I’ve been having some unusual games in my 1966 NL replay. So much so that I even researched to see if it was a full moon during the time I’m replaying (no, it was a new moon at this time).
some of the fun stuff happening…
May 19th
St. Louis and Philadelphia had a battle of the Jacksons. Larry Jackson pitched a shutout and won over Al Jackson. Johnny Callison went 3 for 3 with two doubles and two rbis.
May 20th
The Braves win on a pinch hit by Sandy Alomar. The Braves were lucky since Sandy has a 15-13. Also, reliever Clay Carroll got the win. He is now 7-0 and second in the league in wins.
On the same day, St. Louis got their revenge over Philadelphia. That in itself is strange as the Cardinals are suffering a 9-22 record. But like the Braves, they had help from the bench. Pinch hitter Mike Shannon drove home the game winning hit. Joe Torre got four hits in a losing cause.
This is one the weirdest events so far. On what would be his only start of the year, Bo Belinsky, a D(C*) pitcher, pitched a complete game shutout versus the Astros and their star pitcher Larry Dierker. Appropriately, this game was played on New Year’s Day. Belinsky apparently did not have any problem pitching for me after the celebrations the night before.
Don Sutton wins his league leading 9th game against Pittsburgh. Move along. Nothing to see here.
Gaylord Perry shuts out the New York Mets. See above.
May 21st
Ernie Banks, now hitting .333, collects his second game winning hit in three games on a ninth inning double against the Braves. Bill Hands records his first win but in relief when Fergie Jenkins can’t do the job in his first start of the season.
This, that, and the other
Probably the hardest thing for me to comprehend is that the Cubs are now in 7th place! That’s the highest they have been all season. They haven’t been stringing wins together. Mostly, they have traded a win for a loss in the past two weeks. They are 7-6 for the last 13 games with the Mets and the Astros having a rough time of it, that is enough to move up a notch.
At four games back, San Francisco took two of three from LA and seem poised to make an attack on first place. Perry’s aforementioned shutout is the first of a four-game set against the hapless Mets. Watch out, Bums!
Bob Bailey is yesterday’s news. He has been not been in the Bucs lineup for the last week. The big news is SF’s Willie Mays who now leads in homers (9), rbis (26) and runs (27). Tied with Mays for runs is Atlanta’s Felipe Alou who is also coming on strong. He also leads the NL in hits (51), doubles (15), triples (7), and extra base hits (28).
[A side note: the three Alou brothers are all in the 1966 season. Felipe, Jay and Matty are all good. A couple are just better at being good. ]
Finally, strange stat of the season so far. Ron Herbel has given up eight homeruns in just 23 2/3 innings to lead the league.
[My 1966 NL replay uses the APBA Basic Game with little modifications. I use actual lineups, rotations and transactions.]
Ron “Herbal Essence” Herbel! His glasses may be fogged up from the shower.
What the heck is wrong with the Cardinals? I know that they weren’t that good but didn’t think that they were this bad….maybe they just need Roger Maris!(They have to wait one more year for that one.)
Of course, the next two games I played were just as strange. The official entries in the highlights field:
Tolan scores go-ahead run in top of 9th inning but Pavletich hits walk-off 3-run HR in bottom of inning.
and
Astros score 8 runs on six hits and three errors in the 6th; Rojas grand slam in the 9th when down 12-2.
Two of those errors were by LF Deron Johnson. The OF-1 is deserved.