Reds Road Trip From Hell Finally Ends: Sunday, July 13th, 1969

Scores!

PHI 11, CHI 0  W-Wise 6-7 L-Jenkins 12-5  HR-Allen(13) Callison(13)  Callison 5 rbi, Wise 1-hitter.

CHI 5, PHI 4 (12inns)  W-Aguirre 3-2 L-Farrell 1-6  HR-Joseph(5) Callison(14) Money(4) Young(5)  Beckert 5-for-7, walk-off double.

NY 3, MON 2  W-Taylor 4-3 L-Waslewski 3-1  S-McGraw(17)  HR-Bailey(7)

MON 8, NY 5  W-Wegener 7-6 L-Koosman 9-7  HR-Herrera(4) Phillips(2) Staub(20)GS 

PIT 7, STL 2  W-Moose 2-4 L-Washburn 5-11

PIT 6, STL 5  W-Hartenstein 3-2 L-Carlton 11-6  S-Gibbon(8)  HR-Stargell(14) Pagan(4)

HOU 5, CIN 1  W-Dierker 8-9 L-Culver 8-3  HR-J.Alou(2)  Dierker 2-hitter.

SF 19, LA 1  W-Marichal 8-9 L-Drysdale 2-7  HR-Bonds(15) Mays(5)GS  Burda 5 hits of 25 by Giants, Mays 5 rbi, Henderson 4 rbi, Bonds 4 rbi and 5 runs, Fuentes 4 runs.

SD 8, ATL 7  W-Kelley 3-2 L-Upshaw 4-4  S-Reberger(11)  HR-Cepeda(12)  Cepeda and Murrell 4 rbi each. 

It got weird for the Reds.

Poor Reds. They had to endure a 2-week, 14-game 4 city road trip. Perhaps Crosley Field was booked with an unusually long series of outdoor concerts by the hugely popular Bobby Sherman.  At any rate, the Rhinelanders started out strong, sweeping 3 from the Braves in Atlanta to start things off. "Let's go sight seeing!" they crowed. "Let's see what's next!" Then they dropped 3 of 4 at LA, 2 of 3 at San Diego, and capped it all by being swept 4 in a row by suddenly unstoppable Houston. "Let's kill ourselves, " they squeaked. "Let's jump off a bridge." I'm sure that returning home to Ohio on Monday will set them right again. 

He got the big hit.

4 runs in the 8th off of reliever Jim Grant made the Pirates' opening game win over the Cardinals look easier than it was. Starter Jim "Easter" Bunning lasted exactly one pitch before noticing that he had left most of his right hand in his luggage. In came banished former starter Bob "Moose & Squirrel" Moose, who kept the Buccos close until they upended Mr. Grant and stuffed him back in his tomb. Still, the Redbirds felt good when they staked Steve "Carlton Your Doorman" Carlton to a 4-0 lead after 2, and 5-2 after 7. But the Pirates rallied, capped by a two-run shot off the bat of Willie Stargell that put them ahead and gave them the sweep.

Likewise, the Mets felt good about their chances to sweep the Expos, with Jerry Koosman going in the second game after they had taken the opener. But ol' Jer' just didn't have it, giving up bombs right and left. Adolfo Phillips, riding atop a tank and rumbling around the bases, sneered at the New York lefty before retiring to his bunker to shoot himself. 

17 runs, 18 rbi already in July.

The Giants mercilessly destroyed the Tinseltown nine, piling up 19 runs on 25 hits to back Juan Marichal with more offense than he usually sees in a couple of months. And they did it without Willie McCovey! The lopsided win moved the Giants into first place in the game of musical chairs that is the NL west. Bobby Bonds continued his absolutely crazed pace in July with 5 runs, 4 rbi and 2 steals.  Willie Mays's grand slam was his 5th HR of the year, giving him a career total of 592. Maybe. In actual, he entered '69 needing 13 homers for 600, and got exactly that many. But here is where it gets tricky when you play APBA. In '65, he hit 52 HR in actual, 51 for me, one short. In '61 he hit 40 actual, 47 for me, 7 better. So, replacing actual with my own replay totals, Sunday's homer was his 598th. 

3/4 of the Atlanta infield.

Finally, the Braves seemed to have a 4-game sweep of the Padres well in hand, leading 5-1 against a line-up of Holy Men lacking both Nate Colbert and Al Ferrara. But in the bottom of the 8th, with ace closer Cecil Upshaw toeing the slab, the Atlanta infield defense went kerblooey, with errors by Sonny "Where's Cher?" Jackson and Cletis Boyer paving the way for big extra base hits by Larry Stahl and, of all people, perpetually slump-encrusted Ivan Murrell. By the time the dust cleared, 5 unearned runs had come across the plate in front of 37 wildly cheering San Diego fans as the Monks grabbed an 8-5 advantage. Pods skipper Gomez had Thing phone the bullpen to summon Frank "Double" Reberger for the 9th. He gave up a two-run bomb to Orlando "And Dawn" Cepeda, who had three extra base hits and tied a yellow ribbon around Reberger's neck on his way around the bases, but the Braves were unable to knock three times (sheesh, who writes this stuff?) and fell one run short, 8-7. Oh shit, Candida, what just happened?