RIP - Outfielders

Three outfielders I really enjoy playing with in this season of Statis Pro have recently passed away...

Carmillo Castillo - November 15, 2015
Eddie Milner - November 2, 2015
Dave Henderson - December 27, 2015

Henderson's death is particularly sad, in that he was a favorite of mine in my youth with his infectious smile and ability to rise to the occasion in key situations.  He's also oddly linked to the first player (I think) to die from the 1984 season; Donnie Moore.  "Hendu" is having a monster year in Statis Pro, now making his success bittersweet...

May 15, 1984 - Eighth Inning Comebacks

Game #443 - Toronto Blue Jays, 3 @ Minnesota Twins, 5

The Blue Jays entered this contest riding a six game win streak, so Minnesota knew it had its work cut out for them.

Ernie Whitt started the scoring by blasting a solo homer in the top of the third off starter Ken Schrom.  But the Twins scored two of their own in the bottom half of the inning.  Jim Clancy got himself into a bases loaded jam when Kirby Puckett roped a single to plate Dave Engle and Jim Eisenreich.

Whitt picked up another RBI in the seventh, where he tied the game on a base knock that scored Damaso Garcia.  Toronto took the lead in the top of the eighth when Rance Mulliniks laced a triple that let George Bell cross home plate.  This Blue Jays team has more triples than any other team this season!

It wasn't looking good for the Twins, because Clancy was cruising when he started the bottom of the eighth.  With one out, though, Mickey Hatcher and Kent Hrbek had back to back singles, bringing big Tom Brunansky to the plate.  Toronto brought in reliever Roy Lee Jackson, but Brunansky crushed a three run bomb to take the lead for good!

Winning Pitcher - Rick Lysander
Losing Pitcher - Jim Clancy
Save - Mike Walters
Player of the Game - Brunansky, HR, 3RBI's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Kirby Puckett

Game #444 - Oakland A's, 3 @ New York Yankees, 4

In the top of the first Rickey Henderson singled, stole second, went to third base on a sacrifice fly, and scored on a Carney Lansford single.  But in the bottom of the inning New York tied it back up with a Omar Moreno triple that brought Ken Griffey home.  The Yankees grabbed another run in the second off a Tim Foli double.

In the top of the fifth Steve Keifer tried to bunt his way on base, but reached second on Don Mattingly's first error of the season.  Rickey Henderson drove him home with a single, and then scored himself after another Carney Lansford RBI, giving Oakland the lead.  In the bottom of the sixth, though, the Yankees got an unexpected power boost from light hitting shortstop Bobby Meachem, who cranked a solo shot over the left field fence to tie things up, 3-3.

The score remained knotted until the bottom of the eighth.  With the bases loaded and two outs, Ken Griffey ripped a single off Keith Atherton.  Steve Kemp scored but Rickey Henderson threw out Roy Smalley at home to end the inning.  Despite two batters reaching base in the top of the ninth, Dave Righetti recorded the save for the Bronx Bombers.

Winning Pitcher - Mike Armstrong
Losing Pitcher - Chris Codiroli
Save - Dave Righetti
Player of the Game - Armstrong, 1 2/3 IP in relief, 2K's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield

May 15, 1984 - Ho Ho Ho

Merry Christmas, friends!  I apologize for the lack of posts as of late, 'tis the season of busyness, family, etc.  My dad comes into town this week for the holiday, so maybe we'll get to play a couple of games during that time.  I hope your Christmas is a good one, on to the games...

Game #441 - Seattle Mariners, 6 @ Detroit Tigers, 5

Lance Parrish hit a bases loaded single in the bottom of the first to put Detroit up 2-0 for a quick lead.  But Ken Phelps hit a solo homer in the second and Phil Bradley scored in the third to knot things up again at 2-2.  By the ninth inning the Mariners were leading by four runs when the Tigers attempted an epic comeback.  Reliever David Beard walked two batters before Alan Trammell crushed a three run home run to bring them within one.  Put Paul Mirabella jumped in and struck out Kirk Gibson to end the game in favor of Seattle.

Winning Pitcher - Jim Beattie
Losing Pitcher - Al Lopez
Save - Paul Mirabella
Player of the Game - Jim Beattie, 8IP, 2R's, 3K's

Game #442 - Texas Rangers, 8 @ Milwaukee Brewers, 3

The injury-ravaged Brew Crew were forced to start four lefties in their lineup against southpaw Frank Tanana, and the results weren't good.  Texas had a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth when a rain delay (Z card!) interrupted the game for 81 minutes.  I decided to let both starters continue pitching, but Jamie Cocanower was tagged for four runs in the top of the fourth, so maybe that wasn't the best call?

Winning Pitcher - Frank Tanana
Losing Pitcher - Jamie Cocanower
Player of the Game - Wayne Tolleson, 4-4, 2RBI's, R, 2SB's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Robin Yount

May 15, 1984 - Creased

All the 1985 Topps cards I feature on this blog are from my very first set I received as a kid.  I love these cards, and played with them all the time in my youth.  These two cards to the right show the dangers inherent with frequent contact.  I still remember the moment on our living room floor when I knelt down, only to discover too late that Tom Terrific was a casualty to my clumsiness.  I was pretty tickled to see two of my worst conditioned cards get displayed for the same post...

Game #439 - Kansas City Royals, 1 @ Chicago White Sox, 6

There were two main themes in this game:  home runs and pitching.  On the offensive side, the Pale Hose launched four homers.  The first came in the bottom of the second, when Ron Kittle went big fly with the bases empty.  Vance Law belted one of his own in the fourth.  In the sixth inning scrappy Rudy Law, not known for his power, crushed a two run blast.  And finally, in the bottom of the eighth, Ron Kittle provided his own encore with his second solo shot.

Tom Seaver, meanwhile, was as terrific as his namesake.  He went the distance by only allowing four hits and two walks.  The lone run he surrendered came in the fourth, when Frank White tripled home Jorge Orta.

Winning Pitcher - Tom Seaver
Losing Pitcher - Frank Wills
Player of the Game - Tom Seaver, CG W, 3K's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Tom Seaver

Game #440 - Boston Red Sox, 3 @ Cleveland Indians, 6

The Indians started things off strongly by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first, assisted by stolen bases from Brett Butler and Julio Franco and an error at first base by - you guessed it - Bill Buckner.  Boston tied things up in the fourth, though, with a sacrifice fly from Rich Gedman and an RBI single from Buckner.  Cleveland pulled away for good in the sixth when they posted four more runs, aided in part by a Gedman passed ball.

Winning Pitcher - Rick Sutcliffe
Losing Pitcher - Al Nipper
Save - Ernie Camacho
Player of the Game - Brett Butler, 2-4, 2R's, SB, RBI, BB
Hall of Famers in the Game - Wade Boggs, Jim Rice

May 15, 1984 - Junior Comes Through

Game #438 - California Angels, 3 @ Baltimore Orioles, 4

You know what I like about Thanksgiving breaks?  More time for Statis Pro!!!  Even better, I got to play with my favorite team...

Storm Davis allowed two runners in the top of the first inning but escaped the jam without allowing a run.  Geoff Zahn wasn't so lucky.  He gave up a lead off homer to Gary Roenicke and two batters later Cal Ripken Jr. parked a two run bomb of his own.

The Angels did score two runs in the third, though.  The bases were loaded and Gary Pettis, who is hitting so far above his talent level this season I can't make heads or tails of it, roped a single to plate Bobby Grich and Fred Lynn.

The Orioles never relinquished their lead as Tom Underwood pitched a perfect ninth to save the day for Baltimore.

Winning Pitcher - Storm Davis
Losing Pitcher - Geoff Zahn
Save - Tom Underwood
Player of the Game - Cal Ripken Jr., 2-4, HR, 2B, 3RBI's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray

May 14, 1984 - Balls

Game #437 - Montreal Expos, 2 @ San Diego Padres, 5

The very first baseball autobiography I ever read was Graig Nettles' Balls.  That book was hilarious, and was seen as a big middle finger aimed at George Steinbrenner, which is how Nettles found himself out of New York and joining the Padres.

Nettles was no laughing matter in this game.  In the bottom of the first inning, with the Padres already up one, he lined a double that scored Tony Gwynn.  In the bottom of the fifth he was the hero again, because the Expos had just tied the game at two apiece.  Nettles ripped another double to plate Gwynn again as well as Alan Wiggins.  For an encore, Graig lined a single in the seventh that scored - guess who - Tony Gwynn.  That was pretty much it in this one, San Diego won 5-2.

Winning Pitcher - Mark Thurmond
Losing Pitcher - David Palmer
Save - Craig Lefferts
Player of the Game - Graig Nettles, 3-3, 2 2B's, 4RBI's, BB
Hall of Famers in the Game - Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tony Gwynn, Goose Gossage

May 14, 1984 - Keystone State Success

Game #435 - Philadelphia Phillies, 3 @ Los Angeles Dodgers, 0

We had a good pitching match-up for this game, as future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton faced Alejandro Pena, who was pretty filthy in the real 1984.

The Phillies scored first in the top of the second inning.  Joe Lefebvre was plated by an Ivan DeJesus double.  Lefebvre scored again in the fifth, this time courtesy of Len Matuszek.  And their final run came in the ninth, when rookie Juan Samuel launched a solo homer.

When Philadelphia was on the field it was all Steve Carlton.  Despite surrendering eleven hits and three walks, he fanned eight Dodgers and went the distance for a complete game shutout.

Winning Pitcher - Steve Carlton
Losing Pitcher - Alejandro Pena
Player of the Game - Joe Lefebvre, 4-4, 2 doubles, 2R's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton

Game #436 - Houston Astros, 1 @ Pittsburgh Pirates, 4

The Pirates have been hot as of late, and of course there's no better team in the NL West than the Astros, so this game was bound to be exciting.  It was a pitcher's duel through the first five innings, as both Bob Knepper and John Candelaria were hanging goose eggs on the scoreboard.

Houston drew first blood, though, when Bill Doran scored on a Phil Garner single in the sixth.  The Pirates answered back in a big way, though.  Jim Morrison rocked a three-run home run in the bottom half of the inning, scoring Tony Pena and Jason Thompson along with himself.  Johnny Ray added a solo shot in the seventh while Kent Tekulve and Rod Scurry preserved the victory over the last two innings.

Winning Pitcher - John Candelaria
Losing Pitcher - Bob Knepper
Save - Rod Scurry
Player of the Game - Jim Morrison, 2-4, HR, 3RBI's