A Pitching Gem & A Beanball Brawl! : Thursday, July 3rd, 1969

Scores!

CHI 8, MON 4  W-Jenkins 11-4 L-Robertson 7-7  HR-Williams(7) Hickman(17)

STL 1, NY 0 (11)  W-Hoerner 6-5 L-McGraw 3-6  HR-Flood(3) walk-off.

LA 4, CIN 3  W-Mikkelsen 4-2 L-Granger 6-3  HR-Perez(14)

SF 12, ATL 0  W-Perry 12-4 L-Pappas 8-4  HR-Mays(4) Mays 4 runs, 4 rbi.

"I wonder who threw Schoendienst through the wall..."

What a match-up! Future HOFers Nolan Ryan and Bob Gibson head to head, albeit with a very young Ryan. Someone forgot to tell Noley that he wasn't ready for prime time, because the two pitchers matched zeroes for ten innings at Busch Stadium, each allowing just 4 hits, and each fanning 10. The Mets had several chances, but just could never get the big hit. (Donn Clendenon, who tore up the league for the Expos, has yet to club an extra base hit or drive in a run for the Mets.) The Cardinals had a few mild opportunities too, but failed. In the bottom of the 10th, Red Schoendienst removed Gibson for a pinch hitter. How the Redbird skipper ended up embedded in the clubhouse wall is a mystery. When asked, Gibby opined, "Aw shucks, who knows?" Pinch hitter Rocky Johnson made an out and the game went to the 11th with Joe Hoerner on the mound, eating his Christmas pie. Mets manager Gil Hodges decided he wasn't going to let this kid Ryan possibly lose such a magnificent effort, so he took him out and sent up a pinch hitter.  Nothing came of it. Enter Tug Mcgraw in the bottom of the 11th. He fanned Byron Browne, who had entered the game when Lou Brock goofed up his whatchamacallit, and then faced Curt Flood. Flood jacked a homer and just like that it was all over. "Man, I'm exhausted!" sighed Hoerner upon receiving the victory for his one inning of work. Now the Cards await the arrival of the Cubs for a 4-game set.  

Everything is sunny for the Cubs these days!

Speaking of the Cubbies, they dispatched the Expos for the fourth day in a row, getting a homer--his first in nearly a month--from Billy Williams and another from the suddenly fearsome Jim Hickman. This kept the baby bears tied with the Cardinals atop the NL east. Despite the loss, the 'Spos completed a very good (for a new expansion team) first half, going 35-46. After starting 1-9, that's nothing to sneeze at.  

If your lovin' is hot and your cookin' ain't greasy....

Poor Braves. After logging the league's best mark in June, the month of July has been a nightmare for them so far. After getting shellacked 11-3 by the Reds yesterday, the tomahawkers traveled to Baghdad By The Bay and got rocked 12-0 by the Giants.  Miracle "D" Milt Pappas ran out of magic while Gaylord Perry notched his fourth shutout for the Giants. He also tied Bill Hands for the league lead with 12 wins. 

The Goddess abhors violence. Get him!

Finally, despite all that your Impartial Goddess has done to keep violence out of the game, it exploded on the field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. Wearing a Red Wings jersey with "Kocur" on the back, your Most Serene Goddess screamed "Hit him! Deck him!" while bouncing on her heels in, um, disapproval.  Here's what happened: in the top of the second, Tony Perez launched a long home run off of Don Drysdale to give the Reds a 2-0 lead. The Rhinelanders had beaten the Tinseltowners 7 out of 8 on the season,  and frustration was boiling on the Dodger side. Andy "The Human Bulk Store" Kosco stood in against Jim "Bones" Merritt, and was decked by a high and tight pitch that knocked his helmet off and left him sprawled in the dirt. As soon as he stopped seeing double, Andy saw red and charged the mound! (The first fight the Orsino Board has ever produced in three seasons.) Kosco rained punches in bulk on the dome of the Reds hurler, and it took Johnny Bench to throw Kosco off. Of course, by then the benches had emptied and the obligatory savage milling around was accomplished. Ump "Hell" Enkeller thumbed both combatants, and Kosco injured his hand on Merritt's face and will miss a week's action. He's the team's home run leader and will be missed.  

An rbi single can do wonders for your confidence!

When play resumed, Little Al Jackson had been retrieved from the Reds' luggage and sent in to pitch. He allowed Willie "Call me Joan" Crawford, who had run for the dismissed Mr. Kosco, to score, but then he hurled 4 frames of shutout ball, preserving the 2-1 lead. In the 4th inning, Don Drysdale plunked Reds flyhawk Bobby Tolan. Would Big D do that on purpose? Of course he would! And was he ejected, fined, lectured? No! This is 1969! He pitched on. In the 6th, the Dodgers finally tied it against reliever Clay Carroll when Willie Davis tripled and scored on Crawford's single. "Let's see Bette Davis do THAT!" said Crawford, preening at first base. The inning ended when Wes Parker belted a fly to left center. Ted Savage made the catch and hung on, but Pete Rose was bent in the collision and will miss a couple of games. 

"Wingy" has wings on his feet!

The Reds tied it in the top of the 7th when Wingy Whitfield singled, and Ted Savage doubled. With runners on second and third and one out, newly-summoned strikeout artist Jim Brewer fanned the lefty-swinging Tolan, just the way it was drawn up, but backstop Tom Haller let the ball squirt away! As he chased it down, Wingy came chugging across home plate to make it 3-2. Tolan was gunned down at first,  but the damage was done. No Matter. In the bottom of the inning, pinch hitter Len Gabrielson singled in pinch runner and Paul Schaal Award winner Billy Grabarkewitz to tie it again at 3.  Clay Carroll could only hang his head.  In the bottom of the 8th with two out against Wayne Granger, pesky Wes "Call me Fess" Parker singled in Manny Mota and that's the way it ended, 4-3, with lots of band-aids.

Bob Probert, chairman of the Goddess's new commission on preventing violence.