Yankees win 2 of 3 at Baltimore in the final weekend

Yankees win 2 of 3 at Baltimore in the final weekend

10/2 - Memorial Stadium

 Yankees 6, Orioles 3

 John vs McGregor

Yankees score early on a 2-run homer by Dave Winfield, and the Orioles tie it up on a single by Ken Singleton and a homer by Rick Dempsey.  The Yanks take the lead for good on a Lou Piniella home run with Winfield on base.  Tommy John goes 7 1/3 to finish 5-4, 4.82 for the regular season.  Scott McGregor goes the distance and takes the loss.  Rich Gossage saves his AL leading 15 game.  MVP: Dave Winfield 4-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI.

10/3 - Memorial Stadium

Orioles 3, Yanks 1

 Flanagan vs Guidry

The Orioles take a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Ken Singleton's 10th homer, and it looked like Mike Flanagan would make it stand up.   New York rallies in the 9th on a walk to Jerry Mumphrey and a single by Willie Randolph to put runners on the corners.  Winfield lines out to right, but it was too shallow to send Mumphrey home.  Lou Piniella's weak grounder to 3rd allowed Mumphrey to tie the game at 1.  Bottom of the 9th saw a leadoff double by Rich Dauer who tried to score on a 1-out single from Doug DeCinces, but Oscar Gamble nailed Dauer at the plate.  Rick Dempsey sent everyone home happy with a 2-run home run in the 10th off Dave LaRoche. MVP: Mike Flanagan 8IP, 2H, 1R, 3W, 4K, ND

10/4 - Memorial Stadium

Yankees 8, Orioles 1

Bird vs Stone

In Doug Bird's first start of the year he limited the O's to 1 run through 7 innings, while the offense backed him up.  Bucky Dent and Reggie Jackson each went deep in support of Bird.  Scott McGregor took the loss in relief.  Ron Davis pitched a perfect 8th and 9th for his first save.  MVP: Ron Davis 2IP, 0R, 3K, Save  --submitted by John Clingan--

'Stros take 2 of 3 from LA to clinch #3 seed

Winner of this series would clinch the #3 seed in the "A" playoff bracket and face the Pirates.  Loser would get the #4 seed and face the Reds, who had the best overall record in the NL
10/2/1981 - Dodger Stadium
Sutton vs Valenzuela
Dodgers 3, Astros 0
Don Sutton, the master tactician, dueled it out with Fernando-mania for 7 1/2 scoreless innings before Rick Monday delivered a 3 run pinch hit homer.  Dave Stewart would get the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.  Bobby Castillo would get the save, his second of the season.  Sutton was the hard luck loser in his return to his former home, Dodger Stadium

10/3/1981
J.Niekro vs Reuss
Astros 4, Dodgers 3
Art Howe would hit a big double and score a run, then follow that up with a solo blast, his 2nd of the season.  Joe Niekro gave up just 2 runs in 7 1/3 innings for the win and Dave Smith, who walked four, still found a way to gut out his 6th save of the season.  LA looked like they were going to tie it up in the bottom of the 9th, but pinch hitter Rick Monday was gunned down by Cesar Cedeno at the plate while attempting to tag up on a short fly ball by Dusty Baker.  Steve Garvey fanned with runners on the corners and the Dodgers down by 1 to end the game.

10/4/1981
Knepper vs Sutcliffe

Astros 2, Dodgers 1
Winner take all for the #3 seed in the rubber match of the series.  Bob Knepper was brilliant, because he had to be, and 5 Dodger pitchers matched him pitch for pitch.  Pedro Guerrero's 2 out double in the bottom of the first would be LA's lone run of the game.  Craig Reynolds' solo shot in the 5th tied the game at 1 all.  His second homer, in the 7th gave Knepper and the Astros a 2-1 lead.  Joe Sambito came on to lock the game down in the 9th and sent the Dodgers down 1-2-3 to give the Astros the series win and the #3 seed against Pittsburgh.

Oakland sweeps KC to put the pressure on the Angels for AL West crown

10/2/1981 - Royals Stadium
A's 4, Royals 2
Langford vs Leonard
Three Oakland homers accounted for 3 of the 4 runs that the team scored.  Tony Armas hit his 12th, Dave McKay hit his 4th and Wayne Gross notched his 9th.  All 3 solo shots were off Dennis Leonard, who saw his record fall to 1-7 for the season.  Rick Langford went the distance and gave up 2 runs on 6 its to increase his record to 6-4.  Curiously, A's leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson went 0-5 while getting to wear the not so coveted "Golden Sombrero".

10/3/1981
A's 9, Royals 4
Norris vs Gale
It was a rocky road at first for Oakland's Mike Norris.  After allowing two two run homers in back to back innings, first to Amos Otis, then to Willie Aikens, Norris posted bagels the rest of the way.  Oakland's roller coaster offense got itself back in gear with a 6 run outburst in the 6th 4th inning.  Shooty Babbit's bases clearing triple followed RBI singles by Rob Picciolo and Rickey Henderson.  Tony Armas' sac fly to center closed out the scoring in the 4th.  Dwayne Murphy's 3 run blast in the 8th handed Norris the game with a neat little bow on it.  Gale took the loss and saw his record drop to 4-3, while Norris got the win to finish the year at 8-1 (3.24).  Many feel that Norris' impressive season will get him mention for the AL Cy Young award.

10/4/1981
A's 6, Royals 5 (15 inn)
Keough vs Gura
Heading into the game the A's needed a win to lock down a post season slot.  A win would give them a sweep of the series and an outside shot at winning the AL West.  With the score knotted at 1-1 the Royals took a 4-1 lead with a big 5th inning.  Hal McRae led off with a triple, then Otis walked.  Frank White's single scored McRae.  UL Washington's squeeze bunt scored Otis and Willie Wilson's double scored White.  Oakland didn't give up and used the long ball in order to get right back in it.  A two runs shot by Cliff Johnson with 2 outs in the 7th made it a one run ball game.  An opposite field solo shot by Picciolo in the 8th tied it up.  A two out homer to dead center by Mike Heath off of Larry Gury, who was still in the game, put the A's ahead by 1 run heading into the bottom of the 9th.  Oakland was 3 outs away from a series sweep.  After getting the first 2 outs, Matt Keough, looked like he was going to get himself a tough, but hard fought complete game win.  Amos Otis' two out double ended Keough's day.  After an intentional walk to pinch hitter May reliever Tom Underwood needed to get light hitting UL Washington out to end it.  Washington, who is primarily known for the piece of lumber that he keeps between his teeth (a toothpick), as opposed to the one he swings with his arms, used the latter to line a double to right center to tie the game up.  A 6 inning war of attrition too place as the game headed into the 15th inning still deadlocked.  Both teams had ample chances to chase across a run, but neither was capable of sealing the deal.  Juan Berenguer, who had pitched 3 scoreless innings, might have gone one too many.  After giving up a single to Rickey Henderson and allowing him to steal second, he was replaced by Ken Brett, who got Dave McKay to fly out to deep center.  Henderson strolled to third and was now 90 feet away from scoring the go ahead run with just 1 out.  Brett now had the coveted lefty vs lefty matchup in his favor vs Dwayne Murphy.  "Murph" jumped on the first pitch and hit a rope that Clint Hurdle had to track down in the power alley just shy of the warning track.  Henderson easily tagged and scored to make it 6-5.  Jeff Jones came out to the mound for his 2nd inning of work with a chance to close it out.  After Dave Chalk lined out to second, UL Washington once again let his bat do the talking with a clean single to right.  While Washington's bat did the talking his feet did the walking.  In fact they walked a bit too far off of 1st and Mike Heath threw behind him to catch him napping for out number 2.  John Wathan swung at the next pitch and hit a two hopper to the "Chicken", Fred Stanley, who came on as a defensive replacement.  Stanley easily fielded the ball and got Wathan by 3 strides to end the season in fine fashion.  Oakland will sit back to see the results of Texas/California, with an outside chance of winning the division.

Playoff Tiers - How they shape up entering week #17

Gents,
Remember...every team makes the playoffs.  It just depends on what tier you make.  Here are the breakdowns for each of the three tiers:
Tier A:  All 4 division winners + 2 wild card teams
Tier B:  The next 4 ranked teams (by %)
Tier C:  The next 4 (6 in AL) ranked teams by %.

The top tier is locked up in the NL. Baltimore and Detroit still have a shot to crack the top tier in the AL.
Good luck to all.

Standings heading into final week (Oct 2-4)

KOD13 - TOR @ NYY

Yankees sweep double header from Jays

 

10/1 - Yankee Stadium

 

Yankees 7, Blue Jays 0

 

 

Righetti vs Berenguer

 

Dave Righetti throws a 3 hit shutout at the Blue Jays, improving his season ERA to 1.38.  The Yankees scored 4 in the 5th on 2 walks and 4 singles off Juan Berenguer. Oscar Gamble's 3 run homer in the 7th capped the scoring.  MVP: Righetti 9IP, 3H, 0R, 3W, 2K

 

10/1 - Yankee Stadium

 

Yankees 3, Brewers 1

 

 

May vs Bomback

 

The Yanks put up 2 runs in the 3rd on a bases loaded single by Reggie Jackson.  The Jays get one back after a triple by Rick Bosetti and an RBI single by Danny Ainge.  Dave Winfield's solo homer in the 5th was the last run to cross the plate in this game.  MVP: Rudy May 9IP, 6H, 1R, 1W, 5K

 

 

New York will travel to Baltimore to finish the season, and Toronto will fly across the country to finish in Seattle.

KOD 13 - NYY @ CLE

Yankees take both games in Cleveland

 

9/28 - Cleveland Stadium

 

Yankees 7, Indians 5

 

 

Guidry vs Brennan

 

Ron Guidry goes 6 strong innings despite not having his best stuff and runs his record to 6-0.  Bucky Dent doubles 3 times and knocks in 3 runs to lead the offense.  The Indians score 3 in the 9th, but Rich Gossage gets the last out for his 14th save.  MVP: Bucky Dent 3-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI

 

 

9/29 - Cleveland Stadium

 

Yankees 10, Indians 4

 

 

Nelson vs Denny

 

The Yankees build an 8-0 lead off of John Denny, and hold on for the 10-4 win. Reggie Jackson and Rick Cerone each homer in the game.  Miguel Dilone smacks 3 hits, including a triple, and knocks in 2 runs. MVP: Reggie Jackson 2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI

 

 

New York heads home to host the Blue Jays for a double header, while Cleveland will host the Red Sox for a weekend series.

Jays and A's split a pair in Oakland

9/29 - Oakland Coliseum
Jim Clancy (1-5) vs Brian Kingman (5-2)
A's 7, Blue Jay 5
Of the 5 "young gun" starters in the Oakland A's rotation, Brian Kingman is the least heralded.  This is not surprising since Oakland's #5 guy lost 20 games last season and doesn't normally go deep into games.  One thing Kingman can rely on is that Oakland's enigmatic offense will come to life every time Kingman is on the hill.  Oakland scored 7 runs for Kingman.  Wayne Gross, who is hitting a robust .165 hit a 3 run shot in the bottom of the first to put the A's up 5-2.  Gross, who either hits homers or hits the pine, hit a monster blast off of the embattled Clancy, who's record fell to 1-5 after giving up 6 runs in 5 innings.  Rickey Henderson stole his league leading 27th base in Oakland's magical first.

9/30
Jackson Todd (2-6) vs Steve McCatty (4-6)
Blue Jays 6, A's 1
Jackson Todd was more like Sweeney Todd as he sliced through the A's lineup until Mitchell Page hit a meaningless solo homer in the bottom of the 8th.  Todd protected a 1 run lead that Toronto gained with a finely executed squeeze play in the first by catcher Ernie Whitt to score Lloyd Moseby who led the game off with a double.  The top of the 6th saw McCatty give up 3 runs.  Damasco Garcia knocked in 2 with an RBI single.  Otto Velez followed suit.  Dane Iorg was well on his way to doing the same, but the A's lucked out when Rickey Henderson threw out Garcia at the plate for the 2nd out of the inning.  Toronto added 2 more in the 9th on a solo shot by Moseby and an RBI single by Garcia.  McCatty once again found a way to show the world just how the staff's ace acts when he's either overused or under skilled.  For his punishment McCatty was left on the hill to go the distance, while throwing 135 pitches.  Both Moseby and Garcia hd 3 hit days, with Garcia knocking in 3 as well.

Bucs take 2 of 3 from Cubbies with 2 shutouts

9/28 - Three Rivers 

Pirates 2, Cubs 0
Kravec (1-6) vs Rhoden (3-4)
Since the Pirates clinched the NL East long ago this series was about staying healthy and seeing who is going to make the post season roster.  Rick Rhoden, who had been mediocre picked the right time to shine by tossing a complete game 4 hit shutout.  Rhoden fanned 5 and walked none in an outing that just might convince manager Gotay to put him in the post season rotation.  The Bucs got both of their runs in back to back innings (4th & 5th).  Bill Madlock's lead off homer in the 4th, his 7th on the season, broke a 0-0 tie.  His RBI double the following inning scored Omar Moreno.  Chicago never had a runner advance past 2nd.

9/28 - 2nd Game of DH
Cubs 7, Pirates 3
Bird (3-0) vs Perez (4-3)
Pascual Perez' audition for a post season roster spot did not go all that well.  After being staked to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first Perez and his defense handed the game right back to the Cubbies.  Mike Tyson's 3 run homer in the 5th put the Cubs up 3-2.  Chicago chipped away for more runs off of Perez and the Pirate pen.  Doug Bird ran out of gas in the 9th, so Dick Tidrow cam on board to put out the fire and notch the final out and his 5th save.

9/29
Pirates 4, Cubs 0
Caudill (1-3) vs Jones (3-3)
Odell Jones took the Rhoden route, not the Perez route, as he tossed a tidy 2 hit complete game shutout.  Chicago's Bill Caudhill injured his shoulder midway through the 2nd inning and had to be replaced by Lynn McGlothen, who went almost 5 innings and gave up 2.  After Omar Moreno led off the bottom of the 1st with a triple, Tim Foli popped out and Mike Easler grounded out.  Moreno scored on Easlers slow roller to short to make it 1-0, which is how it stood until the Bucs blew the game open on a 3 run homer by "the CObra", Dave Parker in the bottom of the 7th.  Jones, who was nursing that 1-0 lead was able to breathe a sigh of relief and coast easily to the finish line.

Cards take 2 of 3 from 1st place Bucs

The St. Louis Cardinals, playing for pride, won a home series from the division leading Pittsburgh Pirates by closing out a 5-1 win in the rubber match, as starter Lary Sorensen went 8 2/3 innings. Sorensen notched only his second win of the year despite a fine 3.21 ERA.  Bruce Sutter was summoned to get the final out.

 

The teams had split the first two as game one saw a late Pirate rally overtake a 4-3 9th inning Cardinal lead, in an all-too familiar experience for the Cardinals in a frustrating season. Sutter once again gave up a two-out, run scoring hit to allow the opponents to steal a close one. It was Sutter's fourth blown save of the season, and dropped the Redbirds record in one run contests to 1-8. The Cardinals entered the 7th inning in this one up 3-1, but Bob Shirley ensured that it would be a dogfight, coming in with one on in the 7th and immediately surrendering a game tying two-run pinch hit home run to Jason Thompson. The Cards regained the lead with one in the eighth before Sutter's latest failures doomed the club's chances in the ninth.

 

Game two saw a sudden change in fortune for the Cardinals, as they climbed off the deck to plate three eighth inning runs to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead. This time Sutter pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the win. The Cardinal eighth saw 9 Cardinal batters against Pirate relievers Rod Scurry and Mark Lee, with the Pirates chipping in as well giving up a wild pitch, walk and error. Keith Hernandez and Ken Oberkfell had the big hits, with an RBI single by Hernandez and two run single by Oberkfell. Veteran Luis Tiant started this one for Pittsburgh, and pitched well going 6 2/3 innings and allowing 3 runs on 6 hits. Jim Otten got the win in relief of Joaquin Andujar for St. Louis. The Pirates taunted Andjuar throughout his 7 innings of work, calling him "Ice Cream Candy Bar", and did rap him for 9 hits. But the self proclaimed "One Tough Dominican" pitched well for the most part, and looks to be a solid member of the rotation in the upcoming years. The enigmatic righty likely will get one more start for the Cardinals, to showcase what he might bring to the club next year.

 

Game three was relatively non-eventful, as the Cardinals put five runs on the board off of Jim Bibby and Grant Jackson. The top of the order did their job with Tony Scott and Garry Templeton scoring twice each, and third hitter Keith Hernandez accounting for the other run. --submitted by BikeMike--

California strengthens their lead in AL West

California takes 2 of 3 against the Blue Jays

 

Toronto 0 California 7
Garvin (L) Frost(W)
Both pitchers strong through the first 3 innings. With one out Ford rocked Garvin with a solo homerun, the onslaught started as the Angels went on to score 4 in that inning. Starter Dave Frost remained strong and was the Game MVP.

 

Toronto 1 California 6
Stieb (L) Forsch (W)
Game MVP Ken Forsch was unstoppable going the distance allowing only 3 hits and 1 run.

 

Toronto 4 California 2
Leal (W) Zahn (L)
Game MVP Luis Leal pitched a strong game but the Angels threatened in the 9th. With 1 run scored and 2 on base and only 1 out Jackson was called upon to get the save.

Expos sweep Bucs...move over .500 for first time all season

9/23 - Stadie Olympique'
Expos 7, Pirates 0
Rick Rhoden (2-4) vs Steve Rogers (5-2)

Steve Rogers stepped up as the ace and pitched the Expos back to .500.  The bearded one went the distance scattering 6 hits and notching the complete game shutout.  Don't for a second think that this was an easy win for him.  Rogers had to rely on 4 double plays and 1 triple play, which occurred in the 2nd when Jason Thompson strolled to the plate: 

    runners on 1st and 2nd
    hitters advantage with 2-1 count
    Rogers offers
    Thompson swings..
    line drive to 1st base
    and Cromartie hauls it in
    to second...out, to first... got him!
    Triple Play!

Montreal's dormant offense came to life with 4 big runs in the 3rd off of Buc starter Rick Rhoden, to put the Expos up 5-0.  Larry Parrish's 2 out / 2 run double in the 7th provided ample insurance.

9/24
Expos 13, Pirates 2
Odell Jones (2-3) vs Bill Gullickson (5-4)

The Bucs jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and had "Gully" on the ropes both times, but could not break through with the knockout blow.  After Wallach walked to lead off the 5th Tony Pena mangled Chris Speier's bunt attempt and airmailed the ball into center putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  This play kept Gully in the game, because at this point he was shaky at best on the mound and it looked like a pinch hitter was due.  Gully rewarded his manager with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.  Montreal had scored a solo run the prior inning on a Gary Carter sac fly.  Tim Raines' double scored Speier to give the Expos a 3-2 lead.  Rodney Scott singled through a drawn in infield to make it 4-2 and Raines scored the 4th run of the inning when Cromartie hit into a DP.  Up 5-2 the Expos blew it open with 5 runs in the 6th off of the awful Ernie Camacho and the equally awful Rod Scurry.  Gullickson went 8 and gave up just 2 and Elias Sosa, he of the 11.85 ERA, pitched a scoreless 9th.  Larry Parrish (2-5) and Warren Cromartie (2-4, 2 R) each had 3 RBI days as the Expos boosted their record to 1 game over .500 for the first time all season.

A's sweep Jays in 3 straight north of the border

9/22 - Exhibition Stadium
A's 5, Blue Jays 3
Matt Keough (4-3) vs Luis Leal (2-2)
A great nip and tuck contest that was tied at 2-2 heading into the 7th.  Leal made the mistake of giving a free pass to the speedy Rickey Henderson by hitting him with a pitch.  Henderson repaid Leal by stealing 2nd and scoring on a booted grounder to short.  A walk to Mike Heath with one out in the 8th was followed by 3 consecutive singles with the third by pinch hitter Keith Drumright, scoring Heath to make it 4-2.  Dave Revering scored on a ground out by Henderson to make it 5-2.  A bases loaded walk to Damasco Garcia plated Iorg to make it a 2 run game again, but Keough was able to get out of the jam by getting Ernie Whitt to ground out weakly to second.  After Alfredo Griffin doubled with 1 out, Bob Owchinko was called on to get the final outs.  Pinch hitter Rick Bosetti lined out to left and Iorg struck out to end it.

9/22 - 2nd Game of DH
A's 1, Blue Jays 0
Rick Langford (5-3) vs Dave Steib (4-5)
Each team trotted out their respective aces for the second game of this twi-night double header.  Two hours and forty five minutes later Mike Heath's 2nd inning solo homer would stand up as the lone run of the game.  Toronto would gather 7 hits on the day, but fall short at pushing any of them across the plate.  Rick Langford was brilliant scattering those 7 hits and fanning 3, while walking none in this complete game shutout victory.  Dave Steib made just that one mistake to Heath and paid the price.  He too was brilliant, fanning 8 and allowing just 2 hits other than Heath's blast.  With the game on the line in the bottom of the 9th Iorg singled with 1 out and moved to second when pinch hitter Bosetti grounded out for the second out of the inning.  Damasco Garcia came to the plate to pinch hit for Danny Ainge and lined a single that sliced down the right field line.  Iorg was given the green light to score, but rightfielder Tony Armas threw a dart to Heath, who swept the tag on Iorg to end the game in bang bang fashion.

9/23
A's 17, Blue Jays 2
Brian Kingman (4-2), vs Jackson Todd (1-6)
Oakland, needing to keep pace with the Angels for AL West supremacy needed to go for the series sweep.  Kingman, who is acknowledged to be the weakest link in Oakland's 5 man rotation of "wunder kids" posted a complete game performance.  Kingman gave up just 2 runs, while fanning 7 Jays as he went the distance.  His opponent, Todd, would not fare as well.  Oakland put a big time hurt on Todd to the tune of 12 runs in 7 2/3 innings.  Blue Jay manager Chisholm admitted that once the game was out of reach he let Todd take one for the team in order to preserve his pen for the next series.  Todd's replacement, Willis, was shell shocked too, so "Chiz's" decision made total sense on a day where the A's were firing on all 8 cyclinders.  Tony Armas, yesterday's defensive hero, was today's offensive hero.  Armas went 5 for 6 with 5 runs scored and 6 RBI's thanks to 2 homers and 2 doubles.  Third baseman Wayne Gross, who is hitting only .162, broke out in a big way with 2 homers and 4 RBI's.  Mike Heath's grand slam in the 7th sent the few remaining fans to the exits.  Oakland is now 26-17 and looking to make a run for the division.

'Spos take sweep Phils in quick 2 game set

9/21 - Stadie Olympique'
Montreal 3, Phillies 1
Larry Christenson (3-5) vs Scott Sanderson (5-2)

Two desperate teams met up for a 2 game series.  Both seem light years behind the division leading Pirates and both in need of a gigantic winning streak.  A scoreless tie was broken in the 5th when MVP candidate Andre "Hawk" Dawson singled to lead off the inning, then stole second and scored 2 batters later on Larry Parrish's RBI single.  A walk to Tim Raines spells doom when the speedy rookie steals second and scores on a Warren Cromartie single.  Tim "Eli" Wallach's solo blast in the 7th made it 3-0 Expos.  All the while Scott Sanderson was cruising, until Mike Schmidt singled with 1 out in the top of the 9th and defensive replacement Willie Montanez booted a grounder at first to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.  Manny Trillo flied out to Jerry White in deep right for the second out.  Pinch hitter Dick Davis lofted a high fly ball that Dawson lost in the light, which allowed Schmidt to score and make it 3-1.  With no margin for error closer Jeff Reardon was called upon to get one final out.  Reardon blew 3 by Garry Maddox to lock down the game and record his 8th save of the season.

9/22
Montreal 9, Phillies 3
Nino Espinosa (0-5) vs Charlie Lea (2-4)

Charlie Lea returned from the DL and recorded the win by giving up 3 in 6 innings.  Montreal's offense stuck it to Espinosa and staked Lea to a 6-0 lead after 4.  Lea tired early, but Montreal tried to get an extra inning or two out of him, which is why he gave up 3.  Schmidt hit his 17th off of a tiring Lea, but that didn't figure into the result.  Cromartie hit his 5th and the "Hawk" Andre Dawson crushed his 16th.  A slumping Rodney Scott was the only Expo starter not to get a hit.  Reliever Woodie Fryman, who pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings knocked in 2 runs himself, while lowering his ERA to 3.45.  With 2 victories Montreal moved to 1 game under .500.  Philly fell to 18-22.

KOD 13 - NYY @ BOS

Yankees sweep 3 from Red Sox at Fenway

 

9/18 - Fenway Park

 

Yankees 11, Red Sox 8

 

 

Guidry vs Tanana

 

Wild game that saw the Red Sox chase Guidry by scoring 8 runs in 5 innings for an 8-3 lead.  Yankees put up 3 in the 6th  on a 3-run homer by Mumphrey, and 2 in the 8th to tie the game at 8.  In the top of the 9th Bob Watson clears the bases with a 2-out triple off Bruce Hurst.  Goose gets the last 3 outs for his 11th save. MVP: Jerry Mumphrey 2-5, HR, 5 RBI

 

 

9/19 - Fenway Park

 

Yankees 4, Brewers 1

 

 

Righetti vs Ojeda

 

Bobby Ojeda was very wild walking 6 in 2 innings and allowed 3 runs.  Rags goes 7 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run and striking out 11 for his 4th win.  Goose gets the last 5 outs for his 12th save. MVP: Rich Gossage 1 2/3, 0R, 1W, 1K, Save

 

9/20 - Fenway Park

 

Yankees 12, Red Sox 9

 

 

Tom Underwood vs Eckersley

 

Boston puts up 5 runs in the first off Underwood highlighted by Gary Allenson's Grand Slam.  The Red Sox get 3 more in the 5th on Dave Stapleton's 3 run homer to chase Underwood. The Yanks crawl back to tie the game at 10 in the 9th on a single by Reggie Jackson.  In the 11th, Bobby Murcer doubles in 2 runs for the lead, and Gossage saves his 3rd in a row.  Willie Randolph goes 4-6 to raise his average above the Mendoza line.  MVP: Graig Nettles 2-3, 2 HR, 2RBI, 3W

 

 

New York heads home to host the Indians, and Boston awaits the Brewers arrival.

Redbirds take 2 of 3 from Amazin's @ Shea

After the Mets won a rather easy 8-2 decision in the opener of a three game series at Shea, the Cardinals bounced back for 7-5 and 6-3 wins to take the series.

Dyar Miller pitched 3+ innings of middle relief for the win in the opener as starter Pat Zachry exited after 4 innings of work, besting Silvio Martinez whose record was evened at 3-3. Dave Kingman (10) and Lee Mazzilli (6) each connected for 3 run homers to power New York.

 

The Cardinals ran off to a 7-1 lead in game two, and held on to win 7-5. Ken Oberkfell, who is absolutely on fire for the Redbirds, chipped in 3 hits and drove in 2. The Cardinals used four pitchers with starter Andy Rincon getting the win and Bruce Sutter notching his 5th save.

 

The rubber game again saw the Cardinals run out to a good lead, this time 5-0, before holding on as the Mets made it a ball game with 3 in the 7th. The Cardinals again used four pitchers, and Sutter notched save number 6, this time for Joaquin Andujar (2-3).  Ken Oberkfell went 2 of 3 to finish the day with a .405 batting mark. Former Cardinal Pete Falcone was rocked for 8 hits and 4 runs in 2 2/3 innings of work for the loss. 

Witt Loses out on no hitter bid - Blue Jays take 2 of 3 from California

Almost a No-No

California 6 Toronto 0

Witt (W) Bomback(L)

This game was all Witt and with his complete game 2 hit outing. He pitched no hit ball for 7 1/3 innings until Iorg ended it with a single. At games end MVP Witt allowed just 2 hits while striking out 6. California spread the hitting around with 8 different batters getting at least 1 hit.

California 3 Toronto 5

Renko (L) Garvin (W)

Toronto went with Garvin for only the second time this season. It was the right decision as he held California to only 3 hits over 6 innings. Jackson and McLaughlin came in to save the day with McLaughlin getting the save. The Game MVP was Garth Iorg who was 3 for 4 all doubles.

California 1 Toronto 2

Kison vs Clancy

Hassler(L) McLaughlin(W)

Clancy had no pitched for a longtime. He was handed the ball and just like Gavin the day before caused California batters lots of problems. He allowed 6 hits, 1 run and 6 strikeouts. Kison was strong for California. It looked like this game was heading for extra innings as Hassler was blanking the Blue Jays and Murray and McLaughlin were blanking the Angels. All that change in the bottom of the 9th as Griffin lead off with a double. A bunt by Moseby moved him to 3rd. Wells was brought in to pinch hit and was intentionally walked setting up for an inning ending double play. Instead Game MVP Damiso Garcia singled bringing home the winning run.  

Thanks to Doug for the great series.

--Submitted by Robert Chisholm--

Chisox take 2 of 3 from A's @ Comiskey

game 1:

Marquee match-up between Britt Burns and Rick Langford with a 2-2 tie till A's score 4 in 8th to pull away. Costly error, wild pitch in frame..A's with only 4 hits in the win. Langford 6 hits, 0 walks, 4 K's for the impressive win. 6-2 A's

game 2:

Norris vs Trout yet another good match-up. Sox blowout A's 13-0.
Sox get 6 in unusual 3rd inning getting runs on bases loaded walk and balk.
Just 2 hits for Oakland. Fisk 1st homer of year.

game 3:

The best pitching match-up yet featuring Steve McCatty against Dennis Lamp.
When A's got 2 in 5th to break 1-1 tie it looked like with McCatty on mound Oakland would win the series. However the Sox came up with a another big inning based on miscues.
With bases-loaded and A's still holding on to 3-2 lead Jim Morrison hit a shot to pitcher McCatty which he bobbled to let Sox tie game at 3. Tony Bernazard followed with a 2 run single to make it 5-3. Harold Baines hit his first homer of year a few batters later, a 3 run shot sealing the game. 8-4 WSox

--submitted by Dan Holm--

Nolan Ryan throws no-hitter in 2 games sweep of the Padres

Game 1.

Houston got HR's from Alan Ashby and Ceasar Cedeno to lead Houston to a 9-4 win over San Diego. Don Sutton got the win to go 5-1 on the season. Frank LaCorte finished the last 2 innings giving up just one walk. San Diego starter Tim Lollar homered in the loss to drop to 2-4. Alan Wiggins had 2 hits and scored twice for San Diego.

Game 2

Nolan Ryan was at the top of his game (+) throwing a no hitter improving his record to 4-1 on the season. Ryan struck-out 10 including 5 in a row from 7th to 9th and walked none. San Diego also grounded out 14 times. San Diego's only base runner reached on a lead-off error in the 5th by 3B Art Howe. Mura took lose dropping to 1-3. Jose Cruz hit a 2 run homer giving Ryan all the runs he would need.
--submitted by Mark Angle--

KOD 13 - NYY @ MIL

Yankees bring their bats and win 2 of 3 at Milwaukee

 

9/14 - County Stadium

 

Yankees 11, Brewers 5

 

 

May vs Caldwell

 

The wind was blowing out to right and the Yanks clobbered 5 home runs and score 9 runs off Mike Caldwell.  Rudy may goes 7 innings and runs his record to 4-2. MVP: Willie Randolph 2-4, HR, 2 RBI

 

9/15 - County Stadium

 

Yankees 10, Brewers 4

 

 

John vs Vuckovich

 

Yankees keep killing the ball as Reggie Jackson and Graig Nettles each hit 3-run homers in the first. Pete Vuckovich takes his first loss after giving up 9 runs over 5 innings.  Tommy John allows 4 runs over 8 innings for his second win. Stormin' Gorman Thomas hits 2 homers.  MVP: Reggie Jackson 2-5, HR, 3RBI

 

9/16 - County Stadium

 

Brewers 5, Yankees 4

 

 

Haas vs Nelson

 

Moose Haas allows 2 runs over 7 innings to run his record to 5-2.  Yankees score 2 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th and Rollie Fingers gets Reggie to fly out with the bases loaded.  Jerry Mumphrey collects 4 hits including his 2nd homer in the loss to raise his season average to .346.  MVP: Mark Brouhard 2-4, 3B, 2RBI

 

New York goes into Boston for the weekend, while Milwaukee heads to Baltimore.