Sunday, August 31st, 1969 and End of Month Leader Board

Scores

ATL 2, CHI 1  W-Jarvis 14-9 L-Jenkins 15-8  S-Upshaw(25)

CIN 7, STL 3  W-Carroll 6-4 L-Gibson 16-6  HR-Tolan(11) Perez(23) 

PIT 6, HOU 2  W-Gibbon 5-6 L-Gladding 3-5  S-Dal Canton(9)  HR-Clemente(13) Morgan(13)

LA 4, PHI 0  W-Sutton 16-8 L-Jackson 12-12  HR-Sudakis(8)  Sutton 1-hitter.

MON 6, SD 4 (10inns)  W-Face 3-7 L-Reberger 5-11  HR-Staub(27) Kelly(3) Pena(3)  Staub 4 rbi.

SF 3, NY 2  W-Perry 18-6 L-Koosman 15-10  HR-Agee(16)  Perry 2-hitter.

SF 9, NY 3  W-McCormick 12-5 L-Gentry 14-9  HR-Clendenon(21) Swoboda(4) Burda(3)

August is over! 803 games played, 169 to go in my replay. The Dodgers and Giants find themselves in a virtual tie for first in the west going into September, while the Cardinals lead Chicago by 5 and a half, and the Mets by 6 and a half. The Giants posted the best record in August at 21-7, followed by the Dodgers at 20-8. The worst two teams were the Phillies and Astros at 8-20 (coming on the heels of Houston's 21-5 July. What a season.) Each team has just one cross-divisional series left, then it's all within their own division after that! Now, how about those stats...

PITCHING
NY  2.83 (least runs against, 421)
CHI  2.89 
STL  2.91 (most CG, 65. most shutouts, 18)
ATL  3.06
LA  3.23 (most saves, 32.)
SF  3.30 (least K's, 740.)
HOU  3.71 (tied for least saves, 12.)
PIT  3.71 (most K's, 939)
CIN  3.87
MON  4.48 (least CG, 24.)
PHI  4.53 (tied for least saves, 12.)
SD  4.85 (most runs allowed, 734. least shutouts, 2.)

BATTING
CIN  .270 (most runs, 660. least caught stealing, 21.)
PIT  .269 
LA  .260 (tied for most triples, 45. least times shut out, 6.) 
ATL  .255 (most home runs, 126. tied for least triples, 20. tied for most caught stealing, 41.)
SF  .253 (tied for most caught stealing, 41.)
STL  .252 (least home runs, 53.)
MON  .251
CHI  .244 (tied least triples, 20. least steals, 31.)
HOU  .241 (tied most triples, 45. most steals, 99. most doubles, 203.)
NY  .228 (least doubles, 136.) 
PHI  .225 (most times shut out, 20)
SD  .212 (least runs, 406.) 

FIELDING (avg is IP divided by errors.)
STL  14.34 (least errors, 86.)
ATL  12.88 (most DP's turned, 163.)
CHI  12.71
CIN  11.57
LA  10.20
NY  10.03
SF  9.88
PIT  9.24
MON  8.87
SD  8.76
PHI  8.70
HOU  7.91 (most errors, 150. least DP's turned, 86.)

Random team stuff:
best 1-run record SF 27-15, worst PHI 12-29
best x-inn record ATL and STL 12-6, worst  PHI 5-14

Player of the Month--Bobby Tolan, Cincinnati. He drove in 30 runs in August!

WINS: Singer-la 19-8, Carlton-stl 18-6, Perry-sf 18-6, Hands-chi 17-9

ERA: Perry-sf 1.64, Hands-chi 1.99,  Gibson-stl 2.09, P.Niekro-atl 2.14, Marichal-sf 2.17

Al "Losing Pitcher" Santorini

LOSSES: Santorini-sd 5-20, J.Johnson-phi  5-19

SHUTOUTS: Dierker-hou, Marichal-sf, Perry-sf, and Singer-la all with 6.

IP: Hands-chi 257.2, Carlton-stl  249.2, Maloney-cin 243.2, P.Niekro-atl 243.2

Her door man rocks.

K's: Carlton-stl 196, Singer-la 190, Jenkins-chi 183, Wilson-hou 178, Hands-chi 177 

CG: Carlton-stl 21, Hands-chi 20,  Koosman-ny 20, Marichal-sf 20

SAVES: Upshaw-atl 25, McGraw-ny 21, Granger-cin 17, Mikkelsen-la 16

ERRORS: Morgan-hou 34, Arcia-sd 29, Money-phi 29, Sizemore-la 29

AVG (353 ab): Rose-cin .364, McCovey-sf .355, Davis-la .347, Mota-la .347, Jones,ny .343, Hebner-pit 325, H.Aaron-atl 323, Oliver-pit .322, Tolan-cin .318, Johnson-cin .317

HR: H.Aaron-atl 40, Allen-phi 30, McCovey-sf 27, Staub-mon 27, Oliver-pit 26

RBI: Staub-mon 105, May-cin 103, McCovey-sf 97, Oliver-pit 97, H.Aaron-atl 96

RUNS: Rose-cin 114, Bonds-sf 106, Wynn-hou 104, Brock-stl 100, two tied with 89.

DOUBLES: Kessinger-chi 33, Laboy-mon 33, 3 tied with 29.

TRIPLES: Davis-la 11, Sanguillen-pit 11, 3 tied with 10.

STEALS: Morgan-hou 52, Bonds-sf 50, Wills-la 43, Brock-stl 38, Wynn-hou 30

I Got APBA'viewed !

Check out this really nicely done interview of yours truly, HERE.

Cubs and Reds Stage Miracle Rallies : Friday, August 22nd, 1969

Scores

CHI 5, HOU 4 (10inns)  W-Regan 6-6 L-Womack 4-4  HR-Blefary(11) Williams(15)  Popovich 1-out walk-off single.

SF 14, MON 2  W-Bolin 13-10 L-Robertson 9-12  HR-Hart(9)  Hart 6 rbi.

NY 6, LA 4  W-McAndrew 9-11 L-Osteen 13-8  S-McGraw(21)  HR-Jones(8)

SD 4, PHI 2  W-Santorini 5-19 L-Fryman 7-13  S-Reberger(14)  HR-Stahl(6)

CIN 6, PIT 5 (10inns)  W-Granger 7-5 L-Veale 14-9  HR-Stewart(6)ph Stargell(18)

STL 5, ATL 0  W-Taylor 8-8 L-Britton 0-1  HR-Javier(7)

Too much! The Lucky Bus!

Imagine the verbiage your Impartial Goddess may have employed when the hated Tinseltown nine plated 4 runs in the top of the first against the Mets at Shea. Imagine my colorful patois as every roll and circumstance seemed to go their way. Who knew, when Maury Wills singled in the second inning and advanced to third with one out, that the Dodgers had only one hit left in them? Who could have predicted a fly out/ throw 'em out double play to exterminate the threat and prevent Jim McAndrew from being reduced to a "D"? What peerless seer could have predicted that the Mets would score 2, and then 4 more, with the big blow coming off the bat of Cleon Jones in the form of a 3-run HR to give him 8 rbi in the last two games? Who could have envisioned McAndrew advancing to "A" status, or Tug McGraw turning in a flawless inning of relief? In any event, that's what happened. Some credit my newly trotted-out 1960s NYC transit bus, now dubbed the Lucky Bus. 

Fear the mighty Po-Po!

Second-place Chicago looked like they were going down in dismal defeat to fireballer Don Wilson and the Astros, but when he allowed two runners to reach with two out in the bottom of the ninth, and the Spacemen up 4-1, Dooley "Freaking" Womack was ladled out of the Houston bullpen to try to get Ron Santo out. Nothing doing! Ron knocked a two-run double, and then a pinch runner scored the tying run, sending the contest into extra frames. That's when Leo Durocher dusted off little Paul Popovich, who singled home the winning run. The bruins scored all five runs from the 8th inning on, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. As for Dooley Womack, he is rumored to be on the block following several lackluster performances of late. 

Bill meets his end. (courtesy of Pepper's Dog Blog)

Not to be outdone, The Reds had a rally of their own. After being one-hit by Bob "Hi, Bob!" Veale at Cincinnati, he was setting them down again with regularity, and carried a 5-2 lead into the 9th. However, the big lefty walked a pair, and with 2 out, pinch hitter Jimmy Stewart cranked a three-run bomb to tie the game in front of the dismayed Pittsburgh crowd. "Aw that's swell!" chirped Stewart. Then in the 10th, with Veale still on the hill, Bobby Tolan, who had been mystified by the left-handed slants all day, managed a single, then took off for second. Manny Sanguillen rag-armed the throw into center field, allowing Tolan to advance to third. Up stepped slump-encrusted Lee May, who dinked a single to score Tolan, and although in the excitement Lee managed to get thrown out trying for a double, it was all the Reds and Wayne Granger needed to seal the victory.  As for the Buccos, they are sinking like a stone, and lost the services of Bill "Oh no, Mr. Bill!" Mazeroski for the next ten games while he works on his baseball magazine and rests his smashed-in face after being creamed by a fastball. Kid keystoner Dave Cash returns to the line-up in his stead. 

"Yeegh! There's something crawling up the inside of my uniform!"

Poor Atlanta. With Ron Reed and Pat Jarvis both sidelined for the moment, kid chucker Jim Britton had to toe the slab (why does that sound so gross?) against the Cardinals at Busch. He didn't do too badly, giving up 4 earnies in 7 innings and fanning 9, but Chuck Taylor blanked the teepee dwellers for the second straight start, this time on 3 hits. Asked by a scribe about his future plans, losing pitcher Jim explained, "I plan to really foul up my elbow, get traded to the Expos, make a few more futile appearances in '71, and then fade from the scene!" Oh that youthful exuberance! 

Guess who our favorite player is?

In Montreal, Jim Ray Hart exploded for 6 rbi to lead the San Franciscans past the Expos by a whopping count of 14-2. Ever since Mike McCormick's injury saved him and kept him in the rotation by the hair on his chinny chin chin, Bob "Bolin For Dollars" Bolin has done nothing but win. He hasn't pitched especially well, mind you. He just wins. Cue Reader William's views on the "W". 

"It's amazing, Mr. Stahl. There's not a scratch on you!"

Finally, the unstoppable Pods have cobbled together a real live 3-game winning streak! Of course, this also means that the Phillies' dreadful season has reached a new low, with the Friars stopping the hometown Quakers 4-2, and not only that, but Al "Losing Pitcher" Santorini scored the win! Flyhawk Larry Stahl, only in there against the lefty Fryman due to a lack of living bodies to pencil into the line-up, cranked a two-run shot for the Holy Men. He did this despite twice trying to get injured, but the Magical Protective Shield (TM) that prevents injuries to teams down to a bare minimum of participants swooped in and saved him both times. "I can't be killed!" he crowed, as the glum Philadelphia nine shambled off the field in shame.

The Phillies' team bus is here.

Astros Make it To .500 : Saturday, August 2nd, 1969

Scores, as my replay reaches the exact two-thirds point:

CHI 9, SD 5  W-Abernathy 4-7 L-Sisk 4-11  S-Regan(13)  HR-Santo(16)

HOU 10, MON 3  W-Griffin 8-10 L-Stoneman 4-11  HR-Miller(5)

NY 4, ATL 1  W-McAndrew 7-11 L-Pappas 8-6  HR-Gonzales(4) Shamsky(8)

CIN 12, PHI 8  W-A.Jackson 4-0 L-Raffo 1-3  HR-Stewart(4) Allen(20)  Reds 22 hits.

PIT 11, SF 2  W-Bunning 8-7 L-Sadecki 5-7  HR-Mazersoski(1) Oliver 2(23)  Oliver 5 rbi, Mazeroski 4 rbi.

LA 4, STL 2  W-Moeller 11-6 L-Washburn 7-12  S-Brewer(11)

So weird that a 5th place team is hogging all the headlines, but what the Astros have done in 5 weeks time is truly astounding. At the end of June, they were 31-49, 16.5 games out of first, and 15 games out of 4th. Then they promptly lost their first game of July. But since then they are 23-4, and are now 10 games out of 1st place and 5 games out of 4th. Fifth is still fifth, you may say, but they sure have been fun to play lately. Their most recent victim is expansion Montreal, whom they have drubbed 14-1 and 10-3 at Parc Jarry.  A doubleheader is scheduled for Sunday.

Right in his beer!

The Reds went into Philadelphia and smashed 22 hits against the Phillies, who had taken a 5-0 lead only to see hapless Jerry Johnson be unable to hold it. The Cincinnati crew are still not hitting homers--although reserve Jimmy Stewart did hit one Saturday, landing it right in Old Man Potter's beer cup--but they *are* finally hitting again, and scoring runs. Nonetheless, it is a real mystery why May, Perez, Bench et al are no longer finding the seats. 

"No...not the bicycle spokes! No! Please, AAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!"

Veteran second sacker Bill Mazeroski was reinserted into the Pirates line-up the past two games, and responded with 7-for-8, a double, a homer, 4 runs and 5 rbi. Kid keystoner Dave Cash may have to rot on the bench for a while. Jim "Easter" Bunning went the distance against the Giants, then rushed home to chase some neighborhood kids off his lawn. "It's not easy being a geezer," he opined.

He experienced occasional irregularity.

Finally, Phil Regan of the Cubs, who went the entire month of July without garnering a save, picked one up on Saturday against the preposterous Pods. "They were threatening!" he insisted, fighting down a guffaw.  

Friar Man threatens the universe.

 

July 31st, 1969 results and end of July stat board!

Scores for Thursday, July 31st

SF 3, CHI 1  W-McCormick 9-3 L-Hands 14-6  S-Linzy(14)  HR-Mays(6) Banks(8)

ATL 9, PHI 1  W-Jarvis 12-6 L-Fryman 6-11  HR-Tillman(8) Allen(19)

PIT 3, LA 0  W-Blass 13-4 L-Osteen 10-7  HR-Oliver(21)

MON 5, CIN 0  W-Renko 1-4  L-Culver 8-6  Renko 13 K's

The 10th time is the charm!

The Expos' Steve Renko finally got his first major league win on Thursday, and it only took him ten tries! Steve showed a little of why the 'Spos parted with (at the time) NL home run leader Donn Clendenon to get him, as he fanned 13 Reds in a complete game shutout. Clendenon, for his part, has been a bust in New York, hitting just 2 homers for the Mets since being acquired a month and a half ago. As for the Reds, they suffered through an astonishing 10-17 July in which they hit just 11 homers as a team. Unbelievable. 

For July, the best team was, of course, the Astros, at 21-5. The worst was the Padres, who turned in a putrid 6-20 performance. And now, stats!

PITCHING  
NY 2.61 (league low 308 runs against.)
CHI 2.81
STL 2.84 (most complete games--52)
ATL 3.06
SF 3.30 (least K's--582)
LA 3.36 (most saves--26)  
PIT 3.51 (most K's--769)
HOU 3.52 (tie for least saves--12)
CIN 3.82 
MON 4.30 (least complete games--21)
PHI 4.42 (tie for least saves--12)
SD 4.97 (most runs against--593)

BATTING
PIT .269 (most runs scored--510)
CIN .269 (least caught stealing--16)
LA .262
ATL .260 (most HR--102. least steals--27)
STL .253 (most doubles--163. least HR--41)
MON .251
SF .250
CHI .242 (least triples--15) 
HOU .238 (most triples--40. most steals--75. most caught stealing--32.)
PHI .226
NY .224 (least doubles--104)
SD .209 (least runs--314)

FIELDING (avg is innings pitched divided by errors)
STL 15.19 (least errors--65)
CHI 13.12
ATL 12.13 (most DP's turned--135)
CIN 11.62
LA 10.34
NY 10.00
PIT 9.44 (least DP's turned--66)
SF 9.34
MON 9.29
PHI 9.03
SD 8.70
HOU 8.14 (most errors--115)

ERA (103 ip min.)--Perry-sf 1.71, Gibson-stl 1.77, Hands-chi 1.93, Marichal-sf 2.04, P.Niekro-atl 2.04, Dierker-hou 2.08, Seaver-ny 2.15, Koosman-ny 2.22, Carlton-stl 2.24, LeMaster-hou 2.42 

SHO--Dierker-hou 5, Perry-sf 5

WINS--Perry-sf 15-5, Gibson-stl 14-3, Hands-chi 14-6, Blass-pit 13-4, Carlton-stl 13-6, Maloney-cin 13-6, Veale-pit 13-7, Singer-la 13-8

IP--Hands-chi 205.1, Carlton-stl 196.2, Dierker-hou 195

K's--Carlton-stl 162, Jenkins-chi 152, Singer-la 144, Veale-pit 144,  Hands-chi 143, Gibson-stl 136, Perry-sf 136   

Losses--J.Johnson-phi 4-16, Santorini-sd 4-16

CG--Marichal-sf 17, Carlton-stl 16, 5 tied with 15

Saves--Upshaw-atl 21, McGraw-ny 18, Granger-cin 14, Linzy-sf 14, Mikkelsen-la 13

Steals--Morgan-hou 37, Wills-la 34, Brock-stl 33, Bonds-sf 32

Avg (278 ab min.)--Rose-cin .367, Mota-la .364, Davis-la .347, McCovey-sf .342, H.Aaron-atl .333, Oliver-pit .333, Jones-ny .332, Hebner-pit .323, Bench-cin .322, Tolan-cin .312

HR--H.Aaron-atl 35, Staub-mon 23, Oliver-pit 21, May-cin 20, McCovey-sf 20, Allen-phi 19, Rose-cin 19  

RBI--Staub-mon 86, H.Aaron-atl 84, May-cin 82,  McCovey-sf 82, Oliver-pit 81, Santo-chi 70, Torre-stl 68, Menke-hou 67

Runs--Rose-cin 92, Bonds-sf 84, Wynn-hou 84, Brock-stl 81, H.Aaron-atl 76, Oliver-pit 73, Wills-la 72

Doubles--Laboy-mon 29, Kessinger-chi 28, May-cin 26, H.Aaron-atl 25, Rader-hou 25

Triples--Davis-la 8, Rose-cin 8

Errors--Money-phi 27, Morgan-hou 25

Player of The Month: Hank Aaron, Braves
previous winners
April--Pete Rose, Reds
May--Willie McCovey, Giants
June--Hank Aaron, Braves