The Cubs, who were in the hunt for a wild card spot, need a miracle, as they lost 2 out of 3 to the Cardinals.

Game 1    Cubs 6   Cardinals 4
Dennis Lamp took the ball for Chicago in game 1, while Vinegar Bend Mizell started for St. Louis. Lamp started the 1st by giving up 3 singles in the inning, allowing a run for a quick Cardinal lead. Chicago would follow with a barrage. Ivan DeJesus would lead off with a ground out. Ted Sizemore would stroke one up the middle. Buckner would foul one back to the catcher. With 2 down, Dave Kingman would hammer one into the seats in left.Bobby Murcer would reach on an error. Back to back doubles by Onteveros and Martin and a single by Barry Foote would put 5 runs on the board for Chicago. 2 Cardinal runs in the 5th would cut the lead to 5-3. Both teams would trade runs in the 8th with Chicago's run coming on Dave Kingman's second homer of the game. Bruce Sutter who came in the 9th would give up a walk to Don Blasingame. Balsingame would then be gunned down by Foote trying to steal 2nd. Sutter would retire the next two batters and the Cubs had game 1.

Game 2   Cubs 3  Cardinal  6
Chicago would start off game 2 in fine fashion as they would score 2 runs in the 1st and add one in the 2nd. Dave Kingman would hit his 3rd HR in the first. With Mike Krukow pitching a 2 hit shutout through the 5th, things were looking good. Krukow had command, but he fell apart in the 6th. The 6th would feature a load bases clearing double by pinch hitter Rocky Nelson and the Cards would score 4 in the inning to take the lead. Two more Cardinal runs in the 7th would do the Cubs in, as St. Louis pitching would shut the Cubs down the rest of the way.

Game 3 Cubs 4  Cardinals 6   12 innings
Needing game 3, the Cubs started their ace, as if Chicago had an ace, but he's as close to an ace as Chicago has, Rick Reuschel Rick got through the 1st and then surrendered 3 runs in the 2nd. Only giving up one hit in the 2nd while walking 3 and throwing a wild pitch, it just seemed like Chicago and Reuschel were doomed. The Cubs would surprise and score 3 of their own on the bottom half of the 3rd, capped by a safety squeeze by Reuschel scoring Dillard. It would stay tied until the 7th when a Ivan DeJesus single would again score a Steve Dillard. In the 8th the Cubs would put the game and season in Bruce Sutter’s hand. Sutter would get the Cubs through 8th unscathed. IN the 9th, Sutter got Wally Moon to ground one to Dillard at 2nd. One out and the Cubs needed 2 more, but Rip Repulski would slap a Sutter splitter to right. Grady Hatton, pinch hitting would rip one down the left field that rattled around while Hatton slid into 3rd with a triple scoring Repulski, tying the game. With Sutter out of steam after the 10th the Cubs would be forced to bring in "Big Dick" Tidrow and Tidrow would promptly give up a walk and 2 hits as St. Louis scored 2 run sin the top of the 12th. IN the bottom of the 12th the Cubs would be down to their final out when Bill Buckner stroked one to right center for a hit. Dave Kingman would come up as the tying run. With the season on the line, Kingamn would slap one to Ken Boyer at 3rd who tossed to 2nd for the force and the game was over.
A great series, but Chicago needs some help if they're to make the playoffs, but in typical Cubs fashion, they'll probably have to wait till next year.

--submitted by Jim Walden--

Yanks take 2 of 3 from Tribe, fall short of post season

The Tribe had best record in the AL locked up, so all they were concerned with was staying healthy.  The Bombers needed to sweep and then hope for some miracles along the way.  Neither scenario played out for them.

9/27 – 9/30 – Cleveland Municipal Stadium

GAME 1 – Indians 4, Yankees 3

Stan Bahnsen (2-5, 4.82) and the Yanks were nursing a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the 7th when the 1st place Tribe scored two to take the lead.  Young Roger Maris cranked a 2 run homer to score hurler Hal Woodeshick, who was on 1st due to a botched bunt attempt.  It all worked out fine for the Tribe as Hoy Wilhelm came on to get the final 5 outs without yielding a hit.  Maris had 3 RBI’s on the day.  Bobby Murcer went 2 for 5 for the Bombers and increased his season average to .342.  Woodeshick (1-2, 3.68) got his first win of the season.  Maris’ homer was his 4th of the year.

GAME 2 – Yankees 1, Indians 0

Steve Kline (6-1, 3.50) battled Ray Narleski (3-3, 4.31) in this classic pitcher’s duel in the cavernous “Mistake by the Lake”.  New York scored the lone run of the day in the top of the 2nd when Roy White led off with a single and Ron Blomberg walked.  Danny Cater followed that up with a single, but White was held up at third to load the bases rather than test Maris’ rifle arm in center.  Horace Clarke, infamously associated with the Yankee “Declinesty” of the late 60’s / early 70’s hit a tailor made double play grounder to Chico Carrasquel at short.  Carrasquel flipped it to Bobby Avila at second, who pivoted perfectly to nail Clarke at first.  White scored easily as Kline was able to make that run hold up for his 6th victory of the campaign.

GAME 3 – Yankees 18, Indians 4

In order to set their rotation for the post season Cleveland started the oft-injured Herb Score (2-3, 7.40).  Score had zero velocity on his fastball and no break on his curveball as the Bombers unleashed 14 runs off of him in 3 innings.  Veteran Bob Lemon was summoned from the pen to eat, so innings, but could only eat up 1 2/3.  Both teams were in a rush to get this one over with.  Mel Stottlemyre (6-3, 3.35) pitched well enough to win in this complete game effort.  Bobby Murcer and Felipe Alou had 5 hit games.  Murcer had 4 RBI and Roy White had 5 RBI.  Murcer finished the season with a .356 average as he carried the Bombers offense all season.  Both Murcer (8th) and White (5th) hit homers in the contest.

Chisox clinch AL West, Angels stay alive in WC hunt

9/27 – 9/30 – Comiskey Park

GAME 1 – White Sox 13, Angels 4

Wilber Wood (6-4, 3.28) used the wind in Chicago to his advantage as he floated a ton of knucklers past Angel hitters.  The Chi-sox exploded for 13 runs, which includes two 5 run innings off the Halos.  Brian Downing, went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI’s including his 2nd homer of the season.  Ken Henderson also had 3 RBI.  The win clinched the AL West title for the South Siders and their manager Dan Holm.

GAME 2 – Angels 6, White Sox 5

Jared Washburn was cruising through the first 5 innings and left the game with a 4 run lead and only 1 hit allowed.  Shigetoshi Hasegawa got shelled by the Chisox in the bottom of the 8th to make it a 1 run ball game.  Troy Percival came on in the 9th for his first 3 up 3 down inning of the season to notch his 6th save.  Anaheim stayed alive in the Wild Card race and the Pale Hose showed lots of late life in a game that was meaningless to them.  Bill Melton came alive for the White Sox with a 3 for 4 day, which is a great sign since he’s been hovering around the Mendoza line all season.  Darin Erstad went 3 for 5 and increased his hitting streak to 24 consecutive games.

GAME 3 – Angels 11, White Sox 0

Nothing special to report in this one.  The score pretty much tells the story.  Stan Bahnsen (3-5, 6.95) was the sacrificial lamb for the Chisox who were trying to setup their rotation for the post season.  Scott Schoeneweis (3-3, 2.52) finally got some run support as he cruised to a 2 hitter over 6 2/3 inning of work.  The big story, was Darin Erstad ending the season with a 25 game hit streak, which is a KOD record.  Erstad finished the season with a .347 average.  The Angels will now have to sit around and wait and see the results of the Red Sox/Tigers series, which will tell them if they are going to have a play in game or if they will be going home for the winter.

‘Spos take 2 of 3 from Braves in meaningless series

Both teams had their playoff slots secured.  Montreal already clinched the NL East and Boston had the 1st Wild Card slot.  Both are scheduled to face each other in the opening round, so neither manager was going to show his hand or play his fatigued regulars.

GAME 1 – Braves 5, Expos 2

Steve Rogers had a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the 9th when all “heck” broke loose.  After scoring 2 in the top of the 9th via a Gary Carter 2 run homer Montreal looked to put it away with their ace on the hill.  Bob Elliott led off the 9th for the Braves with a smash off the left field wall that resulted in a stand up double.  The next two batter weakly made out and all looked good for Rogers, who was inexplicably told by his manager to walk Roy Hartsfield intentionally.  Pinch Hitter Ebba St. Claire singled home the tying run and put runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 out.  Sam Jethroe stepped up to the plate and proceeded to hit a bomb that might have salted the clouds as it cleared the fence for a walk off 3 run shot.

GAME 2 – Expos 7, Braves 6

Scott Sanderson (2-2, 5.66) left the game with a 4-3 lead.  The Expo offense was able to “tack on” 3 more runs to make it 7-3.  All looked good, so scrub starter Chris Welsh was inserted to pitch the 9th.  Welsh couldn’t get an out and this laugher turned into a close one.  Jeff Reardon was forced to warm up quickly.  He wasn’t quite ready to enter the game and it showed as he yielded two hit, which allowed the Braves to move within 1 run.  Ebba St. Claire singled crisply to center with 2 outs.  Bob Addis, who previously had an RBI pinch hit single was sent home.  Testing Andre Dawson’s arm is not usually a good thing to do, but with 2 outs you have to take chances.  The Hawk threw a pea to Carter who easily tagged out Addis to end the game and give Reardon a somewhat “tainted” save.

GAME 3 – Expos 8, Braves 7

Bill Gullickson (4-4, 3.20)  had a 5 run lead, but began running out of gas in the 8th.  Boston chipped away at him and made it so close that Reardon again had to come in to save the day.  Once again Reardon allowed an inherited runner to score before bearing down and notching his 9th save of the campaign.  Most of Montreal’s hitting came from some unlikely sources.  Late season call ups Razor Shines (2-5) and Brad Mills (2-4, RBI) had outstanding days.  Sid Gordon hit his 6th homer for the Braves in a losing cause.  Max Surkont went 4 innings for the Braves and was removed due to fatigue in favor of Dan Donovan, who gave up 5 runs in an inning of work.  Tim Raines increased his single season KOD stolen base record to 29.  While attempting to steal his 30th late in the game he was nailed by a whisker on a Ebba St. Claire bullet throw.  Dawson, who was yesterday’s defensive star, turned on the offense today going 2 for 3 with 3 RBI’s.  After a slow start he finished the season at .296.

M’s take 2 of 3 from Jays…finish season at even .500

The Mariners, desperate for a sweep to stay in the Wild Card race, only managed two wins over the hapless Blue Jays. All three games are pitching duels and two go into extra innings. Randy Johnson pitched the season finale and got a complete-game shutout.  --submitted by Michael Hopcroft--

GAME 1 – Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3 (13 inn)

This 13 inning marathon just might have been the undoing of Seattle’s chances to secure a wild card slot.  The M’s showed great resolve by scoring 2 in the bottom of the 9th to tie it up.  Josh Towers was brilliant for Toronto, as he took a shutout into the 9th.  Seattle trotted out 6 different pitchers in hopes of holding the Jays down.  Batista was given a 2 run lead to protect (thanks to a Frank Catalanotto 2 run homer) in the bottom of the 13 and immediately got in trouble when Jay Buhner singled to lead off the inning and Tino Martinez doubled.  Brett Boone hit a deep shot to the warning track to score Buhner, but Valle flew out to left to end the game and quite possibly the playoff hopes of the Emerald city.

GAME 2 – Mariners 2, Blue Jays 1 (10 inn)

The second consecutive extra inning contest went in favor of the  M’s.  Kudos to Fleming for going toe to toe with the great Roy Halladay.  Both hurlers were gone by the 7th and neither figured into the decision.  The M’s won it in the bottom of the 10th when Ken Griffey Jr. led off with a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball thrown by Toronto reliever Speier.  Mike Blowers followed that up by lining a single to center to score Junior.

GAME 3 – Mariners 1, Blue Jays 0

With no score heading into the 9th it looked like there would be extra innings for a 3rd consecutive day.  The Big Unit, Randy Johnson (5-2, 1.19), was completely dominant fanning 8, walking 1 and allowing only 4 hits.  Ted Lilly was in and out of trouble, but still managed to throw 5+ scoreless frames.  Chacin came on in the middle of the 5th and was fine until the 9th, when Litton walked with 1 out.  Edgar Martinez, the human hitting machine, followed that up with a double off the wall to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Omar Vizquel was given and intentional pass to load the bases and increase the chances of an inning ending double play or at least a force at every base.  Ken  Griffey Jr. stepped up and grounded to Orlando Hudson at second.  Hudson double clutched then tossed the ball to McDonald at short who jumped out of the way of the hard sliding Vizquel, which caused the throw to first to bounce in the dirt.  Shea Hillenbrand dug the ball out, but the split second that it took him to do so allowed Junior to cross first successfully with Litton scoring easy.  The bottom of the 9th was a breeze for the Big Unit as he fanned Reed Johnson and got Vernon Wells and Hillenbrand to pop up weakly.

A’s take 2 of 3 from Twinkies to save fading playoff hopes

9/27 – 9/29 | Oakland Coliseum

GAME 1 – A’s 7, Twins 3

The Twins jumped out and scored 3 quick runs off of John “Blue Moon” Odom in the first, but Odom righted his ship and shut Minnesota out the rest of the way.  While Odom was righting his ship the stagnant Oakland offense resurrected itself.  A solo run in the bottom of the 4th came off the bat of Reggie Jackson’s bat.  With the score 3-1 the A’s unloaded on Twin starter Mike Smithson with 4 huge runs in the bottom of the 6th and never looked back.  Campy Campaneris bunted his way on with 1 out when Twin catcher Dave Engle booted the ball.  John Donaldson struck out looking for the second out of the inning.  Camp stole 2nd then scored on a Danny Cater single to make it 3-2 Minny.  Smithson tried pitching around Reggie, who shortened his swing and served one into center.  Sal Bando doubled off the left field wall to score Cater and tie the game at 3.  Rick Monday followed suit with a 2 run double of his own to put the A’s up by 2.  Oakland added 2 solo insurance runs in the 7th and 8th to win by 4.

GAME 2 – A’s 4, Twins 1

Minnesota scored first with a solo run in the second off of A’s starter Jim Nash (6-3, 3.03).  That unearned run would be the only run the Twins would post.  In the bottom of the 4th Sal Bando doubled home John Donaldson.  Rick Monday followed that up with a run scoring ground out to second.  Two innings later Oakland scored 2 more off of Twin starter John Butcher (3-4, 3.78), when Reggie hit his 11th homer of the season.  Danny Cater was on second with a lead off double when Reggie hit his tape measure clout.  Minnesota never threatened Nash, who won his 6th straight decision after dropping his first 3 to start the season.

GAME 3 – Twins 2, A’s 0

Oakland had the option to start Catfish Hunter on 3 days rest or go with Chuck Dobson (5-3, 3.27).  Dobson was the logical choice because, in the event the A’s need a play in game for the Wild Card or the division having Hunter on the hill would be a no-brainer.  As it turned out it wouldn’t have mattered if Cy Young himself was on the hill, because the A’s were unable to score off of Twin starter Frank Viola (3-3, 2.68) and reliever Pete Filson.  Due to a hour plus rain delay in the second inning, both starters were destined to not make it through the 5th.  Kudos to both pens for being stout !  Minnesota scored solo runs in the 2nd and the 4th and that’s all they needed.  In the second Dobson uncorked a wild pitch which moved both runners (Mickey Hatcher and Tim Teufel) up a base.  Houston Jimenez followed that with an RBI single for run #1.  In the fourth Jimenez, who normally is not known for his hitting prowess, singled home Tom Brunansky to give the Twin hurlers all they needed on the final day of the season.

Redlegs sweep Bucs, wrap up NL West

GAME 1 – Crosley - Reds 3, Pirates 1

“The Kitten, Harvey Haddix (6-2, 2.54) continued his mastery over the NL with complete game 1 run effort.  His counterpart, Doug Drabek was just as good for 6 1/3 innings before he tired and was replaced with John Smiley, who blew PIT’s 1 run lead.  Jerry Lynch went 3 for 4 for the Reds who scored 3 runs over the final 2 frames to win it.

GAME 2 – Reds 14, Pirates 1

Don Newcombe (6-0, 1.80) continued his renaissance and domination over the NL with his 6 victory of the season.  Newk left with 1 out in the 9th and the outcome already well in hand.  Cincy banged out 14 runs on 17 hits.  Frank Robinson had 6 RBI’s and Don Hoak had 4 hits.  With no score in the game the Reds posted 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd off of Palacios (0-1, 13.50), then posted another 5 the following inning vs Easley.

GAME 3 – 3 Rivers – Reds 3, Pirates 2

After getting blown out the night before the Bucs put up a gallant fight before going down to defeat at the hands of the NL leading Reds.  Joe Nuxhall (5-1, 2.72) allowed only 1 earned run in 8 innings of work.  Schmidt threw a perfect 9th for the save.  Brian Fisher gave up all 3 of Cincy’s runs in 7 2/3 innings of work.  With the score tied at 1 Cincy took the lead in the 4th when Frank Robinson scored on a Pete Whisenant sac fly to Barry Bonds in left.  Cincy added a much needed insurance run in the top of the 8th when Robinson tripled home Roy McMillian with 2 outs.  This would loom large when Jose Lind would triple home John Cangelosi with nobody out in the bottom of the frame.  Nuxie did his best pitching by bearing down and not allowing Lind to score the tying run.  Bobby Bonilla hit a hot smash to 1st and Lind was nailed by George Crowe’s peg to Smoky Burgess at the plate to erase the threat.  Crowe also hit his 2nd homer of the season in the second.

The win moved Cincy to 26-11 and clinched the NL West Flag for them as well as the NL East Flag for Montreal by eliminating the Pirates from contention.  Pittsburgh still has a shot at the 2nd Wild Card slot.  As of press time they are tied with SF.

Ch-OAK-land ! A’s drop 2 of 3 to Chisox as promising season is now on the brink.

Nobody has been hotter in the AL West than the Chisox over the course of the past 10-15 games.  Conversely the Ch-Oakland A’s have gone into a deep swoon remincient of the 1964 Phils or 2007 Mets.  The A’s hoped to recapture lighting in a bottle in this 3 game set at home vs the Chisox.

GAME 1 – White Sox 5, A’s 4

Chuck Dobson had a 3 run lead and a good shot of winning the AL Cy Young until the Chisox unloaded for 4 runs off of him.  Dobson (5-2, 3.22) lost not only the game, but his chance for the coveted post season award all in one fateful inning.  It all started with Carlos May reaching first on a ball booted by John Donaldson at second.  Jorge Orta rocketed a double off the wall to put runners on 2nd and third.  Dick Allen showed extensive discipline at the plate working out a walk to load the bases.  Up came Ed Herrmann, who to this point has been the South Side’s MVP.  Herrmann worked the count to 2-1 and got a perfect hitters pitch, which he hit deep into the California night for a grand slam.  One pitch and boom the fate of the game turned.  Chicago trotted out an endless precession of relivers to stymie the A’s.  After Bart Johnson faltered early Goose Gossage threw 2 innings of middle relief to get the win.  Terry “Big Tub of Goo” Forster closed it out with two near perfect innings of relief to garner his 7th save.  Herrmann’s homer was his 10th of the season.

GAME 2 – White Sox 7, A’s 1

The Chisox renamed Catfish Hunter, Catf-ood Hunter as they southsider’s basically ate him alive.  Hunter was in and out of trouble fighting a lack of location as well as a lack of velocity (only 1 strike out over 7 innings).  Hunter yielded 12 hits and 5 runs over that stretch.  With that said he was only down 3-1 going into the 7th where the Chisox scored 3 and put the game out of reach.  Jim Kaat (5-5, 3.16) evened up his record with 7 innings of 4 hit/1 run ball.  Cy Acosta came on board for the final 2 innings.  The offense again relied on Ed Herrmann, who was 3 for 5 and hit his 11th homer of the season.  This one man has decided to take his team’s fortunes and carry them squarely on his able shoulders.

GAME 3 – A’s 6, White Sox 2

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  With their season now firmly on the brink the A’s went unconventional ad decided to start middle reliever Paul Lindblad (1,0, 2.70).  The rationale behind the decision was to get a lefty out there and neutralize Ed Herrmann, who has flat out been murdering right handed pitching.  At first Lindblad gave no evidence that the decision to start him was an intelligent one.  Chicago jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the 1st.  Dick Allen hit a tape measure 2 run shot to score Bucky Dent who led off with a single.  At this point you could hear a pin drop in the  Oakland Coliseum.  Some life came back into the cavernous building when Reggie Jackson  crushed a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 2-1.  For the next 2 and half innings Lindblad and Chicago starter Stan Bahnsen (3-5, 6.41) were posting goose eggs on the scoreboard.  Then in the bottom of the 5th the A’s put their season back on life support by posting 4 huge runs by knocking Bahnsen out of the box.  It all started out innocent enough with Jim Pagliaroni walking with 1 out and Lindblad striking out for the second out.  Bahnsen looked poised to get out of the inning real easy, but Campy Campaneris singled and moved to second on an error by Jerry Hairston in left.  That put runners on 2nd and 3rd instead of 1st and second.  John Donaldson lined a single to right to score both runners, which gave Oakland a 3-2 lead.  Danny Cater followed that up with a single of his own and  Reggie was walked intentionally to load the bases.  That set the stage for Sal Bando who lined a single right through the originator to plate Donaldson and Cater and give Oakland a 5-2 lead.  After getting 2 outs to start the 5th Lindblad’s day was over thanks to a 24 minute rain delay.  The spot starting lefty had done his job.  Ed Sprague got the final out of in the 6th as he battled  Bill Melton in a classic mano y mano 9 pitch at bat that culminated in a soft fly to Mike Hershberger in left.  Lew Krausse came on board to record the rare 3 scoreless inning save and keep Oakland somewhat alive.

G-men take 2 of 3 from SD…Shef still leads triple crown.

Expos take 2 of 3 from STL

9/23 – 9/25 - Stade Olympique, Montreal QC

GAME 1 – Cardinals 4, Expos 2

Tom Poholsky (5-1, 3.61) won this “battle of the aces” over Steve Rogers (5-3, 2.92).  As usual Rogers could not get run support from his offense.  The game was scoreless until the top of the 7th when Cardinal catcher Hal Smith led off with a two bagger, advanced to 2nd on a Bobby Del Greco bunt and scored on a wild pitch that Gary Carter could not block in the dirt.  The following inning the Cards posted a 3 spot to put the game out of reach.  The resurgent Stan Musial and Ken Boyer led off with singles.  Wally Moon walked on 4 pitches to load the bases.  Two batters later Hal Smith doubled off the wall in left center to score Stash and Boyer.  A wild pitch with 2 outs allowed Moon to score.  The Expo offense came to life in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs.  File that in the “too little, too late” column for futility.

GAME 2 – Expos 6, Cardinals 2

Bill Gullickson (3-4, 2.86) went the distance by striking out 5 and walking only 1.  St. Louis managed to score solo runs in both the 7th and 9th innings and by then the Expos had a commanding lead.  Montreal picked up right where they left off the previous day by scoring 2 runs in the home half of the 1st.  Tim “Eli” Wallach doubled home Bryan Little and Andre Dawson with 2 out.  Dawson hit a solo shot to lead off the 4th and Wallach did the same to lead off the 6th.  Cardinal starter Murry Dickson went 6 and gave up 4.  Jackie Collum gave up 2 runs in the 8th to give the ‘Spos a 5 run lead at the time.   St. Louis wasted 3 for 4 effort by Musial, who has been building up his average, but seems to be lacking in power.  Dawson’s homer was his 9th on the season.

GAME 3 – Expos 5, Cardinals 4

Gutty performances by Charlie Lea (4-2, 2.12) and Herm Wehmeier let to one wild and fantastic finish.  St. Louis jumped all over Lea in the top of the 1st to the tune of 3 runs.  Lea was on the ropes and was perilously close to hitting the shower early.  A Tim Wallach error put leadoff hitter Don “don’t call me Wade” Blasingame on 1st.  No harm was done when “Blaze” was caught stealing by a perfect Gary Carter throw to Doug Flynn.  With 2 outs Stan “the Man” Musial doubled off the right field fence.  Ken Boyer followed that up with a two bagger of his own to make it 1-0 with 2 out.  Wally Moon hit one of his fabled “moonshots” the opposite way to left for a roundtripper that made it 3-0 Cards.  Lea settled down to get Rip Repulski to fly out to shallow center.  That out kept Lea in the game as Dan Schatzeder was warming fast in the pen.  St. Louis’s 3-0 lead was not a long lasting one.  Montreal scored 2 in the bottom of the 2nd when Wallach led off with his 4th homer of the season and Lea helped his own cause with a two out RBI single to plate Bryan Little.  “Mr. Scoops”, Al Oliver hit his 5th homer of the season to tie the game in the 3rd at 3 apiece.  Both teams exchanged solo runs in the 4th and that’s how it stood until the 9th.  With the score knotted a 4 all Larry Jackson was called on to hold down the heart of the Expo order and force extra frames.  After getting Chris Speier to ground out to short Jackson booted a dribbler by Al Oliver that had more English on it than a Rolling Stones album.  Dawson followed with a clean single to left to put runners on 1st  and 2nd.  Wallach then added a single of his own that was probably deep enough to score Oliver, but instead the veteran wisely held up since there was only 1 out.  Warren Cromartie came up and delivered Montreal’s 3rd single in a row as “Scoops” walked home wit the winning run.  The Expos, who entered the series with a 2 game divisional lead improved their record to 23-14.  They will now sit back and see how the 2nd place Pirates fare vs the league leading Cincinnati Reds.

Toronto Takes 2 of 3 from NY

Game 1 Yanks 11 Blue Jays 3

NY keeps its slim playoff hopes alive with a barrage of hits scoring 11 runs. Toronto starter Pete Walker was knocked out after 1 inning. Six other Toronto pitchers were also unsuccessful slowing down the Yankee attack. All but one Yankee starter had hits, and Jake Gibbs giving Thurman Munson a days rest hit a three homer for his first of the year. Meanwhile Steve Kline picked up an easy win spreading out 8 Toronto base hits.

Game 2 Blue Jays 9 Yanks 3

Blue Jays behind left hander Ted Lilly easily defeat the Bombers. Lefties seem to be silencing the Yankee bats and this was no different, as they could only gather three hits. Meanwhile the Toronto bats were teeing off on Mel Stottlemyer who has been faltering during the stretch run.

Game 3 Blue Jays 6 Yanks 2

Another Lefty and another loss for the Yanks. Gustavo Chacin pitching for Toronto spreads out 4 hits, only allowing 2 runs. At the same time all the Toronto batters were feasting on Yankee pitching. The best being Frank Catalanotto who had 6 hits in 11 AB with 2 homeruns for the series.

--submitted by Joe Mach--

Pirates win 3, stay in playoff race

Sep 19 - Pirate bats boom loud and often with an 18-hit attack in a 12-2 win.  Bobby Bonilla goes 5 for 5 with a pair of HR and 4 RBI.  Every Pirate starter had at least 1 hit.  Bob Walk went 8.1 for the win.
Pit  12-18-0
StL    2-9-0
W - Walk (4-1), L - Wehmeier (0-3).  HR - Bonilla 2 (4, 5)

Sep 20 - Pirates take a 2-0 lead in the first on doubles by John Cangelosi and Bobby Bonilla.  After a pair of walks, Bobby Bonds' sac fly accounted for the 2nd run.  In the 4th, each club added a run to make it 3-1, and then Wally Moon's solo HR in the 7th cut the lead to 3-2.  Still 3-2, Pittsburgh scored twice off Collum when a double, a walk, an error, and Johnny Ray's PH single made it a 5-2 game.
Pit  5-7-0
StL 2-5-1
W - Bielecki (2-0), L - Mizell (2-4), S - D. Robinson (3).  HR - Moon (2)

Sep 21 - Another disappointing performance for the Redbird pitchers as Pittsburgh puts up 15 hits and wins 11-3.  How bad was it?  Rafael Belliard hit a home run.  In his career he hit 2 in 2524 AB.  Andy Van Slyke also hit one for the Bucs.  Red Schoendienst went 3 for 3 in a losing cause.
Pit 11-15-0
StL   3-9-2
W - Fisher (2-3), L - Schmidt (1-4).  HR - Belliard (1), Van Slyke (7)

--submitted by Jesse Elicker--

Cubbies take 2 of 3 from ‘Spos

Chicago flew into Montreal for a 3 game set with the division leading Expos, and while the Cubs had a slim chance at the division title, they knew they had to take at least 2 out 3, to keep their hopes alive. While a sweep was preferable, the Cubs did what they came to do, the took 2 from the Expos.
Game 1 -  Chicago 3    Montreal 2
With Dennis Lamp on the mound for Chicago, things did not start well for the Cubs. Tim Raines to lead off the game and promptly stole 2nd and 3rd. An Al Oliver walk followed by a sac fly by Andre Dawson and then a Gary Caryer double and the Expos were up 2-0. The Cubs battled back and scored a run in the top of the 4th as Barry Foote doubled home Steve Ontiveros. In the top of the 5th, Chicago would score 2 more as Steve Rogers could not find the plate, walking 3 in the inning, with 2 Cubs singles sandwiched between walks, the Cubs got the lead and held on for a 3-2 win.

Game 2  Chicago  4  Montreal 1
Montreal outhit Chicago 10 to 9 in the game, but Chicago put more runs on the board as they took game 2. Lynn McGl;othen notched his 3rd win of the year as he went 8 and a third. Bruce Sutter gathered his 7th save on the year. The Cubs scored 2 runs to start the game. Ivan DeJesus slapped a single to right and scored as Bill Buckner hit a gapper to right center. Being the speed demon he is, Billy B. raced all the way around to third for his 4th triple of the year. A towering Dave Kingman blast that just missed being out, scored Buckner. Montreal could not get any run support for Lea as McGlothen continually pitched his way out of jam after jam. The Expos left 10 men on base as they fell 4-1 to Chicago.

Game 3  Chicago  1 Montreal 5
Chicago was looking to sweep, but it was not to be as Bryn Smith pitched a marvelous 4 hitter for Montreal. In this game, as in the last for Montreal, Chicago never seriously threatened the plate. Carter, Raines, Ramos, Wallach all hit doubles off of Mike Krukow, who took his 4th loss for Chicago as Chicago pitching allowed 11 hits.  Backup catcher Bobby Ramos’ double was the big blow that broke the game open as he pinch it for Doug Flynn

The Cubs gained a game on the division leaders, but time may be running out for a division title, but they kept their hopes alive for a wildcard spot.
--submitted by Jim Walden--

Yanks take 2 From Red Sox

The series had the look of two sub .500 teams that are just going through the motions.

Game 1      NY 6   Boston 5

Typical Mel Stottlemyer outing lately, pitches well except for 1 inning.  Boston scored four runs in third when Stottlemyre, again, could not get the third out allowing four runs.  Boston held the 4-0 lead until Mickey McDermott allowed 3 in the seventh.  George Kell scores another run for the Sox on a squeeze play to take a 5-3 lead.  Roy White then ties the game back up in the eighth with a 2 run homer.  In the ninth with Ralph Brickner pitching for the Red Sox the Yanks score the winning run on a wild pitch.

Game 2      Boston 6   NY 4

After six it is 2-2 with neither team really showing that much at  the plate.  But Sammy White makes Peterson pay in the seventh with his first homerun of the year, a three run shot.  That was enough for the Sox to hang on for the win, although it was getting interesting in the ninth as the Yanks were trying for a late game rally.

Game 3       NY 7  Boston 0

This game was about as bad as it could get for Boston.  No hitting, followed up later in the game by no pitching and no fielding.  By the end of the game they had 5 errors, and when not making errors the pitchers were walking batters.  The Yankees on the other hand got an unexpected great performance out of Stan Bahnsen.  Pitching a 2 hit complete game shutout for his second win of the year.

--submitted by Joe Mach--

Cincy sweeps Dodgers for 20th win and sole possession of the NL West top spot.

9/15 – 9/17 – Dodger Stadium

GAME 1 – Reds 6, Dodgers 5

Ron Perranoski blew a 1 run lead in the 8th, then gave up the go ahead run in the 9th when Johnny Temple singled home Don Hoak.  LA looked dead and buried until Derrell Griffith singled home Maury Wills with 2 out.  Off to extra innings they went where unlikely heroes are discovered.  Said heroe turned out to be Reds relief pitcher Alex Kellner, who singled home Don Hoak with 2 outs.  Kellner pitched 4 scoreless innings in relief and ended the game in grand style by striking out 2 in the bottom of the 13th.

GAME 2 – Reds 5, Dodgers 2

The amazing resurrection of one Don Newcombe’s ( 5-0, 1.94) career continued.  Exiled by the Dodgers to the Queen city Newcombe once again repaid his former team by tossing a complete game and only allowing 2 runs.  In contrast, LA’s Phil Ortega (0-5, 5.56) was gone before the 7th inning ended.  By that point Ortega had already yielded 4 runs and tried his manager’s patience beyond tolerance.  Cincy beat up Ortega for 3 runs in the top of the 2nd + 2 m0re solo runs.  Newcombe also wielded a big stick going 1 for 3 with a 2 run homer.  He has an incredible .438 average on the season.  Every Red starter, except Alex Grammas had a hit.  LA had only 4 hits.  Both of LA’s runs came in the form of a 2 run homer by centerfielder Willie Davis.

GAME 3 – Reds 7, Dodgers 1

LA scored first off of Harvey Haddix (5-2, 2.80), then didn’t score at all the rest of the way.  Haddix returned to the win column and was 1 out away from a complete game.  Jerry Lynch hit his 8th homer on the season for Cincy as he leads the team in most offensive categories as Frank Robinson continues to struggle.  Cincy’s pitching and timely hitting have carried them to a comfortable lead in the NL West with 9 games to go.