Pods & Pirates Go 18 Innings: Sunday & Monday, July 27th & 28th, 1969

Scores, July 27th

LA 4, CHI 2  W-Moeller 10-6 L-Selma 5-12  S-Mikkelsen(13)  HR-Santo(15)

CIN 6, NY 2  W-Fisher 9-9 L-McAndrew 6-11  S-Granger(13)  

SD 6, PIT 5 (18inns)  W-Kelley 4-2 L-Moose 2-5

STL 7, SF 3  W-Grant 7-6 L-Bolin 9-10  HR-Bonds(18) Brock(4)

MON 4, ATL 3  W-Wegener 8-7 L-Doyle 5-3  S-Face(12)  HR-Staub(23) H.Aaron 2(33)

HOU 3, PHI 2  W-Griffin 7-10 L-J.Johnson 4-16  S-Gladding(8)  HR-Allen(18) Rojas(3)


Score, July 28th

STL 10, SD 1  W-Washburn 7-11 L-Roberts 3-10  Torre 5 rbi.

The clearly crazed Dick Kelley.

After defeating the preposterous Padres in the first 3 of a 4 game set at Forbes Field, the Buccos threw their arms around the Friars and caroled, "We want you to stay forEVERrrrrr!" Well, they nearly did. As they had done the day before, the Holy Men got off to a quick lead, but of course, because they are the Padres, they let it slip away and trailed 5-4 going into the 8th. That's when Pittsburgh's ugly fielding kicked in, and the Pods tied the game on an unearned run off of Chuck Hartenstein. Who could have known then that the Padres would pull ten innings of scoreless relief out of their ears?! (Or someplace.) On and on the game went, with Frank "Double" Reberger tossing 2, Jack Baldschun doing the same, and lefty Dick Kelley contributing the last six. At last, in the top of the 18th inning, the mythical magical Jose Arcia ripped a three-bagger and came home on a sac fly by Chris Cannizzaro, the human spelling bee. In the bottom of the 18th, the Pirates put runners at the corners with two out, but Kelley whiffed Freddie Patek to finally end the festivities.  The Padres exhausted their bench, and the Pirates emptied their bullpen. It was the longest game of the season so far.

Someone got his autograph! No one knows why.

At St. Louis, the same two players who homered on Saturday--Bonds and Brock--homered again on Sunday. Both flyhawks are in the running for player of the month, along with Hank Aaron (June's winner) and Rusty Staub. But the interesting thing, besides the return to form of the Cardinals, was the S.F. catching situation. Until Dick Dietz got injured recently, they had made it all year with none of their 3 backstops ever getting so much as a split end. Then Dietz went down, followed by Bob "Hi, Bob!" Barton on Saturday. On Sunday, Jack Hiatt managed to get injured running the bases where there is no protection for the last catcher, (as there is on my Orsino board) and utility infielder Don Mason had to strap on the gear. All of this mayhem necessitated the call-up (and creation, by your multi-talented Goddess!) of 4th-string catcher John Harrell. In actuality, Harrell played in 2 games, going 3-for-6, all singles, and walking twice. And so his card is crazy-good for getting to first base with, even though I toned it down just a little. Harrell is so obscure that my 1969 Sporting News Baseball Register doesn't even have a photo of him, though it does list him. All they could think of to say about him was what junior college he attended. His moment has arrived! He will catch one game and then sit back down when Dietz returns on Wednesday. 

"Must...lose. MUST...lose...."

Jerry Johnson of the Phillies, whose main claim to fame is making me type "J.Johnson" and "D.Johnson" all the time, because you never know, Jerry might hit 20 homers and Deron might star as a starting pitcher! Or not. But anyway, he seemingly cast aside his losing ways for a while on Sunday, stopping the Astros on one hit through six innings. However, in the space of three batters in the 7th, the Spacemen plated 3 and won the game, hanging yet another loss on hapless old Jer'. Don't look now, but the Astros are just 4 games under .500 after going on a 19-4 run, and have crept to within 10 and a half games of the top. Miracle Astros, anyone?

Babe Ruth? Ty Cobb? Clint Hartung? NO, it's Ray "Hit Machine" Washburn!

And finally, the Cardinals, rounding back into April form when they went 19-4, stomped on the Padres on Monday, just to remind them that they stink. Nate Colbert's 2-out rbi single in the 9th ruined Washburn's bid for a shutout, but everyone was still rolling with laughter over Johnny Podres giving up 5 runs in the 8th after retiring the first two batters and facing Ray "the free strikeout" Washburn, who managed to single, igniting a seemingly endless rally.  The Redbirds have opened up a 3 and a half game lead again in the east. 

620 games down, 352 to go, 16 games left in July.