Pirates 1 Phillies 1

April 10, 1979 68 and clear breeze clicking at 15mph from right to left. The stars were

John Candelaria

brightly shining and the Phillies felt good.  However it changed instantly, when in the top of the 1st, the Pirates scored 2 off the starter Ruthven. Stennett had the first of his two doubles, the first one driving home two runs with two outs. the Pirates tagged Ruthven for another run in the top of the 2nd, when Garner doubled off the wall in left, moved to third on a ground out and then scored on another ground out.  The Phillies were stymied by Candelaria until the bottom of the 6th when with two outs, Luzinski singled, Schmidt walked and Maddox singled home Luzinski.  They would score one more time in the bottom of the 7th when Ruthven helped his cause with a single, smith hit a sharp groundball to Taveras at Short who couldn't handle it. With one out and runners at 1st and 2nd, Bowa delivered a meager groundball single just the outstretched glove of Taveras, a better shortstop would have gotten it.  Ruthven scored on the play and scoring ceased. Candelaria pitched the complete game picking up his first victory, while giving up 8 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs, 1 earned and striking out 5. On the other side of the field Ruthven took his first loss while pitching 8 innings allowing only 7 hits with no walks, however he allowed 3 to score.  Pirates 3-2

April 11, had two future hall of famers square off against each other. Carlton for the hometown crowd and Blyleven for the visiting Pirates.  The pirates drew first blood when they scored in the top of the 2nd. Stennett tripled with two outs and was doubled home by Nicosia. Another single tally added in the top of the 6th for the Pirates when Parker tripled and scored on a Sac Fly by Robinson.  In the bottom of the 6th, the Quakers had McBride lead off with a single, Rose reached on an error by Stennett and Luzinski put a high fastball over the fence in left center for 3 runs to take

Greg Luzinski

the lead. In the top of the 7th with Carlton laboring, the Pirates sent him to the showers after Nicosia singled and Moreno walked. Kaat gave up a Sac Fly but that was all to knot the score at 3.  In the bottom of the 8th Blyleven tweaked his back when Bowa bunted and he tried to make the play. He faced one more batter but left the game. Romo  entered getting Luzinski to fly to left. Schmidt was walked intentionally. Maddox, already 2-3 on the day got in a hole 0-2 before lashing a single to right center scoring Bowa. Philadelphia's Reed who had rescued Bird in the 8th pitched the 9th for a 1-2-3 inning as the Phillies evened the two game series. Phillies 4  Pirates 3

Houston Takes Series from Atlanta in Three Tight Games

Houston 4, Atlanta 3

W: Sambito (1-0)

L: Garber (0-1)

A Bob Horner homer off J.R. Richard and a sac fly from Dale Murphy gives Houston a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth. Reliever Gene Garber gets the first two outs before Cesar Cedeno singles, steals second and scores on a hit by Jose Cruz, who goes to second on the throw home. Enos Cabell then grounds a single between first and second to give the 'Stros the comeback win.

Atlanta, 4, Houston 2

W: Garber (1-1)

L: Andujar (0-1)

S: Devine (1)

Atlanta breaks a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth with a single to right-center by Glenn Hubbard that plates two off reliever Joaquin Andujar, who is not on his game. Adrian Devine comes in and promptly loads the bases for Houston with one out in the bottom of the ninth. But pinch hitter Jeffrey Leonard keeps both flaps down by striking out and then Jose Cruz ends the threat with an infield fly.

Houston 4, Atlanta 1

W: J. Niekro (1-0)

L: Matula (0-1)

S: Sambito (1)

Joe Niekro pitches eight innings of one run ball and drives in two with an RBI single. Atlanta rookie Rick Matula, in his first major league start, gives up three in the fourth inning but pitches well. Enos Cabell steals three bases for the running Astros but doesn't score any of the four runs. 

Orioles take 2 of 3 over White Sox

4-6-79  BAL 5-1

Dauer drives in 2 runs and Palmer goes the distance giving the O's opening game win.

4-7-79 BAL 5-1

Lee May collects 2 hits including a 2b with 3 RBI.  Flanagan goes 7.1 IP to pick up the win.

4-8-79 Sox 3-2

Tied at 2 after 8, Sox load the bases against reliever Tippy Martinez with Washington scoring go ahead run on a Soderholm SF.  LaGrow throws 2 scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win.

Padres Stun Dodgers. Champs Fall 3-1

Game 1
Gaylord Perry and Burt Hooten pitch well and the only runs scored were in the 8th when the Padres put up 3 on a 2 out bunt single by Ozzie Smith, a Mike Hargrove double and IBB to Dave Winfield, a Hooten wild pitch and a Jerry Turner 2 run single.  Padres win 3-0.

Game 2
It's Randy Jones for SD and Don Sutton for LA.  The Padres score one in the 2nd on a Barry Evans double and 2 more in the 4th on a Fernando Gonzalez single and a Fred Kendall SF to take a 3-0 lead.  The Dodgers got one back in the 4th off a SF by Steve Garvey and then scored 3 in the 7th on an error and two bases loaded walks to take the lead.  Bob Welch came on to pitch 2 scoreless innings for the save.  Dodgers win 4-3

Game 3
Eric Rasmussen and Andy Messersmith paired off in game 3 and Messersmith never found his rythem.  After the Dodgers gave him a 1-0 lead in the first Messersmith gave up 2 runs in the 2nd and 3rd and one more in the 4th before being lifted for Jerry Reuss who also gave up a run in the 4th to give San Diego a 6-1 lead after 4.  Winfield's 2 run HR in the 3rd went 435 feet and got out of the ballpark in a hurry.  Los Angeles got single runs in the 6th (a Garvey HR) and the 8th (a Garvey SF) but that was all the offense the Dodgers could muster.  Padres win 6-3

Game 4
Bob Owchinko and Doug Rau met in the last game of the series and LA struck early as Garvey once again hurt the Padres pitching staff with a 2 run HR in the first giving him 6 RBI for the series.  Rau held the Padres scoreless until the 6th when Turner hit a solo HR to cut the score in half.  Then with 2 out and a runner on first Rau came undone as he made the cardinal sin of walking the opposing pitcher.  San Diego followed that with a Richards single to load the bases and Ozzie Smith singled to center to score 2 runs to give the Padres the lead.  Lance Rautzhan came on to try and get the last out of the inning and immediately tossed a wild pitch to score Richards and San Diego led 4-2.  That 4th run proved big for the Padres as Dusty Baker hit a HR in the bottom of the 7th to bring the Dodgers within one but Steve Mura came on to get the last 6 outs.  Padres win 4-3 and win series 3-1

Mets Split With Cubs

Split the 2 games. Mets take game 1,  6 to 4 in 10 innings as Stearns smacks a 2 run homer to win it.  The Cubs win game 2, 4 to 0 as Holtzman and Sutter combined for 2 hitter.  

Opening Day! Coming Friday 1/31/14

Can Steve Garvey and the LA Dodgers do what no other team in ARAIGBB has yet to do?  Repeat as 

Can the Dodgers repeat in 1979?

World Series Champs!  Their quest will be underway this week as the OPENING DAY game disk will be sent out this Friday (1/31/14).  We still have 2 open teams (San Francisco Giants & Atlanta Braves) in case you know of anyone who would like to join.

If anyone is interested in posting to this blog, please let me know and I'll send you an invite.

1979 Topps Card Update Set - in progress!

As always, thanks to Marc Weiss for creating these awesome cards to use w/ our ARAIGBB 1979 game.

Tim Raines

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