Monthlies! Wednesday, April 30th, 1969 plus end of month stats and leader board

Scores!

MON 4, NY 3 W-Grant 2-3 L-McAndrew 1-4 S-Face(1) HR-Kranepool(2) Herrera(1) Clendenon(8)

PHI 4, CHI 3 W-J.Johnson 2-3 L-Abernathy 0-3 S-Wilson(4) HR-Young(1)ph Hisle(2)

STL 10, PIT 3 W-Giusti 2-1 L-Bunning 1-3 S-Waslewski(1) HR-Torre(2) Stargell(5) Torre 4 rbi.

ATL 4, SD 3 W-Jarvis 3-1 L-Reberger 2-2 HR-Millan(2) Lum 2-out walk-off single.

CIN 14, HOU 0 W-Culver 2-0 L-Griffin 0-4 HR-Rose(7)GS  Reds 20 hits.

SF 6, LA 3 W-Sadecki 1-1 L-Singer 3-3 HR-Davis 2(4) Crawford(5) Bonds(3) McCovey(6)

"Step aside, midgets!"

Pete Rose caps off his fantastic month with a grand slam. You betcha!

PITCHING....ERA....CG......K.....SV.....RA
CHI.................2.43......11......174.....5.......70
STL.................2.67......14......152.....4.......68
CIN.................2.75........9......124.....2.......86
NY...................2.90........6......135.....2.......73
ATL................3.09........8......144.....4........86
LA...................3.09.......8.......127.....5.......72
SF....................3.50........9......124......1......90
PIT..................3.78........6......171......4......105
HOU...............3.80........7.......144.....3......111
PHI.................4.31........7.......138.....4......109
MON...............4.95.......6.......134......3......122
SD...................5.31.......5.......122.....2......137

BATTING....AVG.....R.....2B....3B.....HR.....SB-CS
CIN...............291......121...47......6........23.......10-2
STL...............279......116...37.....10.......11.......13-6
ATL..............273.......111...27......2........20........6-8
MON.............269.......83....20......3........20.......14-9
LA.................265.......96....18......6........19.........5-8
SF..................264......104...27.......5.......16.........7-8
PIT................258......106...34.......5.......13........14-3
CHI...............257........96...38.......3.......19.........7-4
HOU.............248........95....38.......6.......13........15-11
NY.................228........65....27......4........8..........9-5
PHI...............216........81....23......2........13........6-6
SD..................178.......51....22......2.........9.........6-3

FIELDING...AVG.....ERR....DP
STL...............19.27.......11......20
LA.................13.00.......15......10
ATL...............11-67.......18......32
CHI...............11.10........20......22
SF...................10-96.......19......19
NY...................9.45........22......18
PHI.................9.26........23.......19
PIT..................9.22........23.......14
SD...................8.68........24.......11
HOU...............8.12........26.......14
MON..............7.43........27.......17
CIN.................6.87........30.......29

WINS--Blass-pit 4-0, Jenkins-chi 4-0, Maloney-cin 4-0, Osteen-la 4-0, Carlton-stl 4-1, Fisher-cin 4-1, Hands-chi 4-1 

!!!

ERA (min 21 IP)--C.Taylor-stl 1.03, Maloney-cin 1.08, Gibson-stl 1.16, Culver-cin 1.23, Dierker-hou 1.25, Jenkins-chi 1.50, Blass-pit 1.59, P.Niekro-atl 1.59, Osteen-la 1.59, Carlton-stl 1.60

K-s--Veale-pit 42, Jenkins-chi 39, Nye-chi 37, Carlton-stl 35

SHO--Hands-chi 2

CG--Carlton-stl 5, Fisher-cin 4, Hands-chi 4, Marichal-sf 4

IP--Carlton-stl 45, Hands-chi 44, Sutton-la 43, Jackson-phi 42.1, Jenkins-chi 42

SAVES--Regan-chi 5, Mikkelsen-la 4, Wilson-phi 4, Hartenstein-pit 3, Hoerner-stl 3

ERRORS--Arcia-sd 8, Boswell-ny 8, Kessinger-chi 8

AVG (min 57 ab)--Rose-cin .451, Bench-cin .417, Mota-mon .410, Santo-chi .374, Javier-stl .365, Brock-stl .361, McCovey-sf .350, Cepeda-atl .347, Kessinger-chi .347, Menke-hou .344

HR--Clendenon-mon 8, Perez-cin 7, Rose-cin 7, McCovey-sf 6, Wynn-hou 6, Crawford-la 5, Santo-chi 5, Stargell-pit 5

RBI--May-cin 21, Rose-cin 21, Santo-chi 21, Torre-stl 19, Hisle-phi 18

RUNS--Rose-cin 27, Javier-stl 19, Wynn-hou 19, H.Aaron-atl 18, Kessinger-chi 18

2B--Kessinger-chi 10, May-cin 9, Oliver-pit 7, Rader-hou 7, Torre-stl 7

3B--Rose-cin 3, many tied with 2.

STEALS--Morgan-hou 10, Wills-mon 9, Brock-stl 7, Arcia-sd 5, Javier-stl 5

League batting average--.253 (actual .250)

League E.R.A.--3.54 (actual 3.59) 

I hope you enjoyed! Now, on to May!
 

Chico Ruiz Offers Language Lessons: Monday, April 28th, 1969

Scores!

CHI 7, PHI 5 W-Hands 4-1 L-Wilson 1-2 S-Regan(5) HR-Santo(5) Joseph(1)

STL 2, PIT 1 (12inns) W-Hoerner 2-0 L-Dal Canton 1-1 

ATL 5, HOU 0 W-Reed 1-2 L-LeMaster 2-3 HR-T.Aaron(2)

LA 3, SD 2 W-Moeller 3-1 L-Roberts 1-3 S-Mikkelsen(4) HR-Colbert(2)

SF 3, CIN 2 W-McCormick 3-1 L-Merritt 1-3 S-Linzy(1) Reds turn 6 DPs!

He tomahawked it.

Since moving Ron Santo to clean-up instead of the still-homerless Ernie Banks, the Cubs have been scoring much better. They won a see-saw game against the plummeting Phils when Billy Wilson came on to cough up three late runs. Ric "Chief" Joseph, utility man and leader of the Nez Perce, launched a 3-run jack for the Quakers, but all in vain.

I am too lazy to go back through and find out, but I'd love to know how many games the Cardinals have won while scoring three or fewer runs. It's a bunch, I'm certain. The Redbirds continue to knock everybody else off the feeder, rising to 4-0 against the Buccos.

Ron Reed kicks and deals.

Ron Reed credits his first win of the season to sinking his free throws and executing the pick and roll. Teammate Tommie Aaron has already doubled his actual 1969 homer output.  He urges big brother Henry to "watch and learn!"

Your Goddess, looking an awful lot like actress Lou Doillon, declares her impartiality.

When the Padres had the nerve to show some life against the Dodgers, Walter Alston looked up from perusing the rest home's lunch menu and summoned Jim Brewer. However, Mr. Brewer allowed the bases to become loaded with Men of God and so Walter had to reluctantly go to Pete Mikkelsen again. The exhausted Mr. Mikkelsen promptly fanned an overmatched Jerry DaVanon to seal it for the Tinseltown nine as your impartial Goddess tore up her program and sighed.

Exchanging pleasantries and rotting on the bench are Chico's specialties!

In San Francisco, the Reds turned an incredible 6 double plays in 8 innings, but still lost to the Gints, 3-2. Mike McCormick staked himself to a 2-0 lead early with a 2-run triple. The Giants added a seemingly meaningless run in the 8th off of Clay Carroll, but needed it when the Reds rallied in the 9th. A 2-run single by Tony Perez made it 3-2 and chased Mr. McCormick, who went to rearrange his spice rack as Frank "Old Kerosene" Linzy came on to face pinch hitter Chico Ruiz, batting for Woody Woodward. Plate umpire "Hell" Enkeller called Ruiz out on a pitch that appeared to be well out of the zone to end the game. Chico went cuckoo and was ceremonially tossed, even though the contest had ended. Speaking to reporters after the game, he assured them that "pendejo" is Spanish for "my friend" and that he had no idea why he was ejected. Chico F***king Ruiz, you rascal!

NBC Strange Game of The Week: Thursday, April 17th, 1969

Scores!

MON 5, PHI 4 W-McGinn 1-0 L-Farrell 0-1 HR-Clendenon(2)

PIT 6, NY 1 W-Blass 2-0 L-Cardwell 0-2 HR-Stargell(2)

CHI 3, STL 2 W-Regan 1-0 L-Washburn 1-1 HR-Hickman(3)

ATL 9, HOU 2 W-P.Niekro 1-2 L-Billingham 1-1 HR-H.Aaron(2) H.Aaron 4 rbi.

SD 5, SF 4 (10inns) W-Reberger 1-1 L-Bryant 1-1 HR-Colbert(1)

Jim Hickman enduring early-season weather

Before we get to the Strange Game of The Week, the big news is that the Cardinals finally lost! Ray Washburn was 1 out from making the Redbirds 10-0 and himself 2-0, when Busch Stadium suddenly began to feel like Bedford Falls. The Cards were up 2-1 going into the 9th. Remember, the Cubs had rallied in the top of the 9th the day before, only to blow it in the bottom of the inning. Anyway, Billy Williams singled and was still on base with two outs when Jim Hickman stepped to the plate. "Help me, Clarence," he muttered as he stepped into the batter's box. "I'm not a praying man, but if you can hear me, send me a hanging curve!" Hickman turned on the very next pitch, sending it far out into the left field stands for a 3-2 Cubs lead. "Hot dog!" said the exultant Hickman as he circled the sacks. Phil Regan, who had pitched the 8th, stayed in to finish off the game, and hand St. Louis their first loss. Leo Durocher (looking and sounding a lot like reader Steve) says that every time the Cardinals lose, an angel gets their wings. Thanks, Clarence!

Soon found out, he had a heart of glass

Now for the Strange Game of the Week! I can go long stretches of games and not have the Orsino Board--my self styled weird play board--have much effect at all, but then just sometimes, it decides to make a certain game its own. It also adds color by giving details that aren't on the regular boards. Observe: the Padres rolled into San Francisco to help the Giants with their long-overdue home opener. The SF nine had played their first 8 games on the road, traveling from Atlanta, to San Diego to Cincinnati and then back to the west coast. Good grief, what an itinerary. However, everything on this day was sunshine and daffodils, with starter Juan Marichal chuckling softly to himself as the Padre line-up was announced. Opposing him was Pirates reject Tommie Sisk. The Giants struck for one in the bottom of the 1st, perhaps an insurmountable lead with Juan on the mound. Then, leading off the top of the third, Ed Spiezio lined a hit off of Marichal, knocking him out of the game with a minor injury. Juan won't miss any starts, but had to be relieved by Ron "Herbal Essence" Herbel. He promptly allowed Spiezio to score to tie the game. "I had soap in my eyes," whined the hastily-summoned reliever.

"Mommy, I'm wishing Linzy into the corn field."

Nonetheless, the Giants built a 4-1 lead after 7, driving Mr. Sisk from the mound. Joe Gibbon had pitched a flawless 7th inning, but gave way to Frank "The Wolf Who Lives In Linzy" Linzy. (Only Joni Mitchell fans will get that. Your Goddess is a fangirl.) Linzy has sucked so far, and took that theme right up again by giving up singles to Gonzales and Arcia to start the 8th. However, former Giant Ollie Brown grounded into a double play, seemingly saving Mr. Linzy. Nate Colbert stepped in as the Wolf Man took a book of matches from his hip pocket and moved his gasoline can closer to the pitching rubber. Colbert launched a drive straight down the left field line. Fair? Foul? It bounced off the pole for a 2-run dinger to make it 4-3, and despite Ivan Murrell following with a single and a steal, the Monks could not tie the game.

In the bottom of the 8th, after 2 were retired, Jim Ray Hart hit a drive to right field that bounced off of Ollie Brown's glove and into the corner. As Brown lay broken on the warning track, Hart pulled in at second base. Jack Baldschun relieved Billy McCool and promptly gave up a walk to pinch hitter Dave Marshall and then beaned Ron Hunt to load the bases. Jim "Any Davenport In A Storm" Davenport got up off the couch to hit, having replaced Hal Lanier who aggravated a previous injury earlier in the game. Baldschun reared back and struck him out, keeping the game 4-3. 

"Where am I?"

In the top of the 9th, Chris Cannizaro and Tony Gonzales ripped base hits and were on first and third with two out against the charred and smoking Mr. Linzy when Jose Arcia hit a bouncer to Ron Hunt. Still seeing double from being beaned, Mr. Hunt watched in horror as the ball clanked off of his glove and into right field. As Cannizaro motored home, Bobby Bonds ran in, grabbed the ball, and fired to third, just a hair too late to get the fleet Mr. Gonzales. Larry Stahl flied out, though, to end the inning at 4-4.

"Watch me snag this line drive!"

The game moved into extra frames. Nate Colbert dinked a single leading off the 10th, moved to second on Murrell's ground out, and after Pena flied to left, Ed Spiezio singled in the go-ahead run off Ron Bryant. Spiezio was so busy preening and strutting that he was easily picked off, but the Friars found themselves with a 5-4 lead! Frank "Double" Reberger retired Bob Burda--playing because Stretch McCovey had been ejected arguing strikes in the 5th inning--on a fly to left. Jim Hart then singled and was run for by Mason. "Call me James" he said, in an elegant accent. Bob Barton stood in and bashed a screaming liner to right. Larry Stahl turned on the afterburners, laid out, and nabbed an ice cream cone in the webbing of his glove. What a catch! Ron Hunt, leaving rehab long enough to bat, flailed blindly at three Reberger deliveries and the game was over, a 5-4 win for the Padres. The Friars are now 5-1 in 1-run games, while the Giants sank to 0-5. Three of the games have been against each other. 

His glove hand is fine, but his mind is gone.

Ron Hunt is rumored to believe himself to be an end table, and the poor addled second sacker spends his days with a lamp on his back in the corner of Willie Mays's living room. So sad.

Total Insanity At Forbes! : Friday, April 11th, 1969

Scores!

CHI 5, MON 2 W-J.Niekro 1-0 L-Stoneman 0-1 S-Regan(1) HR-Williams(2)

STL 3, NY 1 W-C.Taylor 1-0 L-McAndrew 0-1

PHI 15, PIT 11 (12inns) W-Champion 1-0 L-Ramos 0-1 HR-Callison(1) D.Johnson(1)ISP Ryan(1) Stargell(1) Allen 4 runs, Callison and Johnson 4 rbi each.

CIN 6, ATL 3 W-Fisher 1-0 L-Stone 0-1 HR-Rose(1)

LA 9, HOU 2 W-Osteen 1-0 L-Griffin 0-1 HR-Fairly(1) Blefary(2) J.Alou(1)

SD 4, SF 3 W-Sisk 1-0 L-Bolin 0-1 S-Reberger(2) HR-McCovey(2) Brown(1)

"It's not a baseball, it's a live rattlesnake!"

The Buccos dragged their winless selves back to Pittsburgh for their home opener, hoping for better things, and oh what a wild and crazy affair it was! The Pirates sent 10 men to the plate in the bottom of the second and scored 5 times off of dazed Phillies starter Woody Fryman for a 5-0 lead. But Bucco starter Bob Moose threw the ball away twice in the top of the 3rd, allowing the Quakers to score 3 runs on just one hit, a Deron Johnson single. 

NOT Deron Johnson

In the top of the 5th, John Callison hit a two-run shot off of Moose to tie the game. In the last of the 6th, the Pirates went back on top 7-5, victimizing Turk Farrell. In the top of the 7th, Lou Marone, "helped" by a Dave Cash error, gave up 3 runs on an extremely unlikely inside the park home run off the bat of the plodding Deron Johnson. (You might possibly recall that, before the season began, I tweaked my Orsino Board to make this harder to do. My ISP HRs are determined by running speed, not power. To hit his ISP HR, Johnson had to first roll a weird number, which he did--40--and then roll a 36, no other number, and then roll a 20 with the 20-sided die, all of which he did. I'd love to know the odds against that!)  The Phils added 3 more off the ineffective Mister Marone in the 8th to take an 11-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth. 

Nothing to smile ABOUT.

In the bottom of the ninth, with Billy Wilson on the hill, slump-encrusted Matty Alou hit a lazy fly to left that the lead-footed Mister Johnson couldn't quite get to and it bounced off the tip of his glove for a two base error. He would have been replaced already by Ron Stone, but Stone had been used as a pinch hitter, leaving the water buffalo-like Johnson in left field. Dave Cash followed with a double, and Manny Sanguillen singled, making it 11-8 with Willie Stargell up. Wilson flung a hanging curve up there and Stargell smashed it for a 3-run game-tying blast. "I blame Dennis the Menace" whined Mister Wilson. A Jose Pagan single and a walk to Freddie Patek put two on with two out, but pinch hitter Bill Mazeroski popped out to send the game into extra frames.

"It's not a grounder, it's a grenade!"

In the top of the 11th, Dave Cash made his second error, putting Richie Allen aboard, and Larry Hisle singled, but Bruce Dal Canton pitched out of it. Then in the top of the 12th, Cash made his 3rd error of the game and 6th of the young season (!) to put Tony Taylor aboard. Allen singled and Hisle doubled them both in off of Pedro Ramos. Later Mike "Call me Jack" Ryan, who had come into the game a couple of innings earlier, hit one out to make it 15-11 Phillies. Billy Champion completed 2 shutout innings of work by retiring the Bucs in the bottom of the 12th for the win. He was the last man out of the Phillies bullpen. The Pirates set a National League record (as of 1969) by collecting 24 hits and LOSING. Well done, fellas. Sheesh!

 

Opening Day!: Monday, April 7th, 1969

Scores!

CIN 14, LA 1 W-Maloney 1-0 L-Singer 0-1 HR-Bench(1) Maloney(1) Bench 6 rbi.

SF 3, ATL 0 W-Marichal 1-0 L-P.Niekro 0-1 Marichal 1-hitter.

Youngster Bench had his Wheaties!

Annnnnd, they're off! 21-year old backstop Johnny Bench cranked the season's first dinger in the ceremonial opener at Crosley Field. He added a triple and a single and drove in 6 as the Reds destroyed the visiting Dodgers. Bill Singer won the Sleepy Hollow Award for being the first hapless hurler to have his head handed to him. The Rhinelanders pounded out 17 hits and were altogether rude hosts to the Tinsel Town nine. Welcome back to my table top, Reds!

Flirty Juan

Juan Marichal of the Giants did some serious flirting on opening night, but with a possible no-hitter instead of a senorita. Bob Didier's two-out double in the bottom of the eighth spoiled his bid, and proved to be the Braves' only knock.

My new dice arrived all the way from England just in time for the start of the season, and my Opening Day coincides with actual Opening Day 2016. How cool is that? I am using the new boards, recommended by the APBA Blog, and I do like them so far. The annoying 9-strikeout against "A" pitchers is gone, among other small but agreeable changes. I'm not used to having to consult the boards very often, though! I also tweaked my own home-made Orsino Board. I made inside the park homers harder to get, and gave the better catchers more chance to cut down base stealers. I've always felt that catchers' defense got short shrift in APBA. 

I have dispensed with keeping some of the minor stats I kept last time, such as LOB, SH and SF. I have also made the decision to drop pitchers' appearances (though I'll still keep starts) and pitchers' walks and runs given up (as opposed to earned runs). I'll keep a running total of team runs allowed, though. Dropping these stats will make my score keeping much easier and I don't think I'll miss them at all. There's nothing worse than Bob Duliba or somebody pitching an inning and a third in a 10-2 loss and having to mess with his 3 walks, 7 runs given up and 329 boos from the crowd.

Bob "Ach" Duliba, bracing for another line drive.

I only have 25 men to a team, or so. "Or so" because I put everyone back to where they started the season, and will implement trades and so forth at the appointed hour. This gives some teams more, some teams less, to start. Anyway, I can see I will probably need to invent pitchers at some point, for some teams. We'll see. 

I hope you all enjoy the new season and will follow along with me!