Northern Expos-ure

9/16 - 9/17 - Jarry Parc, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
GAME 1 - Expos 7, Rockies 6
Bill Stoneman carried a 7-3 lead into the 9th when he ran out of gas and almost got ran out of town. After Stoneman yielded 3 runs Gary Waslewski was brought on board to get the save, which he did. Coco Laboy went 3 for 4, as did catcher John Brand. Adolfo Phillips hit his 2nd homer of the season. Andres Galarraga had 4 RBI's in a losing cause.

GAME 2 - Expos 5, Rockies 4
Bruce Ruffin yielded only 1 run in 5 innings worth of work before he hit the 100 pitch plateau, which ended his day. The Rockie bullpen protected their 3 run lead until the Expos exploded for 3 in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead. Staehle led off with a double and Gary Sutherland walked with 1 out. Up stepped Ron Fairly, who slammed a 3 run shot down the right field line. The Rox rallied back to tie it in the top of the 9th when Alex Cole singled home Charlie Hayes with 2 outs. Blair took the mound in the bottom of the inning and immediately served up a walk off homer to John Bateman on the first pitch.

9/18 (Doubleheader) - Mile High Stadium, Denver, CO
GAME 3 - Expos 10, Rockies 6
Expo starter, Larry Jaster, was the beneficiary of an explosive offense that plated 10 runs. Fairly and Mack Jones each posted 3 hits. Jaster himself had an RBI double in the third. Rockie starter Bryn Smith didn't even make it out of the 2nd inning and wouldnt up giving up 7 earned runs as his ERA ballooned up to 21.60. Montreal had 3 errors in the first inning and looked to be giving the game away to the Rox. Galarraga had 4 hits in this losing effort. Jaster left the game in the 6th with tightness in his shoulder and is listed as day by day.

GAME 4 - Expos 4, Rockies 2
This game can be best described as a heartbreaker for Armando Reynoso who had a no hit bid stopped in the top of the 9th when Maury Wills led off with a single. At that point Reynoso turned his focus from preserving his no hitter to pitching a 1 hit shutout. Unfortunately he lost his concentration and balked Wills over to second. Sutherland bunted Wills to third and with 1 out Reynoso's shutout and 1-0 lead were tenuous at best. Bob Bailey walked on 5 pitches to put runners on the corners for Montreal's leading hitter Le Grande' Orange, Rusty Staub. Reynoso was up to the task as he struck out Staub on 8 pitches in an AB where the big red head really battled. With 2 out it all looked to be over, until Mack Jones his a 1-2 offering deep into the Colorado night for a 3 run shot and a 3 run lead. Just like that it all came tumbling down. Colorado opened the 9th with a single from Vinnie Castilla and a walk to Nelson Liriano. Dale Murphy received an odd intentional pass to load the bases, and for a moment it looked like the Rox just might pull it out. That was until Eric Young grounded into a run scoring DP. Two batters later Galarraga fanned on 4 pitches and the Expos notched their firs sweep of the season.

Pilots and Halos split series

9/16 - 9/17 - sick Stadium - Seattle, WA
GAME 1 - Pilots 3, Angels 0
Marty Pattin gave up 3 hits in almost 7 innings worth of work and Jerry McNertney supplied the offense as the Pilots shutout the Halos. LA managed just 3 hits on the day, two by George Thomas. McNertney hit a 2 run and a solo blast to account for all 3 of the Pilots runs, which came off of Ken McBride who went the distance. Diego Segui pitched the 8th and 9th for the save.

GAME 2 - Angels 7, Pilots 5
The dreadful combination of Gary "Ding Dong" Bell and George "cake" Brunet helped jump start the Halos offense. LA jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first, which could have been more, if Bell didn't find a way to weasel out of the jam. The Pilots took a 3 run lead with 3 in the second, but that lead was never safe. LA scored in consecutive 6 runs to go up 7-3. Leon Wagner hit a 3 run shot to put it out of reach. The Pilots made it very interesting in the bottom of the 9th, but Art Fowler managed to squirm out of it and notch his third save of the campaign.

9/18 - Wrigley Field - Hollywood, CA
GAME 3 (DH) - Angels 4, Pilots 3
Gene Brabender was virtually unhittable for 6 innings, but fatigue from the hot Southern California sun got to him and he had to leave the game. At that point he had a 2-0 lead and he was tossing a 1 hitter with 7k's. Seattle scored in the top of the 6th when Wayne Comer lifted a sac fly to left to score Rich Rollins and Jim Pagliaroni singled home Tommy Davis. Both teams exchanged solo runs in the 8th and Seattle had a 2 run leading heading into the bottom of the 9th with closer Diego Segui on the hill. Leon Wagner fanned on 4 pitches for the first out and things looked good for the Pilots. Earl Averill worked out a nice 8 pitch walk, but Lee Thomas lined out to right for the second out. Fans began leaving, but they should have stayed to see pinch hitter Ted Kluszewski single to put runner on the corners. Segui got tough and quickly got pinch hitter Bob "Buck" Rodgers deep in the hole with an 0-2 count. Segui then threw a hanging curve that left the ballpark like a Saturn rocket for a walk off 3 run shot.

GAME 4 (DH) - Pilots 10, Angels 5
Both starters, Fred Talbot (3 runs / 4IP) & Ryne Duren (4 runs / 3.2 IP) were not factors in the decision. By the time both exited the score was knotted at 4 until the top of the 7th when a the Pilots took off and bombarded the Halos in a 6 run 7th. By the time the dust had cleared 11 batters went to the plate. Kline and James were responsible for the barrage. By the time Jerry Casale came on it was purely for mop up duty. Steve Barber got the win more so for being in the right place at the right time, not for effective pitching. Every Pilot starter had a hit except for Ray Oyler, but that doesn't shocke anyone, does it ?

Pilots/Royals split series

9/11 - 9/12 - Municipal Stadium, Kansas City, MO GAME 1 - Pilots 7, Royals 1
The Pilots finally had one of those offensive break out games vs a quality
pitcher (Jim Rooker).  With the score knotted at 1 apiece the Seattle
exploded for 5 runs in the top of the 3rd and never looked back.  The
key blow was a Greg Goossen grand slam that took all the air out of the
building.  Goossen added a 5th RBI on the day with a sac fly in the
8th.  Fred Talbot (2-1, 2.11) threw 6 scoreless innings before giving
way to his buddy Jim Bouton (2 scoreless innings).  Tommy Davis (.358)
went 3 for 3 and had 2 doubles in this contest.  Tommy Harper stole his
8th and 9th bases.

GAME 2 - Royals 5, Pilots 3
Pilot starter Meyer couldn't make it out of the 2nd inning.  Dick Baney came on to
throw almost 5 scoreless innings in relief, which kept the Pilots in
the game.  Dick Drago gave up only 2 earned runs in 7 innings of work
for KC and that was the difference.  Mike Hegan had a pinch hit 2 run
shot in the 7th to cut it to 1, but the Royals scored a key insurance
run in the bottom of the frame off of Diego Segui to boost the lead
back up to 2.  Tommy Harper stole 2 more bases to increase his season
total to 11.

9/13 - 9/14 - Sicks Stadium, Seattle, WA GAME 3 - Pilots 4, Royals 0
Big Gene Brabender carried a no hitter into the 5th only to see his
opposing number, Wally Bunker, break it up.  Bob Oliver recorded KC's
only other hit as Brabender (3-1, 3.08) tossed a 2 hit complete game
shutout.  Seattle nursed a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the 8th when
they exploded for 3 off of KC reliever Mike Hedlund.  "Orbit", Steve
Hovley doubled home Tommy Harper, followed by John Donaldson scoring on
a passed ball.  The final nail in the coffin was Wayne Comer's RBI
single to center.  KC got bitten by the injury bug.  Pat Kelly and Mike
Fiore went down in the same inning and are listed as game by game.

GAME 4 - Royals 3, Pilots 1
Butler and John Gelnar hooked up in a scoreless pitcher's duel for 5 innings
until KC posted 2 in the top of the 6th.  1969 Rookie of the Year, Lou
Piniella, led off the inning with a clean single to right.  Mike Fiore,
returning from injury, slugged a tape measure shot to right center to
break the ice and give KC a 2-0 lead.  The Pilots cut the deficit in
half in the home half of the 7th when Wayne Comer lifted a sac fly to
left to score Rich Rollins, who had singled earlier.  With 2 runners
still on, Don Mincher came up as a pinch hitter and lined out to Jackie
Hernandez at short to end the inning and squander Seattle's chance to
tie it.  Bob Locker allowed KC to load the bases in the 8th and Diego
Segui came on and walked Jackie Hernandez to give KC a much needed
insurance run.  Mo Drabowsky came on to save the game in the 9th and
quickly got the first 2 outs.  Steve Whitaker, pinch hitting for Wayne
Comer, walked to bring up Mincher who was given an intentional pass.
Merritt Ranew came off the bench to pinch hit for Jerry McNertney and
looked at a called strike 3 to end the game as KC salvaged a series
split.

KC A's take 2 of 3 from Nats

The KC Athletics took 2 of 3 from the Washington Senators. All 3 games were 1 run games. In Game 1, 3 KC pitchers led the A's to a 4-3 victory. Art Ditmar picked up the win and Tom Gorman the save. Hector Lopez led the offensive attack, going 3-3 with an RBI. In Game 2, Washington scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to gain a 3-2 victory. Harry Bright delivered a 2 out, bases full single to plate 2 runs.Kansas City came back to take Game 3, gaining a hard fought 5-4 victory. Joe DeMaestri went 2-3 to lead the A's. --submitted by Milo Miller--

Heaven-Lee Slam !

The '61 Angels took one from the playbook of the '09 Halos ALDS Game 3 in Boston last Sunday. LAA entered the bottom of the 8th down 6-1. They scored twice to make it 6-3. The Mariners scored 1 in the top of the 9th to take a commanding 7-3 lead. But the Angles scored 5 in the bottom of the 9th on an RBI single and a Lee Thomas walk-off grand salami. Angels pinch hitters went 5 for 5 those last two innings, and Thomas himself had only entered the game in the top of the 9th as a defensive replacement. It's all part of a Heavenly Karma that emanating from above and spreading itself over all Angels teams, whether on the MLB field or on the computer screen. With it, I think we can safely assume an '09 Halos sweep of the Yanks in the ALCS. --submitted by Douglas Zaner--

Gelnar almost tosses a No-no as Pilots take 3 of 4 from M's

Kingdome - Seattle, WA
GAME 1 - Mariners 5, Pilots 1
Glenn Abbott scattered 8 hits and yielded one meaningless run as the M's took the opener of this battle of the Emerald city classic. Dan Meyer was the hitting star going 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's and his 3rd homer of the season. Craig Reynolds went 2 for 3 with a homer as well. Marty Pattin was putrid for the losers. Bill Laxton finished off the 9th inning for the M's

GAME 2 - Pilots 11, Mariners 1
It was big Gene Brabender's turn to dominate as the Pilots evened the series at 1 apiece. Brabender was tossing a shutout until he yielded a meaningless run in the 8th. The catalyst Terry Harper was on base 3 times (3-5) and scored 2 runs. Jim Pagliaroni had a big day at the plate going 2 for 3 with 3 RBI's. Donaldson was 3 for 3 and raised his average to .409. Orbit, Steve Hovley was also 2 for 3. The Pilots left 13 runners on base in a game in which they scored 11.

Sicks Stadium - Seattle, WA
GAME 3 - Pilots 4, Mariners 0
Call this one the John Gelnar show. The Pilots scored 4 runs in the first 5 innings off of Gary Wheelock, then got out of Gelnar's way as he inched closer to his moment in the sun. With 2 outs in the 9th Dan Meyer singled to left to break up the no hitter, then curiously got thrown out at second attempting to steal on the next pitch. Gelnar improved his record to 2-0 and watched his ERA drop to 0.79. The Pilots only had 5 hits of their own. Hovley was 2 for 4 and had a solo shot off of Wheelock. Gelnar did allow 5 base runners as he walked 2 and hit 2 batsmen besides Meyer's single.

GAME 4 - Pilots 3, Mariners 2 (10 inn)
With no score after 4 the M's broke the ice by scoring 2 off of Pilot starter Steve Barber. Bob Stinson reached first on a ball that Tommy Harper booted at third. The next two batters (Reynolds and Milbourne) grounded out. Pinch hitter Lopez was given and intentional pass and Steve Braun delivered a 2 out 2 RBI double to right. In the bottom of the frame Tommy Harper atoned for his error by singling home Ray Oyler, who had walked with 1 out. Diego Segui, who relived Montague in the 5th, cruised until the bottom of the 8th when he was lifted in favor of Enrique Romo, who made a huge mistake by walking the speedy Harper who stole second. John Donaldson lined a clean single to right to score Harper and tie the contest at 2, which is where it stayed until the bottom of the 10th. Harper led that frame off with a double and moved to third on an infield single by Tommy Davis. Don Mincher was given an intentional pass to load the bases and create a force everywhere. Wayne Comer lifted one to Leroy Stanton in right to plate Harper and win the game for the Pilots.