the year. Because of last nights 21 inning game the Indians have six utility players in their line-up.
MinDetN-Tigers win 8-3-Mickey Lolich is the first pitcher to get 10 wins. 7 of the 10 Tigers hits are for extra bases, including 4 solo HRs.
ChiSDN_Leron Lee hurt in the field-he is day to day.
0603 TexMil-Jerry Bell injures himself while pitching-he is day to day.

[EdTarbusz]

June 5, 1972 Monday Night Baseball

Oakland A's at Cleveland Indians

After a slow start the Oakland A's finally passed Kansas City into first place on May 30th. Since then they have been passing each and Kansas City is now in first by a half game. Kansas City is idle tonight. The A's have been getting decent pitching, especially from newly acquired Ken Holtzman. Their offense is good but not great. They have been getting virtualy no offensive production from the catcher spot since Curt Blefary was traded, from second base since Dick Green was seriously injured (since Green went on the DL they have been rotating Larry Brown, Tim Cullen, Ron Clark <now back in the minors> and Marty Martinez at second, or in CF. Recently acquired Ollie Brown is back off the DL and is in center strictly for defensive purposes. The A's have 3 legitimite power hitters: Joe Rudi, Reggie Jackson and comeback player of the year candidate Mike Epstein. Aside from Epstein the A's are a good defensive unit.
The Indians have alsmost totally revamped their team after the disastrous 1971 season. Their entire pitching rotation has changed now consisting of ex NLers Gaylord Perry and Milt Wilcox and rookie Dick Tidrow. The Indians swung major deals with the Giants, Reds, Angels and Senators/Rangers in the off-season with Gaylord Perry being the best Indian acquisition in years.Two Indians holdovers, Graig Nettles and Eddie Leon, are complaining about their treatment under new manager Ken Aspromonte and are demanding trades. The Indians have already denied rumors of a Graig Nettles/Fritz Peterson deals with the Yankees. A year ago it looked like the Indians were going to be playing 33 home games in New Orleans, but the new ownership group led by Nick Mileti has put an end to those rumors. Nick Mileti also owns the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Cleveland Arena and is planning to build the Richfield Coliseum for the Cavs to play in and Cleveland is said to be on the short list for an NHL expansion team.
Ken Aspromonte is on the record saying that he thinks the Indians can finish as high as second. The Indians pitching has been good but their hitting has been the weak part of their game. They now have a very young lineup with rookies Jack Brohamer and Buddy Bell (who recently returned from a stint in Portland) starting to hit well. Graig Nettles is slumping but newly acquired veteran Tom McCraw has been hitting well.

Starting Pitchers: Vida Blue (1-0 2.25) vs Gaylord Perry (8-5 1.61)

Starting Line-ups:

Oakland

19 Bert Campaneris SS .232-3-13
26 Joe Rudi LF .299-5-17
9 Reggie Jackson RF .268-9-40
6 Sal Bando 3B .247-7-33
5 Mike Epstein 1B .273-13-29
16 Tim Cullen 2B .158-0-0
15 Ollie Brown CF .077-0-1
38 Gene Tenace C .172-4-11
35 Vida Blue P .500-0-0

Cleveland

16 Fred Stanley SS .273-0-5
7 Jack Brohamer 2B .233-2-10
20 Alex Johnson LF .215-4-17
12 Graig Nettles 3B .243-2-19
8 Ray Fosse C .215-1-13
14 Chris Chambliss 1B .286-2-16
22 Tom McCraw CF .272-4-17
9 Buddy Bell RF .204-0-7
35 Gaylord Perry P .231-0-1

It's a clear night in the 70s with the wind blowing out toward the lake.

1st inning

OAK
Campaneris lines out to 3B
Rudi triples to right-center
Jackson Ks
Bando singles to center-Rudi scores OAK 1 CLE 0
Epstein flies to RF
1r 2h 0e 1l

CLE
Stanley singles to left
Brohamer flies to RF
Johnson grounds into FC 4-6-Johnson on first
Nettles doubles to right-Johnson takes third
Fosse grounds out 4-3
0r 2h 0e 2l

OAK 1 -1 2 0
CLE 0 -0 2 0

2nd inning

OAK
Cullen grounds out 5-3
Brown grounds out 6-3
Tenace flies to CF
0r 0h 0e

CLE
Chambliss singles to center
McCraw flies to RF-Jackson makes a running catch
Bell pops to 1B
Perry Ks
0r 1h 0e 1l

OAK 10 -1 2 0
CLE 00 -0 3 0

3rd inning

OAK
Blue flies to RF
Campaneris grounds out 4-3-Brohamer making a diving stop!
Rudi Ks
0r 0h 0e

CLE
Stanley hits a liner off of Bando's glove into left-Bando charged with a 2 base error
Brohamer grounds out 4-3-Stanley advances to third
Johnson flies to CF-Brown's great throw keeps stanley on third!
Nettles flies to RF
0r 0h 1e 1l

OAK 100 -1 2 1
CLE 000 -0 3 0

4th inning

OAK
Jackson flies to RF
Bando grounds out 5-3
Epstein flies to RF-Bell making a nice sliding catch!
0r 0h 0e

CLE
Fosse walks
Chambliss lines to SS
McCraw HBP-Fosse to second
Bell Ks
Perry Ks
0r 0h 0e 2l

OAK 100 0 -1 2 1
CLE 000 0 -0 3 0

5th inning

OAK
Cullen flies to CF
Brown grounds out 6-3
Tenace singles to left-first OAK hit since the 1st-Perry had gotten 11 out in a row
Blue Ks
0r 1h 0e

CLE
Stanley grounds to Cullen who makes a throw in the dirt-Stanley takes first on the error
Brohamer singles to left-Stanley to second
Johnson Ks
Nettles singles to center-Stanley scores-Brohamer to second (not challanging Brown's arm) OAK 1 CLE 1
Fosse singles to center-Bases Loaded
Chambliss SF to CF-Brohamer scores OAK 1 CLE 2
McCraw walks-Bases Loaded
Bell singles to left-Nettles scores-Fosse tries to score and is nailed on a great throw from Rudi 7-2 OAK 1 CLE 3
3r 4h 1e 2l

OAK 100 00 -1 3 2
CLE 000 03 -3 7 0

6th inning

OAK
Campaneris grounds out 4-3
Rudi Kc
Jackson HBP
Bando hits a grounder that goes between Brohamer's leg-bando to first and Jackson to second on the error
Epstein singles to right-Jackson scores-Bando to second OAK 2 CLE 3
Cullen singles to center-Bando scores-Epstein to second OAK 3 CLE 3
Brown Ks
2r 2h 1e 2l

CLE
Perry Ks
Stanley Kc
Brohamer grounds out 4-3
0r 0h 0e

OAK 100 002 -3 5 2
CLE 000 030 -3 7 1

7th inning

OAK
Tenace hits one up the middle that Brohamer makes a nice play on 4-3
Blue hits a single that Perry knocks down but can't get the throw to first in time
Campaneris lines to 2B-Brohamer tags Blue for unassisted DP
0r 1h 0e 0e

CLE
Johnson grounds to 4-3
Nettles grounds to Cullen who throws over Epstein's head for a two base error-Cullen's 2nd error of the game
Fosse grounds out 5-3-Nettles holding second
Chambliss Ks
0r 0h 1e 1l

OAK 100 002 0 -3 6 3
CLE 000 030 0 -3 7 1

8th inning

OAK
Rudi doubles to left-center
Jackson flies to RF
Bando grounds out 5-3
Epstein grounds out to first 3 unassisted
0r 1h 0e 1l

CLE
For OAK-Bob Locker warming up
McCraw doubles down the right field line
Bell lines to SS
Frank Duffy (.235-1-7) batting for Perry-Ray Lamb warming up
Duffy pops to 3B
Stanley grounds out 4-3
0r 1h 0e 1l

OAK 100 002 00 -3 7 3
CLE 000 030 00 -3 8 1

9th inning

OAK
For CLE-Duffy stays in game playing SS-Ray Lamb (0-0 2s 0.36 25ip 20h 7w 11k 0hr .215 opp ba) now pitching (batting first)
Cullen grounds out 6-3
Brown singles to center
Tenace singles to center-Brown to second
For CLE-Steve Mingori and Phil Hennigan warming up
For OAK-Mike Hegan (.176-0-4) batting for Blue
Hegan grounds to mound for FC 1-6-Brown to third-Hegan to first
Campaneris doubles to center-Brown and Hegan score OAK 5 CLE 3
For CLE-Phil Hennigan (1-2 0s 2.61 10.1ip 6h 0w 5k 2hr .167 op ba) now pitching
Rudi hits his 6th HR to center-Campaneris and Rudi score OAK 7 CLE 3
Jackson Ks
4r 4h 0e 0l

CLE
For OAK-Hegan stays in game playing first-Bob Locker (2-1 3s 1.77 20.1ip 16h 2w 12k 0hr .211 opp ba) now pitching (batting fifth)
Brohamer grounds to 1B unassisted
Johnson flies to CF-Brown makes a running catch
Nettles grounds out 4-3
0r 0h 0e

FINAL SCORE

OAK 100 002 004-7 11 3
CLE 000 030 000-3 8 1
W-Blue (2-0)
L-Lamb (0-1)

Indians leave 7 RISP. Vida Blue looked a little sharper than he did in debut against Chicago. The A's defense was both a help and hindrance to Blue. One of Cullen's errors led to 3 unearned runs, but Indians were reluctant to run on Ollie Brown's arm, preventing at least one Indian run. Joe Rudi also threw Ray Fosse out at the plate. If Fosse had scored this may have prevented Gaylord Perry being lifted for a PH in the 8th. The Indians bullpen is usually better then they were tonight. Gaylord Perry was also victimized by his defense when Brohamer's error helped lead to 2 unearned runs in the 6th. This win puts Oakland back in first place, percentage points ahead of Kansas City.


Other night games:

MIN 000 020 200-4 6 1
BAL 000 000 100-1 4 0
W-Woodson (8-4)
L-McNally (6-5)
Phil Roof's 2 run HR in the 5th is the big blow for the Twins. Paul Blair drives in the Orioles only run.

PIT 000 300 000-3 7 0
SDP 000 002 000-2 12 0
W-Ellis (4-4)
L-Kilkenny (0-1)
S-Giusti (5)
Despite getting 12 hits the Padres can only score 2 runs (on Leron Lee's 2 run HR). The Padres only get RISP-neither of whom score. Clay Kirby hits Richie Hebner which results in a bench clearing brawl. Hebner draws a 3 game suspension and Kirby leaves the game and is expected to miss a week.

[EdTarbusz]

Game of the Week Jun 10, 1972

Houston Astros at New York Mets

Pre-game: a match-up the original NL expansion teams. While the Mets have had some success on the field, with their miracle 1969 season, the Astros have had little success. The Astros have a reputation for being a good pitch no hit team. However, this year the Astros have a highly potent offense, led by their All Star caliber outfield and newly acquired Lee May. The Astros also boast one of the best defensive units in the game. They started iff really hot and have cooled off a bit but pennant fever is starting to sweep Houston. The NL west is the Majors tightestest division with only 1 1/2 games seperating the top 4 teams. The Astros are on a three game losing streak but are still only a half game behind division leading Los Angeles.

Starting pitchers: Don Wilson (9-1 1.82 94ip 59h 24bb 68k 4 hr .178opba) vs Jon Matlack (4-7 2.86 94.1ip 84h 32bb 86k 5hr .235opba)

Starting Line-ups:

Houston

14 Roger Metzger SS .218-1-15
28 Cesar Cedeno CF .364-8-42
24 Jimmy Wynn RF .276-7-40
23 Lee May 1B .276-10-54
27 Bob Watson LF .330-6-39
12 Doug Rader 3B .292-10-44
19 Tommy Helms 2B .204-3-19
8 Jack Hiatt C .375-2-8
40 Don Wilson P .108-0-4

New York

24 Willie Mays 1B .296-2-9
12 Ken Boswell 2B .214-0-8
20 Tommie Agee CF .217-4-16
4 Rusty Staub RF .317-3-19
21 Cleon Jones LF .151-1-5
2 Jim Fregosi 3B .227-3-9
17 Ted Martinez SS .195-1-7
9 Bill Sudakis C .250-0-3
32 Jon Matlack P .233-0-0


Weather is partly cloudy in the 70s with a strong wind from right to left field.

1st inning

HOU
Metzger singles to center
Cedeno hits a slow roller to SS and the throw just beats him-Metzger to second
Wynn grounds to 3B-Metzger takes third
May grounds out to P
0r 1h 0e 1l

NY
Mays Kc
Boswell singles to right
Agee GIDP 5-4-3
0r 1h 0e 0l

HOU 0 -0 1 0
NYM 0 -0 1 0

2nd inning

HOU
Watson singles to left
Rader K
Helms grounds into FC 4-6
Hiatt grounds to 3B
0r 1h 0e 1l

NY
Staub K
Jones grounds to 3B
Fregosi fouls out to C
0r 0h 0e 0l

HOU 00 -0 2 0
NYM 00 -0 1 0

3rd inning

HOU
Wislon singles to center (3rd inning in a row when Matlack gave up a hot to the lead-off batter)
Metzger Kc
Cedeno singles to left-Wilson to second
Wynn GIDP 5-4-3
0r 2h 0e 1l

NY
Martinez triples to right center
Sudakis grounds out to 2B-Martinez scores HOU 0 NY 1
Matlack hits a flare to 3B that Rader makes a nice running catch on
Mays hits one up the middle that Metzger gets to but his throw to first is late-single for Mays
Boswell hits into FC 6-4
1r 2h 0e 1l

HOU 000 -0 4 0
NYM 001 -1 3 0

4th inning

HOU
May homers to left HOU 1 NY 1
Watson singles to center
Rader GIDP 6-4-3
Helms flies to CF
1r 2h 0e 0l

NY
Agee flies to LF
Staub flies to LF
Jones walks
Fregosi flies to RF
0r 0h 0e 1l

HOU 000 1 -1 6 0
NYM 001 0 -1 3 0

5th inning

HOU
Hiatt singles to left
Wilson hits into FC while bunting 3-6
Metzger fouls out to SS
Cedeno flies to LF
0r 1h 0e 1l

NY
Martinez flies to RF
Sudakis walks
Matlack hits into FC while bunting 3-6
Mays walks-Matlack to second
Boswell hits into FC 6-4
0r 0h 0e 2l

HOU 000 10 -1 7 0
NYM 001 00 -1 3 0

6th inning

HOU
Wynn K
May lines to CF
Watson grounds to Matlack and takes first on Mays's error
Rader K
0r 0h 1e 1l

NY
On first pitch to Agee, Don Wilson injures his arm and has to leave the game
For HOU-Tom Griffin now pitching (0-1 0s 2.51 14.1ip 12h 8bb 14k 0hr .214opba)
Agee walks
Staub K
Jones Kc
Fregosi K
0r 0h 0e 1l

HOU 000 100 -1 7 0
NYM 001 000 -1 3 1

7th inning

HOU
Helms doubles down the left field line
Hiatt flies to CF
Griffin takes first and Helms scores on Fregosi's error HOU 2 NY 1
Metzger walks-Griffin to second
Cedeno pops to 1B-infield fly called
Wynn pops to SS
1r 1h 1e 2l

NY
Martinez flies to RF
Sudakis flies to LF
John Milner (.267-7-13) batting for Matlack
Milner K
0r 0h 0e 0l

HOU 000 100 1 -2 8 0
NYM 001 000 0 -1 3 2

8th inning

HOU
For NY-Danny Frisilla (1-1 1s 8.31 8.2ip 13h 2bb 7k 2hr .361opba) now pitching
May K
Watson grounds to SS
Rader triples to left center
Helms grounds through the at short for a single-Rader scores HOU 3 NY 1
For NY-Ray Sadecki 0-0 0s 5.03 19.2ip 25h 5bb 14k 1hr .313 opba) now pitching
Hiatt flies to LF-Jones making a sliding catch
1r 2h 0e 1l

NY
Mays Kc
Boswell singles to center
Agee flies to CF
Staub doubles to left center-Boswell scores HOU 3 NY 2
Jones doubles to left-Staub scores HOU 3 NY 3
Fregosi flies to CF
2r 3h 0e 1l

HOU 000 100 11 -3 10 0
NYM 001 000 02 -3 6 2

9th inning

HOU
For NY-Tug McGraw (2-0 4s 0.69 13ip 5h 3bb 10k 1 hr .116 opba) now pitching
Jesus Alou (.297-0-3) batting for Griffin
Alou pops to 2B
Metzger grounds to 3B
Cedeno doubles into the left field corner
Wynn pops tp 3B
0r 1h 0e 1l

NY
For HOU-George Culver (3-1 0s 2.84 19ip 17h 11bb 12k 3hr .221 opba) now pitching
Martinez grounds to 3B
Sudakis Ks
McGraw Kc
0r 0h 0e 0l

HOU 000 100 110 -3 11 0
NYM 001 000 020 -3 6 2

10th inning

HOU
May flies to LF
Watson doubles in the left field corner
Rader Ks
Helms Ks
0r 1h 0e 1l

NY
Mays Kc
Boswell flies to LF
Agee grounds to 3B
0r 0h 0e 0l

HOU 000 100 110 0 -3 12 0
NYM 001 000 020 0 -3 6 2

11th inning

HOU
Hiatt reaches first on Fregosi's error (Fregosi's second error of the game-the last led to an unearned run)
Larry Howard (.000-0-0-his first AB of the season) batting for Culver
Howard GIDP 5-4-3
Metzger flies to CF
0r 0h 1e 0l

NY
For HOU-Fred Gladding (2-2 4s 3.77 14.1ip 17h 2bb 4k 1hr .283opba) now pitching
Staub grounds to 2B
Jones flies to RF
Fregosi grounds to 3B
0r 0h 0e 0l

HOU 000 100 110 00 -3 12 0
NYM 001 000 020 00 -3 6 3

12th inning

HOU
Cedeno grounds to 2B
Wynn grounds to 3B
May Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

NY
Martinez Ks
Sudakis pops to 1B
Dave Marshall (.227-1-3) batting for McGraw
Marshall lines to 2B
0r 0h 0e 0l

HOU 000 100 110 000 -3 12 0
NYM 001 000 020 000 -3 6 3

13th inning

HOU
For NY-Buzz Capra (0-1 0s 6.89 15.2ip 19h 9bb 19k 4hr .306opba) now pitching
Watson Ks
Rader walks
Helms beats out a bouncer to second-Rader takes second
Hiatt singles to left-Rader to third-Helms to second (bases loaded and one out)
Norm Miller (.233-0-1) batting for Gladding
Miller files to CF-Rader tags up-Agee throws wild to plate (E8-no SF)-Rader scores-Helms to third-Hiatt to second HOU 4 NY 3
Metzger hits one through Fregosi's legs into left-Helms and Hiatt score (Fregogi's 3rd error-three uearned runs score on his errors) HOU 6 NY 3
Cedeno Ks
3r 2h 2e 1l

NY
For HOU-Jim Ray (0-2 2s 4.63 11.2ip 12h 11bb 5k 0hr .255opba) now pitching
Mays grounds to 3B
Boswell flies to CF
Agee singles to left
Staub grounds into FC 6-4
0r 1h 0e 1 l

Final score

HOU 000 100 110 000 3-6 14 0
NYM 001 000 020 000 0-3 7 5
W-Gladding (3-2)
L-Capra (0-2)
S-Ray (3)

A tough loss for the Mets in which fielding lapses costs the Mets the game. Jim Fregosi has the transition to both a new league and a new position (SS to 3B) to be very difficult. He has quoted as saying that the NL is a much more competitive league than the AL. The questions also remain: are the Mets being affected by the death of Gil Hodges and how can get Yogi Berra get the most from the talent around him?

Other games:

MIN 301 000 201-7 10 1
CLE 000 240 000-6 9 2
W-LaRoche (3-0)
L-Lamb (0-2)
Tony Oliva makes his 1972 debut going 2 for 4 with a HR. Twins jump out to quick lead but Indians fight back and break a 4-4 tie on Jerry Moses's 2 out 2 run single. The Twins tie the game in the seventh when Danny Thompson singles j=home two runs. In the ninth the Twins parlay an error, walk, infield single and SF to score the go ahead run. In the bottom of the ninth with one out pinch runner Tom McCraw is thrown out at the plate by Bobby Darwin when he tried to score from second on PH Frank Duffy's single. Dick Woodson had to leave the game after injuring himself while pitching in the 6th. He is not expected to miss a start.

CAL 002 100 000-3 10 0
BOS 020 200 00x-4 10 0
W-Culp (5-6)
L-Wright (4-7)
S-Bolin (4)
Tommy Harper goes 2 for 5 and has 3 RBI as the Red Sox defeat the Angels. Neither starter is sharp but each is able to get out of several jams.

OAK 100 000 002-3 9 0
DET 000 100 000-1 3 1
W-Hunter (6-4)
L-Lolich (10-6)
Jim Hunter gives up only three hits in this pitchers duel between him and Mickey Lolich. Bert Campaneris leads off the game with a HR and Joe Rudi breaks the tie in the ninth with a 2 run 2 out triple. Lolich strikes out 9 and Gates Brown has 2 of the Tigers 3 hits.

MIL 100 020 210-6 13 1
CHI 002 000 212-7 9 3
W-Romo (2-0)
L-Lonborg (4-6)
Three hits in a row in the bottom of the ninth give the game to the White Sox, even after pinch runner Jorge Orta is thrown out at the plate trying to score the tying run. Jim Lyttle continues his hot hitting after starting season on DL. He has a double and triple and has 3 RBI. Johnny Briggs of the Brewers is 4 for 4 with 2 HRs and 3 RBI. Stan Bahnsen isn't sharp giving up 11 hits and 5 runs, but he helps himself by inducing the Brewers to ground into 4 DPs.

CIN 001 000 001-2 8 0
MON 000 010 000-1 7 1
W-Gullett (4-5)
L-Stoneman (4-7)
S-Carroll (7)
A good pitchers duel between two pitchers who are having fairly difficult years. The Reds offense continues sputtering with the Reds leaving 6 RISP. This win puts the Reds 1 game below .500.

CHI 001 001 000-2 7 1
SFG 100 010 02x-4 5 0
W-Barr (5-4)
L-Hooton (4-7)
Bobby Bonds 15th HR in the 8th is the game winner for the Giants. Jim Barr, a late addition to the Giants rotation, continues to pitch well.


Night Games:

BAL 000 002 302-7 8 0
TEX 001 003 001-5 7 0
W-McNally (7-5)
L-Hand (1-1)
Dave McNally has a rough outing but the Orioles are able to rally late and beat the Rangers. Ted Ford hits a 3 run HR but the Rangers couldn't hold the lead. Ruch Hand starts well but weakens late in the game. 5 of the 8 Orioles hits are XBH.

NY 000 210 300-6 11 0
KC 006 200 02x-10 14 2
W-Drago (7-6)
L-Gardner (1-2)
S-Abernathy (3)
John Mayberry is hitting star in a game with a lot of offense. Mayberry hits a triple and 2 HRs while driving in 5. For the Yankees, Bobby Murcer hits a HR and drives in 4. He now leads the AL with 50 RBI. Newest Yankee starter Rob Gardner can't make it through the 3rd. Dick Drago isn't sharp for the Royals but pitches just well enough for the win.

ATL 000 031 000-4 12 0
PHI 000 020 000-2 7 1
W-Niekro (9-3)
L-Twitchell (0-2)
A Deron Johnson error leads to 3 unearned runs which is the difference in this game. The Braves ring up an impressive hitting barrage against Twitchell but can manage only one earned run against him.

PIT 000 110 000-2 7 0
LAD 000 000 000-0 5 1
W-Blass (7-3)
L-John (5-4)
Sharp pitchers duel between the two first place teams, with Steve Blass pitching a little stronger. Bobby Valentine provides the bulk of the Dodgers offense getting three hits. For the Pirates, Jose Pagan hits 3 doubles and scores 1 run. This loss puts the Dodgers back in second place behind the Astros.

STL 000 000 201-3 6 4
SDP 031 020 00x-6 10 1
W-Arlin (9-4)
L-Cleveland (5-8)
The Cardinals problems continue as they lose their 13th of their last 15th game. 4 Cardinals errors, including 3 by Ted Sizemore lead to 3 Unearned runs for the Padres. The Cardinals score two unearned runs on Enzo Hernandez's error after Hernandez drove in 2 in the fifth.

[EdTarbusz]

Here are the standings after the games of Sunday, Jun 11, 1972:

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 32 19 0.627 -
Baltimore 31 21 0.596 1.5
Boston 26 25 0.510 6.0
Detroit 25 29 0.463 8.5
Cleveland 22 30 0.423 10.5
Milwaukee 17 36 0.321 16.0

West Div W L Pct GB
Oakland 33 21 0.611 -
Kansas City 33 23 0.589 1.0
Minnesota 30 25 0.545 3.5
Chicago (A) 28 26 0.519 5.0
California 24 31 0.436 9.5
Texas 22 37 0.373 13.5


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Pittsburgh 35 22 0.614 -
Chicago (N) 30 26 0.536 4.5
St Louis 27 28 0.491 7.0
New York (N) 24 29 0.453 9.0
Philadelphia 23 35 0.397 12.5
Montreal 18 36 0.333 15.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Houston 34 26 0.567 -
Atlanta 32 25 0.561 0.5
Los Angeles 31 25 0.554 1.0
San Francisco 34 29 0.540 1.5
Cincinnati 28 29 0.491 4.5
San Diego 27 33 0.450 7.0

For the sake of comparison here are the actual standings for that day (thanks to Retrosheet)

Standings At Close of Play of June 11, 1972
NL East

Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA
New York Mets 50 33 17 0 .660 - 192 174
Pittsburgh Pirates 49 32 17 0 .653 0.5 249 174
Chicago Cubs 48 27 21 0 .563 5.0 196 141
St. Louis Cardinals 51 22 29 0 .431 11.5 185 209
Montreal Expos 48 20 28 0 .417 12.0 141 206
Philadelphia Phillies 50 20 30 0 .400 13.0 155 198

NL West

Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA
Cincinnati Reds 50 31 19 0 .620 - 245 198
Los Angeles Dodgers 52 31 21 0 .596 1.0 197 144
Houston Astros 51 29 22 0 .569 2.5 228 207
Atlanta Braves 49 23 26 0 .469 7.5 203 225
San Diego Padres 51 17 34 0 .333 14.5 135 196
San Francisco Giants 57 18 39 0 .316 16.5 214 268

AL East

Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA
Detroit Tigers 47 26 21 0 .553 - 172 145
Baltimore Orioles 47 25 22 0 .532 1.0 162 134
Cleveland Indians 45 22 23 0 .489 3.0 133 139
Boston Red Sox 44 20 24 0 .455 4.5 171 198
New York Yankees 48 20 28 0 .417 6.5 163 175
Milwaukee Brewers 45 16 29 0 .356 9.0 123 176

AL West

Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA
Oakland Athletics 47 33 14 0 .702 - 197 146
Chicago White Sox 48 30 18 0 .625 3.5 185 169
Minnesota Twins 45 26 19 0 .578 6.0 173 149
California Angels 50 23 27 0 .460 11.5 172 205
Kansas City Royals 48 21 27 0 .438 12.5 170 154
Texas Rangers 50 20 30 0 .400 14.5 167 198

[EdTarbusz]

June 12, 1972 Monday Night Baseball

This was supposed the first MNB but NBC decied to pre-empt the Monday Night Movie last week when they had a chance to show a match up of Vida Blue and Gaylord Perry.

This week the Dodgers at the Cardinals.

Since the Astors have been slumping recently the Dodgers were able to slip into first for a few days. Yesterday a Braves win and a Dodgers loss knocked the Dodgers into third behind the suddenly surging Braves. The Dodgers are in the midst of their longest pennant drought since coming to LA and after two consecutive second place finishes are hungry for their first NL West title. The NL West is currently MLBs tightest division with only 1 1/2 games seprating Houston, Atlanta, LA and San Francisco. The Reds are in 5th at 4 1/2 games back and the Padres are in last at seven out.

The Cardinals spent some in first in the East but are in free fall now, having lost 14 of their last 16 games. The oddity of it is that aside from their bullpen no one on the team is really slumping, but they have dropped to third with a sub .500 average.

Earlier today:

Exhibition game:

CIN 010 020 000-3 7 0
CLE 000 000 010-1 6 0
W-Hall
L-Hargan
S-Gullett
Experimental start goes well for Tom Hall (he strikes out 11 in 7.2 innings against an Indians line-up that doesn't strike out much-only the Yankees have less strike-outs (168) than the Indians (192) do) and will move him into Cincinnati's rotation replacing the inneffective Wayne Simpson. Steve Hargan's start has the opposite effect and the seldon used Hargan may find homself passed over when Steve Dunning returns to the Indians from Portland.

Tonights game:

Los Angeles Dodgers at St Louis Cardinals

Starters: Claude Osteen (4-6 2.96 97.1ip 82h 27bb 46k 7hr .225opba) vs Bob Gibson (7-7 2.02 124.2ip 95h 36bb 103k 6hr .205opba)

Starting line-ups:

Los Angeles:

2 Bobby Valentine 2B .276-0-7
22 Bill Buckner LF .370-5-26
3 Willie Davis CF .301-9-42
28 Wes Parker 1B .304-0-9
27 Willie Crawford RF .254-4-17
6 Steve Garvey 3B .242-4-20
41 Steve Yeager C .303-1-6
18 Bill Russell SS .256-2-18
23 Claude Osteen P .394-0-5

St Louis:

20 Lou Brock LF .283-1-20-15 of 20 SB
41 Ted Sizemore 2B .231-0-18
17 Matty Alou 1B .341-2-35
9 Joe Torre 3B.259-4-31
23 Ted Simmons C .330-9-33
26 Luis Melendez CF .247-2-6
38 Jose Cruz CF .224-0-13
27 Dal Maxvill SS .238-1-14
45 Bob Gibson P

Weather is very hot and occasional rain

1st inning

LA
Valentine singles to left
Buckner bounces to 2B-Valentine to second
Davis pops to 1B
Parker fouls to 2B
0r 1h 0e 1l

STL
Brock fouls to 1B
Sizemore grounds to 3B
Alou flies to RF
0r 0h 0e 0l

LAD 0 -0 1 0
STL 0 -0 0 0

2nd inning

LA
Crawford homers to center LA 1 STL 0
Garvey doubles into left field corner
Yeager fouls to RF
Russell grounds out to P-Garvey to third
Osteen lines to 2B
1r 2h 0e 1l

STL
Torre homers to right LA 1 STL 1
Simmons Ks
Melendez grounds to SS
Cruz lines to SS
1r 1h 0e 0l

LAD 01 -1 3 0
STL 01 -1 1 0

3rd inning

LA
Valentine flies to center
Buckener singles to center
Davis grounds into FC 1B to SS-Davis on first
Davis steals second
Parker grounds to 2B
0r 1h 0e 1l

The grounds crew moves in to put the tarp on the field as the rain increases.

After a lengthy delay-the game is called and will be replayed in its entirety.

The back up game (NY @ ATL) is also experienceing a rain delay.

And the action moves to Atlanta:

The Mets jumped out to an early with a run in the first on Tommie Agee's 5th HR of the year-the Braves tied it in the 6th when Hank Aaron hit his 12th HR of the year.

Each team has the same line: 1r 4h 1e. Starting pitchers Tom Seaver and Tom Kelley are still in the game

Bottom of the 7th:

ATL
Seaver pitching for the Mets
Darrell Evans 3B (.256-2-19 0-2) lines to 2B
Mike Lum CF (.227-2-10 0-2) flies center Agee making a snow cone catch!
Dusty Baker RF (.317-11-37 1-2) homers to center NY 1 ATL 2
Marty Perez SS (.214-0-4 1-2) walks
Jim Breazeale (.261-1-7) batting for Kelley singles to center-Perez to third
Felix Millan 2B (.279-1-16 0-3) flies to LF
1r 2h 0e 2l

NYM 100 000 0 -1 4 1
ATL 000 001 1 -2 6 1

8th inning

NY
For ATL-Pat Jarvis (1-1 1s 5.65 28.2ip 28h 18bb 17k 4hr .250opba) now pitching
Tommie Agee CF (.221-5-17 1-1 1HR) walks
Rusty Staub RF (.313-4-21 0-2) pops to 1B
Cleon Jones LF (.159-1-6 0-3) walks-Agee takes second
Jim Fregosi 3B (.221-3-9 1-3) flies to RF
Ed Kranepool 1B (.295-6-19 0-3) flies to CF
0r 0h 0e 2l

ATL
Ralph Garr LF (.361-3-21 1-3) singles to right
Hank Aaron 1B (.315-12-39 1-3 1 HR) flies to CF
Earl Williams C (.282-7-42 0-3) grounds into FC 5-4-Williams on first
Evans grounds out to P
0r 1h 0e 1l

NYM 100 000 00 -1 4 1
ATL 000 001 10 -2 7 1

9th inning

NY
Duffy Dyer C (.197-3-10 0-3) lines to 3B
John Milner PH (.264-7-13) batting for Seaver walks
Ted Martinez runs for Milner (Jerry Koosman warming up for Mets)
For ATL-Cecil Upshaw (2-2 4s 5.57 21ip 25h 9bb 8k 4hr .281opba) now pitching
Bud Harrelson SS (.164-0-12 2-3) flies to left
Dave Marshall PH (.217-1-3) batting for Ken Boswell 2B (.213-0-8 0-4) Grounds to 1B
0r 0h 0e 1l

NYM 100 000 000-1 4 1
ATL 000 001 10x-2 7 1
W-Kelley (5-5)
L-Seaver (6-5)
S-Upshaw (5)

This win keeps Atlanta in second place a game ahead of the Dodgers.

Other games tonight:

BAL 010 000 000 000-1 5 0
OAK 010 000 000 001-2 10 0
W-Hamilton (3-0)
L-Jackson (1-1)
Tense pitchers duel between Blue Moon Odom and Mike Cuellar in a rematch of the 1971 ALCS teams. Late inning replacement Angel Mangual doubles home Larry Brown for the winning run in the 12th. Mike Epstein hit his 14th HR in the second inning.

DET 000 000 030-3 9 2
MIN 021 210 03x-9 12 0
W-Kaat (8-1)
L-Cain (0-4)
Minnesota keeps the heat on Oakland and Kansas City with an easy win over the Tigers. Rhil Roof has 4 RBI for the Twins.

MIL 010 000 313-8 16 0
TEX 100 001 000-2 4 1
W-Parsons (3-5)
L-Shellenback (1-3)
A match-up of the ALs worst teams. Another decent Pete Broberg outing is wasted as an ineffective Rangers bullpen lets the game get away from them. Casey Cox pitches especially poorly as he gives up 3 straight doubles in the 9th.

MON 000 003 001-4 6 0
HOU 204 000 00x-6 9 0
W-Dierker (6-4)
L-Renko (3-7)
Late run by the Expos isn't enough to beat the Astros. Starter Steve Renko is knocked out early but reliever Tom Walker effectively shuts Houston down. Lee May drives in 2 and is now 2nd in the majors with 57 RBI.

[EdTarbusz]

The Race for the Babe:

Entering the 1972 season the all-time homerun list looks like this:

Babe Ruth 714
Willie Mays 646
Hank Aaron 639

The concensus is that Hank Aaron has an excellent shot at passing Ruth in late 1973 or more likely sometime in 1974. Even though Mays is second on the list, his power numbers have dropped dramatically over the last several years and he has been a lead-off hitter. Mays is also seen as being near the end of the road.

in the month of April Aaron has three HRs and Mays has one. So now:

Ruth 714
Mays 647
Aaron 642

After the games of 6/12 the Race for the Babe:

Ruth 714
Aaron 652-13 HRs this season
Mays 649-3 HRs this season

Hank Aaron tied Willie Mays on 6/7 with a HR at Parc Jarry off Denny LeMaster.

Hank Aaron passed Willie Mays to become second to Babe Ruth on 6/9 when he hit 2 HRs at Veterans Stadium. The first, which put him past Mays, was off Ken Reynolds. The second (his 651st) was hit off Darrell Brandon.

[EdTarbusz]

Saturday June 17, 1972 Losa Angeles Dodgers at Chicago Cubs

Although not known at the time, this day will be a milestone in American politics.

The Dodgers and Cubs are both teams that have been losing ground in the month. Each have played at roughly .500 but the only the Cubs have seen a noticable dip in the standingsas they are spinning their wheels at 5.5 GB behind the hot Pittsburgh Pirates. The fans have cooled a bit because both the Cubs and White Sox are stalled at .500 and haven't been able to break into a long winning streak.

The Dodgers started the month in third and made a quick a move in the standings even reaching first for a few days when the Astros stumbled. The big problem for the Dodgers has been the Braves who are the hottest team in the Majors rights now. The Braves have ridden an explosive offense, decent starting pitching (with a substandard bullpen) for a 13-1 record in the month of June. The Braves will be hadicapped for the rest of the month, hwever, because two of their best young players, Darrell Evans and Dusty Baker, will be serving miltary reserve duty until July 3rd. The Dodgers may be feeling a little lucky because they are playing in the tighest division in the Majors with 3.5 seprating the top 4 teams and only 9 games seperating the first place Braves and the last place San Diego Padres.

In yesterdays game, the Cubs entered the bottom of the ninth with the Dodgers ahead 6-3. Tommy John weakened a bit and allowed singles to Don Kessinger and Randy Hundley after getting two quick outs. Walter Alston brought in Jim Brewer top close it out. The first batter that Brewer faced was Jose Cardenal who sent Brewer's first pitch into the basket in right center which tied the game. Brewer then gave up a single to Glenn Beckert and then Billy Williams hit 3rd HR of the game onver the RF wall for a dramatic Cubs victory! In the end Brewer faced three hitters: 1 single and 2 HRs. The Cubs are hoping to ride the momemtum today.

Starting pitchers: Don Sutton (6-4 2.24 92.1ip 76h 24bb 75k 4hr .224opba) vs Fergie Jenkins (9-5 2.56 137ip 111h 19bb 102k 13hr .216opba) This will be Jenkins 3rd attempt for his 10th win this season.

Starting Line-ups:

Los Angeles Dodgers

2 Bobby Valentine 2B .284-0-11
22 Bill Buckner LF .382-5-27
3 Willie Davis CF .303-10-45
36 Frank Robinson RF .215-5-20
28 Wes Parker 1B .288-0-10
6 Steve Garvey 3B .241-5-21
41 Steve Yeager C .289-1-6
18 Bill Russell SS .249-2-19
20 Don Sutton P .241-0-3

Chicago Cubs

1 Jose Cardenal CF .246-4-21
18 Glenn Beckert 2B .296-0-17
26 Billy Williams RF .322-15-41-3 HRs yesterday
10 Ron Santo 3B .289-7-30
28 Jim Hickman LF .287-7-27
23 Carmen Fanzone 1B .250-1-10
9 Randy Hundley C .263-1-17
11 Don Kessinger SS .266-0-27
31 Fergie Jenkins P .310-0-6

Temperature is in the 70s, clear with no wind

1st inning

LA
Valentine HBP
Buckner GIDP 4-6-3
Davis grounds to 1B
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI
Cardenal singles to left
Cardenal thrown out stealing 2-4
Beckert lines to CF
Williams Ks
0r 1h 0e 0l

LAD 0 -0 0 0
CHI 0 -0 1 0

2nd inning

LA
Robinson Kc
Parker singles to right
Garvey singles to center-Parker to second
Yeager flies out to LF-Hickman making the catch on the warning track-both runners advance after the catch
Russell singles to left-Parker and Garvey scoring LA 2 CHI 0
Sutton singles to left-Russell advancing all the way to third on the single
Valentine flies to RF
2r 4h 0e 1l
(Because the Dodgers run so well, Durocher moved fairly weak armed Hickman from RF to LF and this inning it bit him-Hickman has been playing mainly !B since Joe Pepitone's 'retirement' but Rick Monday has been playing sporadically in CF because he isn't hitting right now.

CHI
Santo doubles into the left field corner
Hickman flies to LF
Fanzone flies to LF
Hundley flies to LF
0r 1h 0e 1l

LAD 02 -2 4 0
CHI 00 -0 2 0

3rd inning

LA
Buckner Ks
Davis flies to LF
Robinson walks
Parker singles to center-Robinson takes third
Garvey grounds out 6-3
0r 1h 0e 2l

CHI
Kessinger grounds out 4-3
Jenkins Ks
Cardenal flies to CF
0r 0h 0e 0l

LAD 020 -2 5 0
CHI 000 -0 2 0

4th inning

LA
Yeager homers into the left field bleachers LA 3 CHI 0
Russell flies to LF
Sutton Ks
Valentine flies to CF
1r 1h 0e 0l

CHI
Beckert grounds out 6-3
Williams Ks
Santo Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

LAD 020 1 -3 6 0
CHI 000 0 -0 2 0

5th inning

LA
Buckner HBP
Davis flies to LF
Robinson flies to RF
Parker Ks
0r 0h 0e 1l

CHI
Hickman homers into the right field bleachers LA 3 CHI 1
Fanzone flies to LF
Hundley Kc
Kessinger grounds to 1B
1r 1h 0e 1l

LAD 020 10 -3 6 0
CHI 000 01 -1 3 0

6th inning

LA
Garvey doubles off the right field wall-he just missed hitting a home run
Yeager grounds out 6-3-Garvey holds
Russell doubles into the gap in left center-Garvey scores LA 4 CHI 1
Sutton Ks
Jenkins bears down and gets Valentine to pop to SS
1r 2h 0e 1l

CHI
Jenkins Ks
Cardenal grounds to SS
Beckert grounds to SS
0r 0h 0e 0l

LAD 020 101 -4 8 0
CHI 000 010 -1 3 0

7th inning

LA
Buckner Ks
Davis flies to CF-Cardenal makes a running catch
Robinson grounds to SS
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI
Williams Kc
Santo singles to center
Hickman flies to CF-Santo holds
Fanzione flies to LF
0r 1h 0e 1l

LAD 020 101 0 -4 8 0
CHI 000 010 0 -1 4 0

8th inning

LA
Parker singles to right for his 3rd hit of the game
Garvey doubles off the top of the right field wall for his 3rd hit of the game-Parker takes third
Jack Aker warming up for the Cubs
Yeager intentionally walked
the infield moves in
Russell grounds to short-Kessinger forces Parker at the plate-Garvey moves to third-Yeager to second-Russell to first on the FC
infield remains in
Sutton grounds to third-Santo forces Garvey at the plate-Yeager to third-Russell to second-Sutton to first on the FC
Valentine pops to 3B
0r 2h 0e 3l
The Cubs prevent a big inning after the Dodgers load the bases with none out. The lower half of the Dodgers order has been hitting very well today.

CHI
Hundley grounds to 3B
Kessinger pops to 1B
Jenkins Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

LAD 020 101 00 -4 10 0
CHI 000 010 00 -1 4 0

9th inning

LA
Buckner homers into center field bleachers LA 5 CHI 1
Dan McGinn warming up
Davis doubles to left center
Robinson flies to RF-Davis holds
For CHI-Dan McGinn (3-2 7.01 0saves 25.2ip 48h 10bb 18k 4hr .393opba) now pitching
Parker flies to CF-Davis holds
Garvey singles to center-Garvey is thrown out 8-4 trying to stretch the single to a double before Davis can score-this was Garvey's 4th hit of the day
1r 3h 0e 1l

CHI
For LA-Willie Crawford now playing RF
Cardenal grounds to 3B
Beckert singles to center
Williams singles to righ-Beckert takes second
Mike Strahler warming up for LA-the crowd is stirring as they remember yesterday afternoon
Gene Hiser running for Beckert
Santo grounds into a DP 6-4-3 ending the game
0r 2h 0e 1l

Final line

LAD 020 101 001-5 13 0
CHI 000 010 000-1 6 0
W-Sutton (7-4)
L-Jenkins (9-6)

Line-up slots 5 through 9 get 11 hits for LA (Parker with 3 and Garvey with 4) and Bill Russell drives in 3 to push LA past the Cubs as Jenkins is not sharp today. If the Cubs bullpen wasn't so iffy Jenkins probably would have left in the 6th inning and probably wouldn't have made it through the 8th inning Dodger rally which threatened to break the game wide open. Don Sutton pitches an excellent game with only one mis-stepm Jim Hickman's HR. Sutton also strikes out 8 and has no walks. Both pitchers had a lot of fly ball outs, Sutton with 9 and Jenkins with 10 (McGinn also had 1) which can be very dangerous at Wrigley Field, especially on a hotter day or a day with a strong wind blowing out. Each of the starters had more flyouts than groundouts.
Jenkins now leads the Majors in HRs given up with 15 and leads the NL in flyball outs. Jenkins also leads the NL with 6 HPB and is 3rd in the NL in Ks. Jenkins has faced more batters than any other NL pitcher.

Other games:

CLE 020 101 200-6 15 0
OAK 000 000 301-4 5 3
W-Perry (10-6)
L-Blue (3-2)
Second Perry/Blue match-up of the season with Perry coming out on top this time for his 10th win of the year. Six members of the Indians (including Perry) have at least two hits. Tim Cullen has 2 errors for the A's. Second base and catcher have been two glaring problems for the A's this year, especially with the loss of Dick Green. Gaylord Perry retired the first 13 hitters he faced today. Big hit for the A's was pinch hit triple by Ron Clark in the 7th which knocked in two runs. Indians youngsters Jack Brohamer, Buddy Bell and Frank Duffy are looking better every day.

BAL
MIN
Rained out

KAN 000 000 000-0 5 0
MIL 100 002 01x-4 6 1
W-Parsons (4-5)
L-Nelson (8-3)
Bill Parsons has complete mastery over the hard charging Royals as the AL worst Brewers win in todays shutout. All of the Brewers runs come via the long ball, including 2 HRs by JOhnny Briggs. Dave May's 1st inning HR ends Nelson's hope for a 7th shutout this year. In 107.2 innings this season, Nelson has given up 11 earned runs.

TEX 000 000 010-1 4 0
NYY 000 002 00x-2 4 1
W-Kline (7-2)
L-Hand (1-2)
The Yankees get a surprise start from Steve Kline who received a 48 hour pass from Reserve duty. The Yankees outlast the Rangers in a tense pitchers duel between Kline and Rich Hand. The deciding blow is Ron Blomberg's 2 run HR in the 6th. Big blow for the Rangers is Larry Biitner's 8th inning double which drives in Ted Ford with an unearned run. Kline's start gives a lift to the temporarily depleted Yankees starting rotation.

CHI 101 000 310-6 12 1
BOS 200 400 20x-8 12 1
W-Siebert (6-3)
L-Wood (8-9)
See-saw match between two teams that can't seem to break away from the .500 mark. Second consecutive start by Wilbur Wood with only 2 days rest and he is driven from the game by John Kennedy's bases loaded clearing double in the 4th. Reggie Smith has 2 HRs (with 4 RBI) and makes a critical error in the 7th that allows 3 unearned runs for the White Sox. The White Sox keep getting close but couldn't get the lead in the game. Sonny Siebert has 10 Ks. White Sox highlight is Dick Allen's 495 ft HR in the 3rd inning into the CF bleachers.

SFG 000 002 000-2 6 2
STL 102 020 03x-8 11 1
W-Wise (8-7)
L-Marichal (8-6)
After 7 consecutive losses Rick WIse finally gets his 8th victory (he had started the season 7-0). Matty Alou has a huge gane for the Cardinals going 4 for 5 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Juan Marichal is ham-strung by poor defense and gives up 5 runs, all unearned. Sam McDowell, who has been exiled to the bullpen, strikes out the only batter that he faces: Jose Cruz. Ed Goodson goes 3 for 4 for the Giants.

Night Games:

DET 000 110 000-2 6 0
CAL 000 001 000-1 2 1
W-Coleman (8-5)
L-May (4-1)
Excellent effort by Joe Coleman pitching a 2 hitter tonight. The Tigers had 4 (5 if you count Coleman) hitters in the starting line-up hitting below .200. Their meagre offense took a serious hit when they lost their most productive hitter Al Kaline, so Coleman had to be as careful as possible. Late addition to the Angels rotation Rudy May also pitched well despite walking 8 (the Tigers left 5 RISP) while being tagged for his first loss of the season. So far this season the Tigers have probably been the ALs most disapointing team.

SDP 000 -0 0 0
PIT 20 -2 2 0
SD-Caldwell
PIT-Briles
Game called on account of rain

MON 001 110 010-4 9 1
ATL 000 000 100-1 5 0
W-Torrez (4-5)
L-Kelley (5-6)
S-Marshall (7)
First place Braves are shut down by last place Expos. Bob Bailey and Ken Singleton homer for the Expos, while Earl Williams homers for the Braves. Tim Foli is 3 for 3 for Montreal.

NYM 000 000 000-0 7 2
CIN 031 210 10x-8 12 0
W-McGlothlin (5-4)
L-Seaver (6-6)
Tom Seaver's difficult season continues as underachieving Mets are blown out by the underachieving Reds. 4 of the 6 hits that Seaver give up are for extra bases (including a triple to Jim McGlothlin) and Seaver is knocked out of the game in the 4th and charged wtih 6 earned runs. Jim mcGlothlin staggers at the end but has just enough for a shutout victory. Newly acquired Joe Hague goes 3 for 4 with 3 RBI for the Reds.

PHI 000 003 001-4 8 0
HOU 003 000 000-3 6 0
W-Fryman (6-7)
L-Roberts (2-7)
S-Lersch (1)
A match-up of lefties at the Astrodome. Dave Roberts takes a no-hitter into the 6th and then blows uo as the Phillies rally to tie the game 3-3. The last three innings are an endurance contest until Tom Hutton's pinch hit in the 9th breaks the tie. Fryman and Roberts each pitch fairly well tonight. Roberts has 10Ks in his loss.

[EdTarbusz]

The standings after the games of June 17, 1972

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 35 20 0.636 -
Baltimore 33 23 0.589 2.5
Boston 28 28 0.500 7.5
Detroit 27 32 0.458 10.0
Cleveland 24 33 0.421 12.0
Milwaukee 21 37 0.362 15.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Oakland 36 23 0.610 -
Kansas City 36 25 0.590 1.0
Minnesota 33 26 0.559 3.0
Chicago (A) 29 29 0.500 6.5
California 26 34 0.433 10.5
Texas 23 41 0.359 15.5


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Pittsburgh 38 23 0.623 -
Chicago (N) 32 29 0.525 6.0
St Louis 29 30 0.492 8.0
New York (N) 25 33 0.431 11.5
Philadelphia 27 36 0.429 12.0
Montreal 19 41 0.317 18.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Atlanta 37 26 0.587 -
Houston 37 28 0.569 1.0
Los Angeles 33 27 0.550 2.5
San Francisco 36 32 0.529 3.5
Cincinnati 30 32 0.484 6.5
San Diego 29 35 0.453 8.5

[EdTarbusz]

Monday Night Baseball June 19, 1972


Earlier today:

CLE 100 031 000-5 6 1
MIN 000 311 003-8 12 3
W-Woodson (10-4)
L-Mingori (3-3)
Twins survive sloppy fielding (including 2 consecutive errors by Danny Thompson in the 1st inning) and a sloopy outing by Dick Woodson (he gave up 10 walks) to beat the Indians. Bobby Darwin goes 5 for 5 with 2 HRs, including a 3 runn HR in the bottom of the ninth. Light hitting George Mitterwald homers for the Twins. Tom McCraw homers for the Indians. The Indians leave 7 RISP and hit into two DPs.

SFG 000 210 000-3 9 2
CHI 100 204 00x-7 11 0
W-Hooton (5-7)
L-Bryant (4-3)
Two Giants errors lead to 4 unearned runs for the Cubs. 5 Cubs runs come from long HRs by Jose Cardenal and Carmen Fanzone.



Pregame: In the month of June, Atlanta has gone 13 and 2 and is the hottest team in MLB right now. The Braves started out slowly (they were in last place at the the end of April) but with a good offesnse and spotty pitching, but have since replaced the inneffective George Ston with rookie Ron Schueler and traded equally inefective Jim Nash and Gary Neibauer to the Philies for the much better Joe Hoerner. Currently the Braves have probably the best offnse in the Majors right now (except for possibly the Astros) and are getting excellent pitching from Phil Niekro and Ron Reed. Over the weekend a possible glitch in their offense occured when Darrell Evans and Dusty Baker had to leave the team for Marine Reserve duty. They are not scheduled to return until July 3rd. On the plus side, the Braves have gotten good work from their bench players, espcially Oscar Brown and rookie Jim Breazale who did good work filling in for the injured Evans and Rico Carty last month. These two are expected to do most of the substituation for Evans and Baker. Baker will be especially missed because he has the Braves second best power numbers (second only to Hank Aaaron) so far this season. The race, Hank Aaron's chase of the Babe (he needs 63 HRs to pass the Babe-he has 13 HRs this season) and the anticipation of next months All Star Game at Fulton County Stadium have made the Braves popular lately.

The Phillies have been a diapointment all season. They mad a great trade with the Cardinals when Gussie Busch, in a fit of pique, ordered that Steve Carlton and Jerry Reuss had to go. The Phillie acquired Carlton in a straight up swap for Rick Wise. Carlton is having a great season (better then his 8-7 record indicates) even though he has been victimized by both poor run support and erratic defense. The Phillies have several holes in their line-up, not getting much production from the 3b, 1B, RF and C postions. They further weakened the catching spot by trading Tim McCarver to the the Expos for the even weaker bat of John Bateman. The Phil's PCL club (Eugene) has two youngsters who are burning up the league and will probably be with the tea, sooner rather than later: Joe Lis, who is the top power hitter in the PCL and Bill Robinson. LFer Greg Luzinski is the Phillies only real offensive threat. The Phillies also had a recent front office shake-up in which farm director Paul Owens was promoted to general manager. It has been reported that this has seriously impaired his relationship with manager Frank Luchessi and that Luchessi may be on his way out for good.

The Phillies have a winning record at home, but only have a .333 winning pct on the road. The Braves have a much record on the road (21-11) than at home (16-15).
Ken Reynolds (0-6 5.10 42.1ip 53h 9bb 32k 5hr .296opba) vs Phil Niekro (10-3 2.11 12 CG 119.2ip 97h 20bb 79k 8hr .218opba)

Starting lineups:

Philadelphia Phillies

10 Larry Bowa SS .287-0-9
15 Denny Doyle 2B .209-0-9
27 Willie Montanez CF .257-5-36
14 Tom Hutton 1B .173-0-7
19 Greg Luzinski LF .297-4-39
16 Don Money 3B .176-4-24
23 Oscar Gamble RF .308-0-1
6 JOhn Bateman C .182-0-1 (.222-0-3 with MON)
47 Ken Reynolds P .000-0-0 ( 12 ABs .077 OBA)

Atlanta Braves

17 Felix Millan 2B .279-1-19
48 Ralph Garr RF .356-4-24
44 Hank Aaron 1B .298-13-40
32 Earl Williams C .280-9-45
25 Rico Carty LF .321-6-15
45 Oscar Brown CF .281-4-23
7 Gil Garrido 3B .333-0-2
9 Marty Perez SS .213-0-4
35 Phil Niekro P .175-0-6

Weather is in the 60s, partly cloudy and no wind.

1st inning

PHI
Bowa flies to LF
Doyle doubles to the center field wall
Montenez doubles to right-Doyle scores PHI 1 ATL 0
Hutton doubles down the right field line-Montenez scores PHI 2 ATL 0
Luzinski doubles into the left center gap (Baker may have been able to get to this one)-Hutton scores PHI 3 ATL 0
Money grounds to 3B-Luzinski holds
Gamble flies to CF
3r 4h 0e 1l-Niekro gives up 4 straight doubles

ATL
Millan walks
Garr singles to center-Millan to third
Aaron grounds into a FC 4-6-Millan scores PHI 3 ATL 1
Williams homers to left-Aaron scores PHI 3 ATL 3
carty flies to RF
Brown singles to left
Garrido flies to LF
3r 3h 0e 1l

PHI 3 -3 4 0
ATL 3 -3 3 0

2nd inning

PHI
Bateman flies to LF
Reynolds flies to LF
Bowa singles to right
Doyle grounds into FC 4-6
0r 1h 0e 1l

ATL
Perez is HBP
Niekro Ks
On a hit and run Millan hits a stand up triple down the right field line-Perez scores PHI 3 ATL 4
Garr hits a foul near the dugout that Hutton just misses getting to for a strike-Garr hits into a FC 6-3-Millan scores PHI 3 ATL 5
Aaron walks
Williams flies to LF
2r 1h 0e 1l

PHI 30 -3 5 0
ATL 32 -5 4 0

3rd inning

PHI
Montanez Ks
Hutton flies to the warning track in CF
Luzinski grounds to 3B
0r 0h 0e 0l

ATL
For PHI-Dick Selma (4-7 0s 2.71 103ip 69h 59bb 69k 7hr .189opba) pitching
Carty walks
Brown walks-Carty to second
Garrido lines to RF
Perez lines to 3B
Niekro Ks
0r 0h 0e 2l

PHI 300 -3 5 0
ATL 320 -5 4 0

4th inning

PHI
Money grounds to 3B
Gamble grounds to 2B
Bateman singles to center
Selma Kc
0r 1h 0e 0l

ATL
Millan Kc
Garr flies to LF
Aaron grounds to 3B
0r 0h 0e 0l

PHI 300 0 -3 6 0
ATL 320 0 -5 4 0

5th inning

PHI
Bowa doubles to center (Brown's lack of range is evident tonight)
Doyle grounds to SS-Bowa takes third
Montanez grounds to 2B-Bowa scores PHI 4 ATL 5
Hutton walks
Luzinski Ks
1r 1h 0e 1l

ATL
Williams is HPB
Carty singles to left-Williams to second
The Braves engineer a double steal!!
The infield draws in
Brown flies to LF-the runners hold
Infield remains in
Garrido Ks
Perez Ks
0r 1h 0e 2l

PHI 300 01 -4 7 0
ATL 320 00 -5 5 0

6th inning

PHI
Money flies to LF
Gamble flies to RF
Bateman grounds to SS
0r 0h 0e 0l

ATL
Niekro grounds out attempting a drag bunt 5-4
Millan grounds to 3B
Garr singles to right
Garr steals second
Aaron grounds to 2B
0r 1h 0e 1l

PHI 300 010 -4 7 0
ATL 320 000 -5 6 0

7th inning

PHI
Roger Freed (.213-3-9) batting for Selma
Freed singles to left
Bowa walks-Freed to second
Doyle singles to center-Freed stops at third (bases loaded-no outs)
Infield In
Montanez SFs to LF-Carty throws to the cut-off man to prevent Bowa for moving to third-Frred scores PHI 5 ATL 5
Jim Hardin warming up
Huttin flies to LF
Luzinski flies to CF
1r 2h 0e 2l

ATL
For PHI-Jim Nash now pitching (1.1ip 3h 20.25 since coming for ATL on 6/15 1-2 4.91 with ATL)
Williams singles to left
Carty walks-Williams to second
Brown homers to center scoring Williams and Carty PHI 5 ATL 8
Garrido flies to CF-Montanez making a nice over the shoulder catch
Perez grounds to SS
For ATL-Rod Gilbreath batting for NIekro-this is Gilbreath's Major League debut!!
Gilbreath grounds to 3B
3r 2h 0e 0l

PHI 300 010 1 -5 9 0
ATL 320 000 3 -8 8 0

8th inning

PHI
For ATL-Gilbreath stays in the game playing 3B-Gil Garrido moves to SS
Jim Hardin now pitching (batting 8th) Hardin was called up after the Nash Neibauer trade (1-0 0s 2.25 8ip 6h 3bb 3k 1hr .200opba)
Money walks
Gamble walks-Money to second
Bateman singles to left-Money scores-Gamble stops at second PHI 6 ATL 8
Ron Stone (.133-0-1) batting for Nash
Stone grounds to SS-Garrido makes a diving stop-the runners advance
Bowa hits a fly to center that Brown drops as Garr almost runs into him-Gamble scores-Bateman takes third-Bowa takes first PHI 7 ATL 8
Infield in
Doyle singles to right-Bateman scores-Bowa to third PHI 8 ATL 8
Montanez flies to LF-the runners hold
Hutton singles to center-Bowa scores-Doyle to second PHI 9 ATL 8
Now pitching-Cecil Upshaw (2-3 5s 5.32)
Luzinski Ks
4r (3unearned) 3h 1e 2l

ATL
For PHI-Ron Stone stays in the game in RF (for defensive purposes)-Gamble moves to LF-now pitching Darrell Brandon 0-0 2s 1.80 15ip 0h 5bb 11k 0hr .170opba) batting 5th
Millan singles to left
Garr grounds into FC 6-4
Aaron Ks
Williams grounds into FC 6-4
0r 1h 0e 1l

PHI 300 010 14 -9 12 0
ATL 320 000 30 -8 9 1

9th inning

PHI
Money flies to CF
Gamble lines to RF
Bateman flies to RF
0r 0h 0e 0l

ATL
Carty singles to left
Sonny Jackson running for Carty
Brown grounds out weakly to SS-he advances Jacskon to second
Garrido flies to CF
Orlando Cepeda (.317-1-7) batting for Upshaw
Cepeda flies to CF ending the game
0r 1h 0e 1l

Final totals

PHI 300 010 140-9 12 0
ATL 320 000 300-8 10 1
W-Nash (1-0)
L-Hardin (1-1)
S-Brandon (3)

A lot of offense tonight in a year that pitchers seem to have the upper hand. Oscar Brown filled in weel at bat tonight but Dusty Baker was sorely missed in CF. The three unearned runs put the game out of reach for ATL. The 1 through 5 sopts in the Phillies lineup were great tonightm while the Atlanta line-up was just as potent. Lum Harris always holds his breath when going to the Braves bulloen, Tonight showed why. This is a game the Braves will remember if they miss the post-season by a game or two,

Other games tonight:

LAD 003 008 200-13 17 3
PIT 001 040 000-5 13 1
W-Downing (7-4)
L-Blass (8-4)
16 of the starting 18 get at least one hit in this slugfest. The Dodgers get 9 XBH. Doubles by Bill Buckner, Willie Davis and Wes Parker and a HR from Steve Garvey high-light the Dodgers 8 run 6th inning. Roberto Clemente goes 2 for 5 and now needs 48 hits to reach 3000.

SDP 000 300 024-9 14 0
STL 001 200 020-5 9 1
W-Ross (3-2)
L-Drabowsky (1-3)
Leron Lee, Nate Colbert and Pat Corrales are the big guns in the Padres attack (Lee and Colbert each hit a double and a triple). The Cardinals get 7 good innings from Al Santorini and two bad innings from their bullpen (John Cumberland, makking his Cardinals debut, Moe Drabowsky and Diego Segui). Gary Ross pitches poorly out of the bullpen for the Padres, but it is bailed out by the Padres offense, Steve Arlin gets a no decision while going for his 10th win of the season.

MON
CIN
Postponed due to rain

NYM 210 013 103-11 15 0
HOU 000 010 111-4 9 1
W-Matlack (5-8)
L-Forsch (5-7)
Mets explode for 15 hits and smack the Astros hard. The Astros blow an opportunity to move back into first place. Bill Sudakis drives in 4 runs for the Mets. Jim Fregosi is 3 for 5 tonight. Willie Mays hits his 650th career HR in the 5th inning off Ken Forsch.

DET 021 000 022-7 10 0
OAK 000 112 001-5 7 0
W-Timmermann (3-7)
L-Odom (4-7)
Eighth inning pinch hit by Ike Brown and ninth inning HR by Bill Freehan (who has 3 hits) put the game away for the Tigers. Norma Cash homers for the Tigers and Bert Campaneris, Reggie Jackson and George Hendrick homer for Oakland. Oakland's HRs account for 4 of their runs.

BAL 000 040 020-6 13 1
CAL 000 003 05x-8 13 0
W-Rose (1-0)
L-McNally (7-7)
Match-ups of lefties, Dave McNally and Clyde Wright, who each have a rough outing. Two of the ALs weakest offenses explode for 26 hits. Rickey Clark has another poor appearance for the Angels. Andy Kosco enters the game as a PH in the 6th and ends up 3 for 3. The Orioles start off the fifth wth two quick outs and then rally for 4 runs. All 8 of the Angels runs are scored with two outs.

TEX 000 010 100-2 7 0
BOS 000 002 02x-4 8 3
W-Pattin (7-4)
L-Shellenback (1-4)
Texas wastes another good Pete Broberg start. Two big blows for Boston: Phil Gagliano's 2 run double in the 6th and Bob Montgomery's 2 run HR in the 8th. Dalton Jones returns to Fenway and homers in the 5th for Texas. Marty Pattin Pattin goes all the way for win despite 3 Red Sox errors (2 by Doug Griffin).

Tonight may have been the night with the most offense this season. This has generally been a pitchers years, but the hitters dominated tonight!

The three division leaders that played tonight all lost their games! The Royals, Cubs and Dodgers all benefitted today.

[EdTarbusz]

Game of the Week June 24, 1972

Minnesota Twins (36-28 .563 2 GB) at Kansas City Royals (38-27 .585 .5 GB)

Back up game: Pirates at Cubs

After 65 games the Royals give no indication of going away and neither do the Twins. Fans in Kansas City are salivating at the thought of a pennant race between the Royals and the hated Athletics. This week the Royals and the A's have playing leap frog with each other moving in and out of first place. The Roylas have been energized by NL cast-offs John Mayberry and Amos Otis, while getting good work from Lou Piniella, Richie Schienblum and a still weakened Fred Patek. The Twins have dropped slumping Harmon Killebrew in the batting order, Killebrew is still hitting the long ball, but is having trouble making contact. Thew Twins finally got Tony Oliva back from knee surgery and after only 10 ABsm he was injured in the field in Cleveland and he may be lost for the year. The Twins are gambling that his bat will not be the difference between firast place and third place. The Twins and Royals both have solid rotations with Woodson and Kaat really powering the Twins. The biggest surprise has been KCs Roger Nelson who replace the inneffective Mike Hedlund. Nelson already has six shutouts.

Starting pitchers: Bert Blyleven (7-9 2.71) vs Paul Splittorff (9-4 2.82)


Starting Line-ups

Minnesota

12 Cesar Tovar CF .257-2-16
5 Danny Thompson SS .271-3-28
29 Rod Carew 2B .306-0-18
2 Bobby Darwin RF .270-17-54
3 Harmon Killebrew 1B .184-13-28
4 Steve Braun LF .295-1-12
1 Eric Soderholm 3B .178-1-17 (will likely go to the bench when Steve Brye returns fro reserve duty)
8 Phil Roof C .261-6-23
28 Bert Blyleven P .178-0-3

Kansas City

10 Paul Schaal 3B .198-1-14
1 Cookie Rojas 2B .260-4-21
26 Amos Otis CF .294-4-23
7 John Mayberry 1B .339-14-58
9 Lou Piniella LF .286-3-44
5 Richie Scheinblum RF .326-6-28
37 Fred Patek SS .266-0-12
12 Jerry May C .114-0-8
34 Paul Splittorff P .333-0-3

Game time temp: 74 degrees, partly cloudy and a strong wind blowing from right to left field

1st inning

MIN
Tovar walks
Tovar steals second-May's throw goes into center!-Tovar takes third
Thompson grounds to SS-Tovar scores MIN 1 KC 0
Carew Ks
Darwin grounds to P
1r 0h 1e 0l

KC
Schaal flies to CF
Rojas grounds to 3B
Otis grounds to SS
0r 0h 0e 0l

MIN 1 -1 0 0
KAN 0 -0 0 1

2nd inning

MIN
Killebrew lines through third for a single to left
Braun grounds into FC 4-6-Braun takes first
Soderholm hits pop foul that May drops (error)
Soderholm singles to center-Braun to second
Roof lines to 3B
Blyleven singles to center-bases loaded as Braun again doesn't want to challenge Otis's arm
Tovar grounds to 2B
0r 3h 1e 3l

KC
Mayberry singles to right
Piniella flies to RF
Scheinblum pops to 1B
Patek Ks
0r 1h 0e 1l

MIN 10 -1 3 0
KAN 00 -0 1 2

3rd inning

MIN
Thompson grounds to 2B
Carew hits a high fly over Otis's head that Otis can't get to-it bounces off the wall and Carew has a stand up triple!
Darwin hits a pop foul to 3B
Killebrew pops to 2B
The second inning in a row that the Royals wriggle out of a tight spot!
0r 1h 0e 1l

KC
May singles to second-carew comes up with the ball but has no play
Spilttorff bunts down the third base line for a single!!-May to second
Schaal is HBP-bases loaded and no outs
Rojas flies to short CF-runners hold
Otis grounds into FC 6-4-May scores-Splittorff to third-Otis to first MIN 1 KC 1
Mayberry hits a shot to CF-Tovar makes a great over the shoulder catch!
1r 2h 0e 2l

MIN 100 -1 4 0
KAN 001 -1 3 2

4th inning

MIN
Braun grounds to 2B
Soderholm K2-May appeals to first base ump
Roof singles to left
Blyleven pops to 1B
0r 1h 0e 1l

KC
Piniella flies to CF
Scheinblum walks
Patek Kc
May doubles to right-Scheinblum scores-May takes third on the throw to plate MIN 1 KC 2
Splittorff hits a flare to right that Darwin can't reach (single)-May scores MIN 1 KC 3
Schaal grounds into a FC 6-4
2r 2h 0e 1l

MIN 100 0 -1 5 0
KAN 001 2 -3 5 2

5th inning

MIN
Tovar flies to LF
Thompson flies to CF
Carew grounds to 2B
0r 0h 0e 0l

KC
Rojas doubles to left center
Otis grounds to SS-Rojas takes third
Mayberry hits a SF to RF-Rojas scoring MIN 1 KC 4
Piniella hits on into the gap in CF-Tovar makes a diving catch!
1r 1h 0e 0l

MIN 100 00 -1 5 0
KAN 001 21 -4 6 2

6th inning

MIN
Darwin grounds to SS
Killebrew lines to 3B
Braun singles to right
Soderholm singles to center-Braun takes third
Roof grounds to 3B
0r 2h 0e 2l

KC
Scheinblum walks
Patek singles to center-Scheinblum takes second
Tom Norton warming up for MIN
May singles to center (he is 3 for 3 today) the bases are loaded
Splittorff singles to center (he is 3 for 3 today) Scheinblum and Patek score-May takes second MIN 1 KC 6
For MIN-Tom Norton (0-1 0saves 3.72 29ip 30h 15bb 24k 0hr .265opba) now pitching
Schaal GIDP 6-4-3-May takes third
Rojas Ks
2r 3h 0e 1l

MIN 100 000 -1 7 0
KAN 001 212 -6 9 2

7th inning

MIN
Rich Reese (.259-3-8) batting for Norton
Reese Ks
Tovar singles to right
Thompson grounds into FC 4-6
Carew grounds into FC 4-6
0r 1h 0e 1l

KC
For MIN-Dave LaRoche (3-0 2saves 0.81 22.1ip 22h 5bb 19k 0hr .268opba) now pitching
Otis flies to LF
Mayberry walks
Joe Keough running for Mayberry
Piniella singles to left-Keough takes second
Scheinblum GIDP 6-4-3
0r 1h 0e 2l

MIN 100 000 0 -1 8 0
KAN 001 212 0 -6 10 2

8th inning

MIN
For KC-Gail Hopkins now playing first
Darwin grounds to SS
Killebrew Kc
Braun lines to SS
0r 0h 0e 0l

KC
Patek Ks
May grounds to P
Splittorff doubles into the right field corner (he is 4 for 4 today!)
Schaal flies to LF
0r 1h 0e 1l

MIN 100 000 00 -1 8 0
KAN 001 212 00 -6 11 2

9th inning

MIN
For KC-Bobby Floyd now playing third-Bobby Knoop now playing second
Soderholm singles to center
Roof hits a 2 run HR to left center (his 7th of the season) MIN 3 KC 6
Splittorff apears to be getting tired-Ted Abernathy warming up
Dan Monzon (.348-0-4) batting for LaRoche
Monzon flies to CF
Tovar lines to CF
Thompson singles to left
For KC-Ted Abernathy (2-1 4saves 2.29 19.2ip 17h 5bb 6k 0hr .230opba) now pitching
Carew grounds into a FC 4-6
2r 3h 0e 1l

Final Score

MIN 100 000 002-3 11 0
KAN 001 212 00x-6 11 2
W-Splittorff (10-4)
L-Blyleven (7-10)
S-Abernathy (5)

The Twins inability to score in the second and third cripple their chabces to win today. Neither Blyleven or Splittorff are especially sharp, but Splittorff spreads out 11 hits and gets out of several jams. Splittorff also helps his cause by going 4 for 4 at the plate and drving in 3 runs. The other hitting stars of the game are Jerry May and Eric Soderholm, both hitting below .200.
If Oakland loses today the Royals will be back in first place.

Other games

NYY 000 000 030-3 11 0
CLE 010 000 000-1 9 0
W-Peterson (8-5)
L-Mingori (3-5)
S-Lyle (9)
Good pitching by Ray Lamb and Ed Farmer is undone by Steve Mingori and Phil Hennigan who allow doulbles by Felipe Alou and Thurman Munson and a single to John Ellis as the Yankees rally for 3 in the 8th. Alou goes 4 for 5 on the day. Inidnas only run comes fom Jerry Moses's 2nd HR of the year. Yankees leave 7 RISP (5 before the 8th).

BOS 000 010 000-1 8 0
MIL 016 030 00x-10 14 0
W-Brett (4-8)
L-Curtis (0-3)
Another ineffective pitching performance by John Curtis as he gets lit up by the normally light hitting Brewers. Brewers 6 run third inning in high-lighted bu Billy Conigliaro's 3 run HR. (Conigliaro had also hit a game winning HR in the bottom of the 9th to beat the White Sox 1-0 Thursday night). Hours after the game Conigliaro surprised the baseball world by abrubtly announcing his retirement. This makes hime the second player this season to announce a surprise retirement (Joe Pepitone retired at the the end of April from the Cubs but quickly reneged and is waiting to rejoin the Cubs when he becomes eligible on June 30th). Conigliaro has not been shy in voicing his displeasure over his platoon role with the Brewers. If he decides to come back he will be eligible to be re-activated 60 days from today.

CAL 002 001 000-3 7 0
OAK 000 000 010-1 8 0
W-Wright (5-7)
L-Hunter (8-5)
Excellent pitching performance by Clyde Wright, who goes the distance. Jim Hunter also pitches well but Bob Oliver's 2 run scoring double in the third is all the offense that the Angels need. The bottom of the A's lineup has some glaring holes that have A's brass concerned. Darold Knowles has an infrequent good outing today in relief today. This loss drops the A's back into second place.

PIT 000 001 000-1 6 0
CHI 003 002 00x-5 9 1
W-Hooton (6-7)
L-Blass (8-5)
Second straight victory for Cubs over first place Pirates. Billy Williams hits his 17th HR of the season in the 3rd. Jose Cardenal's error leads to Roberto Clemente scoring in the 6th. Almost immediatley Cardenal made up for it by tripling with 2 on in the bottom of the 6th. Tommorow the Cubs go for the sweep. The Cubs are now 3 games behind the Pirates. A week ago they were 6 games behind Pittsburgh. The Pirates have lost 5 of 6 this week.

STL 321 105 000-12 15 1
NYM 402 000 000-6 10 1
W-Gibson (8-8)
L-Taylor (0-2)
Joe Torre hits 2 HRs and drives in 6 as Cardinals outlast Mets in a Shea slugfest. The Mets are actually still in the game when Buzz Capra gives up 5 runs while pitching 1/3rd of an inning. Ca[ra is having a very rough season so far. Jim McAndrew and Bob Gibson are both reliable starters, but each is roughed up early. Gibson is able to ride it out and pitches a complete game. Only 2 (Jerry McNertney and Bud Harrelson) of the 18 starters fail to get at least one hit.

Night Games:

DET 100 001 000 000 00-2 12 1
BAL 000 200 000 000 01-3 12 0
W-Scott (1-1)
L-Scherman (2-4)
Pitchers duel between Dave McNally and Chuck Slayback becomes a grueling endurance contest filled with blown chances and blown rallies (the Tigers load the bases with none twice and fail to score both times). The depleted Tigers line-up gets offesnsive spark from some unexpected sourcrs, Aurelio Rodriguez, Mickey Stanley and Paul Jata, while all Orioles except Terry Crowley (playing for a resting Boog Powell) get at least one hit. Orioles wiin in the 14th when late game replacement Don Baylor (who came in as a PR in the 11th) opens the inning with a double. Fred Scherman issued an IW to Don Buford. Pinch hitter Andy Etchebarren singled scoring Baylor. The Tigers hit into 4 DPs tonight while the Orioles hit into 3. Both sides played excellent defense tonight. Each of these teams has excellent infield defense and so-so outfield defense. The Orioles are now 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees, which is impressive because they got off to a very slow start.

CHI 000 047 340-18 19 0
TEX 050 001 000-6 11 2
W-Gossage (2-3)
L-Hand (1-3)
As crazy a game that we've seen so far this season. Wilbur Wood blows up and doesn't last through the 3rd inning (he had nothing tonight). Rich Hand has things well in hand and then suddenly blows up as well (although he only gives up 1 earned run in the 4th-his error results in 3 unearned runs) and is ultimately charged with 8 runs (5 earned). Texas relievers Casey Cox (3 runs) and Jim Panther (7 runs) add further fuel to the fire and it takes Paul Lindblad to finally restire some order. After a poor start this season, young Rich Gossage has another good outing in relief. The White Sox bat around twice. Bil Melton drives in 6 for the White Sox and Carlos May has 4 RBI. Pat Kelly and rookie Jorge Orta each have 4 hits for Chicago. Steve Kealey pitches 4 strong innings out of the pen for Chicago and finishes the game. Ted Kubiak leads the Rangers offense with 3 hits. This win puts the White Sox back at .500.

PHI 000 200 000-2 8 0
MON 001 000 11x-3 8 0
W-Morton (6-8)
L-Champion (5-6)
Exciting game between the bottom two teams in the NL East. Carl Morton and Billy Champion each pitch a complete game.Bob Bailey (12) and Tim Foli (1) each homer for the Expos. Boots Day drives in the winning run on a soft ground out that can't be turned for a double play. Recently promoted Bill Robinson hits two doubles for the Phillies.

HOU 000 000 000-0 2 1
CIN 001 100 01x-3 8 1
W-Billingham (9-2)
L-Forsch (5-8)
Jack Billingham takes a no-hitter into the 6th inning against the hard hitting Astros. Reds have 5 XBHs tonight. Tony Perez hits his 10th HR in the 8th. Billingham, who has been the Reds only reliable starter this season, walks three and pitches a complete game shutout against his old team. The Astros have lost 5 of 7 this week. The Reds have won 4 of 6.

SF 000 001 010-2 4 1
SD 310 000 00x-4 9 1
W-Arlin (10-4)
L-Marichal (8-8)
Three first inning unearned runs (resulting form a Tito Fuentes error) are all the runs the surprisingly strong Padres need to beat the Giants. Contending reams are begining to feel uncomfortable facing San Diego. Steve Arlin has littke trouble in getting his 10th win. He is tied for the NL leads in wins right now. Leron Lee is 2 for 3 tonight continuing his superb season. Despite his first inning difficulties tonight, Jian Marichal has another solid start for the Giants.

ATL 000 020 000-2 4 1
LAD 101 000 20x-4 12 2
W-Osteen (6-6)
L-Schueler (5-1)
Ron Schueler is tagged for his first loss since being promoted to the Braves starting rotation. Ralph Garr's throwing error allows Manny Mota to score go ahead run in the seventh. Bill Buckner and Frank Robinson each have 3 hits for the Dodgers. After their hot start in the month of June, the Braves are now on a 5 game losing streak, being winless since the loss of Dusty Baker and Darrell Evans.

ATL 000 010 000-1 6 0
LAD 000 101 20x-4 10 0
W-John (6-4)
L-Jarvis (1-2)
Tommy JOhn has little trouble as Dodgers sweep Braves handing Atlanta its 6th straight loss. Steve Garvey and Willie Crawford each have 3 hits for LA, while Paul Casanova homers for the Braves before he leaves the game after being hit with a foul tip. The Dodgers are the first team to get their 40th win this season.

[EdTarbusz]

Standings after games of 6/24/1972

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 39 22 0.639 -
Baltimore 38 24 0.613 1.5
Boston 32 29 0.525 7.0
Detroit 30 35 0.462 11.0
Cleveland 26 38 0.406 14.5
Milwaukee 24 40 0.375 16.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Kansas City 39 27 0.591 -
Oakland 38 27 0.585 0.5
Minnesota 36 29 0.554 2.5
Chicago (A) 32 32 0.500 6.0
California 29 37 0.439 10.0
Texas 23 46 0.333 17.5


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Pittsburgh 39 28 0.582 -
Chicago (N) 36 31 0.537 3.0
St Louis 33 33 0.500 5.5
New York (N) 30 35 0.462 8.0
Philadelphia 29 39 0.426 10.5
Montreal 21 43 0.328 16.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Los Angeles 40 27 0.597 -
Atlanta 37 31 0.544 3.5
Houston 39 33 0.542 3.5
San Francisco 38 36 0.514 5.5
Cincinnati 34 34 0.500 6.5
San Diego 32 38 0.457 9.5

It was a bad week for Pittsburgh, Houston and Atlanta. A very good week for LA. LA has a n 8 game winning streak.

[EdTarbusz]

Sunday June 25, 1972 was an important day for me baseball-wise. It wasn't the first time that I was actually at the ballpark, but it had the earliest game situation that I had a memory of:

(from retrosheet)

INDIANS 1ST: Unser singled to left; Brohamer singled to right
[Unser to third]; A. Johnson forced Brohamer (shortstop to
second) [Unser scored]; Nettles singled to left [A. Johnson to
third, Nettles to second (on throw)]; McCraw walked; Lolich
forced A. Johnson (pitcher to catcher) [Nettles to third, McCraw
to second, Lolich to first (error by Ellis)]; Moses singled to
left [Nettles scored (unearned), McCraw scored (unearned),
Lolich to third, Moses to second (error by White)]; Leon was
walked intentionally; Kilkenny grounded out (second to first); 3
R (1 ER), 4 H, 2 E, 3 LOB. Yankees 0, Indians 3.

I vividly remember the Indians batting around (I had never seen that happen before) and the pitcher Mike Kilkenny hitting.

Later, I looked it up to see if my memory was correct. This happened in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader against the Yankees.

Game one:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1...251CLE1972.htm

Game two:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1...252CLE1972.htm

My grandfather was probably with us and he and my dad were probably extremely happy to see the Indians sweep the Yankees that afternoon.

Here is my simulation of the doubleheader:

Game one:

NYY 000 200 001-3 6 0
CLE 120 100 10x-5 14 1
W-Perry (11-7)
L-Kline (8-3)
Indians jump off to a quick lead and Gaylord Perry pitches well today while Steve Kline is off his game today. Frank Duffy is 4 for 4 and Buddy is 3 for 4 for the Indians. 3 of the Yankees 6 hits go for doubles.

Game two:

NYY 004 010 320-10 11 0
CLE 200 000 032-7 11 1
W-Gardner (2-2)
L-Kilkenny (0-1)
Indians jump out to a quick lead, but Kilkenny blows up in the 4th giving up two hits and walking four (two runs are walked in). None of the 6 pitchers who appear pitch very well, each giving up at least 1 run. For the Yankees john Ellis, Rusty Torres (5 RBI) and Jerry Kenney have a good game. Each of these players will be playing with in 1973. For the Indians Del Unser goes 4 for 5. The Indians rally late and have the tieing run at the plate when the game ends.

[RuthMayBond]

Sunday June 25, 1972 was an important day for me baseball-wise. It wasn't the first time that I was actually at the ballpark, but it had the earliest game situation that I had a memory of:

VERY cool, that is right around the time I have my first memory of going to an Indians game

[EdTarbusz]

The Commissioners Office has released the leaders in the All Star Game voting:

NL
1B: Lee May HOU
2B: Glenn Beckert CHI
3B Joe Torre STL
SS Bud Harrelson NY
OF Hank Aaron ATL
OF Roberto Clemente PIT
OF Willie Mays NY
C Johnny Bench CIN

AL
1B Dick Allen CHI
2B Rod Carew MIN
3B Brooks Robinson BAL
SS Luis Aparicio BOS
OF Reggie Jackson OAK
OF Bobby Murcer NY
OF Lou Piniella KC
C Bill Freehan C

Joe Torre and Hank Aaron are the leading vote getters. Brooks Robinson and Dick Allen are the leading AL vote getters.

Some notes: Hank Aaron is mainly a first baseman this season. It is also hard to consider Willie Mays as a regular player with the Giants or the Mets this season. With the Mets he is often in the lineup only when he feels like it, but is playing well when he does play. In my simulation Bus Harrelson is having a lousy season and Luis Aparicio is only so-so. Bill Freehan is not playing that well either.

It looks like only Lee May, Glenn Beckert, Bobby Murcer, Bill Freehan and Lou Piniella have a chace of being passed up (by Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Carlos May and Ray Fosse). McCovey was hurt for much of the season, his selection would be a joke in my opinion. In ny sim he is having a terrible season and has been benched in favor of Ed Goodson.

Here is my Gillete All Star ballot for the 1972 All Star Game (based on my sim as of 6/25).

AL
1B John Mayberry KC (Dick Allen is a very close second)
2b Rod Carew MIN
SS Danny Thompson MIN
3B Rico Petrocelli BOS
OF Joe Rudi OAK
OF Bobby Murcer NY
OF Carlos May CHI (Richie Scheinblum, Lou Piniella and Boby Darwin just missing the cut)
C Ellie Rodriguez MIL

NL
1B Nate Colbert SD (Hank Aaron and Lee May Just missing)
2B Joe Morgan CIN
3B Ron Santo CHI (Doug Rader a close second)
SS Chris Speier SF (I may change my mind and vote for Larry Bowa)
OF Cesar Cedeno HOU
OF Bobby Tolan CIN
OF Leron Lee SD (Jimmy Wynn, Bob Watson, Pete Rose, Matty Alou and Bill Buckner just missing out)
C Ted Simmons STL

In both leagues SS and C had the least amount of candidates.

There is a good possibility that Felipe Alou (NYY) and Matty Alou (STL) may face each other in the ASG.

[EdTarbusz]

June 26, 1973 Monday Night Baseball

Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodegers

It's been an eventual couple of weeks in the NL West. For the first two and a half months of the season it has normally been the Houston Astros in first place, with the Dodgers occasionally moving into first for a day or two. Then in the early part of June the Atlanta Braves got red hot starting the month 13 and 2. This allowed the Braves to shoot from 3rd place into 1st place. Then just as suddenly the Braves became ice cold losing 6 in a row. While the Braves were slumpling, the Astros were also playing badly losing 6 of 8. Into this vacuum steo the Dodgers who take full advantage of the opportunity by winning 9 straight (including a truncated 2 game sweep of the Phillie and a 4 game sweep of the Braves). Suddenly the Dodgers found themselves in first with the Braves and Astros behind them at 4 and half games back. In one week the Braves dropped 4 and a half games and Houston dropped 4 games in the standings. The NL West has had the most tightly clustered first division teams in the Majors and this quick turnabout of fortunes has the attention of the baseball world. Were the Astros and Braves playing over their heads? Will the Dodgers, Astros and Braves beat each others brains in allowing the Giants to slip in? What about the Reds? They have been spinning their wheels in 5th place most of the season but have won 5 of their last 6 and may be poised to make a move into contention.

Earlier today

PHI 000 011 002-4 8 0
CHI 000 000 011-2 8 0
W-Reynolds (1-6)
L-Jenkins (9-8)
S-Nash (1)
Fergie Jenkins loses his 6th straight decision (his last win was June 3rd against San Diego when his record was 9-2). Once again Jenkins is done in by the long ball giving up solo HRs to Bill Robinson, Joe Lis and John Bateman (all three are recent additions to the Phillies roster). Ken Reynolds first hit of the season results in the Phillies first run of the game. 6 of the Phillies eight hits are for extra bases(3 HRs and 3 doubles).

ATL 012 100 000-4 9 1
SFG 000 020 001-3 8 0
W-Reed (11-4)
L-Carrithers (2-6)
S-Upshaw (6)
Braves finally end their 6 game losing streak. They were red hot for the first half of June and have been ice cold since the 19th being swept by the Phillies (2 games) and the Dodgers (4 games). Despite two late rallies and Dave Kingman's 9th inning HR the Braves hold on for the win. Braves offense, including HRs by Hank Aaron and Jim Breazeale, drive emergency starter Don Carrithers from the mound in the 4th. Giants relievers Randy Moffitt (brother of Billie Jean King) and Don McMahon shut down the Braves the rest of way. The Giants rally in the 9th with Kingman's HR and Ed Goodson's single with none out. Cecil Upshaw relives Ron Reed and during a hit and run Chris Speier lines into a double play effectively killing the Giants rally.

Starting Pitchers: Don Gullet (5-6 4.54 94 hits in 85.1 IP 11HRs) vs Claude Osteen (6-6 2.81) Osteen has 10 CGs in 14 starts

Starting Lineups

Cincinnati Reds

14 Pete Rose LF .310-4-26
8 Joe Morgan 2B .309-9-29
28 Bob Tolan CF .288-0-47
5 Johnny Bench C .232-13-44
24 Tony Perez 1B .302-10-45
16 Denis Menke 3B .221-4-21
15 George Foster RF .158-3-4
13 Dave Concepcion SS .199-3-18
35 Don Gullett P .294-0-5

Los Angeles Dodgers

2 Bobby Valentine 2B .291-1-15
11 Manny Mota LF .362-4-14
22 Bill Buckner 1B .379-7-32 (leads ML in batting average)
36 Frank Robinson RF .230-7-27
28 Wes Parker CF .314-0-12 (usually plays 1B but is replacing injured Willie Davis in CF)
6 Steve Garvey 3B .277-7-28
41 Steve Yeager C .245-2-7
18 Bill Russell SS .253-2-22
23 Claude Osteen P .390-0-5

Game time temp in the mid 50s (it's been a chilly evening all over the country)

1st inning

CIN
Rose grounds to 3B
Morgan singles to CF
Morgan CS 2-6 (there was some question in the booth whether Osteen balked)
Tolan grounds to 2B
0r 1h 0e 0l

LA
Valentine homers to center CIN 0 LA 1
Mota hits a long flyout to LF
Buckner singles to left
Robinson hits a long flyout to CF
Parker hits a grounder off Concepcion's glove for a single-Buckner to second
Garvey Kc
1r 3h 0e 2l

CIN 0 -0 1 0
LAD 1 -1 3 0

2nd inning

CIN
Bench homers to left center CIN 1 LA 1
Perez triples to the gap in right center
Menke grounds sharply to SS-Perez holds third
Foster Ks on a bad pitch
Concepcion grounds to 2B
1r 2h 0e 1l

LA
Yeager grounds to 3B
Russell flies to LF-the ball is just fair
Osteen singles to left
Valentine singles to left-Osteen to second
Mota hits a long flyout to CF
0r 2h 0e 2l

CIN 01 -1 3 0
LAD 10 -1 5 0

3rd inning

CIN
Gullett singles to left
Rose hits a soft groundout to 3B-Gullett to second
Morgan walks
Tolan hits a tough grounder to Valentine-Vaelntine makes a wild throw to second!!-Gullett scores-Morgan to third-Tolan to second CIN 2 LA 1
Bench IW
Perez K2-Yeager appeals and gets the call
Osteen bears down and Ks Menke
1r 2h 1e 3l

LA
Buckner flies to LF
Robinson lines to SS
Parker lines to SS
0r 0h 0e 0l

CIN 011 -2 5 0
LAD 100 -1 5 1

4th inning

CIN
Foster Ks
Concepcion lines to LF
Gullett flies to RF
0r 0h 0e 0l

LA
Garvey lines to SS
Yeager grounds to 3B
Russell Kc
0r 0h 0e 0l

CIN 011 0 -2 5 0
LAD 100 0 -1 5 1

5th inning

CIN
Rose walks
Morgan hits a sinking liner to center that Parker has to play in the hop-this started as a H & R but Rose raced back to first when it looked like Parker might make the catch-Rose turns around and takes second
Tolan singles to left-Rose scores and Morgan is able to take third on the play!! CIN 3 LA 1
Bench hits a hard grounder to SS-rather than go for the DP Russell looks Morgan back and gets the out at first-Tolan takes second
Perez IW
Infield draws in
Menke hits a grand slam to center!! CIN 7 LA 1
For LA-Mike Strahler warming up
Foster walks
Concepcion lines to CF
Gullett singles to center-Foster to third
For LA-now pitching #37 Mike Strahler (0-2 1s 6.75 18.2ip 33h 11bb 11k 4hr .384opba) rookie Mike Strahler got off to a horrendous start and seemed destined for Albuqurque but Walter Alston stuck with him and he has been pitching better recently)
Rose bounces into a FC 6-4
5r 4h 0e 2l

LA
#30 Maury Wills (.119-0-3) batting for Strahler (this season Wills is considered the highest paid bench warmer in the Majors)
Wills flies to CF
Valentine flies to CF
Mota Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

CIN 011 05 -7 9 0
LAD 100 00 -1 5 1

6th inning

CIN
For LA-now pitching #31 Hoyt Wilhelm (3-1 1s 2.76 29.1ip 24h 19bb 18k 0hr .214opba) 49 year old Wilhelm is pitching well in a limited role with the Dodgers (He will be 50 July 26, 1972)
Morgan walks
Tolan Kc
Bench singles to left-again Morgan takes tird on a singles to left!-Bech is thrown out 7-4 while trying to stretch the single into a double!
Perez doubles to right field gap-Morgan scores CIN 8 LA 1
Menke K2-Yeager apeals and gets the call
1r 2h 0e 1l

LA
Buckner grounds to P
Robinson singles to center
Parker Ks
Garvey walks-Robinson to second
Yeager flies to CF
0r 1h 0e 2l

CIN 011 051 -8 11 0
LAD 100 000 -1 5 1

7th inning

CIN
Foster grounds to SS
Concepcion grounds to SS
Gullett flies to CF
0r 0h 0e 0l

LA
Russell singles to center
Batting for Wilhelm #5 Jim Lefebvre (.191-5-17)
Lefebvre Ks
Valentine grounds into FC 4-6
Mota hits a sinking liner that Tolan races in for and makes a great snow cone catch!!
0r 1h 0e 1l

CIN 011 051 0 -8 11 0
LAD 100 000 0 -1 7 1

8th inning

CIN
For LA-Jim Lebebvre stays in the game playing third
Now ptiching #46 Pete Mikkelsen (1-0 2s 4.91 14.2ip 24h 9bb 11k 0hr .381opba)
Rose hits a double in the gap in center-this is the kind of play that has the Dodgers really missing Willie Davis)
Morgan hits a high fly to right-Robinson and Valentine collide on the play!! Parker comes over to make the throw-Morgan is credited with a double-Rose scores-the trainer is out and both Valentine and Robinson leave the game CIN 9 LA 1
For LA- #1 Billy Grabarkewitz now playing 2b (batting first) and #27 Willie Crawford playing RF (batting 4th)
Tolan singles to right-Morgan scores CIN 10 LA 1
Bench hits a pop foul to 1B
Perez HBP-Tolan to second
Menke Ks
Foster pops to SS
2r 3h 0e 2l

LA
For CIN-Sparky Anderson makes several defensive substitutions: #22 Ted Uhlaender playing LF (batting 1st); #11 Hal McRae in CF (3rd); #9 Bill Plummer at C (4th); #26 Joe Hague at 1B (5th) and #12 Darrell Chaney at 3B 6th)-Anderson also has Wayne Simpson warming up
Buckner grounds to SS
Crawford (.273-4-20) Ks on a bad pitch
Parker walks
Batting for Mikkelsen #8 Duke Sims (.184-4-12)
Sims grounds into FC 4-6
0r 1h 0e 1l

CIN 011 051 02 -10 14 0
LAD 100 000 00 -1 7 1

9th inning

CIN
For LA-now pitching #21 Jim Brewer (3-2 2s 4.32 8.1ip 6h 1bb 13k 3hr .194opba)
Concepion hits a fly to right that Crawford misjudges! Concepcion takes third on a 3 base error
Batting for Gullett #17 Julian Javier (.170-1-2)
Javier grounds to SS-Concepcion scores on the play CIN 11 LA 1
Uhlaender (.227-0-4) Ks
Morgan Kc
1r 0h 1e 0l

LA
For CIN-Javier stays in the game playing 2B
Now pitching #45 Wayne Simpson (0-5 0s 5.67 33.1ip 31h 10bb 23k 6k .231opba-batting second) Simpson started the season in the Minors and was called up in late April to join the faltering Reds rotation. He has been ineffective so far this season and has not pitched in almost 3 weeks. This is his 9th appearance (4 of which were starts)
Yeager grounds to P
Russell flies to CF
Lefebvre singles to right
Grabarkewitz walks-Lefebvre to second
Mota singles to right-Lefebvre scores-Grabarkewitz to third CIN 11 LA 2
Buckner triples to center-Grabarkewitz and Mota score (Simpson's troubles continue) CIN 11 LA 4
For CIN-now pitching #31 Jim McGlothlin (5-4 0s 5.15 71.2ip 42h 9hr 17bb 33k) McGlothin has been erratic as a Reds starter this season
Crawford hits a long fly to CF
3r 3h 0e 1l

Final totals

CIN 011 051 021-11 14 0
LAD 100 000 003-4 10 2
W-Gullett (6-6)
L-Osteen (6-7)

After the game it was announced that because the Dodgers have three injured position players (Willie Davis, Frank Robinson and Bobby Valentine) that Valentine will be placed on the 15 day DL. A decisionon Robinson is pending but he may also go on the DL. Davis is expected to return to the line up on Wednesday.

This is the type of offense that Sparky Anderson insists that the Reds are capable of every day. Morgan, Tolan and Perez are having excellent seasons and Johnny Bench is coming around after a slow start. The top of the Reds order of Rose, Morgan, Tolan, Bench and Perez is one of the most impressive in the Majors. The Reds pitching, especially their starters, have been been underwhelming with the exception of Jack Billingham (although Gary Nolan and Gullett have been pitching better). If the pitching comes around the Reds have to potential to contend for the West. This win moves the Reds into 4th place past the Giants.

This was an unusual sloppy game by the Dodgers as their winning streak comes to a crashing halt, and the loss of Robinson and especially Valentine are going to hurt the team. Willie Davis can't get back soon enough.

Other games:

BOS 101 200 111-7 10 0
CLE 000 000 001-1 3 1
W-Culp (7-6)
L-Tidrow (5-7)
Ray Culp takes a one hitter into the 9th. Red Sox launch a balanced attack with seven hitters in the line-up getting at least one hit. Luis Aparicio homers and Tommy Harper drives in 3.

MIL 000 100 000-1 4 1
BAL 001 010 10x-3 9 0
W-Cuellar (8-4)
L-Lockwood (2-8)
The Orioles keep the heat on the Yankees with a victory over the last place Brewers. Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell are the hitting stars for Baltimore. Dave May's HR results in the only Brewers run.

NYY 110 000 400-6 11 0
DET 024 101 02x-10 16 2
W-Timmermann (4-7)
L-Kekich (2-5)
Depleted Tigers line-up explodes for 16 hits and scores 10 runs. Every member of the Tigers lineup gets at least 1 and light hitting Ed Brinkman has 4 RBI. Mike Kekich's troubles continue as he doesn't make it through the 3rd. Yankees rally late assisted by Ike Brown's throwing error in the 7th, but John Callison is thrown out at the plate ending the inning and the rally.

OAK 022 002 041-11 15 0
TEX 000 000 000-0 3 2
W-Hamilton (4-1)
L-Broberg (1-9)
Dave Hamilton pitches a 3 hitter as the A's cruise to an easy victory over the Rangers. Shoddy Rangers defense leads to 4 unearned runs. Joe Rudi, Ollie Brown and Tim Cullen each have 3 hits for Oakland.

CHI 000 100 004 03-8 12 0
KAN 000 210 020 01-6 10 0
W-Romo (3-0)
L-Murphy (0-4)
S-Acosta (1)
Tough loss for the Royals tonight. Mike Hedlund, making a spot start, effectively stops the White Sox for 8+ innings allowing only Dick Allen's 16th HR. Hedlund also snuffs 2 rallies when the White Sox get a runner to third with less than two outs. The Royals bullpen, however, lets it get away by giving up 3 hits and 5 walks (including an IW to Allen) in the 9th. At one point Ted ABernathy walks 3 consecutive runs home befpre Bob Lemon can get him out of there. The White Sox get slightly better performances from their bullpen, although youngsters Terry Forster and Cy Acosta get touched up for 3 Royals runs, although Acosta holds on to get his first ML save. This loss leaves the Royals a half game in first place.

CAL 000 000 010 01-2 7 0
MIN 100 000 000 00-1 6 1
W-Barber (2-0)
L-LaRoche (3-1)
Excellent pitching duel between Rudy May and Jim Perry is highlighted by AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner Leroy Stanton's 8th inning triple and scores the (unearned) tie run on Jim Spencer's single. Lloyd Allen and Steve Barber pitch well out the bullpen for the Angels. Jim Perry pitches 10 solid innings for the Twins.

PIT 000 (10)01 000-11 14 1
MYM 000 000 010-1 3 1
W-Briles (7-4)
L-Gentry (5-8)
Pirates send 15 to the plate in the 10 run (6 earned) 4th. Roberto Clemente gets 2 hits in the 4th and is now 43 hits short of 3000 hits. Every Pirates starter has at least 1 hit. Silver lining for the Mets: a good relief performance by rookie Buzz Capra. Nelson Briles is sharp for the entire game pitching a 3 hitter. This win ends Pirates 6 game losing streak.

MON 202 000 410-9 14 0
STL 002 000 103-6 13 0
W-Moore (1-2)
L-Cleveland (6-11)
Ron Fairly and Bob Bailey are the big guns in the Expos victory as Ron Hunt, Tim McCarver and Mike Jorgensen combine for 7 runs scored. Matty Alou goes 4 for 5 and Joe Torre drives in 4 for the Cardinals. Balor Moore gets his first win of the year.

HOU 000 110 200-4 10 0
SDP 000 100 001-2 4 0
W-Wilson (10-2)
L-Caldwell (3-6)
Don Wilson's excellent season continues as he pitches his 10th CG. Nate Colbert hits his 22nd HR (ML lead) in the 4th. Cesar Cedeno, Bob Watson and Jack Hiatt have 2 hits each for the Astros. One of Hiatt's hits is his 3rd HR of the season.

[EdTarbusz]

Standings after games of June 26, 1972

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 40 24 0.625 -
Baltimore 39 25 0.609 1.0
Boston 34 30 0.531 6.0
Detroit 32 35 0.478 9.5
Cleveland 27 40 0.403 14.5
Milwaukee 25 42 0.373 16.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Kansas City 41 28 0.594 -
Oakland 40 28 0.588 0.5
Minnesota 36 32 0.529 4.5
Chicago (A) 33 33 0.500 6.5
California 31 38 0.449 10.0
Texas 24 47 0.338 18.0


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Pittsburgh 40 29 0.580 -
Chicago (N) 37 32 0.536 3.0
St Louis 33 35 0.485 6.5
New York (N) 31 36 0.463 8.0
Philadelphia 31 39 0.443 9.5
Montreal 22 44 0.333 16.5

West Div W L Pct GB
Los Angeles 41 28 0.594 -
Atlanta 38 32 0.543 3.5
Houston 40 34 0.541 3.5
Cincinnati 36 34 0.514 5.5
San Francisco 39 37 0.513 5.5
San Diego 32 40 0.444 10.5

[EdTarbusz]

Another month in the books!

Standings after games of June 30, 1972:

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 42 26 0.618 -
Baltimore 40 28 0.588 2.0
Boston 37 31 0.544 5.0
Detroit 34 37 0.479 9.5
Cleveland 30 42 0.417 14.0
Milwaukee 27 45 0.375 17.0

West Div W L Pct GB
Oakland 45 28 0.616 -
Kansas City 43 29 0.597 1.5
Minnesota 38 34 0.528 6.5
California 34 39 0.466 11.0
Chicago (A) 33 38 0.465 11.0
Texas 24 50 0.324 21.5


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Pittsburgh 42 31 0.575 -
Chicago (N) 39 35 0.527 3.5
St Louis 37 36 0.507 5.0
New York (N) 34 37 0.479 7.0
Philadelphia 32 43 0.427 11.0
Montreal 24 47 0.338 17.0

West Div W L Pct GB
Los Angeles 43 30 0.589 -
Houston 43 35 0.551 2.5
Cincinnati 39 35 0.527 4.5
Atlanta 39 36 0.520 5.0
San Francisco 41 39 0.512 5.5
San Diego 34 43 0.442 11.0


For reference, these were the real standings from June 30, 1972 (from Retrosheet):

Standings At Close of Play of June 30, 1972
NL East

Team Name G W L T PCT GB
Pittsburgh Pirates 65 40 25 0 .615 -
New York Mets 67 41 26 0 .612 -
Chicago Cubs 66 37 29 0 .561 3.5
St. Louis Cardinals 67 34 33 0 .507 7.0
Montreal Expos 67 29 38 0 .433 12.0
Philadelphia Phillies 66 24 42 0 .364 16.5

NL West

Team Name G W L T PCT GB
Cincinnati Reds 68 41 27 0 .603 -
Houston Astros 69 41 28 0 .594 0.5
Los Angeles Dodgers 68 36 32 0 .529 5.0
Atlanta Braves 67 31 36 0 .463 9.5
San Francisco Giants 74 28 46 0 .378 16.0
San Diego Padres 68 24 44 0 .353 17.0

AL East

Team Name G W L T PCT GB
Detroit Tigers 64 36 28 0 .563 -
Baltimore Orioles 64 35 29 0 .547 1.0
New York Yankees 62 28 34 0 .452 7.0
Boston Red Sox 61 27 34 0 .443 7.5
Cleveland Indians 63 27 36 0 .429 8.5
Milwaukee Brewers 63 26 37 0 .413 9.5

AL West

Team Name G W L T PCT GB
Oakland Athletics 66 43 23 0 .652 -
Chicago White Sox 66 39 27 0 .591 4.0
Minnesota Twins 64 35 29 0 .547 7.0
Kansas City Royals 64 31 33 0 .484 11.0
California Angels 68 31 37 0 .456 13.0
Texas Rangers 65 27 38 0 .415 15.5

[EdTarbusz]

Game of the Week July 1, 1972

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pre-game: Two weeks ago the Pirates were 6 games ahead of the second place Cubs and looked to be the first team to runaway to a division win. Then came a 6 game losing streak (including being swept at Wrigley Field last weekend) and the Cubs narrowed the difference to 2 games. The Pirates have righted themselves are playing well again. They have one of the most balanced attacks and probably the best bench in the Majors.
The Cubs played .500 ball while the Pirates were slumping and Leo Durocher knows that's not good enough and the Cubs need to turn it up a notch if the Cubs are to be serious contenders this season. Durocher also knows that his job is hanging by a thread and he may be out by the All Star Break. Jenkons hasn't won in a month. If he can right himself, he may be the difference.


Bill Hands (8-5 2.92) vs Dock Ellis (6-6 3.89)

Starting Line-ups

Chicago Cubs

1 Jose Cardenal RF .244-7-30
18 Glenn Beckert 2B .266-0-17
26 Billy Williams LF .320-19-49
10 Ron Santo 3B .302-9-35
8 Joe Pepitone 1B .229-1-3 (2nd appearance since returning from retirement)
7 Rick Monday CF .232-5-20
11 Don Kessinger SS .265-0-30
15 Ken Rudolph C .271-0-7
49 Bill Hands P .106-0-0

Pittsburgh Pirates

30 Dave Cash 2B .290-1-5
18 Vic Davalillo LF .301-1-12
21 Roberto Clemente RF .336-10-42-Clemente needs 40 hits for 3000.
16 Al Oliver CF .285-6-32
3 Richie Hebner 3B .247-6-22
7 Bob Robertson 1B .182-7-19
35 Manny Sanguillen C .342-3-27
2 Jackie Hernandez SS .161-0-8
17 Dock Ellis P .200-0-0

Temperature is in the 80s. It is a clear and calm day.

1st inning

CHI
Cardenal walks
Beckert FC 6-4
Williams GIDP 4-6-3
0r 0h 0e 0l

PIT
Cash 6-3
Davilillo singles to right
Clemente GIDP 6-4-3
0r 1h 0e 0l

CHI 0 -0 0 0
PIT 0 -0 1 0

2nd inning

CHI
Santo triples to left center!
Pepiton flies to CF-Santo holds
Monday L4
Kessinger singles to right-Santo scores CHI 1 PIT 0
Rudolph singles to left-Kessinger stops at second
Hands flies to CF
1r 3h 0e 2l

PIT
Oliver walks-Froeming really squeezes Hands
Hebner lines to RF
Robertson singles to left-Oliver to second
Sanguillen triples to right center-Oliver and Robertson score CHI 1 PIT 2
Hernandez Kc
Ellis bounces out to 1B
2r 2h 0e 1l

CHI 01 -1 3 0
PIT 02 -2 3 0

3rd inning

CHI
Cardenal 4-3
Beckert 5-3
Williams doubles into the right field corner
Santo K2 after Sanguillen appeals
0r 1h 0e 1l

PIT
Cash 4-3
Davalillo singles to center
Clemente GIDP 6-4-3
0r 1h 0e 0l

CHI 010 -1 4 0
PIT 020 -2 4 0

4th inning

CHI
Pepitone grounds to 1B
Monday singles to right
Kessinger L4
Rudolph Ks
0r 1h 0e 1l

PIT
Oliver L5-Santo reaching it at the last second!
Hebner grounds to 1B
Robertson P5F
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI 010 0 -1 5 0
PIT 020 0 -2 4 0

5th inning

CHI
Hands single to center
Cardenal walks-Hands to second
Beckert grounds into FC to third-Hebner gets Hands unassisted
Williams doubles down right field line-Cardenal scores-Beckert stops at third (he doesn't want to challange Clemente's arm!) CHI 2 PIT 2
Santo IW loading the bases
Pepitone bounces to first-Robertson's only play is at first 3-1-Beckert scores-Santo to second CHI 3 PIT 2
Monday singles to right-Williams scores-Clemente's strong relay keeps Santo at third CHI 4 PIT 2
Kessinger walks loading the bases again
Rudolph flies to CF
3r 3h 0e 3l

PIT
Sanguillen 6-3
Hernandez Kc
Ellis Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI 010 03 -4 8 0
PIT 020 00 -2 4 0

6th inning

CHI
Hands 6-3
Cardenal Kc
Beckert 6-3
0r 0h 0e 0l

PIT
Cash 5-3
Davalillo 4-3
Clemente Ks
0r 0h 0e 0l

CHI 010 030 -4 8 0
PIT 020 000 -2 4 0

7th inning

CHI
Williams singles to center
Santo flies to LF
Pepitone singles to left-Williams to second
For PIT-Brunce Kison warming up
Monday GIDP 3-6-3
0r 2h 0e 0l

PIT
Oliver doubles into the left field corner
For CHI-Jack Aker warming up
Hebner Ks
Robertson P5F
Sanguillen 5-3
0r 1h 0e 1l

CHI 010 030 0 -4 10 0
PIT 020 000 0 -2 5 0

8th inning

CHI
Kessinger grounds to second-Cash's throw is in the dirt-Kessinger takes first in the error
For PIT-Kison warming up
Rudolph GIDP 4-6-3
Hands flies to CF
0r 0h 1e 0l

PIT
Hernandez singles to center
Number 15 Gene Clines (.333-0-21) batting for Ellis
Clines FC 6-3-Kessinger's throw just getting Clines-Hernandez to second
Cash singles to right-Hernandez scores CHI 4 PIT 3
For CHI-Aker warming up
Davalillo doubles to left center-Cash scores CHI 4 PIT 4
Clemente bears down and singles to center-Davalillio scores ahead of Monday's throw CHI 4 PIT 5
Now pitching for CHI-number 38 Jack Aker (1-2 1s 2.04 17.2ip 16h 5bb 10k 0hr .250opba)
Oliver hits a high bouncer to Kessinger and beats out the throw for a single-Clemente to second
Hebner walks loading the bases
Robertson grounds out softly to SS-Clemente scores-Oliver to third-Hebner to second CHI 4 PIT 6
Sanguillen grounds to SS
4r 5h 0e 2l

CHI 010 030 00 -4 10 0
PIT 020 000 04 -6 10 1

9th inning

CHI
For PIT-now pitching number 31 Dave Giusti (1-1 6s 2.20 16.1ip 9h 2bb 15k 2hr .158opba)
Cardenal 4-3
Beckert 6-3
Williams hits a liner to left that Davalillo over-runs! Williams is credited with a double and takes third on the error
Santo Kc
0r 1h 1e 1l

Final score

CHI 010 030 000-4 11 0
PIT 020 000 04x-6 10 2
W-Ellis (7-6)
L-Hands (8-6)
S-Giusti (7)

A game that epitimized both the Pirates and Cubs this season. The Pirates by rallying late and the Cubs by weakening late.
Normally Roberto Clemente would not have appeared today since this was a day game after a night game, but Bill Virdon wanted a chance for Clemente to play before a national audience. Clemente showed the same form he showed in last years World Series. Despite grounding into two double plays early, he got a clutch hit driving in the go ahead run and preventing at least one Cub run from scoring because of his arm. Barring a terrible slump or any lengthy time off because of injury Clemente should reach 3000 hits in early August.


Other Games:

MIL 010 000 020-3 11 0
BOS 000 011 50x-7 12 0
W-Culp (8-6)
L-Parsons (5-7)
Red Sox 7th inning rally is highlighted by John Kennedy's 3 run HR over the Green Monster. Light hitting Danny Cater also has 3 RBI (and a HR) for Boston (the Red Sox scored 1 run on a Bill Parsons's WP). Neither Parsons or Ray Culp are really sharp as starters but Culp gets out of several jams, including inducing George Scott to ground into 2 DPs. Reggie Smith has 3 hits for Boston.

CLE 010 000 000-1 7 0
NYY 210 000 00x-3 6 0
W-Stottlemyer (6-7)
L-Wilcox (4-8)
A hot day in the Bronx is high-lighted by fine pitching performances by Mel Stottlemyer and Milt Wilcox. Horace Clark (single) and Felipe Alou (double) lead off the Yankee first with hits and both score. Gene Michael hits his first HR in the 2nd. Stottlemyer walks 3 in the second and a bases loaded walk to Del Unser drives in the Indians only run. Both starters have no trouble after the second inning.

BAL 000 022 000-4 9 3
DET 000 120 000-3 6 0
W-Cuellar (9-4)
L-Lolich (12-9)
Seesaw game featuring a match-up of two of the seasons best pitchers. Light hitting Mark Belanger and Bobby Grich each have 2 RBI. Cuellar gives up only one earned run, Boog Powell commiting 2 errors. In the bottom of the 6th the Tigers load the bases with no outs and Cullar gets out of the jam, not allowing any runs. Lolich strikes out 8 and gives up no walks in taking the loss.

MIN 000 000 020-2 5 2
CHI 000 301 10x-5 9 0
W-Wood (10-10)
L-Perry (5-9)
Dick Allen hits his 20th HR of the season as the underachieving White Sox cruise to an easy victory over the Twins. Wilber Wood doesn't walk anyone and only Eric Soderholm's HR prevents him from pitching a shutout.

TEX 000 002 020 8-12 16 2
KAN 202 000 000 0-4 6 0
W-Lindblad (4-5)
L-Murphy (0-5)
Royals jump out to early lead but can't hold it in the late innings. Tom Murphy has a disastrous relief outing in the 10th inning walking 2 and giving up 6 hits in a third of an inning. Don Mincher, Larry Biitner, Joe Lovitto and Toby Harrah are hitting stars for Texas.

LA 000 210 102-6 11 1
SF 031 021 20x-9 12 1
W-Stone (8-0)
L-Osteen (6-8)
Steve Stone remains undefeated as a starter. Rookie of the Year front-runner Garry Maddox and Chris Speier each have 3 hits and 2 HRs for the Giants. Wes Parker and Willie Davis each homer for the Dodgers.

Night Games:

OAK 010 000 110-3 9 0
CAL 300 010 00x-4 10 0
W-Messersmith (7-8)
L-Odom (6-8)
Andy Messersmith has enough in the tank for a CG win. The A's rally ;ate but it isn't enough/ Joe Rudi has 3 hits for Oakland. Ken McMullen's HR puts the game out of reach for the A's. One bright spot for Oakland: a good relif puting for Darold Knowles who is having a poor season. Every member of the Angles line-up except Messersmith gets at least one hit off Blue Moon Odom.

NYM 200 020 200-6 7 1
MON 100 109 00x-11 13 0
W-Stoneman (5-10)
L-Matlack (7-9)
Jon Matlack is charged with 9 unearned runs in the 6th after Wayne Garrett's costly error. Bob Bailey and Tim Foli each have 3 RBI for the Expos. Tim McCarver has 3 hits of rthe Expos and John Boccabella has a key PH in the 6th. For the Mets Wayne Garrett and Rusty Staub have 2 hits each. Rusty Staub hits a HR and and has 3 RBI for New York. Joe Gilbert makes ML debut for Montreal, pitching 3 innings, giving up a HR to Staub and strikes out 5.

STL 100 500 000-6 10 1
PHI 000 000 100-1 8 1
W-Spinks (4-5)
L-Twitchell (0-3)
Scipio Spinks has little trouble with the Phillies while pitching a CG. Only Don Money's HR prevents a shut-out. Matty Alou has 3 RBI for the Cardinals. The Cardinals work the Philleis pitchers for 9 walks.

STL 000 000 010-1 6 2
PHI 120 010 00x-4 9 1
W-Selma (5-8)
L-Santorini (3-1)
Dick Selma pitches an efficient CG for the Phillies, giving up just one unearned run. Al Santorini and Joe Grzenda also pitch well for St Louis. The Philles score two Unearned runs in the second off two Cardinal errors.

ATL 211 010 001 0-6 12 1
HOU 006 000 000 1-7 8 2
W-Culver (4-2)
L-Upshaw (2-3)
Astros are able to hold on to win in extra innings. Don Wilson has an unusually difficult outing tonight. Bob Watson hits a grand slam for Houston. Doug Rader drives in the winning run in the 10th. For the Braves Earl Williams goes 3 for 4 with a HR and Marty Perez has 3 RBI.

CIN 100 000 010-2 6 0
SDP 100 201 00x-4 6 0
W-Kirby (9-4)
L-Grimsley (3-6)
Sparky ANderson hates when the Reds play the Padres. After Joe Morgan's first inning HR, the Reds rally several times but can only score 1 more run. Fred Stanley, Leron Lee and Nate Colbert each have 2 hits for San Diego. Colbert hits his ML leading 24th HR (he also leads the majors with 79 RBI) and Lee also homers. Lee and Colbert are now one of the best one-two punches in the Majors.

[EdTarbusz]

Standings after games of July 1, 1972

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 43 26 0.623 -
Baltimore 41 28 0.594 2.0
Boston 38 31 0.551 5.0
Detroit 34 38 0.472 10.5
Cleveland 30 43 0.411 15.0
Milwaukee 27 46 0.370 18.0

West Div W L Pct GB
Oakland 45 29 0.608 -
Kansas City 43 30 0.589 1.5
Minnesota 38 35 0.521 6.5
California 35 39 0.473 10.0
Chicago (A) 34 38 0.472 10.0
Texas 25 50 0.333 20.5


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Pittsburgh 43 31 0.581 -
Chicago (N) 39 36 0.520 4.5
St Louis 38 37 0.507 5.5
New York (N) 34 38 0.472 8.0
Philadelphia 33 44 0.429 11.5
Montreal 25 47 0.347 17.0

West Div W L Pct GB
Los Angeles 43 31 0.581 -
Houston 44 35 0.557 1.5
Cincinnati 39 36 0.520 4.5
San Francisco 42 39 0.519 4.5
Atlanta 39 37 0.513 5.0
San Diego 35 43 0.449 10.0

[EdTarbusz]

Game notes from June, 1972:

0601 DetCleN-Longest game of the season so far goes 21 innings. The Tigers tie the game 2-2 in the top of the 8th when Aurelio Rodriguez drives in two with a double and then the teams play 12 innings of scoreless ball. Buddy Bell finally scores the winning run on a Tom McCraw single. Good pitching performances by starters Gaylord Perry and Tom Timmerman are long forgotten by games end, and not much offense: the Indians only get 9 hits and leave only one man in scoring position. The Tigers have 14 hits and leave 5 RISP.
NYMilN-Mike Ferraro falls in dugout going after a foul-he is day to day.
StLChiN-Burt Hooten injures his arm while pitching-he is day to day. Cubs win 6-4 concluding a 3 game sweep of St Louis. Rick Wose who started season 7-0 has lost 4 straight decisions.
PhiNYN-Mets win 1-0 in 12 innings. Jim McAndrew (2 hits) and Tug McGraw (0 hits) hold the Phillies to two hits. Deron Johnson has both of the Philles hits.
0602 CalCle-After starting the season with 7 straight losses Rickey Clark gets his first win of the year. Because of last nights 21 inning game the Indians have six utility players in their line-up.
MinDetN-Tigers win 8-3-Mickey Lolich is the first pitcher to get 10 wins. 7 of the 10 Tigers hits are for extra bases, including 4 solo HRs.
ChiSDN_Leron Lee hurt in the field-he is day to day.
0603 TexMil-Jerry Bell injures himself while pitching-he is day to day.
0604 TexMil-Rangers and Brewers combine for 33 hits as Rangers win 13-11. It is a game of big innings-Brewers score 6 in the 4th and Rangers score 4 in the 5th and 8 in the 6th, which put them ahead 13-8. Horacio Pina pitches 2/3rds of an inning and gets the win. Jim Colborn pitches 1 inning and gets the loss. 10 unearned runs are scored in the game, with Dick Bosman giving up 6 unearned runs.
MinDet-Jim Strickland is injured while pitching-he is day to day. Twins lead 6-5 going into bottom of 11th. For the Tigers in the 11th with one out Aurelio Rodriguez triples. Jim Northrup follows this with a 2 run game winning HR down the RF line.
BosKC#1-After starting the season Roger Nelson weakens in the 9th and gives up three runs-the Royals lose 4-3-Nelson is now 7-1. 3 of the 4 runs that Nelson gives up are unearned.
AtlNY-Dusty Baker goes 5 for 6 with 4 RBI as the Braves beat the Mets 12-9. For the Mets Tommie Agee hits 2 HRs and drives in 5.
StLLA-Dodgers 4 Cardinals 3-Cardinals losing streak reaches 9.
ChiSD-Derrell Thomas goes 5 for 5 and Leron Lee goes 4 for 5 as the Padres beat the Cubs 8-2. Billy Williams 9th inning HR saves the Cubs from being shut out.
PitSF#1-Roberto Clemente goes 4 for 5-he needs 65 hits to reach 3000. Pirates win 8-4 in this rematch of the 1971 NLCS.
0605 PitSDN-Bench clearing brawl after Richie Hebner is HBP-Hebner gets a 3 game suspension-pitcher Clay Kirby has to leave game and miss a week.
NYY-Steve Kline on 2 week reserve duty-will be back 6/19 (he may be able to make a Sat or Sun start in NY)
0606 OakCleN-down 3-1 in the 9th Oakland ties the game and wins on Gene Tenace's HR in the 14th inning. Neither bullpen is sharp, but each pitches out of several jams. Starters Jim Hunter and Vince Colbert are both very sharp tonight.
MinBalN-Jim Palmer pitches a one hitter as the Orioles win 2-0. Danny Thompson singles with two outs in the 8th inning for the Twins only hit. Palmer walks 4 and strikes out 10. For the Twins Jim Perry pitches a three hitter.
BosChiN-Luis Tiant pitches a one hitter as Red Sox beat White Sox 14-1. Jim Lyttle hits a one out triple in the bottom of the 7th. Lyttle scored Chicago's only run on Bill Melton's SF. The Red Sox offensive explosion is high-lighted by Tommy Harper's two doubles and Danny Cater's grand slam. Cater's grand slam came immediately after Jorge Orta's two error. The Red Sox score 7 unearned runs on 3 Chicago errors.
PitSDN-Derrell Thomas injured when HBP-he is day to day.
StLSFN-Despite late rally Cardinals lose 3-2. Their losing streak is at 10 games.
0607 AtlMonN-Hank Aaron hits his 649th career HR off Denny LeMaster. Aaron is now tied with Willie Mays for second on the All Time HR Leaders list.
SD-Padres sign the first pick in yesterday's draft. Dave Roberts joins the team immediatley.
CalDetN-Dick McAuliffe and Al Kaline collide in the field and both leave game-McAuliffe is day to day and Kaline will go on the DL.
StLSFN-Cardinals losing streak reaches 11. After 7 and 0 start Rick Wise has now lost 6 straight decisions. The Cardinals are now below .500 at 25 and 26 (down from 25 and 15).
0608 NYTexN-John Callison is injured while running the bases-he is day to day.
MilKCN-Royals 1 Brewers 0-late addition to Royals rotation Roger Nelson pitches his 6th shutout (in 10 starts) of the season-he is now 8-1.
HouPhiN-Houston is swept by Phillies in 2 games (there was one rainout in the series) at the same time the Dodgers sweep the Cubs. This allows the Dodgers to move into first place in the NL West.
StLSF-Cardinals 3 Giants 1-Cardinals break 11 game losing streak as Bob Gibson goes the distance. Joe Torre's fifth inning 2 run double puts the Cardinals ahead for good.
0609 BalTexN-Horacio Pina injures his arm while pitching-he will miss a week.
NYKCN-Yankees 16 Royals 7-Yankees score 11 runs in the 6th inning. 9 of these runs are scored before the first out of the inning is recorded.
AtlPhiN-Hank Aaron hits 2 HRs-his first hit off Ken Reynolds is his 650th which passes Willie Mays. He also hits one off Darrell Brandon for his 651st-Tim McCarver leaves game after being HBP on the wrist-he is day to day.
0610 MinCle-Dick Woodson leaves game after getting injured while pitching.
CinMon-Julian Javier hit in the neck by a hard bouncer-he is day to day.
HOuNY-Don Wilson injures arm while pitching-he is day to day.
0611 OakDet-Tom Timmerman injures his arm-he will miss a week.
MilChi#1-Dave May crashes into the fence trying a catch a fly (for what would have been the last out of the game)-he will miss about a week.
MilChi#2-Dave Lemonds throws a 2 hitter-both hits are by George Scott-a triple in the first and a HR in the 9th-White Sox win 4-1.
AtlPhi-Hank Aaron hits aHR and has 5 RBI againsts Steve Carlton as the Braves beat the Philles 6-3. Three of the Braves runs are unearned because of an error by Carlton. This win and LAs loss moves the Braves from 4th place to 2nd place in the extremely tight NL west.
StLSD-Rick Wise gives up 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th and the Padres win 3-2. Wise has now lost 7 straight decsions and his record is now 7-7. The Cardinals have lost 14 of their last 16. They have gone from 25 and 14 to 27 and 28.
ChiSF-Don Kessinger has 5 RBI as Cubs win 7-6.
0612 DetMinN-Les Cain injures his arm while pitching-he is day to day-after further consideration he is placed on the DL.
0613 KCBosN-Red Sox 4 Royals 2-Roger Nelson loses his second-in third Royals are charged with two consecutive errors on balls that take a bad bounce-with these two runners on Luis Aparicio hits one into the Green Monster for 3 run HR.
SDChi-Nate Colbert hits 3 HRs as the Padres beat the Cubs 8-1. Colbert has 6 RBI and now leads the Majors with 20 HRs. He had been tied with Bobby Murcer with 17. Colbert also leads the Majors with 66 RBI.
SFPitN-Nelson Briles injures his arm while pitching-he is day to day.
PhiCinN#2-Phillies hit 5 triples as they win 7-3. They sweep the Reds in tonights doubleheader winning both games by scores of 7 to 3 (scoring a combined 8 runs in both tops of the 9th).
MonHouN-Cesar Cedeno hits a solo HR in the 1st off Carl Morton which is all the Astros need to win the game 1-0. This vicotry prevents the Braves from moving into first in the NL West.
0614 BalOakN-Jim Hunter pitches 8.1 innings of no-hit ball. Paul Blair breaks up the no-hitter with a double in the 8th. Hunter finishes with a 2 hitter as A's win 3-0.
NYAtlN-Braves win 2-1 over Mets. Hank Aaron and Earl Williams hit back to back solo HRs in the 4th. Phil Niekro is first NL pitcher to win 10 games this season.
MonHou-7 of 10 Astros hits are XBH as the Astros win 8-4. Ernie McAnally becomes the second NL pitcher (after Sam McDowell) with 10 losses.
0615 CleCalN-After 11 grueling innings of scoreless ball, the Indians finally score a run a in the 12th-the Angels come back and score two in the bottom of the 12 winning 2 to 1. Milt Wilcox has 12 Ks in 11 innings of shutout ball.
ChiNYY-Gene Michael injured after an on-field collision with Roy White-Michael will go on the DL.
SDChi-The Cubs are trailing 7-2 after 6 innings but engineer a great comeback and win 9-8 in 10 innings. The Cubs score 4 unearned runs as they deny Steve Arlin his 10th win of the season-Arlin had a fairly shaky outing going 8.2 innings and giving up 23 hits and 4 walks. Rick Reuschel pitches 4 innings of solid relief work for the Cubs in his ML debut. Although going 2 for 5 Randy Hundley strands 6 RISP for the Cubs.
SFPitN-Chris Speier is hit in the throat by a hard bouncer and has to leave the game-he is day to day.
0616 TexNYN-Mike Paul injured while pitching-he is day to day.
LAChi-Billy Williams hits 3 HRs-Cubs go to bat in the bottom of the 9th behind 6-3-with two out and two on Jose Cardenal hits a 3 run HR off reliever Jim Brewer to tie the game. Brewer then gives up a single to Glenn Beckert and Billy Williams his his 3rd HR of the game to win the game for the Cubs 8-6. Normally reliable Jim Brewer faces three batters and the result is game tieing HR, single and game winning HR.
SDPitN-Derrell Thomas injured while running the bases-he is day to day. On the final play of the game Dave Campbell and Clarence Gaston collide in the field-both will go on the DL.
MonAtlN#2-two late inning rallies allow the Braves to sweep the Expos which puts the Braves in a virtual tie for first with Houston (pending the results of the extra inning game in Houston)-Ralph Garr goes 6 for 9 in the DH.
PhiHouN-12 inning scoreless duel won in the 13th by Houston 3-0 with excellent pitching performances by Don Wilson (who scatters 10 hits and 2 walks while pitching 11 shutout innings) and Steve Carlton. This was probably Carlton's best performnace of the season 13 IP (relieved by Darrell Brandon in the 14th with one on and none out) 5 H (2 in the first 9 innings) 2 BB (first walk in the game wasn't until the 12th inning) and 11 Ks for his 8th win. Light hitting Tommy Helms has 3 hits off Carlton. The hard hitting Astros only get one runner in scoring position, in the 13th inning. Key play in the game is Cesar Cedeno's error in the 14th which lets in 1 run and leads to 2 more unearned runs. Cedeno is ejected in the bottom of the 14 for arguing balls and strikes.
0617 Atl-Dusty Baker and Darrell Evans off roster for two weeks reserve duty.
ChiBos-Dick Allen hits a 495 ft HR in the 3rd off Sonny Siebert.
0618 NYCin-Wayne Simpson injured while pitching-he will miss a week.
0620 CleMinN-Cesar Tovar and Tony Oliva collide in the field-Tovar is day to day-Oliva will be out indefinetly.
TexBosN-Bill Gogolewski hit by a batted ball while pitching-he will miss a week.
LAPitN-Gene Alley and Willie Stargell collide in the field-both are day to day. Later, Frank Robinson charges mound after being HBP-Luke Walker leaves game-day to day-Robinson leaves games and is suspended for 2 games.
SDStLN-Great pitching match-up between Bob Gibson and Fred Norman. Each pitchers 12 innings of shutout ball-Norman is pulled for a PH in the 13th and Gibson is relieved in the 13th. Norman Ks 14 and Gibson Ks 10. Cardinals win 1-0 in the 14th on Dwain Anderson's single after Gary Ross loaded the bases with none out. Anderson was a defensive replacement for Joe Torre after Torre was pulled for a PR in the ninth.
NYHouN-Tommie Agee crashes into the wall trying to make a catch-he is day to day.
0621 CleMinN-Perry vs Perry. Bobby Darwin's 9th inning HR leads to a win for Jim over Gaylord 2-1. Gaylord Perry drives in the Indians only run. Both Perry's, especially Jim, pitch out of several jams. Indians don't have a single strikeout. Gaylord Perry Ks 4.
DetOakN-Ken Holtzman throws a 2 hitter as A's win 9-0 preventing a Tigers sweep. 7 of the 9 A's runs come by way of the long ball. Bill Voss hits a 3 run HR in his first AB as a member of the A's.
0622 StLNYN-Ted Sizemore goes 5 for 5 as Cardinals beat Mets 12-2.
0623 PitChi-One of the games most reliable firemen Dave Giusti blows a save in a big way giving up two hRs (PH Carmen Fanzone leads off the inning with a game tieing HR-three batters later Ron Santo hits the game winning HR), a double and an IW. The Cubs score 4 in the bottom of the ninth winning 7-4. In 1/3rd of an inning Giusti's ERA triples.
BosMilN-Ben Ogilvie injured in the field-he is day to day.
DetBalN-Bill Freehan injured by a foul ball-he will miss a week.
PhiMonN-Expos 2 Phillies 1-Expos are the last team to win their 20th game.
SFSDN-Ron Bryant injured while pitching-will go on DL.
0624 CalOak-John Stephenson injured by foul tip. He is day to day.
StLNY-Jerry McNertney injured by a foul tip. He is day to day.
AtlLAN#1-Willie Davis leaves game after crashing into CF wall-he is day to day.
AtlLAN#2-Paul Casanova hit by foul tip-he is day to day.
0625 Mil-Billy Conigliaro abruptly retires.
BosMil#2-Rick Miller injured while fielding-he is day to day.
MinKC#1-KC 3 MIN 0-Roger Nelson pitches his 7th shutout of the season. He only allows 1 runner to get into scoring position. He gives up 3 hits and no walks.
CalOak#1-Ken Berry is injured crashing into fence-he is day to day. Game tied 2-2 after 9-Nolan Ryan has 14 Ks after 9. Angels win 3-2 in 10 innings-Ryans has 16Ks for the game.
PitChi-Milt Pappas takes a no-hitter into the 9th (it would have been a perfect game except for a controversial walk to Gene Clines in the 3rd-catcher JC Martin argued so much he was ejected)-Pappas ends up giving up 3 hits in the 9th and the Cubs win 6-0. Chicago sweeps the 3 game series from the Pirates and now only 2 games behind the Pirates.
SFSD-Dave Kingman hits a 490 ft HR in the 4th inning. Kingman and Bobby Bonds each hit 2 HRs and between them drive in 7 runs as Giants win 7-3.
0626 CinLAN-Bobby Valentin and Frank Robinson collide in the field-Valentine is day to day-Robinson may go on the DL.
0627 CLE-Chris Chambliss misses 10 days due to military duty.
PitNY-Milt May injured by a foul tip-he will miss a week. Ted Martinez goes 3 for 5 with 2 triples as Mets win 6-4.
MilBalN-Joe Lahoud goes 3 for 4 with 2 HRs, 3 runs scored and 6 RBI as the Brewers beat the Orioles 14-7.
CinLAN-Pitchers duel between Ross Grimsley and Al Downing won by the Reds 1-0 on Joe Morgan's 1st inning HR. Grimsley throws a three hitter. The Reds sweep the 2 game series from first place LA.
HouSDN-Astrps 9 Padres 4. In the 9th inning Nate Colbert hits his 23rd HR which gives him 75 RBI. Dave Roberts strikes out 13 for the Astros.
0628 BalNYN-Celerino Sanchez hit in the throat by a bouncer-he is day to day. The Yankees rally late to win a nail biter in 10 innings 6-4. This win keeps New York in first place. An Orioles win would have meant a tie for first.
DetBosN-Red Sox 3 Tigers 1-Luis Tiant retires the first 19 batters that he faces and has a no-hitter until Norm Cash leads off the 8th with a double (Cash will ultimately score the Tigers only run after his double). Tiant ends up with a 2 hitter and gives up 2 walks winning his 9th game.
MonPitN-Mike Marshall injures his arm while pitching-will go in 15 day DL.
0629 BalNY-Rusty Torres goes 4 for 5 with 2 singles, double and HR-he has 6 RBI. The Yankees win 11-7 sweeping the 2 game series.
NYPhiN-controversial win for the Mets. With the teams tied 2-2 in the top of the 11th the bases are loaded with 2 outs. Umpire Runge squeezes Darrell Brandon and PH John Milner is awarded a BB. Brandon goes nuts and is nearly thrown out of the game, but Frank Luchessi and John Bateman get him away from the ump before he can be ejected. This walk scores Cleon Jones with what proves to be the winning run. Steve Carlton starts for the Phillies and strikes out 14 in 9 IP.
0630 CleNYN_Tom McCraw crashes into dugout chasing a foul-he is day to day. Bobby Murcer steals home for the Yankees.
BalDetN-Orioles win 2-0 in 16 innings. Jim Palmer and Tom Timmerman are both over powering as starters.
CalTexN-Angels 12 Rangers 0-Texas is the first team with 50 losses.
NYMonN-Expos 4 Mets 3-Balor Moore pitches CG for Expos and strikes out 14.
ChiPitN-Rennie Stennet leaves game after on field collision with Joe Pepitone-Stennet is day to day. This is Pepitone's first appearance since his aborted retirement. In his AB Pepitone is HBP by Nelson Briles. He collides with Stennet on Rick Monday's AB. Game turns into a pitchers duel between Briles and Fergie Jenkins with the Pirates winning 1-0 and Briles throwing a 3 hitter. Jenkins has now lost his 7th in a row while trying for his elusive 10th win this season. On June 3rd Jenkins was 9-2. Now he is 9-9.

[EdTarbusz]

July 3, 1972 Monday Night Baseball

Earlier Today:

CLE 000 001 000-1 4 0
NYY 002 000 40x-6 15 0
W-Kline (10-3)
L-Colbert (3-4)
Make-up of May 23rd rainout. Vince Colbert gives up a lot of hits but pitches out of several jams (the Yankees leave 9 RISP), but Ed Farmer lets the Yankees blow the game wide open. Bobby Murcer gets 4 hits for New York. Steve Kline pitches a CG and effectively shuts the Indians down. The Yankees win 4 games of the 5 game series and have a 4 game winning streak.

TX 000 000 001-1 11 1
KC 000 000 101-2 9 1
W-Abernathy (3-1)
L-Cox (2-2)
Starters Don Stanhouse and Paul Splittorff match zeroes by each pitching out of several jams. Splittorff drives in the Royals first run. Al Fitzmorris allows Toby Harrah to tie the ga,e in the 9th, but Carl Taylor scores the winning run on Harrah's error.

NYM 000 100 000-1 2 0
MON 000 000 000-0 3 0
W-Seaver (9-6)
L-Morton (6-9)
Carl Morton and Joe Gilbert combine for a two hitter and lose! Morton walks 6 but is able to stay out of trouble for most of the game with the only run scored on a FC. Tom Seaver gives up 3 hits (2 to Tim McCarver) and 1 walk while striking out 11 for the win. At the end of the 7th inning each team had 1 hit.


SF (43-39 .524 3.5 GB-4th place) vs PHI (33-45 .423 11.5 GB-5th place)

The Giants have been playing at a .500 clip but that is enough to keep them in contention in the NL West. They got off to a slow start and to re-tool nearly all of their starting rotation. Sam McDowell, Don Carrithers and John Cumberland were replaced by Jim Barr, Ron Bryant (currently on the DL) and Steve Stone and they saw an immeidate improvement. McDowell has been a real disapointment going 2 and 12. If he were pitching at a .500 clip the Giants may be in first place. The Giants also have a good nucleus of young players including Chris Speier, Bobby Bonds, Dave Rader, Dave Kingman and Alan Gallagher. Willie Mays's replacement young Garry Maddox is the front-runner for NL Rookie of the year.
The Phillies got off to a decent but are now playing terribly, with only the Expos keeping them out of the basement. They recently brought up former Major Leaguer Bill Robinson and phenom Joe Lis from Eugene. Robinson is playing well. He and Greg Luzinski are the best Phillies with the bat. Kis has been struggling.The Phillies also acquired disgruntled former Cardinal Steve Carlton straight up for Rick Wise. Carlton has been pitching extrememly well, but often suffers from anemic offensive support. His personal catcher, Tim McCarver, has been recently trasded to the Expos and now Carlton is adjusting to pitching to John Bateman or Mike Ryan.

Jim Barr (9-4 1.99 1 save) vs Steve Carlton (10-7 2.05 19 starts 16 CG 180K-leads ML)


Starting Line-ups

San Francisco Giants

35 Chris Speier SS .229-6-35
23 Tito Fuentes 2B .246-2-36
15 Ken Henderson LF .219-10-29
31 Garry Maddox CF .324-6-32
25 Bobby Bonds RF .245-18-50
26 Dave Kingman 3B .204-14-40
21 Ed Goodson 1B .411-4-14
14 Dave Rader C .269-1-6
33 Jim Barr P

Philadelphia Phillies

10 Larry Bowa SS .279-1-23
24 Bill Robinson RF .341-1-5
27 Willie Montanez CF .261-5-45
25 Joe Lis 1B .184-1-5
19 Greg Luzinski LF .286-5-44
16 Don Money 3B .184-6-29
6 John Bateman C .208-2-6
15 Denny Doyle 2B .246-0-10
32 Steve Carlton P .242-0-2

Its 65 degrees (its been unusually cold for a lot of games this season) with a strong wind blowing in.

1st inning

SF
Speier flies to LF
Fuentes 4-3
Henderson flies to CF
0r 0h 0e 0l

PHI
Bowa singles to right
Robinson doubles down the left field line-Bowa scores SF 0 PH 1
Montanez walks
Lis singles to left-bases are loaded
Luzinski hits a SF to LF-Robinson scores-Montanez and Lis hold SF 0 PH 2
Money homers to left!-Montanez and Lis score ahead of him SF 0 PH 5
Bateman K2 after Rader appeal
Doyle singles to center
Carlton singles to center-Doyle to second
Bowa singles to center-bases are loaded
For SF-number 30 Don Carrithers (2-6 6.71) now pitching
Robinson flies to LF
5r 7h 0e 3l

SF 0 -0 0 0
PH 5 -5 7 0

2nd inning

SF
Maddox 1-3
Bonds 5-3
Kingman 5-3
0r 0h 0e 0l

PHI
Montanez grounds to 1B
Lis Kc
Luzinski homers to left center SF 0 PH 6
Money singles to left
Bateman FC 6-4
1r 2h 0e 1l

SF 00 -0 0 0
PH 51 -6 9 0

3rd inning

SF
Goodson 6-3
On his first pitch to Rader Carlton throws one over the catchers head and may have hurt his arm-the trainer comes out-Carlton stays in the game
Rader HBP
Carrithers hits a screecher to CF-Montanez makes a great diving catch!!
Speier flies to RF
0r 0h 0e 1l

PH
Doyle 3-1
Carlton flies to LF
Bowa flies to RF-Bonds makes a nice running grab
0r 0h 0e 0l

SF 000 -0 0 0
PH 510 -6 9 0

4th inning

SF
Fuentes 4-3
Henderson Ks
Maddox flies to LF
0r 0h 0e 0l

PH
Robinson 5-3
Montanez doubles off the right field wall
Lis singles to center-Robinson scores SF 0 PH 7
Luzinski flies to CF
Money flies to LF
1r 2h 0e 1l

SF 000 0 -0 0 0
PH 510 1 -7 11 0

5th inning

SF
Bonds pops to 3B
Kingman flies to LF
Goodson grounds slowly to 2B-Doyle's throw just beats Goodson!
0r 0h 0e 0l

PH
Bateman flies to LF
Doyle flies to CF-Maddox makes the play just before the warning track
Carlton Kc
0r 0h 0e 0l

SF 000 00 -0 0 0
PH 510 10 -7 11 0

6th inning

SF
Rader 4-3
Number 10 Alan Gallagher (.236-1-6) batting for Carrithers
Gallagher 4-3
Speier flies to LF
0r 0h 0e 0l

PH
For SF-number 48 Sam McDowell (2-12 1save 6.75 82.2ip 120h 48bb 70k 9hr .334opba) now pitching. McDowell has had a disastrous season in the rotation but has pitched better in long relief.
Bowa walks
Robinson GIDP 6-4-3
Montanez flies to RF
0r 0h 0e 0l

SF 000 000 -0 0 0
PH 510 100 -7 11 0

7th inning

SF
Fuentes homers to center SF 1 PH 7
Henderson hits to right-Robinson loses it in the lights!!-credit Henderson with a double
Maddox grounds to SS-Henderson holds
Bonds singles to center-Henderson scores SF 2 PH 7
Kingman Kc
Goodson grounds into FC 6-4
2r 3h 0e 1l

PH
Lis walks
Luzinski doubles down the left field line-Lis to third
Infield in-Randy Moffitt is warming up
Money flies to CF-runners hold
Infield in
Bateman Ks
Doyle grounds to 1B
0r 1h 0e 2l

SF 000 000 2 -2 3 0
PH 510 100 0 -7 12 0

8th inning

SF
Rader flies to CF
Number 20 Bernie Williams (.143-1-1) batting for McDowell
Williams Kc
Speier singles to left
Fuentes Ks
0r 1h 0e 1l

PH
For SF-number 39 Randy Moffitt (0-0 0 saves 3.52 15.1ip) nw pitching. Moffitt is a recent call-up. He is famous for being Billie Jean King's brother.
Carlton Ks
Bowa flies to RF
Robinson pops to SS
0r 0h 0e 0l

SF 000 000 20 -2 4 0
PH 510 100 00 -7 12 0

9th inning

SF
For PH-number 14 Tom Hutton now playing 1B
Number 23 Oscar Gamble now playing LF
Henderson singles to center
Maddox HBP
Bonds flies to LF-Henderson takes third after the catch
Kingman GIDP 6-4-3
0r 1h 0e 1l

Final score

SF 000 000 200-2 5 0
PH 510 100 00x-7 12 0
W-Carlton (11-7)
L-Barr (9-5)

Steve Carlton gets some strong support and pitches a great gam, throwing a no-hitter through six.
In the real 1972 season Carlton also won on 7/3/1972 which raised his record to 10-6. His performance in my sim has been really close to his actual performance.


Other games:

MIN
BOS
Rained out

BAL 010 000 010-2 8 0
DET 000 010 000-1 7 1
W-McNally (8-8)
L-Slayback (2-1)
Boog Powell drives in go ahead run in 8th. Dave McNally and Bill SLayback each have a strong performance. Mickey Stanley homers for Detroit.

OAK 000 001 001-2 2 0
CAL 000 000 000-0 3 1
W-Holtzman (12-5)
L-Ryan (10-6)
A real pitchers duel in the Big A. Ken Holtzman doesn't allow any walks and only allows one Angel to reach scoring position. Nolan Ryna strikes out 10 but walks 6, and 3 of those walks are in the 9th inning (1 was intentional after a wild pitch) which leads to a run on a fielders choice. Bert Campaneris gets Oakland's first hit in the 6th, then steals second and scores on Joe Rudi's double. These are the only two hits that Ryan gives up.

CHI 030 000 200-5 10 0
PIT 202 010 20x-7 13 1
W-MOose (12-5)
L-Phoebus (1-4)
S-Giusti (8)
The Pirates are able to hold off the Cubs thanks to Al Oliver's 7th inning HR. Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell each have 3 hits for the Pirates. Stargell also homers for Pittsbugh.

STL 000 040 220-8 16 0
CIN 000 100 110-3 7 1
W-Wise (10-8)
L-Billingham (9-3)
Ex-Red Bernie Carbo goes 4 for 4 with a walk and 4 RBI against the team that traded him last month. Jack Billingham, who has been the Reds most consistant starter this year, is hit hard by the Cradinals tonight. A scare for Cincinnati as Bobby Tolan is injured. He will miss at least a week and may go on the DL. He missed all of 1971 with an injured achilles tendon. Rick Wise pitches a good game. This win ties the Cardinals with the Cubs for second place in the NL East.

ATL 000 010 000-1 11 1
HOU 011 000 10x-3 10 0
W-Dierker (10-4)
L-Niekro (10-6)
Cesar Cedeno and Lee May each homer for Houston. Dusty Baker and Darrell Evans return form Reserve duty and have 5 hits between them. It seems hard to believe that Atlanta was in first place two weeks ago.

[EdTarbusz]

Standings after games of July 3, 1972

A League

East Div W L Pct GB
New York (A) 46 26 0.639 -
Baltimore 42 29 0.592 3.5
Boston 38 32 0.543 7.0
Detroit 35 39 0.473 12.0
Cleveland 30 46 0.395 18.0
Milwaukee 28 46 0.378 19.0

West Div W L Pct GB
Oakland 47 29 0.618 -
Kansas City 44 32 0.579 3.0
Minnesota 39 36 0.520 7.5
Chicago (A) 35 39 0.473 11.0
California 35 41 0.461 12.0
Texas 27 51 0.346 21.0


N League

East Div W L Pct GB
Pittsburgh 44 32 0.579 -
St Louis 40 37 0.519 4.5
Chicago (N) 40 37 0.519 4.5
New York (N) 35 39 0.473 8.0
Philadelphia 34 45 0.430 11.5
Montreal 26 48 0.351 17.0

West Div W L Pct GB
Los Angeles 43 32 0.573 -
Houston 46 35 0.568 -
Cincinnati 40 37 0.519 4.0
San Francisco 43 40 0.518 4.0
Atlanta 39 39 0.500 5.5
San Diego 35 44 0.443 10.0