METS SCORE LUCKY 7 AS BLACK CAT JINXES CUBS, AMAZINS JUST 1/2 GAME OUT OF FIRST!
Tuesday, September 9, 1969
A black cat visited the Chicago Cubs dugout, and now the Cubs are wondering if it’s an omen for their 1969.
As Don Kessinger stepped into the batter’s box, a stray black cat in circled Glenn Beckert in the visitor’s on-deck circle, hissed at manager Leo Durocher, and then scampered back under the stands of Shea Stadium.
Are the Cubs jinxed? Some people might say so, as Chicago’s division lead has now shrunk to just one-half game with the Mets 7-1 victory on Tuesday night.
Ken Boswell got the scoring started with a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning. Two innings later, Art Shamsky was picked off by Fergie Jenkins but remained alive when Chicago’s Glenn Beckert botched the run down. Don Clendenon followed with a two-run shot to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.
New York starter Tom Seaver allowed the Cubs’s only run of the game on a Ron Santo single in the fourth. But the Mets added single runs in the fourth, fifth, and seventh to pull away. Art Shamsky hit a solo homer, and both Tommie Agee and Jerry Grote went 2 for 4. Seaver went the distance in a masterful effort, giving up just five hits while striking out five. His counterpart tallied nine strikeouts but proved very hittable, allowing ten hits and seven runs (two unearned) in seven innings of work.
With New York’s two-game series sweep of the Cubs, Chicago leaves town with the slimmest of leads in the division and actually one more loss on the season than the (for the moment) second-place Mets. Next up, the last-place Expos come to Shea for a three-game series, while the Cubs remain on the road and head to Philadelphia.
Can the New York Mets, baseball’s loveable losers for the past seven seasons, move into first place? Tune in tomorrow to find out…
Mets 7, Cubs 1. W: Seaver (21-7) L: Jenkins (19-13)
***
W L T PCT GB
Chicago Cubs 84 58 1 .592 -
New York Mets 82 57 0 .590 0.5
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Tags: 1969, Art Shamsky, Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Don Clendenon, Don Kessinger, Fergie Jenkins, Glenn Beckert, Jerry Grote, Ken Boswell, Leo Durocher, New York Mets, Rob Kirkpatrick, Ron Santo, Shea Stadium, Tom Seaver, Tommie Agee
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