Tribe takes 2 of 3 from visiting A's

Game 1:

Mike Heath, Mitchell Page and Rickey Henderson homered off an ineffective Bert Blyleven, L ( 2 - 3) to lead the A's to an easy 12 - 3 win.  Blyleven's ERA soared to 5.09 and the Indian staff saw their ERA sky rocket to 5.64.  Keough got the win with a complete game 7-hitter to record his third victory against no defeats.
 
The A's put the game away in the third with 5 runs to lead 9 - 0 as Blyleven lasted only 3 2/3 innings in yielding 9 runs, 8 of which were earned and surrendered 8 hits and 4 walks.
 
Game 2:

The tribe evened the series with a 4 - 2 win the second game as John Denny W, (2 -3) went the distance yielding 7 hits.  His fine performance lowered his ERA to a mere 7.49.  Wayne Gross hit his third homer of the year with a runner on to account for the two Oakland runs.  Andre Thornton and Rick Manning each drove in two runs for the Tribe.
 
Game 3:

Cleveland took the rubber game of the series 3 - 2 behind a fine performance by Rick Waits W, (2 - 3) who scattered 10 hits over  8 innings to get the win and lower his ERA to 8.04.  Dan Spillner set down the A's in order in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season.  Cleveland who managed only six hits off Steve McCatty, L (2 - 3) scored all three runs in the third as Thornton walked to lead off the inning followed by singles by Rick Manning and Tom Veryzer which drove in the first run.  Miguel Dilone grounded out to drive in the second run and with two out Mike Hargrove singled to drive in what proved to be the winning run.
 
A single by Mike Heath and a double by Tony Armas accounted for two Oakland tallies in the fourth but that was the end of the scoring.  --Jim Clouser--

Amazin's take 2 of 3 from 'Stros

New York comes into Houston for a three games series after Houston came off of a 29 inning game against Philly. Needless to say Houston's pitching staff was dilapidated.

New York too full advantage taking the first two games.

Game 1

Pat Zachry went 7.1 innings giving up only 3 hits improving to 2-1 for NY and getting the win as the much maligned Neil Allen got his 6th save. Lee Mazzilli broke open a scoreless game in the 6th with a 2 run shot to center which proved to be the game winner. Joe Niekro got start for Houston on only 3 days rest due to the previous extra inning game. He went 7.1 giving 5 hits and suffered the loss dropping to 2-2. Frank LaCorte and Billy Smith finished out the game for Houston. Houston got 1 run back in the 8th on a Garcia single scoring Craig Reynolds. Final 2-1

Game 2

A complete disaster for Houston. New York wins big 15-0. Future Astro Mike Scott threw 7.2 flawless innings giving up 2 hits and getting the win (4-1).  Jesse Orosco came in to mop it up.  New York pounded out 21 hits. Every Met batter got a piece of the action. All 8 scored at least one run and had an RBI. Houston's pitching staff still recovering sent Joaquin Andujar to the hill. He pitched until his arm started bothering him, 6 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs. Billy Smith came in to take one for the team for the second day in a row. He went 2.2 innings 13 hits, 11 runs. He pitched until he had to be removed due to a sore arm.

Game 3

Things finally got back to normal for Houston as lefty Bob Knepper (4-1) took the mound fully rested. He got the complete game giving up 5 hits and 1 run. Houston scored 3 in the first including an Alan Ashby 2 run homer. New York started Tim Leary 0-1 who was pulled after one plus. The Mets used 5 pitchers on the night. Houston wins 5-1. Great series!!! Thanks

--submitted by Mark Angle--

AL Leaders as of Week #6

NL Leaders After Week 6

Standings After Week #6

Billy Ball takes 3 of 4 up in Beantown

8/27 - Fenway Park
Rick Langford vs Mike Torrez
Oakland 16, Boston 13 (12 inn)
Boston had this game in the bag after posting a 7-0 lead and chasing Langford before the second inning was done.  5 runs in the top of the 3rd made it a game again, but 3 more runs off reliever Brian Kingman made it 10-5 Boston.  A solo run in the 5th made it 11-5.  Oakland would strike for 8 runs over the final 4 innings to give themselves an unlikely 13-11 lead.  Boston forced extra innings with 2 in the bottom of the 9th thanks to a 2 out 2 run shot by the veteran, Yaz, off of Beard.  Neither team scored over the next 2 innings, which was probably the biggest shock of all.  Oakland errupted for 3 in the top of the 12th thanks to an RBI single by Jeff Newman, a ground out by Chicken Stanley and a bases loaded walk to Dwayne Murphy.  Rainey took the loss and Beard got the undeserved win.  Both teams combined for 39 hits and 19 runs.  Dave McKay had a 5 RBI day and Tony Armas had a 4 RBI day for the victors.  Rich Gedman had a 6 RBI day in a losing effort.

8/28 - Steve McCatty vs Frank Tanana
Oakland 6, Boston 2
The A's got a much needed complete game effort from Steve McCatty, who saved a tired and worn out bullpen after yesterday's slugfest.  McCatty nursed a 1-0 lead until the A's posted 3 in the top of the 6th.  Jeff Newman's 2 out, 2 run single was followed up by Rickey Henderson's RBI single.  Tony Armas' 2 run shot in the 9th made it 6-2.

8/29 - Ed Figueroa vs John Tudor

Boston 5, Oakland 4 (12 innings)
With their staff worn out from overwork the A's went to ailing veteran Ed Figureroa.  "Figgy" was in the process of turning back the clock with 3+ scoreless innings of work, but then blew out his arm and immediately left the game.  The normally reliable Tom Underwood was called on for spot duty, but he came he came up woefully short.  Boston tallied 3 runs in the 7th to tie the game up at 4-4.  Backup catcher Gary Allenson was the unlikely hero with a two out 2 run double.  Glenn Hoffman lined one to center to score Allenson to tie the game up.  Jeff Jones, who threw 3 shutout innings in relief of Underwood took the hill for his 4th inning of work in the 10th only to see his good string come to an end.  Rem-dog led off the inning with a clean single to center that eluded Murphy's gold glove for a rare error.  With Remy on second Carney Lansford lucked out with a slow roller down the third base line that wound up being an infield single.  Dewey Evans popped out to second with the infield drawn in.  Jim Rice was given and intentional pass to load the bases and create a force everywhere.  Up stepped the aging warrior, Yaz, who hit a bullet to short that Chicken Stanley inexplicably threw to first and didn't either throw home or to second for a DP shot.  Rem-dog scored easily and the Sahx notched the win.

8/30
Mike Norris vs Dennis Eckersley

Oakland 9, Boston 1
In a battle of two aces heading in opposite directions, Mike Norris bumped his record up to 3-0 (1.87 ERA) with 7 and 1/3 solid innings of work where he scattered 8 hits.  Norris didn't need to be overly sharp thanks to "The Eck" giving up 8 runs in 2 2/3 innings.  Light hitting Oakland shortstop, Fred "Chicken" Stanley made up for his 10th inning gaffe the day before, by going 3 for 4.  Tony Armas was 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI's.  Rickey Henderson was the only Oakland starter to not get a hit.  In fact he struck out looking 3 times.  Rainey did a fantastic job throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for Boston.  Eckersley took the loss and saw his record drop to 0-4 and his ERA balloon to 6.58.

Friars take 3 of 4 from Redbirds @ Jack Murphy

Game 1 at San Diego,

Both teams battled hard and after 9 innings, the score was tied at 3-3.  However, Joe Lefebvre hit a homerun off Bob Sykes in the bottom half of the 10th inning. John Curtis threw 3 innings of relief to earn the victory. San Diego 4....St. Louis 3

 

Game 2 at San Diego,

Game two went extra innings as well.  Larry Sorenson and Chris Welsh battled for their respective teams but were not around to earn the win.  With 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th, Joe Lefebvre tripled and then scored when pinch hitter Randy Bass singled off Jim Kaat to score Lefebvre...San Diego 3....St. Louis 2.

 

Game 3 at San Diego,

Cardinal lefty Sykes had a no hitter until the sixth when pinch hitter Barry Evans lined a single.  Sykes was holding a 2-0 lead until the 8th inning when the Padres struck for 4 runs to knock out Sykes and reliever Bruce Sutter.  Gene Richards got a two run triple to break the tie and give the win to Gary Lucas.  Danny pitched a scoreless 9th to earn his first save of the season. San Diego 4....St. Louis 2.

 

Game 4 at San Diego,

The Cardinals salvaged the final game as they shut down the Padres.  Forsch went the distance surrendering only 5 hits and no runs to even his record at 2-2.  Tim Lollar got the loss and fell to 2-2.  George Hendrick and former Padre Gene Tenace for a pair of 2 run homeruns to lead the Cardinal attack. Tommy Herr added a run in the ninth inning with an RBI triple, his fourth of the year.  St. Louis 5...San Diego 0.

--submitted by Joey Scigliano--