'77 Phitighn's sweep '75 Big Red Machine

Good series with the Phils getting a few breaks on top of good pitching led by a CG win by Steve Carlton (2-0, 1.06), who fanned 7 in Game 1.  Schmitty had 5 RBI's and a homer in that game.  In Game 2 the Secretary of Defense went 4 for 4 and scored 2 runs as Philly won 5-1.  Tim McCarver (2-3, BB) made a rare start behind the dish (without Lefty on the hill) and hit two doubles and knocked in 4 to help complete the sweep in the "City of Brotherly Love".  Phitin's move to 5-1.

Pete

PHI

'85 Jays sweep '80 Royals

Kansas City 6 Toronto 7
Gale vs Clancy

Toronto gets off to a quick lead with 8 batters in the 1st. Damaso Garcia singles, Mullineks and Barfield walk Bell sacrifice fly scoring Garcia. Upshaw doubles scoring Mullineks and Barfield. Blue Jays up 3-0. In the 2nd they send 7 batters to the plate. A walk by Burroughs followed by a Garcia Home Run. A single by Mullineks and he scores when Whitt doubles later on. Blue Jays up 6-0. In the 4th the Royals start to battle back. A single by AIkens followed by a Home Run by McRae. The lead slips to 6-2. In the 8th Dennis Lamp takes over from Clancy and  the Royals with 2 out make it a game. Geirge Brett walks, Aikens singles and McRae hits his 2nd home run making it 6-5. In the 9th with Lamp still on the mound and 1 out Frank White walks, UL Washington grounds out  but Lamp falters and Willie Wilson singles scoring Frank WHite. The Blue Jays pull Lamp and bring in Tom Henke. He gets Qucik to ground out. Martin who came in in the 7th inning for KC faced Barfield and struck him out. Quisenberry was brought in to face George Bell.  George Bell gets the upper hand and belts a home run and the Blue Jays win 7-6. Game MVP Damaso Garcia, WP Tom Henke LP Dan Quisenberry

Kansas City 5 Toronto 7
Leonard vs FIler

Otis gets a walk and is caught stealing 2nd. George Brett put Royals up with a solo HR. Toronto ties it with a

Mullineks single advanced to second when Barfield grounder to 3rd and Bell doubles off the wall. Toronto takes lead in the 2nd when Upshaw walks and Moseby hits a 2 run HR. The Royals Porter walks and a sacrifice bunt advances him to 2nd. A single up the middle by Wilson scores Porter. Toronto gets it back Fernandez walks, Oliver advances him to 2nd. Gracia singles putting runners on the corner Mullineks singles and Fernandez scores. Toronto adds 2 more in the 6th Whitt singles, Moseby walks and then Oliver singles between third and short scoring both. It is 6-2 Blue Jays.In the 7th Hurdle has a solo home run for the Royals. In the 8th with Acker taking over the reigns for the Jays Washington singles, Wilson singles and a Blue Jay error, Otis singles Washington and Wilson score. Acker settles and gets out  Brett, Aikens and Quirk. It is 6-5 Blue Jays. In the bottom of the 8th Oliver hits a solo Home Run off of Pattin who is now pitching for Kansas City. WP Tom Filer, LP Dennis Leonard and Save Acker. MVP - Al Oliver 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs

Toronto 4 Kansas City 0
Steib vs Gura

4th inning Iorg singles, Jesse Barfield walks, George Bell singles, Damasco Garcia ground to short scoring Iorg and forcing Bell at 2nd. Lloyd Moseby singles scoring Barfield, Jeff Burroughs doubles scoring Garcia and Moseby. That was all the scoring in the game. WP Dave Steib pitches 8 innings allowing 5 hits. Gary Lavelle comes in to finish in the 9th. WP Steib, LP Gura MVP Dave Steib.

Toronto sweeps the series 3-0

--submitted by "Chiz"--

KOD25 asks, Where Were You In '62??

Giants Squeak Past Rival Dodgers In Three 1-Run Games

In a re-match of the 1962 National League pennant playoff series, the San Francisco Giants took three straight from their rivals to the south, the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning all three by the narrowest of margins. The series was held in the Giants much maligned home, Candlestick Park.

Game 1: San Francisco 8, Los Angeles 7 (10)

Game one featured hard-throwing and tough hurler Stan Williams for LA, while former American League standout lefty Billy Pierce took the mound for the home club. Both pitchers fared well, with Williams giving up 2 runs in seven innings, despite four walks and six hits allowed, while Pierce went 9, giving up only 5 hits, striking out 4 and not walking anyone. The game was tied at 2 heading into the ninth, and after two ground outs in the top half huge Frank Howard stunned the crowd with a home run to left center that just got out beyond Willie Mays' valiant attempt to snag it.

Ron Perranoski came on for Los Angeles, and was immediately greeted by Felipe Alou's double. Jose Pagan bunted Alou to third, and he then scored the tying run on Jimmy Davenport's single up the middle. No further damage was done, as the teams went to extra frames.

Bobby Bolin came on to pitch for the Giants, and the Dodgers iced this one in the win column for all practical purposes,  plating four runs. It was so bad for Bolin that Perranoski was allowed to hit with two on and one out, and Bolin walked him to load the bases. Maury Wills then singled in two runs, and then a walk to Jim Gilliam was all manager Bike Mike could take from Bolin, summoning Stu Miller in from the bullpen. Tommy Davis welcomed Miller to the game by singling in two more before Miller got Howard and Ron Fairly to stop the bleeding.

The Giants did not go away easy though, and as it turned out they did not go away at all. Orlando ^th with a single, and got to second when T Davis fumbled the ball. Tom Haller drew a walk, and then Alou singled to load the bases.  Jose Pagan grounded to short, but beat the relay to first to avoid the double play as Cepeda scored.  Davenport again singled, driving home Haller and sending Pagan to third. Larry Sherry came on to relieve Perranoski. Harvey Kuenn then singled, driving in Pagan and cutting the lead to one, Davenport scooting to third.  Sherry intentionally walked the Great Willie Mays to load the bases. Matty Alou came on to hit for Miller, and dropped a single in to right center that drove in Davenport and Kuenn and give the Giants an incredible 8-7 victory.

Cepeda lead off the bottom of the 10

Game 2: San Francisco 4, Los Angeles 3

With the stunning win in game one, the Giants were much more methodical in this one, plating single runs in the first three innings off Dodger ace Don Drysdale. Another one in the eighth provide the margin of victory as the Dodgers also scored single runs in three separate frames. Billy O'Dell went 8 innings to earn his second win of the season, while Drysdale went the distance for LA but dropped to 0-2, while the tough luck Dodgers fell to 0 and 5.

Game 3: San Francisco 4, Los Angeles 3

Another 4-3 game, and a similar one to game two in that the Giants scored single runs in four separate frames, innings 2,3,4, and 6, while the Dodgers had a single tally in the third and then broke the spell, scoring 2 in the 4^th. Sandy Koufax, starting to show the form that made him the best pitcher of his time, went six innings for the Dodgers, striking out six and walking two while giving up 7 hits. Jack Sanford went 8 1/3 innings for the Giants and got the win, with Don Larsen getting the final two outs for the save. Orlando Cepeda homered twice off of Koufax, and also doubled to drive the Giants offense while John Roseboro and Wally Moon combined for four of the Dodgers six hits in the game.

submitted by Bike Mike (62-SFG)---

‘74-LAD/69-CUB play wild 18 inning game

Dodger Stadium
GAME 1
Selma vs John
74-LAD 2, 69-CUB 1

Tommy John did his best to protect a 1-0 lead, but the Cubbies scratched out a game tying run in the top of the 8th on a wild pitch.  Workhorse reliever Mike Marshall came on to get the final out in the 8th to preserve the 1-1 tie.  In the bottom of the frame Davey Lopes led off with a single and promptly stole second.  Von Joshua lined a single to score Lopes with what would turn out to be the game winning run.  Marshall gained the win by getting 4 outs.

GAME 2
Jenkins vs Messersmith
69-CUB 6, 74-LAD 5 (18 inn)

Ernie Banks always loved to play 2 and this extra inning contest sure turned into what seemed like 2 games, because it lasted 18.  Both teams burned through their pen.  The drama in this game had both managers on the edge of their seat.  Chicago went up 4-3 when Don Young hit a 408 foot bomb off knuckleballer Charlie Hough.  LA tied it back up in the bottom of the inning with a 2 out Steve Garvey single.  In the 16 Jim Hickman singled home Mr. Cub to make it 4-3, but the Dodgers knotted it back up on a Ron Cey RBI single.  In the top of the 18th Jim Hickman singled home Billy Williams to make it 6-5.  LA loaded the bases and looked to tie it once again, but Rich Nye, who pitched 3 scoreless innings, got Garvey to line out to center and Jimmy Wynn to pop out to center to end this 18 inning excite-fest !  Lost in the shuffle was Bill Buckner going 6-9 in a losing effort.

GAME 3
Hands vs Sutton
74-LAD 3, 69-CUB 0

Don Sutton threw a tight 3 hit complete game shutout to help LA take the rubber match.  Buckner, Garvey and Yeager each had 2 hits to pace LA's offense.

‘61 Bombers take 2 of 3 from ‘54 Tribe

Yankee Stadium
GAME 1
Garcia vs Sheldon
61-NYY 5, 56-CLE 4

Jim Coates almost blew Rollie Sheldon's 5-2 lead by giving up 2 in the 9th and needing Luis Arroyo to come on and get the final out by striking out Vic Wertz.  Roger Maris (3-4) had a break out day recording his first homer of the season and also notching 3 RBI's.

GAME 2
Wynn vs Ford
56-CLE 2, 61-NYY 1

Early Wynn (8.2IP/1ER) outdueled Whitey Ford (8IP/2ER) in a classic duel between HOF hurlers.  Rocky Colavito (2-4) struk out twice, but he did record the go ahead run with a solo blast.  Wynn got close to completing the circuit, less the final out which was recorded by Ray Narleski on a scary moment where Moose Skowron hit one to the track.

GAME 3
Lemon vs Stafford
61-NYY 9, 56-CLE 1

Bob Lemon and Bill Stafford dueled for 6 1/2 innings as the Bombers were trying to hold on to their 2-1 lead.  In the bottom of the 7th NY chased Lemon and got 2 insurance runs on a Tony Kubek single and an RBI ground out by the Mick.  New York scored 5 in the bottom of the 8th to make this look like a laugher, which it wasn't until that point.  The M&M Boys had 3 RBI's each.  The Mick broke out with his first homer of the season.  The Milkshake Twins (Richardson/Kubek) were a combined 5 for 10 with 4 runs scored and one RBI.

54 Yankees Put Moves on 70 O's to Take 2 of 3

Game 1

Memorial Stadium

Morgan vs Phoebus

Bal 4 NYY 3

Yankees, looking for their first win of the KOD season score early on a Yogi Berra sac fly in the top of the first, but that is the only run Tom Phoebus yields as he gets out of a bases loaded jam to keep the Yankees close.  In the bottom of the third, Boog Powell follows a Don Buford single and Merv Rettenmund single with his third home run of the young season down the right field line to stake Baltimore to the 3-1 lead.   Phoebus would give up another run on a wild pitch in the 6th before exiting for the day.  Johnny Said would come in to relieve Morgan after 7 1/3 and although the Yankees would be stung by some sloppy fielding (4 errors in the game), none would lead to any additional Baltimore runs.  Johnny Sain would lead off the top of the ninth with a single before Pete Richert could get the next two batters bringing up The Mick with two out.  Mantle tripled down the left field line to tie the game against Baltimore reliever Eddie Watt.  Watt got out of trouble after a walk to Moose Skowron by enticing Yogi Berra into a ground out.  Tie game heading into the bottom of the ninth.   Sain retired the first two batter with no problem, but then Frank Robinson blasted a 3-1 pitch down the left field line for the walk off game winner!

Game 2

Memorial Stadium

Ford vs Cuellar

NYY 8  Bal 7

Cuellar struggled early in this one giving up 5 in the top of the second.  The big hit for the Yankees was an Andy Carey grand slam to left field!  Trailing by 5, it appears this one would be a route for the Yanks.  but not if Boog Powell had anything to say about it.  In the bottom of the second he answered with his 4th homerun (solo) of the season to make it 5-1 Yanks.  the Yanks answered right back as Phil Rizzuto lined an RBI double to put get the Yankees ahead once again by 5.  In the bottom of the 5th Powell hit his second home run of the game off of Ford to tighten the score to  Yankees 6 Orioles 5. The Yankees once again answered with 2 in the top of the 6th on sac flys by Carey and Mickey Mantle.  And this is where it would stay although Baltimore threatened in the bottom of the ninth as Baltimore scored two, but fell one hit short of tying this one.  Strangely this one seemed like a back and forth affair, however Yankee pitching and bats were able to maintain the upper hand throughout.

Game 3

Memorial Stadium

Grim vs Palmer

NYY 4  Bal 1

Baltimore's Jim Palmer continued his early season struggles in this one giving up 1 run in the top of the first on a Moose Skowron RBI triple (Who knew the guy could run? 😀).  Baltimore answered back in the bottom of the inning with 1 of their own as Don Buford tied the game with a lead off home run.  With Palmer laboring in the top of the second Bob Grim hit a two run homer that would be the deciding runs in this one.  the rest of the game belonged to the staffs as the only other run would score as a result of Mickey Mantle's solo home run in the 5th.  Grim sut down the O's bats for 8 innings and the Yankees take this game 4-1 and the series 2 games to 1.

Fun, if a little strange, series.  Alot of back and forth that kept all the games interesting.

--contribution by Mark Nixon--