Orioles Respond To Weaver Challenge

Skipper Earl Weaver shows his disagreement with head
umpire Andy Kaiser after Kaiser ejected starting pitcher
Jim Hardin in the 5th inning. 

After losing 3 of 4 to the Minnesota Twins just a few days ago, the Baltimore Orioles were issued a challenge by head skipper Earl Weaver, "*&##$!!!!   or get off the pot!"  The Baltimore players responded with a 3-0 sweep of the visiting California Angels.  Weaver who had been ranting and raving since the Twins debacle, continued to release his venom on veteran umpire Andy Kaiser,  after Kaiser ejected starting pitcher Jim Hardin for arguing a ball 4 call on Angel outfielder Joe Davalillo.  Hardin was 5.2 inning in and had only allowed 2 hits, 1 run and struck out 4 when he chest bumped Kaiser in a heated disagreement of the call.   Weaver would follow the aggressive starter to the showers as Kaiser would give him the hook as well.  After the game Weaver was upset at starter Hardin for his ejection, "The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game."  "Hardin pitched a fine game but could have hurt the squad with his antics."  However, Pete Reichert would replace Hardin with a fine performance as he would earn the win in the 2-1 ballgame, before giving way to Eddie Watt who would earn the save.  Baltimore pitchers would strike out 19 Angel hitters in the series and Orioles took home a 4-0, 3-1, 2-1 victories.

Phillies win 2, Giants salvage game 3

Game 1: Philadelphia 5 San Francisco 4 (10 innings)
W: Wagner (5-3)  L: Linzy (2-4)
Linzy blows the save in the 9th, then loses the game in the 10th.

Game 2: Philadelphia 4 San Francisco 1
W: Jackson (7-6)  L: Perry (13-8)
Giants got their only run and 3 of the 7 hits in the 1st inning.  Jackson was basically untouchable after that point.

Game 3: San Francisco 4 Philadelphia 3 (10 innings)
W: Monbouquette (1-1)  L: Boozer (4-2)
Mays drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th with a walk off single.

Baltimore Bats Struggle - Twins take 3 of 4

Earl Weaver demands changes with struggling
ballclub.

Baltimore fans continue to watch their team struggle as they drop 3 of 4 with the Minnesota Twins. The Orioles team batting average continues to plummet to the bottom of the league (.218) as they were outscored 13-8 in the series. Aging veterans like Frank Robinson (.257 avg 3HR) and Brooks Robinson (.262 avg 12 HR) were reported to have had a closed door meeting with head skipper Earl Weaver, after the series, to try and motivate the team down the stretch run.
Weaver was quoted after the series, "A manager's job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December." However, the cagey manager is finding it hard to live up to those prophetic words as his ball club now sits at 49-62 on the season. Weaver finished the interview by stating, "We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow."

Baltimore will see if they can turn their luck around as they will play host, in an upcoming weekend series, with California. The Twins, who sit at 3rd place in the division (62-48) travel to New York to take on the Bronx Bombers.

Giants win 2 of 3 vs. Bucs

Game 1: Pittsburgh 2 San Francisco 1 (14 innings)
W: Henry (1-2)  L: Herbel (3-3)
Gaylord Perry pitched 4 hit ball through 10 innings, but Willie Stargell hit his 24th homerun in the 6th and scored the go-ahead run in the 14th to give Pittsburgh the win.

Game 2: San Francisco 7 Pittsburgh 1
W: Sadecki (10-9)  L: Veale (10-8)
Willie Mays hit 2 homeruns and had 5 RBI's as SF evened the series.

Game 3: San Francisco 4 Pittsburgh 3
W: Bolin (5-2)  L: Bunning (5-9)
Mays' 3 run homerun staked the Giants to a 4-0 lead, then they held on as the Bucs scored 2 in the 9th and had the tying run on 3rd with one out, but could not push it across. 

Braves Sweep Reds!

Atlanta,

Game 1,

Marty Martinez singled in Bob Johnson and that was the only scoring as both team's bats were silenced by fantastic pitching.  Ron Reed improves to 9-8 with a complete game shutout. Reed allowed only 3 measly hits. The hard luck loser was Gary Nolan. Braves 1....Reds 0.


Game 2,

Pat Jarvis strikes out 13 Red batters.

In the night cap it was another nail biter. Cincy took an early 2-0 lead on Pete Rose's 13th dinger of the year.  Atlanta came back with a run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth.  Felix Millan gathered 3 hits to lead the Brave attack.  Pat Jarvis went the distance striking out 13 members of the Big Red Machine lineup.  George Culver falls to 10-7. Braves 3...Reds 2.




Game 3,

Alou's late hit drives in winning tally.

Tony Cloninger and Phil Niekro were tossing zeros for most of the game. When Cloninger began to tire, Ted Abernathy came in to relieve. However, Abernathy did not have the same mojo as his teammate and coughed up the winning tally in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Lum led of the 9th with a hit and back to back walks loaded the bases with Felipe Alou coming to the plate.  Alou grounded a sharp ground ball between Leo Cardenas and Tony Perez that brought around Lum to end the game and give the 3 game sweep to the Braves. Phil Niekro evens his record at 10-10 and Ted Abenathy gets the loss to fall to 7-2. Braves 1.....Reds 0.

Dodgers and Cubs Split Behind Solid Pitching

The Cubs and Dodgers, both vying to move up in the NL West, split a four-game series, marked by strong starting pitching in each game. The Cubs are now in third place at 55-48, while the Dodges also hold a winning record at 52-50.

Game 1: Cubs 4, Dodgers 1
W: Hands (7-10)
L: Singer (7-12)

Bill Hands tosses a six-hitter, with LA scoring its lone run in the ninth. Red-hot Billy Williams smacks a three-run shot off Bill Singer in the third to deflate the Dodgers.

Game 2: Dodgers 7, Cubs 0
W: Osteen (6-13)
L: Jenkins (14-7)

It's Claude Osteen's turn to shine, as he spins a complete game shutout. Cubs ace Fergie Jenkins is shelled for six runs in seven innings, allowing two homers from Jim Lefebvre (6, 7) and a two-run blast from Willie Davis (8).

Game 3: Cubs 5, Dodgers 2
W: J. Niekro (8-6)
L: Drysdale (13-7)

Young knuckleballer Joe Niekro outduels Dodgers ace Don Drysdale, striking out nine in eight innings of work. Billy Williams stretches his hit streak to 13 games (a streak that would end the next game), going four-for-four with four RBIs and smashing his 22nd homer. Jim Lefebvre hits another for LA in a losing effort.

Billy Williams has eight homers and a .307 average in July.

Game 4: Dodgers 6, Cubs 2
W: Sutton (7-4)
L: Holtzman (10-7)

21-year-old Don Sutton looks like a future ace. It's his turn to go nine, striking out six and only allowing seven hits. Ted Savage knocks in four, including a three-run homer (3). Willie Davis plunders his 31st base, and first-sacker Ron Fairly goes four-for-five off a frustrating day for the Cubs Ken Holtzman.

American League Makes it Two In A Row

AL All Stars 3  NL All Stars 2, Astrodome - Houston, TX

Tony Oliva homers in the 6th to help AL
to a 3-2 win over the NL in the 1968
All-Star Game.

After a 9-4 whooping of the National League in 1967 the American League All Stars took the field looking to make it two in a row.  Behind the lumber of powerhouse hitters featuring Frank Howard, Reggie Jackson, Carl Yaztrazemski and Tony Oliva the AL All-Stars pounded out 9 hits en route to a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning.  Tony Oliva belted a 342 foot bomb off of NL's Tom Abernathy in the 6th inning to get the ball rolling for the American League.  But the NL would not give up easily.  A lead off single by Tom Haller followed by a Curt Flood single would put the NL All-Stars in a situation to make things tight in the bottom of the ninth.  SS Gene Alley would then single between third and short to load the bases for Tommy Helms with no outs.  Helms would respond with a  laser up the middle, driving in two runs, but Gene Alley would be thrown out at third trying to leg out an extra base.  However, things still looked good for the NL as Willie Mays and Willie Stargell both would have chances to tie things up with only 1 out.  Mays would take one deep off a Dean Chance fastball but not deep enough as AL CF Reggie Smith would glove it at the wall.  Dave McNally would then take the mound to face down Willie Stargell and the NL's final chance.  McNally would win the battle getting Stargell to ground out to 2nd and clinching the AL's 2nd straight win in as many years.

Chicago takes 2 of 3 from SF

Game 1: Chicago 5 San Francisco 4 (11 innings)
W: Stoneman (1-0)  L: Monbouquette (0-1)
Bill Monbouquette gives up go ahead homeruns in the 10th and 11th to give the game to the Cubs.

Game 2: Chicago 5 San Francisco 2
W: Jenkins (14-6)  L: Marichal (4-17)
Chicago hits 3 homeruns off of Marichal (2 by Ernie Banks) to hand the SF ace his 17th loss of the season.

Game 3: San Francisco 1 Chicago 0
W: Perry (13-6)  L: Holtzman (10-6)
Gaylord Perry pitched a 4 hit shutout to nail down his 13th win and help SF avoid the sweep.

Aaron Brothers team up to beat down the Bucos.

Atlanta,
Game 1,

Despite a pair of two-run homeruns by Pops Stargell, Atlanta manage to upend the Pirates in the first of a two game set.  Stargell hit his first homerun with a runner on base in the first inning off starter Ron Reed to give Pittsburgh an early 2-0 lead.  However the Braves were able to push across single runs in the second, third, and 5th innings to take the lead.  Stargell smashed another homerun in the top half of the seventh inning to regain the lead for the Pirates.  Atlanta tied the game at 4 in the 8th inning on a Felix Millan single to right.  The game went into extras and was won the in the 10th inning.  Johnson led off the 10th for Atlanta with a boomering double to right center and moved to third on a hard hit to center field.  The next batter, was pinch hitter Deron Johnson, who lifted a fly to deep right center to drive in Bob Johnson with the winning run. Braves 5...Pirates 4 (10 innings)


Game 2,

Hank and Tommie Aaron did most of the damage in the second game as the brothers combined for five hits and 5 RBI to lead the Braves past the Pirates.  Phil Niekro went the distance to improve to 8-9 on the season with a four-hit shutout.  Braves 8....Pirates 0.


Game 3,

Pittsburgh managed only 5 hits in the third game but it was good enough for two runs and that was all Steve Blass and three Pirate hurlers needed to defeat the Braves and prevent a sweep.  Blass improves to 11-4 while the victim was Milt Pappas who fell to 1-2 on the season.  Donn Clendenon hit his 9th homerun of the season in the sixth inning for insurance. Pirates 2...Braves 0.

Giants and Braves Split A Pair

Atlanta,

Game 1,

Willie McCovey crushed a two-run homerun in the first game of a short 2 game set in Atlanta. San Francisco scored a pair of runs in the eighth inning to pull past the Braves.  Joe Gibbon(4-5) got the win in relief while Frank Linzy recorded his 7th save.  Giants 4....Braves 3.

 Game 2,

Second sacker Felix Millan knocked out 3 hits including his first homerun of the year and contributed 3 RBI to lead the Braves past San Francisco.  Phil Niekro improves to 7-9 while Cecil Upshaw getting his 8th save of the year.  Braves 5....Giants 4.

Dodgers Sweep Struggling Bravos.

Atlanta,

Game 1,

Jim Lefebvre and Popovich hit homeruns to lead the Dodgers past the Braves in the first game of a three game set at Fulton County Stadium.  Claude Osteen, the starter for Los Angeles has had a difficult year but was fantastic today with a complete game triumph to improve to 5-10. The hard luck starter for Atlanta, Phil Niekro, was tagged for fives runs in eight innings to fall to 6-9. Dodgers 7.....Braves 1.

Game 2,

Don Drysdale pitched 8 strong innings for his 11th win of the year.  Atlanta held a narrow 1-0 lead in this pitching duel between the veteran Dodger right hander and Jim Britton but Los Angeles struck for three runs late to seal the victory.  Brewer earned his 12th save for the Dodgers and Britton fell to 4-5.  Dodgers 3...Braves 2.

Game 3,

The final game of the series was another pitching duel that lasted for 12 innings.  Bill Singer and Pat Jarvis were the starters but were not around long enough to earn the "W".  The game was knotted at 3-3 until Tom Haller grounded a single to right field to score Tommy Davis with the go-ahead and eventual winning tally. Dick Kelley (3-8) got the loss in relief while the win went to Johnny Purdin (4-0).  Len Gabrielson homered for the Dodgers, and Joe Torre hit his 5th dinger of the season for Atlanta.  Dodgers 4....Braves 3 (12 innings).