Gonna party like it's 1969

[Frayed Knot]

Tuesday, August 12 - Astrodome: Astros 8 - Mets 7 -- Jerry Koosman vs Don Wilson*

Mets bat around in the 4th and get 5 runs via a 3R-HR by Kranepool and a 2-out/2-RBI 1B from Agee to take a 5-1 lead.
But Koosman gives it all back and more culminating with a 3R-HR by Curt Blefrary in the 6th to make it 6-5 Astros. Kooz stays in the game long enough to give up another run in the 7th on a Joe Morgan (yes, that one) triple and steal of home.
Taylor gives up another to make it 8-5 so that Agee�s 2nd 2-RBI hit of the game in the 8th only closes it to an 8-7 deficit.
Mets get two on in the 9th against Gladding but he gets Gaspar to fly out for his second consecutive save.


Game Time = 2:38 (that�s 2 hours + 38 in a game with 15 runs, 20 hits, 8 walks, 13 Ks, and 4 errors)

62 - 50; 3rd place; 9.0 games out of 1st, percentage points behind StL
(Cubs beat Padres 4-0; Cards lose to Dodgers 5-2)


* Houston starter Don Wilson was a lot like Cincy�s Jim Maloney who the Mets faced eight days earlier; a hard-throwing, somewhat wild pitcher from that era who had a good but shortened career and is somewhat forgotten these days. The two shared even more in common during a series between Houston and Cincinnati early in this same season when Maloney's no-hit game over the Astros was followed the next night by Wilson no-hitting the Reds.
Also, like Maloney, Wilson had a problem with the bottle. Still going strong through the 1974 season (his final game that year was a 2-hit CG) Wilson was found dead in January �75 sitting in his car in the garage with the engine running. The incident, which also killed his young son and hospitalized his daughter who were in the attached house, was ruled an accident.
It was a few weeks before he would have turned 30.

Edited August 12, 2009 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

Wednesday, August 13 - Astrodome: Astros 8 - Mets 2 -- Gary Gentry vs Larry Dierker

Gentry gets jumped by Dennis Menke for a 3R HR in the 1st inning prompting Gil to waste no time PH-ing for him in the top of the 2nd -- and getting a 2-out RBI 1B by Bobby Pfeil as it turns out.
But Koonce and DiLauro don�t fare much better and by the time Curt Blefary�s 3R HR lands while there are still no outs in the 3rd the rout is on.
Dierker goes all the way on a 5-hitter with only an Agee solo HR doing any further damage.

Game Time = 2:24

62 - 51; 3rd place; 10.0 games out of 1st, 1.0 game behind 2nd place StL, 3.5 ahead of 4th place Pittsburgh
(Cubs beat Padres 4-2; Cards beat Dodgers 5-0)


This was it. This was the (soon to be) famous turn-around spot, the one that represented the low point of the season. Swept out of Houston in 3 games and losers in 12 of the previous 19, they had fallen into 3rd place and were now double-digits out of 1st. True they were heading home, but also still had a 10-game west coast swing in front of them and they never did well in those back in them days.
My very young self was on vacation in rural central Virginia when this series was going on - in a house with no TV and a daily newspaper which carried box scores (often a day late) and maybe a line or two from AP as my only description of the action in those pre-internet, pre-cable days. Those conditions made it a very depressing week to follow from afar the slipping away of the first promising season in team history. A losing streak at this time of This season brought a different kind of disappointment than similar ones did in other years and it looked like this one was going to be the crusher.
So they needed to get something going if they were going to be in it and they needed that something to start right away.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

This game also marks the end of Side 1 of this record.

[G-Fafif]

1969, through the prism of the dispiriting decade that succeeded it, here.

[HahnSolo]

Awesome as always, Greg.

[G-Fafif]

Awesome as always, Greg.[/quote:3k4gk6fn]

Thanks Hahn.

[Frayed Knot]

Mets return home with a Saturday DH following two straight off-days (I assuming they were off Friday because of a rain-out).
I don�t know if Gil Hodges called any kick-ass meetings in the meantime to start the homestand out on the right foot or to air the team out after its poor play on the road, but if he did he did it the way every manager should do it as to reap the highest rate of success: wait until the day your ace is starting!


Saturday, August 16 - Shea Stadium: Mets 2 - Padres 0 (Game 1 of DH) -- Tom Seaver vs Tommie Sisk

And Seaver lived up to the moniker tossing an 8-inning 4-hitter leading to a perfect 9th from Ron Taylor.
Mets bats, meanwhile, �broke through� in the 5th on a one-out Harrelson single, a Seaver bunt, and an Agee single.
In the 7th Grote leads off with a single. This time Hodges calls for Harrelson to bunt and then has Seaver swing away (line-out). The Padres, learning their lesson from earlier, IW Agee to get to Bobby Pfeil - except that Pfeil singles in the 2nd run.
Pfeil - starting at 3B that day - collects 3 of the Mets� 9 hits.


Game Time = 2:30




Saturday, August 16 - Shea Stadium: Mets 2 - Padres 1 (Game 2 of DH) -- Jim McAndrew vs Dick Kelly

Game 2 goes pretty much the same way as game 1. McAndrew tosses 7 innings of 1-run, 3-hit ball followed by 2 shutout/1-hit innings from McGraw (I guess Irish eyes were smiling that day)
A Cleon Jones HR leading off the 4th tied the game. Then in the 7th Hodges won the switcheroo war when the Padres intentionally walked Harrelson with a runner on 3rd and 2 outs in order to get to McAndrew. Hodges PH�d Shamsky prompting a SD pitching change which in turn prompted a PH change as Grote replaced Shamsky and wound up delievering a 2-out single and the go-ahead run.

Game Time = 2:25



64 - 51; 3rd place; 9.0 games out of 1st, pct points behind 2nd place StL, 4.5 ahead of 4th place Pittsburgh
(Both Cubs and Cards won Saturday after both losing on Friday)

[Frayed Knot]

Woo-Hoo, nothing like back-to-back DHs against an expansion club to get your comeback started.

Sunday, August 17 - Shea Stadium: Mets 3 - Padres 2 (Game 1 of DH) -- Jerry Koosman vs Joe Niekro

It�s a good thing this team could pitch because they�re not exactly piling up the runs against the vaunted pitching staff of the expansion San Diego Padres. At least this day (unlike yesterday) they�re facing pitchers who actually won more than a dozen games before their careers were over.
In game 1 here they find themselves down 2-0 when a 3R HR from backup catcher Duffy Dyer* with one out in the 5th inning puts them ahead.
Given the lead, Koosman then cruises through the 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th facing the minimum while allowing only one single.

Game Time = 2:09



Sunday, August 17 - Shea Stadium: Mets 3 - Padres 2 (Game 2 of DH) -- Don Cardwell vs Clay Kirby

Same score, different path to get there.

Mets get out-hit 11-to-5 in a game where the Padres leave at least one runner on in every inning against Cardwell - although the game remains scoreless until the 7th.
Bud Harrelson�s 2-RBI triple on the last pitch Kirby throws in bottom 7 breaks the ice. JC Martin - hitting for Cardwell - knocks a Sac Fly to get Harrelson in (good day for back-up catchers).
Koonce replaces Cardwell with a 3-0 lead but allows a run and retires none of the three batters he faces. Taylor then comes in with a run in and 2 on to get three straight outs (one inherited run scores) and finish the 8th, then go [GO - 1B - GiDP] to wrap up the 9th.

Game Time = 2:37


66 - 51; 2nd place; 8.0 games out of 1st, 1/2 game up on 2nd place StL
(Cubs split a pair w/San Fran, Cards beat Atlanta)


Not easy to sweep a 4-game series while scoring a total of 10 runs!!
Of course it helps when the pitching allows only 5 (3 earned).

* Dyer had only 8 PAs this season prior to this series and was starting only his 2nd game of the year (the first was Game 2 of yesterday�s DH). And although he�d end the season at a pedestrian .257 BA / .295 OBA in 74 ABs, he knocked in 12 runs with his 19 hits, 7 of which went for extra-bases (3 2Bs, 1 3B, 3 HRs).
He�d go on to start in 18 games between mid-August and the end of the season as the DHs piled up (this one here was the 3rd in 10 days) and Hodges started to sit Grote more often. JC Martin also started 2 down the stretch and finished some games via double-switches as he seemed to be more in the PH role.
Aaah, the glories of smaller pitching staffs and extra catchers!

[seawolf17]

Two games, four and a half total hours? That's six innings of Yankees-Red Sox.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Another advantage --- they could double-switch Grote out of the game and not lose that much defense with Dyer. Martin was a hacking lefty who brought very little on defense. The original Mackey.

[Frayed Knot]

You like pitching? ... We got your pitching right here!

Tuesday, August 19 - Shea Stadium: Mets 1 - Giants 0 (14 Innings) -- Gary Gentry vs Juan Marichal

Gentry throws 10 innings of shutout ball - allowing only singles in the 2nd, 5th, 7th & 10th innings along with 4 walks.
Marichal walks just 1 over that same span and allows 3rd, 4th & 10th inning singles.
McGraw takes over in the 11th and pitches 1-hit/1-walk ball for 4 innings.
In the Met 12th (with Marichal still hurling) Jones knocks a 1-out single, then McGraw hits for himself and gets what is described as; a single to Pitcher + E1 wtih Jones thrown out at home and McGraw advancing to 3rd ... well that certainly sounds like fun! Garrett then flied out to end the inning.
The next (and last) hit in the game was Agee�s 1-out game-winning HR in the 14th ... off Marichal. It was the only extra-base hit of the game.

Game Time = 3:44



67 - 51; 2nd place; 8.0 games out of 1st, 1.5 games up on 3rd place StL
(Cubs beat Atlanta 3-0; Cards lost to Reds 8-4)


Although the Mets had already broken the �curse� Marichal had on them - he had won his first 19 decisions before Jack Fisher beat him on Independence Day in 1967 - he was still 21-2 against them overall at this point. He�d wind up his vs-NYM career at 26-8 meaning that we actually "got to him" in the later years, going 8-7 after that initial 19-0

Edited August 19, 2009 by Guest

[Guest Edgy DC]

McGraw hits for himself and gets what is described as; a single to Pitcher + E1 wtih Jones thrown out at home and McGraw advancing to 3rd ... well that certainly sounds like fun!

Edited August 19, 2009 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

McGraw hits for himself and gets what is described as; a single to Pitcher + E1 wtih Jones thrown out at home and McGraw advancing to 3rd ... well that certainly sounds like fun!

[Frayed Knot]

Wednesday, August 20 - Shea Stadium: Mets 6 - Giants 0 -- Jim McAndrew vs Gaylord Perry

An actual cruise-control game following a series of low-scoring nail-biters as Jim McAndrew tosses a complete game 2-hitter against a lineup with 3 future H-o-F-ers. OK Gaylord Perry isn�t a hitter, but McAndrew did out-pitch him while silencing the bats of Mays & McCovey (and also Bobby Bonds).
Perry is gone with only one out in the 5th inning mostly due to Art Shamsky. Art had both a 1st inning RBI double and then tacked on a 3R-HR in the 5th to make it 5-0 Mets. Before the inning was out Harrelson would triple in a run off reliever (and future Met) Ray Sadecki for their 6th run.

Some 2nd baseman named Don Mason (no memory at all) got both hits off McAndrew, a double and a triple. He�d finish his 8-year career with a grand total of 22 XBHs

Game Time = 2:18



68 - 51; 2nd place; 7.0 games out of 1st, 1.5 games up on 3rd place StL
(Cubs lost to Atlanta 6-2; Cards beat Reds 2-1)


Mays & McCovey are a combined 0-for11 with 2 BBs so far in this series

Once or future Mets on the �69 Giants include Ron Hunt & Willie Mays; Dave Marshall & Ray Sadecki (came in the same post-1969 trade for Jim Gosger & Bob Heise); plus, still 3 weeks short of making his ML debut, a 20 y/o OF named George Foster

[Frayed Knot]

Thursday, August 21 - Shea Stadium: Giants 7 - Mets 6 -- Tom Seaver vs Ron Bryant

The post-Houston disaster six-game winning streak ends as a result of a 2-out RBI triple by Ken Henderson in the 11th inning off Ron Taylor.

- Mets jump out to an early lead via a 1st inning HR by Tommie Agee (hitting 3rd behind Harrelson & Pfeil - OBP be damned) .
- But Seaver is done in by 2 un-earned runs in the 3rd and also by two Bobby Bonds HRs (playing CF in place of Mays) the second of which was a 3R job in the 7th making it 6-2 Giants.
- Mets fight back by netting 3 in their half of the 7th (Weis singles, Charles singles, Pfeil doubles, Agee singles) and then get the tying run with 2 outs in the 9th as Swoboda singles in Jones.
- Reliever Don McMahon comes in to get Dyer with the winning runs on - and then pitches a perfect 10th & 11th to make the SF 11th inning run stand up.


Game Time = 3:34


68 - 52; 2nd place; 7.0 games out of 1st, 1.5 games up on 3rd place StL
(Cubs lost to Atlanta 3-1; Cards lost to Reds 5-3)

[Frayed Knot]

You�re getting the entire weekend Dodger series at once here seeing as how I�m out for a while.
If someone wants to pick this up project for a while be my guest.



Friday, August 22 - Shea Stadium: Mets 5 - Dodgers 3 -- Jerry Koosman vs Bill Singer

Out go the Giants - in come the 1st place Dodgers*

Mets score four times early - two on a 2nd inning HR by Swoboda - and hang on despite being out-hit by the Dodgers 12-7 as Koosman (6 IP, 3 Runs, 10 hits) and McGraw (3 IP - 2 hits) hold them to 3 runs. All LA hits were singles and neither NYM pitcher issued a walk.

Game Time = 2:31


69 - 52; 2nd place; 6.0 games out of 1st, 1.5 games up on 3rd place StL
(Cubs lost to Houston 8-2; Cards beat Atlanta 4-2)


* If it seems like we�re playing a lot of 1st place clubs during this stretch it�s because we are. The NL West was a real dogfight that year and at the end of play on this date only San Diego was out of it (I mean if you can call 31 games �out of it�). But the other 5 are within 2 games of each other so, as they play the West exclusively during this stretch, each night they�re essentially playing a team which either is in 1st place or could be by the next day. Of course Chicago & StL are doing to same thing at the same time so it all evens out until September when the schedule turns entirely to intra-division clashes (ahhh, the glories of the pre-IL, pre-three division schedule!!)







Saturday, August 23 - Shea Stadium: Mets 3 - Dodgers 2 -- Don Cardwell vs Jim Bunning

Future HoFer Jim Bunning - making his 2nd start for the Dodgers following a late-season trade - holds the Mets to 2 runs over 7 innings as his new team is being shut-out by Met starter Cardwell. But Willie Davis�s 2-out RBI triple plus scores on an error ties it in the 8th.
Ron Taylor holds LA scoreless in top 9 and sets the stage for Jerry Grote�s 1-out RBI double off reliever Jim Brewer to give them the walk-off win.

Game Time = 2:37


70 - 52; 2nd place; 6.0 games out of 1st, 2.5 games up on 3rd place StL
(Cubs lost to Atlanta 6-2; Cards beat Reds 2-1)


I don�t remember Bunning team-hopping at the end of his career but he did go to Pittsburgh in �68 and was dealt to LA just a week prior to this game following his combined 14 years in Detroit & Philly. He then went back to Philly over the winter where he finished up his career in 1970 & �71.
And now he�s being forced out by the Republican party who doesn�t think he can win again in Kentucky. They basically told him they weren�t going to fund him if he ran and so he�s �retiring� in favor of another candidate.
I don�t think the Democrats will pick him up as a free agent..







Sunday, August 24 - Shea Stadium: Mets 7 - Dodgers 4 -- Gary Gentry vs Don Sutton

Another day, another future HoFer faced. That�s 4 this week!!

A back-and-forth game that will eventually total 23 hits, the Mets finally go ahead for good with a 4-run 7th. Jones & Shamsky lead off the inning with singles which chases Sutton. Reliever Jim Brewer comes in and promptly gets bombed. Boswell singles to load the bases and Swoboda doubles to un-load them. Grote singles in Swoboda and it�s 7-4 Mets.

Cal Koonce - who had come in to pitch the 7th - gets the win and also acts as his own closer, retiring the Dodgers on one hit through the 8th & 9th.


Game Time = 2:55 (Ooooh, a long one!)



71 - 52; 2nd place; 5.5 games out of 1st, 3.5 games up on 3rd place StL
(Cubs split a pair while the Cardinals lost to Atlanta in extras)

[Frayed Knot]

Oh sure, I go away for a while and does anyone pick up on this? .... Nooooo!
How is anybody going to know what happened otherwise?


What we missed was the beginning of a 10-game road trip to the west coast. Expansion San Diego was first up where the Mets swept a 3-game series - including a DH which briefly cut the Cubs� lead to just 2.5 games. A split of the first two games in San Fran plus a couple of Chicago wins throws it back to 4.0 - which brings us to a Candlestick DH to end the 4-gamer.



Sunday, August 31 - Candlestick Park: Mets 8 - Giants 0 (Game 1 of DH) -- Tom Seaver vs Mike McCormick

Seaver cruises to a complete game 7-hitter while his mates explode for 5 in the 4th & 3 in the 5th.
Two RBIs each for Swoboda, Grote & Weis, plus one from roomies Harrelson & Seaver.

Game Time = 2:43




Sunday, August 31 - Candlestick Park: Mets 2 - Giants 3 (11 innings - Game 2 of DH) -- Jim McAndrew vs Ron Bryant

The Giants score their first two batters of the game, leading off bottom 1 with a single, triple and single.
Giant�s pitcher Bryant faces the minimum through 6 but the Mets break through in the 7th when a Swoboda 2R-HR ties up the game.
All is then well until the 11th when McGraw and Taylor can�t record a single out and the winning run scores on a bases-loaded walk.

Game Time = 2:45


So they wind up with a split of the 4-games w/the Giants (Mays missed the entire series) but have still won 14 of their last 17 since the disastrous series in Houston which dropped them into 3rd place double-digits out of first. All 3 losses in those 17 games were to the Giants.


76 - 54; 2nd place; 4.5 games out of 1st (Cubs beat Atlanta 8-4) and now a full 6.0 games up on 3rd place StL, who I think we can kiss goodbye to for the remainder of the season.

[Frayed Knot]

September begins with a trip to La-La Land the Mets losing a second straight game for the first time since August 12 & 13

Monday, September 1 - Dodger Stadium: Mets 6 - Dodgers 8 -- Jerry Koosman vs Jim Bunning

Mets send 8 to the plate and score twice in the top of the 1st
But Koosman faces just five batters in the bottom of the inning, retiring only one and getting yanked with a 3-2 score that would become 5-2 before the inning was out. By the end of 2 it was 7-2 Dodgers and 9-2 by the time the 4th was done (the remainder off Koonce).

Met bats make it look more respectable with two each in the 6th & 7th to chase Bunning, but the LA relievers hold them to only one hit over the final 2.1 innings.

Game Time = 3:04



76 - 55; 2nd place; 5.0 games out of 1st (Cubs idle)

[G-Fafif]

Two straight losses? Gil must go!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Who knew Jim Bunning was a Dodger?

[Frayed Knot]

I didn't remember either - see the note on the 8/23 game.

[Frayed Knot]

Tuesday, September 2 - Dodger Stadium: Mets 5 - Dodgers 4 -- Gary Gentry vs Don Sutton

1st & 4th inning solo Clendenon HRs and a 6th inning 2-RBI double from Swoboda give Gentry a 4-0 lead.
Gentry eventually takes a 5-1 lead into the 9th when things start to get a little hairy; he leaves with one out and two on; Taylor comes in to get the 2nd out but then 3 consecutive singles later it�s a 5-4 game with runners on 1st & 3rd and Willie Davis at the plate. Hodges summons Tug from the pen who strikes out Davis to preserve the win.

In the midst of their 9th inning rally, the Dodgers use a 19 y/o pinch-runner making his ML debut (and scoring his first-ever ML run) by the name of Bobby Valentine.

Game Time = 2:32



77 - 55; 2nd place; 5.0 games out of 1st (Cubs beat Reds 8-2)

[HahnSolo]

Great tidbit on Valentine.

It's really remarkable that on Sept. 2nd they were still five games out of first, yet they'd go on to win the division by 8 games.

[Frayed Knot]

Wednesday, September 3 - Dodger Stadium: Mets 4 - Dodgers 5 -- Jerry Koosman vs Claude Osteen

Koosman - starting on short rest on account of his 0.1 IP start two days earlier - gives up single runs in the 2nd & 3rd innings - both on Wild Pitches! He later gives up 2 more in his six innings of work and the Mets head into the 8th down 4-0.
But 2R HRs from both Agee and Clendenon tie the score.
Ryan dances in and out of trouble in the bottom 8th but gives way to Jack DiLauro after he�s PH�d for in the 9th. The Dodgers quickly win the game in typical 1960s LAD fashion:
a Maury Wills single; a Manny Mota sac bunt; and a Willie Davis double. Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in.

Jeff Torborg has been your LAD catcher for games 1 & 3 of this series.

Game Time = 2:27



77 - 56; 2nd place; 5.0 games out of 1st (Cubs lose to Reds 2-0)

So the deficit which shrunk from 10 games down to 2-1/2 briefly in just 14 days went back up to 5 and has now stalled there for several days and they're in the exact same spot as they were six weeks earlier.
19 games remain.

And those remaining games will all be in the east and this game ends not only the west coast portion of the road trip but all inter-division play as well.
From here on out it�s strictly east-v-east and west-v-west for the Mets and for all teams (barring the odd rain-out make-up). Love that schedule.

[Frayed Knot]

Back home after a day off with a Friday DH, and back in the NL East


Friday, September 5 - Shea Stadium: Mets 5 - Phillies 1 -- (1st game of DH) Tom Seaver vs Grant Jackson

- the 5th place Phils (27.5 GB) draw first blood via a 2nd inning Deron Johnson triple
- Mets then score three times on only one hit in the 3rd inning courtesy of two walks and two errors
- Grote�s 8th inning 2-out/2R HR makes it 5-1
- Seaver goes all the way on 5 hits, 1 BB & 7 Ks

Game Time = 1:52 (not a typo)




Friday, September 5 - Shea Stadium: Mets 2 - Phillies 4 -- (2nd game of DH) Jim McAndrew vs Rick Wise

- Wise strikes out 11 during his complete game 8-hitter
- Mets tally 2 in the 5th to tie the game and still have 2-on with no outs but miss a great chance to tack on more as McAndrew Ks (trying to bunt) and Agee GiDPs
- McAndrew pitches well (7 IP, 6 hits, 0 BB) but gets nicked up for single runs in the 1st (on a Sac Fly) the 4th (on a FO-DP) and in the 7th (an unearned run via an IF Single)
- Taylor (1 R on 3 H) pitches the final two innings

Game Time = 2:28



78 - 57; 2nd place; 4.5 games out of 1st (Cubs lose to Pittsburgh 9-2)



Rick Wise was an interesting story. After two more seasons (between �71 & �72) he would be traded straight-up for Steve Carlton in a move that , in hindsight, wasn�t very ...well, wise.
Both were coming off good years at the time, were about the same age, and, IIRC, both were having contract squabbles with their teams and so a spring training trade was seen as the solution to each squad�s headache with the prevailing wisdom being that Wise was getting the better deal seeing as how he was headed to the better club.
And while Wise was a fine pitcher who would go on to win nearly 200 games over 18 seasons (11 after the trade) only 2 of those years were spent in StL. Meanwhile Carlton was making between 33 and 41 !! starts in 12 of his 14 seasons in Philly and racking up 4 Cy Young awards in the process.
I contacted Steve to get his recollections of the deal, but he had no comment.

Edited September 5, 2009 by Guest

[Guest Edgy DC]

In my mind's eye, Grant Jackson is perpetually a Pirate, and Wise perpetually a Padre.

[Frayed Knot]

Saturday, September 6 - Shea Stadium: Mets 3 - Phillies 0 -- Don Cardwell vs Jerry Johnson

Cardwell (6 IPs, 4 hits) and McGraw (3 IPs, 2 hits) combine for the shutout
The Mets first hit is a 3rd inning leadoff HR from Grote. 2 singles and a Garrett Sac Fly later it was 2-0.
McGraw later singles in the 3rd run in the 7th.

Game Time = 2:17


79 - 57; 2nd place; 3.5 games out of 1st (Cubs lose to Pittsburgh 13-4)

[Guest Edgy DC]

Don Cardwell, wily vetran, kicking it into gear.

[Frayed Knot]

Sunday, September 7 - Shea Stadium: Mets 9 - Phillies 3 -- Gary Gentry vs Bill Champion

A 3-3 game after 6 innings (1st inning HRs from Agee & Shamsky), Met bats explode for 2 in the 7th (Shamsky SF, Boswell RBI 3B) plus 4 more in the 8th (Agee 2-RBI 1B, Gaspar 2-RBI 1B) to make it a blow-out.
Nolan Ryan came on to start the 7th and gets the win as the beneficiary of those runs (3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K)

Game Time = 2:42


80 - 57; 2nd place; 2.5 games out of 1st (Cubs lose to Pittsburgh 7-5 in 11 innings)



Anybody remember George Myatt? Yeah, me neither - but he was the Philly manager for this series having taken over for Bob Skinner a month earlier. He would finish out the season in what would wind up as his only managerial stint at the ML level.
In all this was a pretty non-descript Philly team. Outside of Dick Allen (gone at year end), Johnny Callison, and Don Money there are not a lot of recognizable names here. This was year 2 of a 7-year sub-.500 stretch. Bowa & Luzinski would debut the following season. Schmidt, Boone & Carlton (via trade) came aboard in �72 although it would take until '75 for them to break .500. By '76 they won the first of 3 NL East titles (and 3 straight NCS losses) and 5 of the next 8

[Guest Edgy DC]

Not a lot of recognizable names? How about future Met coaches Deron Johnson and Cookie Rojas. A young Larry Hisle also comes off the bench this game.

But, yeah, this is a Phillie team going nowhere.