Rd 3–Game 5: “5 run 4th does in Bucs”

GAME 5
Veale vs McAndrew
Mets 5, Pirates 3

With all the pitching depth that the Mets have it was no shock that they went to their 5th starter, Jim McAndrew in Game 5.  Pittsburgh went with their Game 2 starter Bob Veale, who once again turned in a dreadful performance (5 runs in 3 2/3 IP).  New York broke a scoreless tie by batting around in the bottom of the 4th.  Buddy Harrelson supplied the Mets 4th consecutive single in the inning, which knocked in Swoboda and Agee.  McAndrew's bunt scored J.C. Martin.  The Glider singled Harrelson home and a wild pitch allowed Charles to plate the 5th run.  The Bucs got 2 in the 6th tom cut the lead to 3 and when Willie Stargell homered to lead off the 8th the lead was now down to 2.  That homer was off of Ron Taylor, who relieved McAndrew with one out in the 7th.  Taylor got out of the 8th without any additional damage, then pitched a perfect 9th to lock the game down.
Mets lead series 3-2

Rd3-Game 4: “All’s well that Card’s-well”

GAME 4
Ellis vs Cardwell
Mets 4, Pirates 0

Revenge is a dish best served cold.  And cold is just the way to describe the Pirate bats when former Buc Don Cardwell took the hill today vs his old mates.  Cardwell like so many others felt like he was banished to baseball's black hole of Calcutta when he was dealt to the lowly Mets.  Tossing 7 1/3 shutout innings vs his old mates was a huge boost to his ego and a huge confidence builder for the Amazin's who avoided going down 3-1 in the series.  Cardwell nursed a 1 run lead that Ken Boswell's RBI single in the 4th registered.  In the 6th the Mets' bats bumped that lead to 4-0.  RBI doubles by the Glider and Art Shamsky were followed by a Stahl sac fly.  Cal Koonce got the final 5 outs.  Shamsky was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate, which included 2 doubles.
Series tied 2-2

Rd3-Game 3– “May-Day”

GAME 3 - Shea Stadium
Blass vs Selma
Pirates 5, Mets 2

Cleon Jones and Ed "The Glider" Charles hit back to back homers to lead off the game for the Amazin's as the series moved to Flushing.  Met starter Dick Selma gave those two runs back plus two more as the Bucs scored 4 in the top of the 2nd.  An RBI double by Bill Mazeroski and a 3 run shot by backup catcher Jerry May did the damage.  Maz's RBI single in the 8th added an additional run to make it 5-2, which wound up being the final score.
Pirates lead series 2-1

Rd 3–Game 2: “Cal’s Cool-Edge”

GAME 2
Koosman vs Veale
Mets 7, Pirates 6

Rookie Jerry Koosman was handed a 6-1 lead and all looked good until the Bucs erupted for 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game.  Future Met Donn Clendenon's 3 run blast ignited the stoic Forbes Field crowd.  Luke Walker, Pittsburgh's 6th pitcher on the day, faced the Amazin's in the top of the 9th and let his guard down and served up a lead off single to Met reliever Cal Koonce, who scored on a a 3 out single by hard nosed catcher Jerry Grote.  Koonce, who was perfect in the 8th inning, repeated his output in the 9th to get the win.  Both teams combined for 26 hits.  Pirate leadoff man Maury Wills was 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored in this losing effort.
Series tied 1-1

Round 3: Mets vs Pirates–GAME 1 “Bucs Blank Amazin’s”

GAME 1 - Forbes Field
Seaver vs Ellis
Pirates 1, Mets 0

Maury Wills tripled with one out in the bottom of the 5th, then scored on a sac fly to left by Matty Alou.  When all the dust cleared that would be the game's lone tally.  Dock Ellis allowed just 4 hits and nary a run in 7 innings.  Ron Kline was perfect in 2 innings of relief to gain his 6th save of the tournament.  Tom Seaver, who went 8 and gave up just 1 run, was the hard luck loser.  Tom Terrific fanned 7, but did not get any run support.  The Bucs draw first blood in this best of 7 “Final 4” series.
Pirates lead series 1-0

Round 2: Red Sox (4) upset Tigers (1) by going to the wire in 5 games.

GAME 1 - Tiger Stadium
Santiago vs McLain
Red Sox 2, Tigers 1
"Mac-Sacked"

Out of nowhere Jose Santiago had the game of his life (8 IP / 1 ER) to outduel 1968 AL Cy Young Winner Denny McLain (9 IP / 2 ER).  With the game tied at 1-1 Rico Petrocelli singled with one out in the top of the 9th.  Former Yankee Elston Howard turned the clock back and doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.  The Boomer, George Scott hit a shot to the warning track that Willie Horton easily camped under.  Petro tagged up and easily scored to make it 2-1 Red Sox.  Santiago, who was light out, was lifted for a pinch hitter and replaced by Sparky Lyle who was able to get his slider working when he needed it the most.  With runners on 1st and 2nd and only one out Lyle got Norm Cash to hit into a tailor made 3-6-3 DP to end it and draw first blood in favor of the boys from Beantown.
Red Sox lead series 1-0

GAME 2
Culp vs Wilson
Tigers 8, Red Sox 2
"The K-Line"

On the heels of a big 6 run bottom of the 3rd the Tigers beat up on Boston starter Ray Culp and coasted easily to victory.  Veteran All-Star Al Kaline was a perfect 3 for 3 with a triple.  Pitcher Earl Wilson (6 IP / 2 ER) also chipped in a homer.  Jim Northrup also went deep.  John Wyatt and Lasher were perfect in relief of Wilson over the final 3 innings.
Series tied 1-1

GAME 3 - Fenway Park
Lolich vs Ellsworth
Red Sox 4, Tigers 2
"To Ells and Back"

Time and time again the Tigers would call on the "Fat man", Mickey Lolich, to save their season.  In a short 5 game series game 3 is pivotal and Detroit needed Lolich to come up big.  Instead aging veteran Dick Ellsworth (8 IP / 2 ER) was the hurler of the day.  Lolich gutted his way through 6 innings while fanning 9, but he walked 5 and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits.  His performance was gutsy, but the Tigers needed "lights out" and today wasn't one of those days for him.  Carl Yastrzemski (3-4) had an RBI and a run scored to support Ellsworth.  Strange and Lyle combined to close out the Tigers in the bottom of the 9th.
Tigers lead series 2-1

GAME 4
Sparma vs G. Bell
Tigers 9, Red Sox 7
"Horton gives a Who"

Tiger starter Joe Sparma was victimized for 4 runs in the second and promptly removed.  Pat Dobson gave up 3 more in the 6th and just like that the Tigers season was all but dead down 7-0 with 3 frames left.  At that moment the #1 seed got the wake up call and began using their lumber as weapons.  3 runs in the top of the 7th ended Gary "Ding Dong" Bell's day.  Bell was pitching a shutout for 6 innings, but couldn't get the 3rd out in the 7th before being sent tot he pine.  In the 8th the Tigers posted another 3 spot and just like that it was a one run game.  Boston sent Lee strange out in the 9th to close it out and preserve the one run lead.  After getting Green to fly out to lead off the inning, Strange butchered a comebacker from Mickey Stanley, then walked Kaline.  The crushing blow would be a 3 run shot by Willie Horton, who padded his late inning heroics resume after hitting a 2 run shot the previous inning.  Fred Lasher, who pitched a perfect 8th inning duplicated his efforts in the 9th to get the win and give Detroit an improbable comeback victory.
Series tied 2-2

GAME 5 - Tiger Stadium
Santiago vs McLain
Red Sox 4, Tigers 2
"Jose-Jose"

Yaz going deep

In a rematch of game 1 starters the unheralded Jose Santiago once again got the best of Denny McLain and the Red Sox upset the Tigers to head to the final 4.  Santiago, who threw 8 shutout innings fanned 5, walked 3 and allowed just 1 run on 2 hits.  On the other side of the ledger McLain gave up 4 runs in 8 innings, not exactly the kind of linescore you expect from a man who won 31 regular season games en route to one of the most dominating pitching performances in the modern era.  Some may speculate that Denny might have had a wager or two on the game or owed someone something, but this reporter emphatically can not believe that with a huge spotlight shining on him on the grandest of stages, that he would not give it his all.  Boston built their lead with a two out solo shot by Yaz in the first and another two out blast in the 4th, this one from Hawk Harrelson.  Then in the top of the 8th the gopher ball did McLain in twice.  First Reggie Smith went deep with one out and then Yaz duplicated his inning one result with his 3rd hit of the game (he also doubled in the 6th).  Like so many times the previous season, during the Red Sox "Incredible Dream" run, Yaz came up big in all the big moments.  All that was left to do was to have Santiago close the door on the Tigers in the 9th, which sounds a lot easier to do than it is.  Getting those final 3 outs are the toughest, especially when you are facing a team that is going for it's 3rd consecutive tournament championship.  Champions do not go down easily.  To quote the vernacular of boxing, "you have to knock out the champ".  Boston's 4 homers and Santiago's 8 shutout innings put the champ on the ropes, but champ was going to go down swinging that's for sure.  The 9th started out with Al Kaline grounding weakly to second for the first out.  When Willie Horton walked on 4 successive pitches Juan Pizarro was brought on to get lefty Norm Cash, who popped out to first.  Down to their last out the Tigers were still swinging just like champs do.  Bill Freehan doubled off the wall in left center to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Lenny Green singled to right center to plate both runners and make it a 4-2 game.  Bill Wert hit a bullet into left to put runners on the corners.  Those 3 successive hits came at the expense of Jim Lonborg, who was so fantastic the previous season (1967), yet so horrible this year.  Lonborg would have been the sentimental choice to get the final out, but Boston had no margin for error with the tying run now on 1st.  Sparky Lyle, who wound up saving all 3 Boston wins in the series, was brought on to face Earl Wilson, who can flat out rake.  Forget that Wilson is normally a pitcher.  In 1968 he hit 8 homers and the Lyle didn't want any part of him and his ability to win this game with 1 swing, so he gave him an intentional pass.  That brought up Dick McAuliffe with the bases loaded and two outs.  With the season on the line McAuliffe worked the count to 3-2 then proceeded to foul off a succession of strike 3 pitches hoping to stave off elimination and not make the final out of the series.  Finally a Lyle slider was grounded to Joe Foy at third.  Foy fielded it cleanly and pegged a bullet to Scott at first for the final out.
Red Sox win series 3-2

Round 2: Baltimore (2) Take 3 of 4 From Tribe (3)

Game 1  A Story of Two Aces 
Memorial Stadium, Baltimore 83 degrees, threatening skies
Cleveland: Sam McDowell
Baltimore: Dave McNally

A classic pitching duel loomed under threatening skies in Charm City.  Sudden Sam McDowell would pitch 8 innings and strike out 8 before losing to the Orioles 4-1.  Baltimore opened the scoring against McDowell in the second on a Davey Johnson triple to right center field and a 414 foot home run by Baltimore catcher Andy Etchebarren.  Baltimore got to McDowell again for 1 in the fifth on a Mark Belanger single, a bunt and then an RBI single by Don Buford.  Cleveland answered back in the top of the 6th against Dave McNally with a solo HR (417 feet) to centerfield by 3rd baseman Max Alvis.  Baltimore added on more in the 8th on a Frank Robinson home run down the short left field line.  Both starters went the distance.

Game 2  The Indians Take Control
Memorial Stadium, Baltimore 78 degrees
Cleveland:  Sonny Siebert
Baltimore: Jim Hardin

This day belonged to Sonny Siebert who kept the Baltimore hitters completely baffled all day and with a few more breaks might have thrown a no-hitter.   Cleveland got off to a quick start with 3 runs in the first 2 innings against Baltimore starter Jim Hardin.  Cleveland scored 2 in the first on a Jose Cardenal walk, a fielders choice, a Lou Johnson triple and a Tony Horton sacrifice fly to deep right center field.  The Tribe added another run in the second on a Vern Fuller triple and a sac fly, again to deep right center, by Max Alvis.  Baltimore finally broke through in the bottom of the 6th when Mark Belanger led off with a single, moved to second on a bunt and scored on a Merv Rettenmund single…..this was to be the only run Baltimore would score all day.  Cleveland added 3 more in the top of the 7th on a wlak, triple and two singles to chase Hardin.  Sonny Siebert dominated the rest of the way ending the game with 8 strikeouts.

Game 3  Series Moves to the Mistake By The Lake
Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland  71 degrees and 10 mph wind in from CF
Baltimore: Tom Phoebus
Cleveland: Luis Tiant

A total of 8 hits were scattered about by the pitchers for both teams.  It took six innings before Baltimore was able to break through with 2 runs against El Tiante on a Don Buford single, a Paul Blair walk and an RBI single by Frank Robinson.  Boog Powell then followed with a sac fly to center.  Both starters went 8 innings with the score remaining Baltimore 2 Cleveland 0 as both starters yielded only 3 hits each.  In the top of the 9th, Vincent Romo came on in relief of Tiant and gave up a run to Baltimore on an Andy Etchebarren home run.  Eddie Watt then came in to make the game interesting by Walking Jose Cardenal and giving up a single to Russ Snyder.  However Duke Sims was enticed into a 1-4-3 double play before Watt got Tony Horton to ground out to Mark Belanger to end the game.

Game 4  Baltimore Gets Off To A Fast Start
Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland  70 degrees and 5 mph out to RF
Baltimore: Wally Bunker
Cleveland: Stan Williams

Baltimore opened up game 4 with 4 runs in the top of the first with the key hit being a 3 run homer by Davey Johnson off Stan Williams.  In the third, Baltimore added 2 more runs off a Frank Robinson solo home run, a Brooks Robinson double and an RBI single by Davey Johnson.  In the 4th, Baltimore staked itself to an 8-0 lead when Don Buford walked, Merv Rettenmund doubled to right center and Frank Robinson singled in both Buford and Rettenmund to close out the Baltimore scoring for the day.  Baltimore veteran hurler Wally Bunker held the Indians in check for five innings before giving up 2 runs in the 6th on a Tony Horton home run down the left field line.  With that, the series scoring came to an end and Baltimore took the series 3-1.
Well played series, a lot of fun to play.  Well played by Bill.
--submitted by Mark Nixon--