Posts Tagged ‘Don Clendenon’
BUFORD, CUELLAR LEAD O’S PAST METS IN GAME ONE
Saturday, October 11, 1969
The New York Mets ran into the Baltimore Orioles buzzsaw in Game One of the World Series.
Don Buford homered on the second pitch thrown by Tom Seaver to set the tone for the game. Buford and Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson seemed to jaw at each other as Buford circled the bases to the delight of the Memorial Stadium crowd. Three innings later, the home fans had more to celebrate. Elrod Hendricks singled to spark a two-out rally. Orioles pitcher Mike Cuellar provided the big hit of the inning with a single to score two runs, and Buford followed with a double for his second RBI of the game and a 4-0 Baltimore lead.
The Mets attempted a rally in the seventh. Singles from Don Clendenon and Jerry Grote sandwiched around a walk to Ron Swoboda brought the tying run to bat with one out. But all Al Weis could manage was a sacrifice fly for one run, and Rod Gaspar grounded out to end the threat.
Cuellar then closed out the game to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the series. He struck out 8 New Yorkers while allowing 6 hits and 4 walks.
After compiling a 2.21 ERA in the regular season, Seaver now has a 6.75 ERA in two postseason starts. Clendenon, who sat out the NLCS in favor of Ed Kranepool against the Atlanta Braves’s right-handed staff, had a double and single in four at-bats against Cuellar. Cleon Jones recorded the first Mets World Series hit with his first-inning single.
WORLD SERIES GAME ONE: Orioles 4, Mets 1. W: Cuellar (1-0) L: Seaver (0-1)
SEAVER SHUTS OUT PHILLY FOR 25TH WIN
Saturday, September 27, 1969
Making his final start of the season, Tom Seaver won his league-leading 25th game as the Mets edged the host Phillies 1-0. Not to be outdone by his staffmate, Seaver followed Jerry Koosman’s complete-game shutout on Friday with one of his own. The Franchise gave up just three hits, two to rookie catcher Dave Watkins, in yet another dominating performance. With the shutout, Seaver lowered his season ERA to 2.20, third best in the National League and just ahead of Koosman’s mark of 2.23. He finishes out the regular season on an amazing run, going 8-0 with an ERA of 0.63 in his final eight starts, all complete games.
Philadelphia’s Grant Jackson matched Seaver’s scoreless effort inning for inning until the eighth, when the Mets managed the lone run of the game. Don Clendenon walked with two outs, advanced to second on Ron Swoboda’s walk, and came around to score when Bobby Pfeil knocked a single into center. Seaver then retired the last six men he faced to close out the game.
Mets manager Gil Hodges batted Cleon Jones leadoff, giving his leftfielder the maximum number of plate appearances in his pursuit of Cincinnati’s Pete Rose in the National League batting title race. Jones collected two singles in four at-bats to raise his season average to .343, while Rose also went 2 for 4 and now stands at .348. The Pirates’s Roberto Clemente is currently third in the league at .340 after going 2 for 3.
Mets 1, Phillies 0. W: Seaver (25-7) L: Jackson (14-17)
KOOSMAN KEEPS METS ON MISSION, WINS FIFTH STRAIGHT
Friday, September 26, 1969
Playing in their first game as reigning division champs, the New York Mets beat the host Phillies on Jerry Koosman’s four-hit shutout. It was Koosman’s fifth complete game and fifth win in a row, and the twenty-seven year-old lefty has lowered his season ERA to a staff-best 2.21.
With a batting lineup that featured a number of reserves including Rod Gaspar, Bob Heise, Amos Otis, Bobby Pfeil and Duffy Dyer, the Mets put five men across the plate. Two days after hitting a pair of home runs in Wednesday’s clincher, Don Clendenon went deep with two out and one on in the first inning to give New York and early lead. Koosman took it from there and allowed just one Phillies batter to reach base (a walk to Tony Taylor) from the fifth inning onward.
Otis had two hits and drove in a run while starting in center in place of Tommie Agee.
Mets 5, Phillies 0. W: Koosman (17-9) L: Fryman (12-15)
BEDLAM AT SHEA AS METS CLINCH DIVISION TITLE
Wednesday, September 24, 1969
With Bill Hands pitching the Cubs to a win over the Expos at Wrigley today, the Mets had to take care of business themselves if they wanted to clinch the Eastern Division of the National League.
And take care of business they did, scoring five runs out of the gate off Steve Carlton, the starting pitcher for the National League in this past summer’s All-Star game.
Don Clendenon got the scoring started in a big way with his first inning home run, after Bud Harrelson had lead off with a single and Tommie Agee reached on a walk. Two batters latter, Ed Charles went deep with a two-run shot to knock Carlton out of the box, and the Shea Stadium crowd could sense that this was the Mets’ night.
From there, rookie Gary Gentry kept the Cardinals at bay, allowing just four hits on the night. Clendenon homered again in the fifth inning, his fifteenth roundtripper of the season, to give the Mets another insurance run.
Gentry carried the shutout into the ninth. Lou Brock and Vic Davalillo both singled to open the inning. But Gentry struck out Vada Pinson for the first out, and the next batter, Joe Torre, bounced a tailor-made groundball to Harrelson. The Mets shortstop threw to Al Weis for the out at second, and Weis turned and fired to Clendenon for the final out of the game.
I recount what happened next in 1969: The Year Everything Changed:
Mets announcer Lindsey Nelson officially proclaimed: “At 9:07 on September 24th, the Mets have won the championship of the Eastern Division of the National League!”
As the Mets players ran into the dugout and began spraying champagne inside the locker room, fans stormed the field to celebrate an event that had seemed unthinkable in the team’s first seven years. In what the Associated Press called “one of the most incredible souvenir-snatching safaaris in baseball history,” the Shea crowd tore up as much as 1,500 square feet of sod. The AP quoted a police report the next day that summarized the festive damage: “They celebrated by breaking three wheels off the batting cage and stripping the netting off it. They celebrated by tearing up the all-weather matting in the coaches’ boxes behind first and third base. They celebrated by taking pieces of the scoreboard. They celebrated by stealing home plate.” Fans also sprayed graffiti across the wall in centerfield and stole the stadium’s American flag from atop its outfield post.
The Mets now await the winner of the National League West, which the Atlanta Braves currently lead by 1.5 games over the San Francisco Giants and 3 over the Cincinnati Reds.
Cubs 6, Expos 3. W: Hands (19-14) L: Renko (6-7)
Mets 6, Cardinals 0. W: Gentry (12-12) L: Carlton (17-11)
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NL EAST W L T PCT GB RS RA New York Mets* 96 61 0 .611 - 615 531 Chicago Cubs 90 67 1 .573 6.0 706 595 Pittsburgh Pirates 82 73 0 .529 13.0 691 632 St. Louis Cardinals 82 74 0 .526 13.5 567 527 Philadelphia Phillies 62 92 0 .403 32.5 624 711 Montreal Expos 52 105 0 .331 44.0 574 762 * clinched division
NL WEST W L T PCT GB RS RA Atlanta Braves 89 68 0 .567 - 667 613 San Francisco Giants 87 69 0 .558 1.5 690 619 Cincinnati Reds 85 70 1 .548 3.0 771 750 Los Angeles Dodgers 82 74 0 .526 6.5 628 538 Houston Astros 78 76 0 .506 9.5 652 638 San Diego Padres 50 106 0 .321 38.5 447 716
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)
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W L T PCT GB
Chicago Cubs 84 58 1 .592 -
New York Mets 82 57 0 .590 0.5
CUBS SHUT OUT, METS LOSE LATE
Wednesday, September 3, 1969
Jim Maloney two-hit the Chicago Cubs at Crosley Field today. Oscar Gamble was the only Cubs player to reach second base when he walked later advanced on Don Kessinger’s single. Bill Hands pitched well but took the loss by giving up a two-run homer to Alex Johnson in the fourth inning.
Reds 2, Cubs 0. W: Maloney (8-4) L: Hands (16-12)
Trailing 4-0, the Mets rallied to tie the game on a pair of two-run homers from Tommie Agee and Don Clendenon off Claude Osteen in the eighth. But Jack DiLauro surrendered a double to Willie Davis that scored Maury Wills with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
Dodgers 5, Mets 4. W: Mikkelsen (7-3) L: DiLauro (1-4)
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NL EAST STANDINGS
W L T PCT GB
Chicago Cubs 84 53 1 .613 -
New York Mets 77 56 0 .579 5.0
CUBS GET 2 WINS FOR PRICE OF ONE, NOW 5 UP IN NL EAST
Tuesday, September 2, 1969
The Chicago Cubs completed one win and then won a complete game.
The June 15 game at Crosley Field between the Reds and Cubs had been suspended after 7 innings with the Cubs leading 5-4. The game was resumed today in Cincinnati, and Ken Johnson kept things status quo by pitching two shutout innings. Paul Popvich’s home run and three RBI back in June proved to be the difference.
For the day’s originally scheduled game, Fergie Jenkins gave up two runs and struck out seven in nine full innings. Don Kessinger doubled and homered, and both Glenn Beckert and rookie Oscar Gamble had two hits and three RBI. Pete Rose was 3 for 4 for Cincinnati. The two official wins on the day increased Chicago’s division lead to five full games.
Cubs 6, Reds 5 (1). W: Nye (3-5) L: Arrigo (2-6) SV: Johnson (2)
Cubs 8, Reds 2 (2). W: Jenkins (19-11) L: Cloninger (9-15)
The Mets built a lead against the host Dodgers thanks to two home runs by slugger Don Clendenon and three hits from Ken Boswell. New York starter Gary Gentry lasted into the ninth, when Los Angeles mounted a comeback that fell one run short when Tug McGraw came on to strike out Willie Davis with men on first and third.
Mets 5, Dodgers 4. W: Gentry (10-11) L: Sutton (15-13) SV: McGraw (10)
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NL EAST STANDINGS
W L T PCT GB
Chicago Cubs 84 52 1 .618 -
New York Mets 77 55 0 .583 5.0
VETERAN JOHNSON WINS OUT OF PEN FOR CUBS, CLENDENON HOMERS IN 10TH AS METS KEEP PACE
Saturday, August 30, 1969
The Cubs held on to take a second game of a weekend series in Atlanta. Handed a 3-0 lead, Chicago starter Dick Selma got just two outs and gave up two runs before Leo Durocher pulled him in favor of Ken Johnson. The veteran Johnson earned his first win of the season by going 5 1/3 before handing things over to Phil Regan. Don Kessinger and Billy Williams had two hits, one run, and one RBI apiece, and Ernie Banks struck a two-run homer, his 21st of the season.
Cubs 5, Braves 4. W: Johnson (1-2) L: Reed (13-9) SV: Regan (15)
Don Clendenon hit a 10th-inning home run off Gaylord Perry and Tug McGraw finished off the game with two scoreless frames to put the Mets over the Giants. Ken Boswell had three hits and scored twice for New York, who got 7 1/3 strong innings from starter Don Cardwell.
Mets 3, Giants 2. W: McGraw (7-2) L: Perry (16-11)
NL EAST W L T PCT GB
Chicago Cubs 81 52 1 .609 -
New York Mets 75 53 0 .586 3.5
HANDS OUTDUELS SEAVER IN WRIGLEY SERIES OPENER
Monday, July 14, 1969
A three-game series touched off in Wrigley between baseball’s newest rivals, the Mets and Cubs. Tom Seaver, the clear leader among the New York pitching staff, squared off against Bill Hands, arguably the team’s best hurler this season, and both players lived up to their billing. The only run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth, when Don Kessinger reached on a bunt single, advanced to second on Glenn Beckert’s grounder, and scored on a two-out single by Billy Williams.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, J.C. Martin got his second hit of the game off Hands, but Phil Regan came on and got Don Clendenon on a lineout to second, prompting third baseman Ron Santo to jump in the air and click his heels together in celebration.
Cubs 1, Mets 0. W: Hands (11-7) L: Seaver (14-4) SV: Regan (9)
Team Name W L T % GB
Chicago Cubs 57 34 1 .626 -
New York Mets 49 37 0 .570 5.5
‘PORTENT OF DOOM?’ CUBS COLLAPSE IN 9TH AGAINST METS
Tuesday, July 8, 1969
The Chicago Cubs came to Shea Stadium for an afternoon game, bringing with them a 5-game lead over the surprising New York Mets in the National League Eastern Division.
With the Mets franchise unaccustomed to any sort of pennant race in their short history, anticipation ran high for the team’s first game back from its recent road trip – and one against its new division rival. The club distributed 16,000 free tickets to children, and one sportswriter observed that as the home team took the field, the young fans’ ”demonstrations of lung power even drowned out the blasts of low-flying jets from landing and taking off from nearby LaGuardia.”
All-Star pitchers Jerry Koosman and Fergie Jenkins squared off in a tightly fought contest. The Mets broke through with the first run of the game on Ed Kranepool’s home run in the 5th. Ernie Banks answered for the Cubs with a solo shot in the 6th. Chicago took the lead when Jenkins walked and later scored on Glenn Beckert’s single in the 7th, and Jim Hickman homered in the 8th to gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead.
The score stood that way going into the bottom of the 9th. With no outs, Don Young misjudged Ken Boswell’s shallow fly to centerfield, and Boswell pulled into second with a double. Two batters later, Don Clendenon sent a drive to the wall that Young tracked down but let bounce out of his glove. With the tying runs on base, the team’s best hitter, Cleon Jones, stepped up to the plate and doubled to score both men and tie the game.
Jenkins issued an intentional pass to Art Shamsky, and both runners moved up on Wayne Garrett’s groundout. Ed Kranepool stepped in and blooped a single over Don Kessinger to bring home Jones with the winning run.
The Shea crowd erupted. In the locker room, Mets manager Gil Hodges would admit, “Yes, you can call it one of the most important victories in Mets’ history….That’s what we’re here for, to make believers out of all you unbelievers.” A jubilant Jones declared, “Somebody said the Cubs aren’t taking us seriously! Maybe they’re taking us seriously now!”
Things erupted in the visitor’s locker room, as well, as the Cubs sounded more like a team that now trailed rather than led by 4 games in the standings. Manager Leo Durocher growled about Young’s two 9th-inning miscues. “It’s tough to win when your centerfielder can’t catch a fucking flyball. Jenkins pitched his heart out. But when one man can’t catch a flyball, it’s a disgrace.” He added: “My son could have caught those balls! My [bleep]ing thirteen-year-old son could have caught those balls!”
Ron Santo, the team’s outspoken third baseman, commented, “Don’s a major leager because of his glove. When he hits, he’s a divided, but when he fails on defense he’s lost–and today he took us down with him.”
The following day, the Chicago Tribune’s report on the game would carry the ominous headline: PORTENT OF DOOM?
Mets 4, Cubs 3. W: Koosman (6-5) L: Jenkins (11-6)
Team Name W L T PCT GB Chicago Cubs 52 32 1 .619 - New York Mets 46 34 0 .575 4.0
Parts of this game report were excerpted from 1969: The Year Everything Changed (Skyhorse Publishing, 2009), available now on Amazon and as part of a 40th anniversary promotion at Barnes and Noble.