The Mets may be in first place, but the Pirates are looking like the top team in the East right now.

Bob Moose threw a no-hitter at Shea, giving Pirates their third win in two days against New York. Moose walked 3 and struck out 6. After walking Rod Gaspar to lead off the ninth, Moose got Tommie Agee to pop up, retired Wayne Garrett on a ground out to third, and then secured the no-hitter when Art Shamsky grounded out to second.

Pirates 4, Mets 0. W: Moose (12-3)  L: Gentry (11-12) 

Errors by All-Stars Ron Santo and Glenn Beckert opened the door for four Cardinals runs as St. Louis emerged with a victory in Wrigley, despite a triple and home run from Jim Hickman.

Cardinals 4, Cubs 1.  W: Carlton (17-10)  L: Hands (18-14)  SV: Grant (7)

Friday, September 19, 1969

Looking for something to build off next year, the improving Pittsburgh Pirates jumped on the streaking New York Mets to sweep a doubleheader at Shea. Matty Alou led the charge in game one by going 4 for 4 with 3 RBI, and Willie Stargell was 3 for 5 with a home run and 2 RBI in the second game. New York’s Al Weis went a combined 4 for 7 on the day and Jerry Grote a combined 3 for 6.

Pirates 8, Mets 2 (1).  W: Veale (13-12)  L: Ryan (6-3)

Pirates 8, Mets 0 (2). W: Walker (3-6)  L: McAndrew (6-7)

Both Ken Holtzman and Bob Gibson recorded extra-inning complete games in the front end of a doubleheader at Wrigley, and Jim Hickman touched Gibson for a double with two outs bottom of tenth to drive in Billy Williams with the winning run.  The Cardinals struck back with 5 runs, 3 unearned, off the Chicago bullpen to pull away in game two.

Cubs 2, Cardinals 1 (1, 10 inn.).  W: Holtzman (17-11)  L: Gibson (18-12)

Cardinals 7, Cubs 2.  W: Torrez (9-4)  L: Selma (12-9)

***

STANDINGS AT CLOSE OF PLAY ON 9/20/69

NL EAST                              W    L    T   PCT    GB 
New York Mets                   91   61    0  .599     - 
Chicago Cubs                    88   66    1  .571   4.0
Pittsburgh Pirates              82   70    0  .539   9.0 
St. Louis Cardinals             82   70    0  .539   9.0
Philadelphia Phillies           61   91    0  .401  30.0 
Montreal Expos                  50  104    0  .325  42.0

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Someone old and someone new helped make Expos fans blue.

Billy Williams, owner of the National League consecutive games record, struck a two-run shot and rookie Oscar Gamble hit his first Major League home run as the Cubs edged Montreal.  Glenn Beckert also went 3 for 5 for Chicago.

Bill Hands pitched well for seven innings but gave up a two-run home run by Mack Jones to cut the Chicago lead to one run and then walked ex-Met Kevin Collins to put the trying run on first. But after Phil Regan came on in relief, catcher Randy Hundley caught pinch-runner Remy Hermoso stealing, and Regan then retired the next four Expos hitters to close out the game.

Cubs 5, Expos 4.  W: Hands (18-13)  L: Robertson (5-14)  SV: Regan (17)

The first-place Mets were idle today.

***

NL EAST                          W    L    T   PCT    GB
New York Mets                   89   58    0  .605     -
Chicago Cubs                    86   63    1  .577   4.0

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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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Jerry Koosman answered Bill Hands’s knockdown pitches and the Mets stood up to the Cubs in the opener of their crucial two-game series at Shea.

Hands, looking to deliver a message to the pesky Mets, knocked down leadoff batter Tommie Agee not once but twice in the first inning. But Koosman responded by drilling Cubs leader Ron Santo to begin the second inning, and then the lefthander proceeded to strand Santo on first by striking out the next three batters.

In the bottom of the third, Agee got his own measure of revenge. With two outs and Bud Harrelson standing on first, Agee drove a Hands offering over the fence to give the home team a 2-0 lead.

Koosman faltered in the top of the sixth. He gave up a run by surrendering singles to Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, and Billy Williams to begin the inning, and then Ron Santo’s sacrifice fly tied the game.

But again, New York answered back. Agee led off the bottom of the inning with a double and came around to score on Wayne Garrett’s single.

Koosman hung tough from there. Chicago threatened in the eighth when Beckert and Williams opened the inning with consecutive singles, but then Koosman induced Santo to ground into a double play, short to second to first. Ernie Banks stepped in the box with the tying run 90 feet away, but Koosman retired him on strikes and then worked around a Randy Hundley single in the ninth by notching his eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth strikeouts of the game.

The Mets’ victory drew the team to within just 1.5 games of first, the closest they’ve been all season.

Mets 3, Cubs 2.  W: Koosman (13-9)  L: Hands (16-13)

***

NL EAST STANDINGS

                                             W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Chicago Cubs                    84   57    1  .596     -   653  519
New York Mets                  81   57    0  .587   1.5   548  490

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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)

***

NL EAST STANDINGS

                                              W    L    T   PCT    GB  
Chicago Cubs                    84   52    1  .618     - 
New York Mets                  77   55    0  .583   5.0 

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Billy Williams went 2 for 3 with a home run and both Glenn Beckert and Ron Santo had two hits as the Cubs snapped their losing streak by beating the Reds.  Fergie Jenkins was dominant, striking out eight while allowing just five baserunners, all on singles.

Cubs 3, Reds 1.  W: Jenkins (18-11)  L: Arrigo (2-6)

NL EAST                          W    L    T   PCT    GB   
Chicago Cubs                    79   52    1  .603     -  
New York Mets                   74   52    0  .587   2.5  

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The Giants looked like they’d won this game with a run in the top of the 10th inning, but then the Cubs struck back for two in the bottom of the frame to send the Wrigley faithful home happy.

With the score tied 2-2 after nine, Willie Mays singled in Bobby Bonds for the go-ahead run. It could have been worse but Rich Nye came on and got Ken Henderson to ground into a bases-loaded double play, third to catcher to first, to end the inning.

Starter Juan Marichal, still going in the tenth inning, retired the first two Cubs batters and was just one out away from victory. But Willie Smith walked and then Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, and Billy Williams all singled to score the tying and winning runs.

Bill Hands had started for Chicago and gave up just 2 runs in 8 2/3 innings.

Cubs 4, Giants 3 (10 inn.)  W: Nye (2-4)  L: Marichal (13-6)

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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

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Ken Holtzman shut out the Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader, and Jim Colburn, making his Major League debut, picked up a victory while going 5 1/3 innings and allowing 3 runs. Don Kessinger was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI in the first and scored twice in the second.  Glenn Beckert was 3 for 4 and Ron Santo struck a 2-run shot in the first game.  Ernie Banks was the hitting star of the second game, going 2 for 3 with 4 RBI. Billy Williams scored twice in the nightcap, as well.

Cubs 6, Phillies 0 (1). W: Holtzman (11-5)  L: Fryman (8-6)

Cubs 6, Phillies 4 (2).  W: J. Colburn (1-0)  L: L. Palmer (0-1)  SV: Nye (2)

***

At Shea, Jerry Koosman recorded a complete-game win in the opening end of a doubleheader with the Expos. Cleon Jones, Art Shamsky and Ed Kranepool each went 2 for 3.

The second game was a wild affair, with starters Nolan Ryan and Howie Reed both getting touched for 6 runs in 3 1/3 inning and neither figuring in the decision. Tommie Agee hit a leadoff home run and then followed with a 3-run blast to cap a 5-run rally in the 4th inning. Agee also scored the go-ahead run in the 7th on Ron Swoboda’s single and the insurance run on Wayne Garrett’s single in the 8th. The Mets centerfielder finished the game with 3 hits, 4 runs scored, and 4 RBI in 4 at-bats.

Mets 4, Expos 3 (1).  W: Koosman (7-5) L: J. Robertson (2-7)

Mets 9, Expos 7 (2). W: Koonce (3-3)  L: McGinn (4-9)  SV: Taylor (7)

***

Team Name                        W    L    T    GB   
Chicago Cubs                    56   34    1    -  
New York Mets                   49   36    0   4.5

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The Cubs let things get away in their first game back at Wrigley.

RBI singles from Paul Popvich and Glenn Beckert gave Chicago a 5-3 lead over the Phillies going into the top of the 9th. But after reliever Hank Aguirre was greeted with a home run by Johnny Briggs, his second in consecutive at-bats, Ted Abernathy came in and poured gasoline on the fire by giving up hits to 4 of the 5 batters he faced, including a roundtripper to Ron Stone.

Billy Williams went 3 for 5 and both Don Kessinger and Beckert went 2 for 4, who lost despite pounding out 11 hits.

Phillies 7, Cubs 5. W: Boozer (1-0)  L: Abernathy (4-2)  SV: B. Wilson (4)

***

Jim McAndrew, Danny Frisella, and Jack DiLauro combined for the dubious distinction of surrendering 11 runs on 15 hits to the expansion Montreal Expos at Shea. Art Shamsky went 2 for 3 with a home run, and rookie Bobby Pfeil also had 2 hits for New York.  Expos starting pitcher Mike Wegener not only got the win but was his team’s hitting star, going 3 for 4 with 4 RBI.

Expos 11, Mets 4. W: Wegener (4-7)  L: McAndrew (2-3)  SV: Radatz (2)

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