Amazin’s take 2 of 3 in St. Louis

9/12 – 9/14 – Sportsman Park GAME 1 – Mets 3, Cardinals 1
“The Franchise”, Tom Seaver (5-2, 1.85) didn’t have his best stuff and had to work out of numerous jams, but Seaver is still Seaver and he finds a way to get it done. When a big pitch needs to be made he just flat out finds a way to do it. The Met gave Seaver 3 runs and on most days that’s enough for him to win. Today was one of those days and the Cards just felt like they were on an uphill climb. They got a solo run off of Seaver in the first, but that was it. Rule of thumb, you’ve got to get the great ones early or you’re not going to get them. Everything about today followed the rules. All of NY’s runs came via the long ball. Dave Kingman (.160) hasn’t even come close to the Mendoza line finally broke out and hit a 2 run shot in the 1st. He can’t be counted on to hit for average or make contact most of the time, but Kong still has the ability to go deep. Wayne Garrett hit his second of the season in the top of the 2nd. All goose eggs the rest of the way spelt victory for the Amazin’s.

GAME 2 – Mets 10, Cardinals 3
The long ball did the Redbirds in today. Homers by Ron “Grandma” Hodges, Kingman, Del Unser, John Milner and Rusty Staub (2) were the undoing for Willard Schmidt and company. Randy Tate (1-2, 3.27) finally got his first win on the season…a season where he has pitched surprisingly well, but just hasn’t had the offensive support. Kingman’s 3 for 5 help boost his average to .180, which is a far cry from the low 100’s where he had been hovering at all season.

GAME 3 – Cardinals 9, Mets 7
New York’s Jon Matlack battled his control and Cardinal hitters all day. At one point it looked like he was going to gut it out and get the win, but the Cards surprised their fans and their skipper (Bike Mike) and rallied a comeback that knocked Matlack out of the box and the Mets out of the game. After the Mets scored 3 in the top of the th they had a 7-4 lead, but Matlack couldn’t hold it. Hank Webb replaced him and his defense betrayed him to the tune of 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the 8th. Web was his own worst enemy walking people and bouncing more balls in the dirt than a kiddie soccer team. The top of the Cardinal lineup (Dark, Brandt & Musial) were a combined 7-11 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. Stan "The Man" Musial was 2 for 2 and walked 3 times, no small feat when facing a hard throwing lefty like Matlack. Staub and Bobby Del Greco hit homers in this one. Del Unser was 4-5 in a losing effort. Lindy McDaniel was horrible in his start giving up 7 runs in just under 7 innings of work, but his offense came to life and saved his bacon and made him a footnote as opposed to the goat