Oakland Takes 3; Weirdness Takes Final DH

May 22, 1970 at Chicago – Reggie Jackson’s (10,11) second home run of the day, a 2-run shot in the T10, lifted Oakland to a 9-7 victory. Don Mincher (9) also enjoyed a huge day, going 4-4 with a 2B and HR.  

May 23, 1970 at Chicago – Catfish Hunter (6-5) hurled 7 1/3 innings of 1-run ball as Oakland wins 6-1. The game was a tight 2-1 until the T9 when the Athletics piled on 4 more. Rick Monday (3 hits) and Bert Campaneris (2-run HR) were the hitting stars.

May 24, 1970 (Game #1) at Chicago – A wild one on the South Side as the two clubs combined for 31 runs on 40 hits and 8 home runs. Monday singled home Tito Francono in the T12 to give Oakland the 16-15 win. Campy went crazy with 4 hits and 7 RBI, including a grand slam. Sal Bando also drove in 4, including a 3-run bomb. Monday and Joe Rudi contributed 4 hits apiece.

For the ChiSox, Bill Melton homered twice and drove in 5. Carlos May drove in 4 with a 2B and HR after entering later in the game. Gail Hopkins chipped in 4 hits. To make the whole thing even more surreal, I was playing this game in the midst of a total solar eclipse at 11 a.m. in Poland. You got the feeling anything could happen.

May 24, 1970 (Game #2) at Chicago – Evidently the hitters wore themselves out in Game 1, because the White Sox took the nightcap, 2-1. Bart Johnson (2-0) out-dueled Blue Moon Odom (2-5). Ed Herrman and Syd O’Brien (RBI single in the 7^th) had the RBI for Chicago. 

Baltimore Finds Boston To Be "No Cup of Tea"

The Boston Red Sox rolled through Memorial Stadium taking 3 or 4 games from the division leading Baltimore Orioles.

Game 1 set the tone for the series as the Red Sox gave up 8 runs in the last two frames of regular innings to eventually outlast the Orioles in overtime.  The 11 inning affair ended in a 9-8 Boston win. Carl Yastrezemski (.340 avg, 11 HR) homered twice in the win.

Game 2 saw Baltimore hustle some late inning runs (3 in the last 3 innings) to, this time, steal one back from Boston 3-2.  Jim Palmer (9-1, 1.67 ERA) threw a complete game to earn his league leading ninth win of the season.

Game 3 (the first of a double dip) came down to the final inning as both teams were knotted at 3-3 going into the 9th.  Oriole skipper Earl Weaver felt confident as ace Mike Cuellar (6-3, 2.81 ERA) seemed to have plenty of gas in the tank.  But a line drive double, down the first base line, by Mike Andrews would eventually lead to the go ahead (winning run).  Reggie Smith would then hit a single to right, driving in Andrews, for the eventual winning run.   Baltimore could not respond in the bottom half of the ninth as the Orioles would bow out losers.

George Scott (3 for 5) and Rico Petrocelli (3 for 4) recorded 6 of Boston's 10 hits in Game 4 as the Red Sox rolled to a 7-2 easy win.  Sonny Seibert (2-5, 4.97 ERA) went the distance striking out 5 to get the win.

Baltimore finished the series with a 26-16 record while Boston improves to 20-19

Angels Bash White Sox with Halos

May 18, 1970 at Chicago – Andy Messersmith (3-4) may want to sue the league for free agency. He has no grounds to sue his own team for lack of run support. California destroyed the White Sox 27-3 with a 30-hit explosion. The top 6 hitters in the Angels lineup (Sandy Alomar, Jim Fregosi, Roger Repoz, Alex Johnson, Jim Spencer and Ken McMullen) each had 4 hits. Repoz hit 3 HRs and drove in 6. Fregosi also drove in 6 and scored 5 runs for a 7-5-4-6 line. Wow! In case you record geeks are wondering (yeah, I looked it up); The MLB record is 30 by Texas against Baltimore in 2007. The Red Sox in 1950 and the White Sox in 1955 had 29. The Cardinals had 28 in 1929. The Indians had 27 in 1923.

May 19, 1970 at Chicago – Bobby Knoop’s 2-run single in the B8 capped a 4-run inning for the White Sox and a come-back 6-5 win. Wilbur Wood (5-1) grabbed the win in relief.

May 20, 1970 at Chicago – Angels hitters had halos over their batting helmets again, winning 11-6 with 20 more hits. McMullen and Spencer each has 3 hits and a big fly. SP Tom Murphy (3-6) joined the act with 2 hits, 2 R, 2 RBI and a HR 

Cubs Come to St. Louis and Pour Beer on the Home Team

The Cubbies continue to be a strong contender in the NL East, sweeping the tough Cards squad and moving to 21-11. They won all three of these games pretty decisively, scoring boatloads of runs and holding down the Cards offense.

Game One: Cubs 10, Cards 3
W: Decker (5-1)
L: Torrez (3-4)

The Cards gave the Cubs a few gift runs, as St. Louis starter Mike Torrez walked five with no Ks in 5.2 innings, and the Cards played hot potato with three key errors. The Cubs worked their 10 hits efficiently (only one an extra base knock)  to score 10 times, as both Don Kessinger and Jack Hiatt knocked in two apiece in the balanced attack. Youngster Joe Decker goes to 5-1 and only allows four hits in six innings.

Game Two: Cubs 9, Cards 0
W: Holtzman (5-3)
L: Carlton (3-4)

Kenny Holtzman continues to round into good pitching shape, winning his third in a row and hurling a complete game masterpiece. While he was shutting out the Cards on six hits, the Cubs offense again was in full throttle. The great Billy WIlliams went three for four with two home runs, his 13th and 14th, and drove in four to lead the scoring. His veteran teammate Ernie Banks went three for five and continues to surprise with a solid campaign, as he's hitting around .315.

Game Three: Cubs 5, Cards 1
W: Jenkins (5-3)
L: Briles (1-2)

Fergie Jenkins followed Holtzman with another pitching gem for Chicago, throwing a complete game six hitter with six Ks. The Cards' Nelson Briles also was on command early, and the score was 2-1 Cubs going into the eighth. Dick Allen's bat finally awoke, as he hit his seventh homer of the year for the Cards' scoring. But Chicago put it away with three runs in the top of the eighth off reliever Sal Campisi, led by an RBI single from Banks and a ground rule double from Hiatt to plate two more.

The Sens Split with the O's

The Senators at least gain a moral victory, winning game one against the mighty Orioles team and making game two a close affair.

Game One: Washington 4, Baltimore 2. Dick Bosman only allows two runs in eight innings to move to 4-2, and the Sens get offensive help from Mike Epstein, who blasts his sixth homer, and Lee Maye, who hits his second. Tom Phoebus slides to 2-3 with the loss.

Game Two: Baltimore 3, Washington 1. The Orioles look like they are about to blow out Washington early on, as they touch suddenly hittable starter Casey Cox (3-5) for three early runs, including long shots from Brooks Robinson (6) and Davey Johnson (1). While Baltimore can't keep up the scoring, Washington can't do any damage against the formidable Dave McNally, who only allows three hits in nine innings to move to 4-2.

Herrmann; Sox Sweep Away Royals

May 15, 1970 at Chicago – Ken Berry (2) went 4-4 including a solo homer in the 7^th that lifted the White Sox to a 6-5 win over Kansas City in the opener of a 4-game set. The ChiSox struck for 4 runs in the opening frame, including a 446-foot bomb by Ed Herrmann (5) that just missed the RF rooftop. Joel Horlen (2-5) was strong on the bump in the early going, but yielded 1 in the 6^th and 4 in the 7^th to lose the lead. Syd O’Brien’s (1) solo shot tied the game for the Sox earlier in the 7^th, setting up Berry’s heroics 2 outs later. Wilbur Wood (6) got the final 3 outs and has now saved 6 of the ChiSox 10 wins in 1970.

May 16, 1970 at Chicago – Ken Berry singled home PR Rich Morales with 2 outs in the B10 to give the Pale Hose a 4-3 victory. Herrmann (6,7) kept the Sox in the game driving in 3 runs with two HRs into the lower level in RF. Wood (4-1) notched the win in relief. Amos Otis had 3 hits for the Royals.

May 17, 1970 (Game #1) at Chicago – Ed Herrmann (8) continued to feast on Royals pitching with a double, home run and 4 more RBI in a 10-7 Chicago win. He was joined at the table by O’Brien, Carlos May and Bobby Knoop who chomped 3 hits apiece. Joe Keough (3) went bat crazy for KC with 4-5, a HR and 5 RBI.  Otis had 3 more hits and extended a hitting streak to 11. Gerry Janeski (2-3) started and won for the home club. Dick Drago (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season.

May 17, 1970 (Game #2) at Chicago – Ed Herrmann (9) was weeping in the White Sox locker room after the game; he was so sorry to see the KC pitchers leave town. The Chicago backstop hit his 5^th HR in 4 games and added another single and 2 RBI in a 10-3 Chicago win, capping a sweep of the DH and the series. May and Walt “No-Neck” Williams chipped in 3 hits each. If not for the Royals’ Pat Kelly (2,3) and his two taters and 3 RBI, Bart Johnson (1-0) would have had a shutout in his first start of the year. 

Bucs - Cards Split Pair

May 13, 1970 at St. Louis – Bob Moose (2-2) was in the showers before most fans had the mustard and relish on their hot dogs. St. Louis scored 4 in the 1^st, 4 in the 2^nd and 7 in the 3^rd on its way to a 16-4 rout of the Pirates. Dick Allen (6) was the biggest hitting star with 3 hits and 5 RBI, including a double and home run. Bob Gibson (4-2) went on cruise control (if that’s possible for him) through 7 innings.

May 14, 1970 at St. Louis – Dock Ellis (4-2) scattered 9 hits and surrendered no earned runs as the Bucs split the short series with a 4-1 win. Al Oliver banged out 3 hits to lead the Lumber Company.