Here's the National League Report for Friday, September 9. We'll begin with my Central report:
Padres 7, Pirates 5 (NBC: Greg Gumbel, Johnny Bench, Sam Nover)
We begin with the Gwynn watch, and Tony didn't disappoint, going two for three with an RBI. But it's catcher Brad Ausmus who led the San Diego offense, going two for three, driving in two runs, and scoring two. His two-run homer in the fifth put the game away for the surging Padres, who are bound and determined to make significant noise in the National League West. Former Pirate prospect Bip Roberts drove in another pair of San Diego runs. Orlando Merced led the Pirate offense with a pair of RBIs, but the Buccos drop their eighth in a row before close to 40,000 at Three Rivers, most of whom are there to see Gwynn.
Speaking of Merced, his father-in-law Bill Virdon, who serves as Bucco bench coach, ran the team tonight in the absence of Jim Leyland, who has dropped his appeal of a five-game suspension for flipping off umpire Harry Wendelstedt during the team's recent trip to Denver. He's expected to miss the current six-game homestand (taking an extra day for personal leave), and rejoin the Bucs in Montreal next weekend.
This loss was particularly painful because the Bucs got a runner into scoring position with two already in and nobody out off of a uncharacteristically rattled Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the ninth, but watched in disbelief as he rebounded to strike out two and get pinch hitter Dave Clark to tap weakly to first.
W- Benes (9-16)
S- Hoffman (27)
L- Hancock (0-1)
HR- SD: Ausmus (10)
Gwynn watch: 2-3 tonight, 221-523 for the season, currently batting .403
Cardinals 8, Dodgers 7 (NBC: Dick Enberg, Tom Seaver, Hannah Storm)
The Redbirds held off a furious ninth inning rally by the Men in Blue. Berrnard Gilkey powered the St. Louis offense, going three for five with a home run and five RBIs, while Ozzie Smith, Gregg Jefferies, and Todd Zeile each had two hits and scored twice. The Dodgers got two home runs and five RBIs from Mike Piazza in a losing effort, and Jose Offerman contributed two hits. They scored twice in the ninth and had the tying run at first, but St. Louis reliever Mike Perez got Eric Karros to fly out, ending the game.
As a result of this loss and the Padres' win, the Dodgers have fallen into third place in the West.
W- Palacios (4-9)
S- Perez (13)
L- Hershiser (7-8)
HR- LA: Piazza 2 (35)
STL: Gilkey (7)
Phillies 14, Cubs 3 (NBC to Philadelphia and Chicago: Jim Lampley, Jim Rooker)
The Phils had a grand old time at the Friendly Confines, racking up nineteen hits and looking like anything but a .500 ballclub. Leading the charge was Lenny Dykstra, who went five for six with an RBI and four runs scored. Mariano Duncan, starting this afternoon at short, and Darren Daulton each had three hits and three RBIs, and Jim Eisenreich went three for four. On the mound, Danny Jackson went all the way, giving up six hits and walking only one. Mike Morgan took the loss for the Cubbies, who got a home run from Steve Buechele.
The seventh inning stretch featured a duet of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" with Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray and Phils broadcaster Harry Kalas, which NBC's Jim Lampley called an "embarassment"; there's now an petition circulating around the city of Chicago seeking to bar Lampley from ever covering another sporting event within the city limits, while the Saturday Philadelphia Inquirer has a front-page cartoon of Lampley getting knocked out by Philly's number one cultural icon, Rocky Balboa, while the Harrys commentate in the background. (Note: Lampley apologized for his remarks during NFL Live two days later.)
W- Jackson (15-7)
L- Morgan (4-11)
HR- CHC: Buechele (21)
Reds 7, Expos 6 (11 innings; NBC: Bob Costas, Tony Kubek, Jim Gray)
In the game of the night so far, the Reds came from behind in the bottom of the eighth, scoring twice to tie the game at six. Each side threatened in the ninth to no avail. Fast forward to the bottom of the eleventh, where umpire Terry Tata is at the center of a controversy involving Expos closer John Wetteland. The Reds loaded the bases with a walk to Eddie Taubensee, a bloop hit by Jerome Walton, and an intentional walk ordered to Barry Larkin. Due to Larkin's bad groin, he was pulled in favor of Jose Rijo as a pinch runner. Reggie Sanders and Wetteland then engage in a pitched battle, with Sanders falling behind 0-2, taking two balls, then fouling off several pitches. Wetteland falls behind 3-2, and then the fun began. Here's Bob:
"This is it, everybody will be running. Tied at six, bottom of the eleventh. Wetteland takes a moment to wipe his face on this 80-degree night at Riverfront, and now........wait a minute.........Terry Tata's waving Taubensee in from third! The game is apparently over!"
Tony Kubek: "Huh?"
Costas: "Huh is right! Felipe Alou is all over Terry Tata. He can't believe it, whatever it is. Let's see if we can pick up the replay."
Kubek: "I can't see anything, Bob. Wetteland's just mopping his face. Pitchers do that all the time."
Costas: "Jim Gray apparently has something."
Gray: "Bob, Terry Tata ruled that Wetteland was going to his mouth while on the rubber, which is an automatic ball. His sleeve went across his mouth, which is a violation, so the Reds get a walk and the winning run scores, Back to you and Tony."
Kubek: "Talk about nickel and dime. How could he tell from in back of home plate?"
Costas: "Let's see if we can pick it up in slow motion. There it is........oh, that's wrong! He was going across his nose, not his mouth!"
Kubek: "If he touched his lip, though, even a glancing blow........yep, just lightly, but there it is. You can see it. A horrible way to end a great game."
Costas: "I guess we can call this one the Big Mouth Game or something. Final in eleven, the Reds 7, the Expos 6, and I've never seen anything like it. Forgive the pun, but there will be plenty of word of mouth about this one. Back to Ahmad Rashad in New York."
The Expos filed a protest, which was ultimately denied by National League President Leonard Coleman.
W- Brantley (7-8)
L- Wetteland (4-8)
HR- MTL: Alou (32)
Now here's Joe Ray in the West:
Mets 5, Rockies 3 (NBC: Charlie Jones, Fred Lynn)
W: Gozzo (7-6)
L: Nied (9-9)
S: Franco (37)
HR- COL: Bichette (32)
In front of 51,304 at Mile High Stadium, the Rockies blew a huge chance to cut into the Giants' lead in the West in this rare low-scoring game. The Mets strike first in the 4th on a sac fly by Jose Vizcaino which drove in Todd Hundley. Bichette tied it in the bottom of the fourth (Note: Joe Ray doesn't say how), but New York got the lead right back in the top of the fifth on RBI singles by Bobby Bonilla and Jim Lindeman. They added another run in the seventh on a double by Hundley. Dante Bichette homered in the bottom of the seventh to make it 4-2, but a David Segui single in the top of the ninth gave the Mets a 5-2 lead. The Rockies scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to cut the Mets' lead to 5-3, but couldn't complete their comeback, leaving the tying run at third.
Now here's Desmond in the East:
Atlanta 8, San Francisco 5 (NBC - Vin Scully, Joe Garagiola, Craig Sager)
W - Kent Mercker (11-5)
L - John Burkett (7-10)
S - Greg McMichael (27)
HR - SF: Matt Williams (53), Todd Benzinger (16)
ATL: Fred McGriff (48)
McGriff had a home run and bases-clearing double for a total of five RBIs. With this win and the Expos' loss, the Braves take over first place in the East by half a game.
Houston 6, Florida 1 (NBC - Don Criqui, Mike Schmidt)
W - Pete Harnisch (11-5)
L - David Weathers (9-14)
HR - HOU: Craig Biggio (8), Steve Finley (13)
Only about a hundred and fifty people were left at the ballpark when the game finally ended at 12:42 AM; there had been two hours and thirty-five minutes of rain delays.
The standings in the East to the moment:
Braves: 83-59
Expos: 82-59- .5 GB
Mets: 73-68- 9.5 GB
Phillies: 70-71- 12.5 GB
Marlins: 59-82- 23.5 GB
In the Central:
Reds: 84-56
Astros: 78-63- 6.5 GB
Cubs: 65-76- 19.5 GB
Cardinals: 58-83- 26.5 GB
Pirates: 53-89- 32 GB
In the West:
Giants: 73-68
Padres: 72-71- 2 GB
Dodgers: 70-70- 2.5 GB
Rockies: 68-76- 6.5 GB
In the Wild Card:
Expos: 82-59
Astros: 78-63- 4 GB
Next: We look at September 10.
Thoughts?