1973 METS Updates THRU SEPTEMBER 14

Listen to my full story of the game at this link:

https://lenferman.substack.com/p/a-6-team-scramble-197#details

METS COME FROM 3 RUNS DOWN TO BEAT THE CARDINALS IN 10 INNINGS

The last place Mets spotted the Cardinals 3 runs in the 1st inning, when the Cards power hitters lit up Mets starter Ray Sadecki. Ted Sizemore singled, Joe Torre doubled driving in Sizemore, Ted Simmons singled driving in Torre and then former Met Tommie Agee tripled driving home Simmons.

But the Mets chipped away and tied the game by the 6th inning.  After the 1st inning the Cardinals couldn't touch Ray Sadecki who pitched 5 shutout innings after his awful 1st.  Then Tug McGraw took over in the 7th.  McGraw was stellar, allowing no hits in the 7th thru 9th innings and the game was tied after 9.

In the top of the 10th, with 2 outs, the Mets reeled off 5 consecutive singles to score 3 runs.  

In the bottom of the inning, Tug allowed a leadoff double by Mike Tyson, but then got 3 consecutive groundouts, one of them scoring Tyson, to close out a 6 - 4 victory.

The Mets move into 5th place a half game ahead of the Phillies.  The Mets are now 5.5 games behind the division leading Cardinals.

The Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Cubs very convincingly 7 - 0 and 5 - 2 to move to within 1 game of the Cardinals.  Willie Stargell hit his 36th HR of the season in the 1st game.  Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Press wrote, "The Pirates are talking championship again."  The Pirates have won the NL East division title the past 3 seasons and won the World Series in 1971.

AFTER 7 STRAIGHT 1 RUN GAMES THE METS PLAY A 2 RUN GAME

The Mets had played 7 consecutive 1 run games coming into last night.  They had won 3 and lost 4.  Tonight they finally didn't play a 1 run game.  They played a 2 run game.

It should have been more.

With the score tied at 2 going into the bottom of the 6th, Wayne Garrett hit a home run to give the Mets the lead and that sparked 5 singles by his teammates, resulting in a 5 run inning for the Mets.

The Mets went on to win 8 - 6 when Tug McGraw saved his 15th game to close out the Padres in the 9th.  

But the Mets are still in last place at 60 - 70 and 6.5 games back of the Cardinals.  

McGraw's ERA is still sky high at 5.18, but he's pitching very well in his last few outings.

Mets bullpen coach, Joe Pignatano, told the New York Times today, "Now McGraw is the best relief pitcher in baseball, no doubt about it."

Mets starter Jon Matlack however was not happy with his performance yielding 4 runs in 7 innings to the worst team in baseball.  When questioned about his night by the New York Daily News he said, "talk to guys who actually had something to do with winning the game."

For 2 days in a row the newspapers have advised us that Tom Seaver's next start is being pushed out a day because he is having a mole removed from his buttocks.  

I didn't need to know that.

METS TAKE ON THE WORST TEAM IN THE NL, THE PADRES

It was a Monday night game at Shea last night, August 27, 1973.  Less than 15,000 fans came out to see George Stone pitch against the Padres.

Stone has been up and down.  While he has a 2.96 ERA, he didn't even make it out of the 1st inning in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago.  Then he came back at home against the Reds and pitched the best game of his life, when he got 1 strike away (twice) from shutting out the Reds on 2 hits before disaster struck and he lost the game.  

Last night he started strong, retiring the 1st 5 Padres. Then he gave up a home run to catcher Fred Kendall.  

Then he got another 6 Padres in a row, before giving up another home run to Cito Gaston.

The Mets got a run back in the 4th when Don Hahn singled home Cleon Jones.  Hahn had a strong game at the plate going 4 for 4, all on singles.

Stone had another easy inning in the top of the 5th.

In the bottom of the 5th the Mets loaded the bases for Rusty Staub with no outs.  Staub promptly hit a grand slam.  It was his 1st home run in 5 months and his 1st at Shea since May.  It was also the Mets 1st homer in 9 games.  It gave Stone a 5 - 2 lead to work with.

Stone gave a run back when he allowed his 3rd home run of the game in the 6th and then he was taken out for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 7th when the Mets scored another run to go up 6 - 3.

The Mets needed that extra run because Harry Parker pitching in the 8th gave up a 1 out double to Nate Colbert that drove in 2 to pull the Padres to within a run a 6 - 5.

After that Berra brought in Tug McGraw.  McGraw got Cito Gaston looking for a strikeout and Fred Kendall to ground out to get out of the inning.

In the 9th, Tug McGraw remained on the mound and shut down the Padres.  The first batter, rookie Dave Winfield, struck out looking.  McGraw got the 2nd batter Rich Morales to strike out swinging.  And the 3rd batter, pinch hitter Ivan Murrell also struck out swinging.

Tug McGraw had struck out the side to register his 14th save.  He has struck out 4 of the 5 batters he faced and in 1 and 2/3 perfect innings of work.

Mets win 6 - 5.

But the Mets are still in last place at 59 - 70 and 6.5 games back of the Cardinals. 

WILLIE MAYS LAST GAME AGAINST THE GIANTS

50 years ago yesterday afternoon, on Sunday, August 26, 1973, the Mets played an afternoon game in front of 35,210 fans.  

Ray Sadecki started for the Mets, and he looked like he was in the same form as his last outing, a brilliant 4 hitter to beat the Dodgers, the best team in baseball.  Sadecki retired the side in order in the 1st and 2nd.  But he let up runs in the 3rd and 4th and the Mets were being stifled by Giants ace, 19 game winner Ron Bryant.

When Dave Kingman homered off Sadecki in the 6th the Giants were up 5 - 0 and Sadecki was finished.

The Met finally got on board in the bottom of the 6th with 2 runs and the score remained 5 - 2 going into the bottom of the 9th.

Bryant was still on the mound and he had the opportunity to become the 1st pitcher in the NL this year to reach 20 wins.  

Jerry Grote led off for the Mets and flew out.

Don Hahn singled for his only hit of the game.

Teddy Martinez doubled and now the Mets had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.

At this point Bryant came out of the game for closer Elias Sosa.

The 1st batter Sosa faced was Ken Boswell and he singled driving in 2 runs.

Giants 5 Mets 4 with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th and the tying run on 2nd.

John Milner came up.  Milner had won 2 games this week already in the bottom of the 9th.  Here was an opportunity for the hat trick.  But he flew out.

Giants 5 Mets 4 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the tying run on 2nd.

Next up was Willie Mays.  Mays playing 1st base already had 13 putouts in the game including an acrobatic play to scoop up a off base Bud Harrelson throw.  At the plate, Mays was 0 for 3, but had reached base twice on walks. Those were the only 2 walks issued by Bryant.  Mays now had an OBP of .329 going back to June 12th when he came off the DL and had some semblance of health.  By the way that's better than Pete Alonso's OBP today.

Sosa had faced Mays only once before in his career and Willie had hit a double.

The count on Mays reached 2 - 2 and pitching coach Don McMahon came to the mound.  In the New York Times, Gerald Eskanazi wrote that McMahon told Sosa, "Don't throw him a fastball."  

In the San Franciso Examiner, Bucky Walter had a different story.  Walter said that McMahon had signaled for a fastball from the dugout.  But when Sosa shook that off from the catcher Dave Radar, McMahon came to the mound.  After Sosa told McMahon he wanted to throw a slider, McMahon was convinced that Sosa was confident with his slider and he told Radar, "Let him pitch what he wants."

Sosa said, "I threw him a slider.  It was my best pitch."

Joe Trimble in the New York Daily News described it as, "a hard slider on the outside of the plate." 

In the San Fransisco Examiner, Bucky Walter wrote, "Sosa sidewheeled a vicious slider pitch.  Mays swung the bat hard."

Mays missed.  Ballgame over.  Mets lose 5 - 4.

The loss was crushing for the Mets.  It sent them once again to 12 games under .500 and left them buried in last place in the NL East.  

But with the Cardinals losing for the 14th time in 18 games, the Mets were still just 6.5 games out of 1st place.

Next up for the Mets are 3 more home games against the San Diego Padres.  

The Sports Time Traveler will be there to cover the games.  I can't wait!

CONTINUING TO "AMAYS"

The San Francisco Giants came to Shea for the 1st of a 3 game series.  On the mound for the Giants was the veteran Juan Marichal.  And Marichal's long time centerfielder Willie Mays was starting in center for the Mets for the 1st time this month.  Mays has been playing 1st base because of his ailing shoulder.

Willie Mays was the leadoff batter for the Mets.  Joe Trimble in the New York Daily News stated that, "the wonderful one, at 42, has to be the oldest leadoff batter in the last 3 decades."

Pitching for the Mets was Jerry Koosman, whose best seasons were in 1968 and 1969.

The game played out like a vintage 1968 game, with both pitchers giving up no runs through 9 innings.

Koosman continued to shut out the Giants in the top of the 10th.

In the bottom of the 10th Koosman was finally taken out for pinch hitter Ken Boswell who delivered a single.

With no one out and Boswell on 1st base, Willie Mays came to the plate.  Mays was 1 for 4 in the game.  Yogi Berra ordered Mays to bunt to move the winning run to 2nd.  Mays who has rarely been asked to bunt in his career, did the job.  Next up was Felix Millan, the Mets leading hitter, who lined a shot to right field.  Bobby Bonds dove for the ball, but couldn't get it.  Boswell scored the winning run standing up.

Mets win 1 - 0 in 10 innings.

Joseph Durso in the New York Times led off his article on the game this morning with this, "The Mets recaptured the Magic again last night."

The Mets remain in last place 6.5 games out.

Here are the NL East Standings as of this morning in 1973:

CARDS     65 - 62

PIRATES  61 - 63   2.5 games back

CUBS       61 - 66   4 games back

EXPOS     59 - 67   5.5 games back

PHILLIES 59 - 69   6 games back

METS       58 - 68   6.5 games back

TALK OF ANOTHER MIRACLE

Coming into the last of this 3 game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who hold the best record in baseball, the Mets had beaten the Dodgers 2 straight and had taken 2 of 3 against the 2nd best team in baseball, the Cincinnati "Big Red Machine." 

Joseph Durso in the New York Times wrote that the Mets players, "have revived talk of another miracle lately."

But last night the Dodgers shut down the miracle talk.  The Dodgers strength is quality starting pitching.  They have the best staff of starters in baseball top to bottom with all 5 starting pitchers holding ERAs under 3.  

Claude OSteen with a 15 - 6 record was the starter on the mound last night.  Although he had been a Met killer, winning 5 straight against the Mets coming into this game, 4 of them in which he didn't allow a run, the Mets got a run of Osteen in the 1st inning when a Willie Mays single scored Wayne Garrett.

Jon Matlack, starting for the Mets, looked good in the 1st 3 innings, not allowing a runner to reach 2nd base.

But in the 4th, Matlack gave up 2 doubles, and the Dodgers tied the game at 1.

Matlack did was Mets pitchers always seem to have to do in the bottom of the inning.  He got an RBI single to put him back in front 2 - 1 at the end of 4 innings.

Matlack promptly lost his lead in the top of the 5th however, when Willie Davis crashed a 2 run homer.  Two more Dodgers hits, scoring another run, knocked Matlack out of what had looked like a promising game for him and the Dodgers led 4 - 2.

The Mets got right back in the game in the bottom of the 5th. Felix Millan walked.  Willie Mays singled, John Milner singled scoring Millan and Cleon Jones hit a sacrifice fly to score Mays to tie the game. 

In the top of the 6th, the Dodgers promptly took the lead back again when Joe Ferguson drilled his 3rd double of the game driving in Willie Davis to take a 5 - 4 lead.

Osteen settled in on the mound for the Dodgers retiring 10 straight Mets.  

The Mets entered the bottom of the 9th down 5 - 4.  The past 2 nights they had won the game in the bottom of the 9th.  Here was an opportunity to do it again.

Osteen struck out Don Hahn.  Then he got Teddy Martinez to lineout to center.

With 2 outs, Duffy Dyer came up to pinch hit for the pitcher, Harry Parker.  Dyer came through with a single.

Now it was up to the leadoff man, Wayne Garrett.  Garrett has been surging at the plate since June improving his batting average over 30 points.  But on this night O'steen struck him out.  The Dodgers won the game 5 - 4.  Osteen had retired the last 13 Mets in a row.

With the loss the Mets fall to 57 - 68 and 6.5 games back.  They are still in last place, where they've been since June 29th.  Any talk of a miracle had a big setback tonight.

The win for the Dodgers gives them a 3 game cushion on the Reds in the NL West.  The Dodgers and the Reds have the 2 best records in all of baseball.  No other team is even close.

Willie Mays went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.  He continues to be an important contributor to the club this summer.  

NOTE:  If I appear to always be 1 day behind it's because I read the newspaper archives exactly 50 years ago to the day.  So this morning I'm reading the August 8, 1973 papers which are reporting on "yesterday's" games that took place on August 7, 1973.

Don Hahn started in centerfield again for the injured Willie Mays.  Hahn is 3 for 20 in his last 5 games starting in centerfield.  He had a "good" game yesterday.  He went 1 for 5.  And he's been the leadoff hitter in all 5 of those games.

The number 2 batter, Felix Millan, who has had a hot bat all summer went 0 for 4.

Fortunately the rest of the batting order, including starting pitcher Ray Sadecki, all got at least 1 hit.  

Sadecki however didn't make it through 3 innings.  But neither did Cardinals starter Tom Murphy.  And the Mets led 6 - 4 after 4 innings.

The Cards got a run off Mets reliever Buzz Capra in the 6th to make it a 1 run game at 6 - 5.

Then Tug McGraw shut down the Cards in the final 3 innings.   He allowed 3 singles and no walks and no runs.  McGraw, who as recently as 2 weeks ago had an ERA of 6.17, has now had several good appearances and has cut almost a full run off his ERA.   

The Mets won it 6 - 5. 

Despite the victory, the Mets are still in last place.  From my perspective when I was 9 years old, the Mets have basically been in last place since just after school let out in June.  It's been a dreary summer.

But a new writer for the Mets in the New York Times, Michael Strauss, was upbeat, starting his article with this sentence. "Things may be looking up for the New York Mets."

Yesterday's game was the last in the unusual 6 game series against the Cards.  The Mets and Cards split the series.

The Mets must have flown out right after the game, which ended at 4:30pm in New York, as tonight the Mets begin a west coast trip, starting with the NL West leading Dodgers.

THE CUBS FLUBS

Note that the Chicago Cubs have dropped below .500.  The Cubs were riding high 6 weeks ago with a record of 47 - 31.  They were talking about how they were wiser than in 1969 when they blew a big division lead.  They were talking about how this  might be their year.  

Now the Cubs have gone 9 - 26 in their last 35 games.

Here are the NL East Standings:

CARDS    61 - 52

CUBS       56 - 57   5 games back

EXPOS     55 - 56   5 games back

PIRATES  54 - 56   5.5 games back

PHILLIES 52 - 60   8.5 games back

METS       50 - 60   9.5 games back

The Mets were down 3 - 1 going into the bottom of the 6th.  

George Stone had another quality start allowing just 2 earned runs in 6 innings.  He was taken out for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the inning and the move paid off.  Ken Boswell's 2 out single drove in a run and the Mets pulled to within a run at 3 - 2.

Then the floodgates opened for the Mets batters and they scored 8 more runs in the 7th and 8th and won the game 10 - 3.

The Cardinals played lackluster in the field, leading to several of the Mets runs.  Perhaps they were disheartened by the news that Bob Gibson will need to undergo surgery for torn cartilage in his knee and will miss 4 - 6 weeks. 

For the Mets, 3rd baseman Wayne Garrett had a big day with 3 singles that drove in 3 runs.

Willie Mays did not play.  He is nursing a sore right shoulder.  His replacement in centerfield, Don Hahn, was the lead off batter, and went 0 for 4, but he did draw a walk and scored on a sac fly.

Despite the victory, the Mets are still in last place.

Here are the NL East Standings:

CARDS    61 - 51

CUBS       56 - 56   5 games back

PIRATES  54 - 55   5.5 games back

EXPOS     54 - 56   6 games back

PHILLIES 52 - 60   9 games back

METS       49 - 60   10.5 games back

It was banner day at Shea.  40,280 fans were on hand to see Tom Seaver pitch in the 1st game of a doubleheader.

Seaver walked the 2nd batter of the game, Ted Sizemore, and then Sizemore ended up on 3rd base on an error.  I can't find out what happened after searching newspapers in both New York and St. Louis.  But in the box score the error was on Seaver, so it was likely an errant throw to 1st base trying to hold Sizemore on.  The odd thing was that SIzemore was not a steal threat.  He stole 6 bases and was caught 4 times in 1973.

The error cost Seaver when the next batter, Tim McCarver, got him home on a Sac fly.

The Mets tied the game in the bottom of the 1st when Rusty Staub singled home Don Hahn, who had reached base on an error to lead off.

The Mets took a 2 - 1 lead in the 4th and the game stayed that way until the 7th which was the fateful inning.  Seaver gave up 3 singles leading to 2 runs.  The Cards took a 3 - 2 lead and that's how game 1 ended.

In game 2, Jim McAndrew had another poor start giving up 4 runs in 5 innings.  The Mets could do nothing against Cards pitcher Rick Wise who threw a complete game 5 hitter, allowing no walks and just 1 run.  Cards won it 5 - 1.  The only Mets run was John Milner's 19th HR of the season.

Willie Mays did not play either game. 

The Mets are now buried in last place at 48 - 60, 11.5 games back of the Cards.

Here are the NL East Standings:

CARDS    61 - 50

CUBS       56 - 55   5 games back

PIRATES  54 - 55   6 games back

EXPOS     53 - 56   6.5 games back

PHILLIES 52 - 60   9.5 games back

METS       48 - 60   11.5 games back

If the Mets can't even win with Seaver and are 11.5 games back then it's hopeless.  Maybe they should trade Seaver, Mays, Koosman, Harrelson and Matlack for prospects.  Sorry, I don't mean that.  I'm just frustrated with the 2023 Mets.