Monday, February 27, 2017

Games of Saturday, July 12

Kansas City       47     34      .580     ---
Seattle               46     35       .567     1
Chicago             41     36      .532      4
California          40     40       .500     6.5
Montreal           39     40       .494     7
Philadelphia      38     42       .475     8.5
San Diego         33     44       .429   12
Cleveland          33     46      .418    13

Sunday's games
Cleveland (Tiant) at Montreal (Jaster)
San Diego (Kelley) at California (May)

Cleveland 6, Montreal 0: Sam McDowell threw a one-hit shutout, striking out 13 and walking none. He hit a batter and another Expo reached on an error. Jose Cardenal and Lon Klimchock each homered for Cleveland, and Larry Brown went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a walk. Howie Reed took the loss.

Cleveland 11, Montreal 2: Tony Horton hit two homers and drove in seven runs, and Mike Paul allowed seven hits in the complete game as the Indians swept the doubleheader. Horton also singled, walked and scored three runs. Ray Fosse went 3-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored. Gary Waslewski surrendered 10 runs in 3.1 innings.

Philadelphia 6, Seattle 4: Dick Allen hit three-run homer in the first inning and doubled and scored in the seventh as the Phillies held on for the win. Starter and winner Lowell Palmer didn't allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth but allowed three runs in five innings. Al Raffo (two innings), Turk Farrell (one) and Bill Wilson (one) combined for four innings of one-run relief. Mike Hegan homered for the Pilots.

Chicago 6, Kansas City 0: Tommy John allowed four hits in seven innings, Bill Melton hit a two-run homer and Carlos May scored twice as the White Sox throttled the Royals. John walked three and fanned one before coming out for a pinch-hitter, and relievers Jerry Nyman and Jack Hamilton completed the shutout. Roger Nelson took the loss.

California 6, San Diego 5: The Angels erupted for three runs in the bottom of the ninth against a pair of Padres relievers to pull out the win. Billy Cowan hit a one-out homer off Jack Baldschun, and after singles by Sandy Alomar and Jim Fregosi, Jim Spencer doubled them both home. Bill McCool took the loss; Pedro Borbon was the winner. Roberto Pena was 5-for-5 for San Diego with a pair of doubles and two RBIs. Rich Reichardt hit a two-run homer in the fourth off Padres starter Johnny Podres.

Player of the Day: Sam McDowell, Cleveland

Games of Friday, July 11

Kansas City       47     33      .588     ---
Seattle               46     34       .575     1
Chicago             40     36      .526      5
Montreal           39     38       .506     6.5
California          39     40       .494     7.5
Philadelphia      37     42       .468     9.5
San Diego         33     43       .434   12
Cleveland          31     46      .402    14.5

Saturday's games
Seattle (Marshall) at Philadelphia (Palmer)
Cleveland (McDowell and Paul) at Montreal (Reed and Waslewski), 2
Chicago (John) at Kansas City (Nelson)
San Diego (Podres) at California (Kealey)


Philadelphia 6, Cleveland 3: Don Money hit a three-run homer and Cookie Rojas went 4-for-4 for the Phillies. Woodie Fryman went eight innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, and John Boozer pitched around a pair of walks in the ninth for the save. The Phillies turned three double plays, including a nifty 3-6-3 started by Deron Johnson, who shifted to first base for the inning. Steve Hargan took the loss for the Tribe.

Seattle 4, Montreal 2: Steve Barber threw eight scoreless innings for the win. Steve Hovley went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored. Loser Steve Renko allowed two earned runs in 7.1 innings for the Expos. Montreal scored twice in the ninth off Bob Locker.

San Diego 4, Kansas City 2: Nate Colbert hit a two-run homer and both he and Ollie Brown scored twice. Joe Niekro went seven-plus innings for the win, and Billy McCool got the final out on a long fly by Pat Kelly for the save. Steve Jones took the loss. Ed Kirkpatrick was injured (15 days) and is replaced on the active roster by Joe Keough. Kirkpatrick is eligible to return July 27.

San Diego 11, Kansas City 4: Larry Stahl and Ollie Brown hit back-to-back homers as the Padres romped to the doubleheader sweep. Stahl also tripled for three RBIs and two runs. Nate Colbert was 3-for-5 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Tommy Sisk allowed four runs in the first two innings but steadied for five shutout frames after that; he allowed eight hits in his seven innings. Walt Hriniak went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk for San Diego. Jerry Adair went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a double for the Royals.

Chicago 17, California 7: Bobby Knoop hit a grand slam and a three-run homer for the White Sox. He also had two singles and a walk, scored three times and drove in seven. The Sox batted around twice, totalling 20 hits and six walks, and the Angels committed a pair of errors that resulted in five unearned runs. Gary Bell allowed five runs, three earned in six innings for the win, and Sammy Ellis worked the final three innings for a long save. After the game, the Angels returned Gary Kolb to the emergency list and activated Lou Johnson.

Player of the Day: Bobby Knoop, Chicago

Friday, February 24, 2017

Games of Thursday, July 10

Kansas City       47     31      .603     ---
Seattle               45     34       .570     2.5
Chicago             39     36      .520      6.5
Montreal           39     37       .513     7
California          39     39       .500     8
Philadelphia      36     42       .462   11
San Diego         31     43       .419   14
Cleveland          31     45      .408    15

Friday's games
Cleveland (Hargan) at Philadelphia (Fryman)
Seattle (Barber) at Montreal (Renko)
San Diego (Niekro and Sisk) at Kansas City (Jones and Morehead)
Chicago (Bell) at California (Geishert)

California 3, Chicago 2: Bill Voss scored the tying run in the fourth and drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth to give Tom Murphy enough backing. Eddie Fisher retired pinch-hitter Tom McCraw with two on in the ninth to end it. Bill Melton hit a two-run homer in the first for all the Chicago runs. Murphy went 8.2 innings, allowing seven hits. Paul Edmondson went seven innings, allowing one earned run on eight hits and taking the loss. Tom Egan of the Angels was injured and must sit the second game of the doublehead and Friday as well.

Chicago 7, California 3: Gail Hopkins drove in four runs with a homer and a double, and four other White Sox hit solo homers as Chicago overpowered Angels ace Andy Messersmith. Ken Berry and Carlos May homered off Messersmith, and Buddy Bradford and Bill Melton connected off reliever Bob Priddy. Joel Horlen allowed a first-inning homer to Jim Fregosi, but allowed just one more run, unearned, in seven innings for the win. After the game, the Angels returned Dave Campbell to the emergency list and added Gary Kolb from the emergency list for Friday's game.

Philadelphia 6, Cleveland 5 (10 innings): Larry Hisle singled in Rick Joseph in the bottom of the 10th as the Phillies recovered from blowing a 5-2 lead in the ninth. Mike Ryan hit a pair of homers off Cleveland starter Stan Williams. Turk Farrell vultured the win in relief, and Ron Law took the loss. Williams allowed two earned runs in eight innings, allowing six hits, and Rick Wise also went eight innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits.

Montreal 6, Seattle 3: Mack Jones hit a three-run homer in the first inning and later scored another run for the Expos. Bill Stoneman went the distance, allowing five hits but walking six; he struck out eight. Gene Brabender allowed five runs in three innings for Seattle and took the loss.

San Diego 4, Kansas City 3: Nate Colbert scored three times for the Padres and Al Ferrara doubled in a pair of runs to help Clay Kirby down the first-place Royals. Kirby allowed just five hits in eight innings but walked five. Frank Reberger and Bill McCool combined for a scoreless ninth. Wally Bunker went the distance for the loss, allowed three earned runs on nine hits; Kansas City's fielders were charged with three errors. Cito Gaston was injured and will miss the Friday doubleheader.

Player of the Day: Mike Ryan, Philadelphia

Monday, February 20, 2017

Games of Wednesday, July 9

Kansas City       47     30      .610     ---
Seattle               45     33       .577     2.5
Chicago             38     35      .521      7
Montreal           38     37       .507     8
California          38     38       .500     8.5
Philadelphia      35     42       .455   12
Cleveland          31     44      .413    15
San Diego         30     43       .411   15

Thursday's games
Chicago (Edmondson and Horlen) at California (Murphy and Messersmith), 2
Cleveland (Williams) at Philadelphia (Wise)
Seattle (Brabender) at Montreal (Stoneman)
San Diego (Kirby) at Kansas City (Bunker)

Cleveland 8, Philadelphia 7: The Indians blew a six run lead but came back to win anyway. Cleveland scored five unearned runs in the second off Grant Jackson, benefiting from a pair of Phillie errors and a passed ball. Luis Tiant hit a solo homer in the fourth to make it 6-0, but Tiant walked three in a seven-run Philadelphia sixth. He finished the inning and wound up with the win. Horacio Pina faced just six hitters for a two-inning save. Bill Wilson took the loss.

Cleveland 3, Philadelphia 2 (11 innings): Duke Sims tied the game with a solo homer in the top of the ninth, then hit a two-run shot in the 11th to give Cleveland the doubleheader sweep. Phillies starter Bill Champion went 10 innings, allowing one run on seven hits for the no-decision; Turk Farrell took the loss in relief. Larry Burchart worked 3.2 innings of relief for the win; Ron Law got the final out for the save.

Seattle 10, Montreal 3: Don Mincher homered and scored three times as the Pilots took advantage of four Expos errors. Tommy Harper also homered for Seattle, and Steve Hovley tripled home two runs. Bob Meyer allowed three runs in seven-plus innings for the win. Mike Wegener allowed nine runs, six earned, in five innings for the loss. Ron Fairly homered for the Expos.

Montreal 6, Seattle 4: The Pilots bullpen -- and fielding malfeasance -- allowed five runs in the seventh and eighth innings as the Expos salvaged a split of the doubleheader. Dan McGinn got the win with two hitless innings of relief; John O'Donoghue took the loss after allowing three runs, one unearned, in one inning. Mike Hegan hit a two-run homer for Seattle in the first inning.

Kansas City 3, San Diego 2: Joe Foy hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put the Royals ahead. Dick Drago got the win with 8.1 innings of two-hit ball, allowing one earned run. Moe Drabowsky entered after Drago walked Walt Hriniak to get the final two outs. Al Santorini worked all eight innings for the Padres for the loss. Ed Kirkpatrick went 4-for-4.

Kansas City 12, San Diego 2: Jim Rooker allowed four hits in the complete game and doubed home a pair of runs himself as part of a 10-run fifth inning for the Royals. Fifteen Royals batted in that inning, and six hit doubles, including four in a row from Joe Foy, Paul Schall, Juan Rios and Buck Martinez. One of the runs the Padres scored off Rooker was unearned. Rios went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, runs and RBIs.

California 5, Chicago 2: Jim Spencer hit a three-run homer in the seventh as the Angels overtook the White Sox. Jim McGlothlin allowed two runs on eight hits in seven innings, and Hoyt Wilhelm and Ken Tatum each threw a scoress inning. Jim Fregosi tripled and score a run; he also drove in a run on a sac fly. Gary Peters took the loss.

Player of the Day: Duke Sims, Cleveland

Monday, February 13, 2017

Games of Tuesday, July 8

Kansas City       45     30      .600     ---
Seattle               44     32       .579     1.5
Chicago             38     34      .528      5.5
Montreal           37     36       .507     7
California          37     38       .493     8
Philadelphia      35     40       .467   10
San Diego         30     41       .423   13
Cleveland          29     44      .397    15

Wednesday's games
Cleveland (Tiant and Ellsworth) at Philadelphia (Jackson and Champion),2
Seattle (Meyer and Pattin) at Montreal (Robertson and Wegener), 2
San Diego (Santorini and Ross) at Kansas City (Rooker and Drago), 2
Chicago (Peters) at California (McGlothlin)

Cleveland 6, Philadelphia 2: Sam McDowell threw a four-hitter while striking out nine, and Vern Fuller drove in three runs for Cleveland. The Phillies didn't get a hit until the fifth inning and didn't score until Dick Allen's two-run homer in the ninth. Fuller went 3-for-4 with a homer.

California 5, Chicago 4: Billy Cowan tripled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Angels rallied from a 4-1 deficit. Eddie Fisher got the win with two scoreless innings of relief, and Ken Tatum worked a perfect ninth for the save. Tommy John threw all eight innings for Chicago, allowing nine hits; at the plate, John had three hits and three RBIs.

Chicago 2, California 0: Carlos May's two-out homer in the eighth -- which followed an error by Roger Repoz -- gave the White Sox a split of the double header. Billy Wynne went seven innings, allowing five hits, for the win, and Wilbur Wood worked two hitless innings for the save. Hoyt Wilhelm took the loss in relief of Clyde Wright, who threw seven innings of four-hit ball. Wynne was injured (10 games) and is replaced on the roster by Sammy Ellis; Wynne is eligible to return July 19. Angels infielder Aurelio Rodriguez and Sandy Alomar are out for two days; they remain on the roster. Vic Davalillo is deactivated and Dave Campbell selected from the emergency list as the Angels have just one player to cover two infield spots without him. Davalillo may return for games of July 19.

Kansas City 3, San Diego 2: Mike Hedlund  threw a complete game four-hitter for the Royals. Hedlund retired 10 straight Padres in the second through fifth innings and 12 straight in the fifth through ninth. Chuck Harrison went 2-for-3 with a run, an RBI and a double for Kansas City, Dick Kelley threw an eight-inning complete game for the Padres, allowing six hits. After the game, Kansas City reactivated Ed Kirkpatrick and deactived Joe Keough, who may return for games of July 19.

Player of the Day: Mike Hedlund, Kansas City

Sunday, February 12, 2017

The emergency players

It's almost exactly the midpoint of this season, and I have belatedly had an idea that promises to solve one of the problems of this league -- specifically, the lack of depth on some rosters.

The Phillies have only 26 players. The Indians have only nine pitchers. The Angels have one player as the backup at three infield positions, and he almost never played. And perhaps most significant, several teams have just two catchers. I'm using the injury rules; this creates possibilities of players being put in uncoded positions for several games, which is unrealistic.

I have created an "emergency player pool" of 15 cards -- players from other 1969 teams who had limited playing time (less than 100 at-bats for position players, less than 40 innings for pitchers) and little production. I don't want players who are clearly better than the rostered players they might be replacing.

They can be used if:

  • A team falls to eight pitchers (pitchers only)
  • A team falls to one catcher (catchers only)
  • A team is without a player coded for one of the other seven positions (that position only)
  • A team falls to 23 eligible players (any position)

Emergency players may not be active if there is a roster player who can fill the role. They cannot remain on the active roster once the emergency is over. The 10-day demotion rule will not apply to the emergency players. They are not eligible for September callups. Until September, the 25-man roster still applies; add an e-player, somebody has to come off the roster. The 10-day rule for inactivations apply still to rostered players

The list:

Pitchers: Bo Belinsky (Pittsburgh), Ken Brett (Boston), Jerry Crider (Minnesota), Al Jackson (Cincinnati)

Catchers: Gary Kolb (Pittsburgh), Tom Tischinski (Minnesota)

Infielders: Ken Boyer, 1B (Los Angeles); Dave Campbell, 1B, 2, 3B (Detroit); Jerry DaVanon, SS, 2B (St. Louis); Cesar Gutierrez, SS (Detroit); John Miller, 1B, LF, 3B, 2B (Los Angeles); Nate Oliver, 2B (ChicagoNL)

Outfielders: Gates Brown, LF (Detroit); Ralph Garr, LF, (Atlanta); Leon McFadden, RF, SS, LF (Houston).

I wish I'd thought of this idea before the season, but better late than never. The emergency list will be available for use after the games of July 8.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Games of Monday, July 7

Kansas City       44     30      .595     ---
Seattle               44     32       .579     1
Chicago             37     33      .529      5
Montreal           37     36       .507     6.5
California          36     37       .493    7.5
Philadelphia      35     39       .473    9
San Diego         30     40       .429   12
Cleveland          28     44      .389    15

Tuesday's games
Chicago (John and Wynne) at California (May and Wright), 2
Cleveland (McDowell) at Philadelphia (Johnson)
San Diego (Kelley) at Kansas City (Hedlund)

Kansas City 9, Philadelphia 4: Bob Oliver drove in five runs, four of them with a homer in the seventh, as the Royals steamrolled the Phillies. Bill Butler allowed just one hit in the first four innings, but Johnny Callison hit a two-run homer in the fifth and Butler only went six innings, allowing four runs -- which was good enough for the win. Dave Morehead threw three hitless innings to get credit for a save. Joe Foy drove in three runs for the Royals, and Scott Northey scored three times.

Kansas City 6, Philadelphia 1: Roger Nelson threw a four-hitter and the Royals got runs from six different hitters as they swept the doubleheader. Bob Oliver, Jackie Hernandez, Ellie Rodriguez and Nelson himself each drove in a run and scored a run. Nelson walked one and struck out six.

Player of the Day; Bob Oliver, Kansas City

Monday, February 6, 2017

Games of Sunday, July 6

Kansas City       42     30      .583     ---
Seattle               44     32       .579     ---
Chicago             37     33      .529     4
Montreal           37     36       .507     5.5
California          36     37       .493    6.5
Philadelphia      35     37       .486    7
San Diego         30     40       .429   11
Cleveland          28     44      .389    14

Monday's games
Kansas City (Butler and Nelson) at Philadelphia (Fryman and Palmer), 2

Montreal 2, California 0: Bill Stoneman threw a four-hit shutout, and his teammates turned their three hits (and an Angels error) into two runs. Stoneman stuck out five and walked three; he also threw two wild pitches. Loser Andy Messersmith allowed one earned run in six innings.

Cleveland 10, Chicago 6: Max Alvis' grand slam in the top of the ninth capped a seven-run ambush of White Sox relief ace Wilbur Wood as the Indians overcame a 6-0 deficit after the third inning. Tony Horton also homered for the Tribe. The White Sox "drove in" three of their runs on GIDP. Ron Law got the win with two innings of scoreless relief.

Seattle 5, San Diego 1: John Gelnar struck out 10 in eight innings of five-hit ball, and the Pilots hit three solo homers off Joe Niekro to pull into a virtual tie for first place. Tommy Harper led of for Seattle with a homer, and Don Mincher and Wayne Comer also homered. Gelnar retired 15 Padres in a row in the second through sixth innings. Steve Hovley and Jerry McNertney each went 3-for-4 for Seattle.

Player of the Day; Max Alvis, Cleveland

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Games of Saturday, July 5

Kansas City       42     30      .583     ---
Seattle               43     32       .573     0.5
Chicago             37     32      .536     3.5
California          36     36       .500    6
Montreal           36     36       .500     6
Philadelphia      35     37       .486    7
San Diego         30     39       .435   10.5
Cleveland          27     44      .380    14.5

Sunday's games
California (Messersmith) at Montreal (Stoneman)
Cleveland (Hargan) at Chicago (Horlen)
San Diego (Niekro) at Seattle (Gelnar)

Philadelphia 12, Kansas City 11: Deron Johnson's three-run homer with two out capped a stunning five-run ninth-inning rally as the Phillies overtook the Royals.  All five of the Phillies' final inning tallies came with two outs. Johnson also singled twice and walked; he scored twice and drove in four. Mike Fiore and Bob Oliver each had two-run homers for the Royals. Turk Farrell got the win in relief; Dave Wickersham was the loser.

Philadelphia 4, Kansas City 2: Rick Wise threw a five-hitter as the Phillies swept the doubleheader. One of the two Royals runs was unearned. The Phillies had three sac flies for the game off Wally Bunker, who worked all eight innings for Kansas City, allowing eight hits and four earned runs.

California 7, Montreal 6 (11 innings): The Angels survived a five-run ninth inning from the Expos. Jay Johnstone, whose error in center started the ninth inning meltdown, drove home the game winner with a base hit off Dan McGinn. Ken Tatum vultured the win, with Hoyt Wilhelm striking out two in the bottom of the 11th for the save. Rick Reichardt hit a two-run homer in the sixth for the Angels, while Rusty Staub went 3-for-4 with two walks, a run and an RBI for Montreal.

California 5, Montreal 3: Vern Geishert allowed four hits in seven innings and the Angels stole three bases off the Howie Reed-John Boccabella battery to complete the doubleheader sweep. Two of the Angels' runs were unearned as the Expos were charged with three errors. Dick Radatz took the loss. Mack Jones hit a three-run homer off Geishert in the seventh.

Chicago 6, Cleveland 3: Bobby Knoop hit a three-run homer and Carlos May a solo shot in the White Sox' six-run seventh. The Indians helped fuel the fire with a pair of errors. Winner Paul Edmondson went seven innings, allowing three Cleveland runs on four hits, one a homer by Duke Sims. Luis Tiant had a two-hit shutout through six innings but didn't retire a man in the seventh. Dan Osinski retired all four men he faced for the save.

Seattle 9, San Diego 4: Wayne Comer hit a three-run homer and Don Mincher a two-run homer as the Pilots overpowered the Padres.  Mincher also doubled and walked with three runs scored, and Steve Hovley had three hits and a pair of runs. Gene Brabender worked eight inning for the win, allowing two runs on five hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts.

Player of the Day:  Deron Johnson, Philadelphia.