One Run Fun...LA takes 3 from Bucs in Chavez Ravine

GAME 1: Welcome to Dodger Stadium for today's game between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. Pittsburgh has won 8 of their last 10. Bob Johnson will start for Pittsburgh. He's made 4 starts on the year and is 3 and 1 with an ERA of 3.34. He'll be opposed by Don Sutton. He's made 6 starts on the year and is 4 and 0 with an ERA of 3.40. It's 77 degrees, wind speed 5 mph, left to right and we have light rain.

Bob Johnson and Don Sutton hooked up in a classic pitcher's duel that took 10 innings to decide. By the time that decision was rendered neither starter was around. The song say, "it never rains in California", but the weather didn't know that and a 47 minuted delay in the 8th inning might have played a huge part in the results. Pittsburgh's ace reliever, Dave Giusti, had to sit around until the rain cleared, which limited his effectiveness and forced the Pirates to put Nelson in. With no score in the bottom of the 10th Dodger catcher Duke Sims led off against Nelson with a walk. Rookie Bill Russell, who has been having a tough go of it with the bat found his way to first as Sims pinch runner. Claude Osteen was summoned from the bullpen to come on and bunt Russell over to second. With one out reliever Jim Brewer was allowed to hit for himself and he promptly slashed a single just past the reach of Pirate shortstop Gene Alley. With 1 out and runners at the corners the aging Maury Wills was able to turn the clock back and slap a single up the middle to win the game. Brewer won his second game in relief for the Dodgers this season against no defeats.

GAME 2: Nelson Briles gets the start for Pittsburgh. He's made 1 start on the year and is 1 and 0 with an ERA of 5.63. He'll be opposed by Al Downing. He's made 5 starts on the year and is 2 and 3 with an ERA of 1.48. It's 74 degrees, wind speed 15 mph, in from lf.
The Dodgers and Pirates again treated the fans to a second 1-0 pitcher's duel. This time the Dodgers scored their run in the 1st inning and somehow they miraculously made it stand up. Starter Al Downing was brilliant scattering 5 hits over 7 innings of work. Pena pitched the final 2 innings for the save. Nelson Briles went the distance, and was the hard luck loser as the Bucs did not find a way to give him run support. The lone run came on a Bill Buckner solo shot with one out in the first.

GAME 3: Steve Blass starts for Pittsburgh. He's made 5 starts on the year and is 1 and 4 with an ERA of 3.67. He'll be opposed by Sandy Vance. He's made 2 starts on the year and is 1 and 0 with an ERA of 5.06. It's 73 degrees, wind speed 5 mph, right to left.

After two 1-0 games the runs were bound to start coming. In years past when the Dodgers started a man named Sandy just the opposite would happen. Of course that Sandy was Sandy Koufax. This Sandy is Sandy Vance and no one with an discernible eye for talent would remotely mistake one for the other. Vance gave up 2 quick runs in the first to the Pirates who went 19 innings in this series without scoring. With two out the great Roberto Clemente singled to right and the powerful Wilbur Stargell hit a rocket that nearly cleared the Union 76 sign in the right field pavilion. At this point the Pirates felt that the drought was over and the runs would now be plentiful. this was not the case for the next 3 innings as they looked to be nursing a 2 run lead with ace Steve Blass on the hill. In the top of the 5th the wheels came off of Vance's proverbial wagon as he yielded 5 hits and 3 runs to end his day with 5 innings pitched and 5 runs allowed. This Sandy managed to give up more runs in 5 innings than that "other" Sandy would give up in 5 games. For Pittsburgh Clemente was again at the center of it all with a RBI single.

For all intents and purposes the Dodgers looked finished. With an anemic offense and a 5 run deficit staring them right in the face the series finale looked to be a throw away. Blass left the game after 6 innings of work and 2 runs against. Lefty Bob Veale came in to finish it out and protect a 3 run lead, which is a decision manger Mike Kenney later regretted making. The Dodgers scored 2 runs in the 6th on 4 hits...all with two out. Dick Allen, Wes Parker and Duke Sims all had back to back hits with Parker and Sims picking up RBI's. The matched that number with 2 in the 7th as well, when Steve Garvey singled with one out after pinch hitting for Joe Moeller. Wills followed that with a clean single of his own to put runners on the corners with 1 out. Wills again turned back the clock and stole second. A wild pitch scored Garvey and a grounder to deep short by pinch hitter Willie Crawford scored Wills to make it 5-4.

Pete Mikkelsen came on for LA and was tasked with holding the deficit at 1 and not letting the Pirates get any insurance. Mikkelsen did his job and then some by pitching 2 scoreless innings and fanning 5 of the 6 batters he faced, which included the heart of the Pirate order (Clemente, Stargell, Oliver, Sanguillen and Pagan). Going into the bottom of the 9th the Pirates again went to the goat of game #1 Nelson, who got Jim Lefebvre to ground back to the box weakly for the 1st out. Tom Haller came on to pinch hit for Mikkelsen and lined a single just in front of Clemente in right. Bill Russell was against summoned from the bench to pinch run. Steve Garvey, who stayed in the game to play third after pinch hitting worked out a walk to put runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Maury Wills followed suit by waiting Nelson out as well to load the bases. Willie Crawford, who also stayed in the game after pinch hitting didn't have to walk. He was plunked in the ribs by Nelson and just like that the game was tied with still one out. Jim "Mudcat" Grant was called on to do the impossible: retire the heart of the Dodger order without yielding the winning run. Grant was not up for the task as Willie Davis hit a hump backed liner to straight away center to win the game and sweep the series. Mikkelsen notched the win to improve his record to 2-0 in relief and Giusti took the loss despite Nelson's carelessness.