It’s the Dynasty League’s first subway series. Here’s how it got there.
NL League Championship Series
Game 1 at Candlestick Park SF
The Daytraders began the final step on the quest to return to the world series with Roger Nelson on the mound who had gone 2-0 in playoff appearances this season to face lefty Mickey Lolich who like Nelson had begun his season in the Al Alpha division (Baltimore) but unlike Nelson had not yet had a decision in the postseason. The Giants stuck first in the 2nd with Ellie Rodriguez scoring on the Elliot Maddux Triple and Maddux scoring on a wild pitch that followed. The Daytraders answered immediately when with runners on 1st and 3rd (Graig Nettles double, Leo Cardinals single) Nelson excutted a perfect suicide squeeze plating Nettles and getting Cardenas to 2nd. A Steve Brye pinch single sent him to 3rd and Dwayne Josephson hitting for Willie Mays singed him home to tie it up but with 2 on and one out Lolich managed to get Jimmy Winn and Willie Stargell to keep the game tied. In the sixth NY jumped ahead. A one out single to Stargell and a two out walk to Leron Lee put men on 1st & 2nd vs Reliever Ron Bryant (Lolich was pinch hit for in the 4th) set up Graig Nettles who with the runners going singled to center Stargell motored home and Lee went to third where Leo Cardenas surprised everyone by bunting with two outs completely surprising Catcher Rodriguez enough to allow him to beat the throw to 1st and make it 4-2. That lead held till the 8th when Nelson gave up a leadoff single to Rick Monday and a walk to Chris Speier putting two on with none out. Lerrin LaGrow came in to relieve Nelson but put his 2nd pitch too far over the plate and Darrell Evans drove it to deep right. Ken Henderson tried to chase it down but it went over his head plating Monday and Speier to tie the game and put the go ahead run in scoring position with none out. It looked bad for the Brokers but LaGrow overcame his bad start but inducing three consecutive grounders from Bobby Bonds, Harmon Killebrew and Ellie Rodriguez to keep the game tied
Phil Hennigan came in for the giants in the 9th and held things down and managed to get out of a bases loaded one out jam in the 10th on a grounder to 1st with the infield drawn for the first out. Cardines tried again to bunt with two outs but Rodriguez forewarned this time made the play to end the inning. The Daytraders answered with Tom Seaver in the 12th who got both Bonds and Killebrew to start the inning but came too far inside on a fastball to Rodriguez hitting him and putting him on 2nd with two out setting up Garry Maddox who for the 2nd time in the game would drive a ball to center that would roll to the wall and score Rodriguez this time for the extra inning win and giving Seaver his 2nd loss in relief in the postseason.
Giants 5 Daytraders 4 (11 innings) WP Hennigan 1-0 LP Seaver (0-2)
Game 2 at Candlestick Park San Francisco
Game 2 was a battle of Aces as Phil Niekro and Jim Palmer took the mound. Both pitchers would work deep into the game and both would be victimized by errors at first base. The Giants had taken a 1 run lead in the 2nd on a Sac fly by Evans that scored Rick Monday who had doubled to start the inning and moved to 3rd on a grounder. In the fourth Norm Cash misplayed an Evans grounder that put him on first. He went to single on a Bobby Bonds single and scored on another from Harmon Killebrew to make it 2-0 and getting Bonds to 3rd where a Garry Maddox sac fly plated a 2nd unearned run for the giants to make it 3-0. With a 3-0 lead and Palmer on the mound things looked good but Niekro kept the Giants off the board while in the 8th a Stargell leadoff triple gave Cash a chance to atone for his mistake singling him home to cut the lead to two. It looked like it was all over in the 9th when Palmer got Jimmy Wynn for the first out but a grounder to Killerbrew by Wayne Garrett was misplayed putting a man on first and the tying run at the plate with one out. Willie Mays drilled the next pitch down the first base line but Killer made up for his error with a diving stop that turned a sure double into the 2nd out Garrett moving to 2nd. Leron Lee walked and it looked like it was all over when Stargell grounded the next pitch to first but for the 2nd time in the inning Killebrew failed letting the ball go right between his legs. It rolled down the right field line scoring Garrett and sending Stargell to 2nd and Lee to 3rd. Palmer at this point was out of gas and Eddie Watt came into the game to face Ted Simmons with the game on the line. The good news for the Giants was Simmons didn’t hit the ball to Killebrew, the bad news was he drilled it to center Lee scored easily and Stargell rounded 3rd for the go ahead run but Garry Maddux threw a bullet to the plate for the 3rd out and when the Mets failed to capitalize on the Leo Cardenes two out triple in the top of the 9th and LaGrow put down the Giants in the bottom it was off to extra innings again. The Daytraders brought in Steve Carlton in the 10th where he would pitch out of the 2 out two on jam and hold them down till Willie Mays put a two out fastball over the right center wall to put the Stock brokers in the lead in the top of the 12th but a pair of leadoff singles put runners at the corners in the bottom of the inning when Tommie Agee put a ball to the warning track scoring the tying run and just missed ending the game. Again Carlton pitched out of the jam and the game went on until the 14th when Cardenes again bunted his way on off of Dave Giusti with one out. Jimmie Wynn drew a walk and then Jack Brohamer took a breaking ball and sent it rolling to the wall in right clearing the bases and giving Carlton a 2 run lead. That would be enough as lefty in his fifth inning of work would retire the Giants in order to even out the series.
Daytraders 6 Giants 4 (14 innings) WP Carlton (2-0) LP Giusti (0-1) HR Mays (1)
Game 3 Shea Stadium New York
After two exhausting extra inning games the series moved to New York with Tom Seaver hoping to do better in his normal starting role facing Ron Bryant. While his fastball was active striking out 12 he was also a little wild. In the 4th he walked Darrell Evans to start the frame and Harmon Killebrew with out out setting up Johnny Oats who would single to right scoring Evans and sending Killer to 3rd. One out later Dave Cash would double to right easily plating Killebrew and allowing Oates to just beat Stargell’s throw to make it 3-0. When Rick Monday led of the 5th with a solo shot and Garry Maddux scored in the sixth on pitcher Ron Bryant’s singled after his own double it seemed like Tom Terrific was set up for this 3rd playoff loss. The Mets would not break through till the 7th when Eddie Watt would walk pinch hitter Ted Simmons with the bases loaded and two outs but would strike out Leron Lee to end the inning and after 7 it was 5-1 Giants.
Then came the 8th and it all went pear shaped. Watt got Jimmy Wynn for the 1st out and pinch hitter Cash for the 2nd out but gave up a Solo shot to Willie Stargell to make it 5-2 and followed up with singles to Graig Nettles, Leo Cardenas and a walk to Wayne Garrett putting the tying runs on with only one out. Having put on 5 of the 8 men he faced in 2/3 of an inning Dave Giusti came in to try to put out the fire.
He failed. Willie Mays Pinch hit single scored Nettle and Cardenes to make it a 1 run game and after Hitting Ted Simmons to load the bases up Bob Montgomery pinch hit for reliver Jerry Reuss and singled to left. Garrett scored to tie the game and Mays forgetting his age rounded third and just beat the accurate throw to the plate by Rick Monday. The Giants had a shot in the 9th when Darrell Evans hit a two out double off Lerrin LaGrow. With 1st base open the Mets manager put Bonds on 1st risked the go ahead run on 1st rather than facing him and left it for LaGrow to face Killebrew who had already hit two HR in the playoffs. Alas for the Giants he grounded into a fielders choice to give the Daytraders the lead in the series and Giusti his second consecutive loss.
New York 6 San Francisco 5 WP Jerry Reuss (1-0) LP Dave Giusti (0-2) SV LaGross (1) HR Monday (1) Stargell (1)
Game 4 at Shea Stadium New York
San Francisco sent Mickey Lolich to face Roger Nelson in game five. It remained a scoreless affair till the fourth when Darrell Evans put a ball over the right field fence for a 1-0 SF lead. It might have been 2-0 but Bobby Bonds drive to center came up just short. The lead held up til the 6th when with two outs Joe Lis would single and go to 2nd on a wild pitch. Duane Josephson came in to hit for Mays and was given 1b intentionally by manager Hazan which would prove costly as Ted Simmons would drive a 2-1 pitch to the gap in left center plating both Lis and Josephson and suddenly it was 2-1. An inning later Steve Brye would hit a pinch single to start the 7th for the brokers and after a Nelson K Leron Lee would put a ball just over the left field fence and NY was up 4-1. In the 8th the Giants answered. Ellie Rodriguez singled to right and after a strikeout to Garry Maddux Dave Cash would triple to center cutting the lead to 4-2 and bringing the tying run up to the plate in Terry Harmon hitting for Lolich. Dave Lemonds came in for Nelson and promptly hit Harmon putting the tying runs on the corners with one out. The Mets manager wasted no time pulling Lemonds and replacing him with Lerrin LaGrow who struck out Gary Matthews and got a grounder from Chris Speier to end the inning and the threat. In the 9th two pitchers put the Giants down in order putting the Daytraders one win away from a return trip to the Series.
Daytraders 4 Giants 2 WP Nelson (3-0) LP Lolich (0-1) SV Wilson (1) HR Evans (2) Lee (1)
Gave 5 at Shea Stadium New York
Jim Palmer took the mound for San Francisco to try to take the series back to the west coast and he didn’t disapoint. He worked seven innings giving up only a single unearned run when Darrell Evans who had homered in the top of the 1st to give SF a 1-0 lead made a throwing error on a Willie Stargell grounder which scored Willie Mays who had walked and took 2nd on a Jimmy Winn walk tying the game at one.
It wouldn’t stay tied for long as Niekro’s 2nd knuckler of the 2nd didn’t knuckle and Harmon Killebrew provided all the power necessary to put it out to left making it 2-1. It would go to 3-1 when Gary Maddux and Dave Cash singled in the top of the 7th putting runners at the corners and Rick Monday flied deep enough to allow Maddux to score but that was a formality as Palmer gave up only two hits over 8 and when John Strohmayer hit the first batter of the 9th to put bring the tying run to the plate,manager Hazan took no chances brining in Eddie Watt would would make up for his poor outing in game 3 by retiring all three men he faced to secure the win and send the series back to the city by the bay.
SF 3 NY 1 WP Palmer (1-1) LP Niekro (0-2) SV Watt (2) HR Evans (3) Killebrew (3)
Game 6 at Candlestick Park San Francisco:
With two chances to win a return ticket to the Big Apple the Daytraders turned to Tom Seaver despite having lost two game and pitching poorly in a 3rd while the Giants entrusted their season to Jim Willoughby who in limited action had been highly effective for San Francisco. Neither manager would be disappointed by their choices. While Seaver would give up a solo shot to Ellie Rodriguez in the 2nd to give the Giants the lead he would give up no more in 9 innings of work giving up only 2 hits and six walks. Meanwhile Willoughby would pitch 8 4 hit innings but two of those hits would come in the top of the 6th with Jimmy Wynn singling to left and Willie Stargell shooting a ball into the gap just beyond the reach of Maddux allowing Wynn to score and tie the game. And tied it would stay until the 11th when Wynn would again lead off an inning with a single. Two outs later Phil Hennigan would hit Norm Cash and Graig Nettles would single to right, the fleet footed Wynn would score and the Daytraders would be up 2-1. Steve Carlton who came in for the 10th would retire Harmon Killebrew and Ellie Rodriguez to start the 11th when the Giants would go all in with Dave Kingman who had gone hitless in the playoffs and hit .186 in this rookie season but had also hit 26 homers to lead the Giants. With everything on the line is was the veteran ace who would win the duel getting Kingman to ground to short and send the Daytraders to their first pennant since 1969.
Daytraders 2 Giants 1 (11 innings) WP Carlton (3-0) LP Hennigan (1-1) HR Rodriguez (1)
Game 1 at the Polo Grounds New York
You don’t get a more classic pitchers duel than game of this series with Cy Young winner Don Wilson facing knuckle baller Wilbur Wood. Both were excellent pitching complete games neither pitcher allowing a hit with runners in scoring position or an earned run. Wilson struck out 9 and walked only two on six hits while Wood struck out six without a base on balls with only three hits surrendered and it seemed like neither hurler would give in until the bottom of the 8th with two outs when American League MVP Bobby Murcer who had 2 of New York’s five hits fouled a ball toward first. With a lefty on the mound and a park which favors pull hitter Milwaukee slugger Earl Williams was playing first and tracked the ball in foul territory only to drop what would have been the 3rd out. Given this reprieve Murcer took the next pitch and deposited it into the left field stands for the only run of the game which was all that would be needed to give the Bronx Bombers the win
New York 1 Milwaukee 0 WP Wood (1-0) LP Wilson (1-1) HR Murcer (1)
Game two at the Polo Grounds New York City
Game 2 didn’t bear a whole lot of resemblance to game one as the offenses came out of the gate early. Milwaukee having been shut out for 11 innings by Yankees pitching jumped on starter Steve Kline in the 3rd. With a man on first and one out Ron Fairly singled to right, Gene Clines who had singled earlier dug for 3rd and former Brewer Pat Kelly throw went wild. Cline scored and Fairly ended up at 2nd, which left a base open for an intentional walk to Pete Rose which proved costly as Earl Williams anxious to atone for his game costing blunder deposited a ball far above the left field wall for a 4-0 Milwaukee lead. In the bottom half of the inning a pair of pinch hitters, Roberto Clemente and Thurman Munson singled with one out and after retiring Reggie Smith Ken Holtzman who had shut out the twins in his previous outing delivered a ball that would have been the 3rd out in any other park but cleared the short left field wall at the Polo grounds to make it a 1 run game 4-3. Both sides held off minor rallies until the 7th when a one out error by Danny Thompson put pitcher Ken Holtzman on first. Ceasar Geronimo pinch hit for Clines and drilled a triple into the gap off of Jack Billingham to plate Holtman and Ron Hunt followed up with a single to plated him to make it 6-3. With Geronimo and Johnny Edwards now in for defense it looked pretty good for Milwaukee and 20 game winner Holtzman. Then came the 8th which started innocently enough with a John Mayberry ground out for the 1st out and then the bottom caved in. Bobby Murcer and Danny Thompson walked and old man Bill Mazeroski shocked everyone with a double into the gap scoring them both. When Roberto Clemente followed with a double of his own the seemingly safe lead was gone and the game tied at six. Milwaukee hurredly got Blue Moon Odem warming and intentionally walked Thurman Munson to buy time. Reggie Smith came up and hit a nubber in front of the plate. The normally solid defender Edwards was slow in getting to it and the speedy Smith was safe at first loading the bases. That brought up Ron Santo who drove in his 4th of the day with a single to center and suddenly it was 7-6 but the Yanks weren’t done yet. Odem walked Oscar Gamble to force in one run and gave up a single to Mayberry to plate another before finally getting the 2nd out on a force play at the plate on a Murcer grounder Santo being out at home, but he then gave up one more single to Danny Thompson scoring two more and another walk to Mazeroski loading the bases before finally getting out of the inning Milwaukee having given up 8 run on seven hits and allowing 14 men to bat. Milwaukee attempted to rally in the 9th on a pair of singles and a two out RBI from Pete Rose but the air was out of the balloon as were their hopes of a series split in the Bronx.
Yankees 11 Brewers 7 WP Beene (1-0) LP Holtzman (1-1) HR Williams (1) Santo (1)
Game 3 at County Stadium Milwaukee
With her series on the line Milwaukee turned to Blue Moon Odem despite his failure in game 2 while the Yanks turned to Bob Moose. The Yanks picked up where they left off with a two run shot in the first to take a 2-0 lead while Milwaukee answered immediately. Geronimo singled to the pitcher and reached 2nd when Moose hurried the throw to first in a vain attempt to nail the speedster. Ron Hunt singled and once again Pete Rose was intentionally walked and once again it burned the Yanks as Ron Fairly also waited out a walk scoring Geronimo. Up came Doug Rader who had hit three grand slams this season. He singled to center scoring Hunt. Pete Rose never hesitated rounding third and heading for the plate but Reggie Smith threw a perfect strike to the plate to nail him and when Ken Berry grounded to 3rd the game was tied after 1.
There it would stay. The Yanks would pull Moose after arm stiffness after is first pitch of the 2nd but it didn’t matter the yanks pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the 3rd stranded a lead off double from Odem in the 4th. Meanwhile Odom stopped Yankees cold managing to draw key double plays when things looked poor. By the 9th the Yanks were on their 5th pitcher and Milwaukee their 2nd but the score remained 2-2 until the 14th when starter Al Downing who was pressed into service in the 10th took the mound for his fifth inning of work. Like Holtzman before him Downing had not giving up a run in his previous start and was now up to this 13th consecutive scoreless playoff inning, but that would change. Clemente singled and was bunted to 2nd. After manager Ingemi called for an intentional walk to Santo to set up the double play Danny Thompson deposited a single to left scoring Clemente and sending Santo to 2nd where he was replaced by pinch runner Oscar Gamble who prompted scored on a Celerino Sanchez single to make it 4-2. Gary Waslewski came in to relieve Downing and k’d pitcher Terry Foster when Reggie Smith came to the plate and drove a ball into left center that would have been a long flyout in NY but in Milwaukee cleared left center with plenty to spare. Suddenly it was 7-2 and despite a couple of singles in the bottom of the inning the Brewers could come no closer.
Yankees 7 Brewers 2 (14 innings) WP Forster (1-0) LP Downing (1-1) HR Smith 2 (2)
Game 4 at County Stadium Milwaukee
With their season on the line and every pitcher that had won in their series against the Twins having failed the Brewers turned to hard luck starter Mike Torrez to face Jack Billingham with it all on the line. Torrez pitched seven strong innings giving up but a single run in the 2nd on the Danny Thompson single. Billingham however did better pitching seven shutout innings and when Wilbur Wood came in for the 8th with a 1-0 lead and struck out both Cesar Geronimo and Johnny Edward swinging it looked like the series was over then and there.
It was not, Ron Hunt managed a single to left and Pete Rose singled to center. Gene Clines came in to pinch hit for lefty Ron Fairly and singled in the tying run before Wood coaxed a popout from Doug Rader to keep the score at 1 all. In the bottom of the 9th Milwaukee got two on with two outs and Fred Beene came in and promptly loaded the bases with a walk but with the winning run 90 feet away Roberto Clemente caught up to a ball driven over his head for the 3rd out and once again we were into extra innings. Milwaukee threatened again in the bottom of the 11th with a pair of leadoff singles from Ken Berry and Gene Michael. LIndy McDaniel came in for Beene and Tim Foli hit for Milwaukee Closer Ken Sanders who had kept the Bronx Bombers scoreless and bunted them over to 2nd and third with only one out. Earl Williams then hit a fly ball to center and Ken Berry tagged up dashing for home. For the second time in the game Reggie Smith would throw a strike to the plate and save the game. Jerry Bell would make his first playoff appearance in the top of the 12th and would give up a pinch hit single to Pat Kelly, which was followed by a pinch hit single allowing the speedy Kelly to reach third. With runners at the corners and nobody out and the season on the line Milwaukee was forced to play in with Reggie Smith at the plate who already saving the game for the Yanks twice anxiously swung at the first pitch popping to first for a key out. MVP Bobby Murcer was up next and hit a fly ball to center. With the speedy Pat Kelly at 3rd it was time for Ken Berry’s arm to be tested and it proved to be as solid at Smith as Kelly was a dead duck at the plate and the game would continue tied to the bottom of the 12th. Muercer while failing to deliver the run managed a great running catch to rob Jack Hiatt of a single for Pete Rose’s single came with the bases empty and the game would go to the 13th. For the 2nd inning in a row Bell would put himself in a jam loading the bases with none out on a Ron Santo, walk, a John Mayberry single and a Roberto Clemente walk, but this time there would be no miracle. Thurman Munson would single to left scoring two and while Bell would retire the next 3 in a row Milwaukee would face a bottom of the 13th down two with their season on the line and the bottom of the order up to face Terry Forster who would make short work of them ending the game and the season for the Brew crew and guaranteeing that the World Series trophy would go to New York although WHICH New York team is still in doubt
New York 4 Milwaukee 2 (13 innings) WP Johnson (1-0) LP Bell (0-1) SV Forster (1)
Series 1 at Shea Stadium NY April
Game one would see the 9-12 Daytraders surprising the 15-6 Yankees as Jerry Reuss would pitch six seven strong innings giving up only 3 hits and 1 run while Wilbur Wood would be tagged for 4 runs including three driven in by Leron Lee on a pair of homers in the 3rd and 7th. Leron Legrow would pick up his first save for quashing a bases loaded rally in the 8th and would double in one more run for insurance in the bottom of the 8th for the 6-1 final. In game 2 the yanks would build a 5-0 lead after 7 on a Bobby Murcer grounder driving in Pat Kelly who had tripled and a grand slam by Phil Roof in the 7th. The Daytraders would rally with 3 in the 8th on a Jim Holt sac fly and a Norm Cash Homer and would plate one more off of Closer Terry Forster one a Steve Brye single with one out to make it 5-4 but Forster would get Graig Nettles and Leron Lee on grounders to preserve the win. The Rubber game would go to the Daytraders as Lefty Carlton would after giving up a pair of unearned runs on a passed ball and a throwing error in the 2nd would work a complete game while the Daytraders would get to Bob Moose for a run in the 2nd on a Cardenas single and two more thanks three 5th inning doubles to Steve Carlton, Leron Lee and Ted Simmons for the 3-2 win.
Series 2 at the Polo Grounds New York
The 2nd subway series of the season started well for the Yankees as Steve Kline shut out the daytraders on five hits. Loser Tom Seaver also pitched a complete game and gave up no earned runs but a key two out error by Leo Cardenas on a Kline grounder loaded the bases for Reggie Smith who crushed it for a grand slam in the 2nd and another Cardenas error would put runners on 1st and third allowing Thurman Munson’s grounder to plate the fifth and final run of the game. In game 2 Bob Moose got his revenge on Steve Carlton giving up only one run in seven innings on a Ken Henderson double while Carlton would be tagged for a pair in the first when Santo singled in Reggie Smith and Roberto Clemente hit a ball over the head of Willie Mays that he might have caught up to in 1962 but didn’t have the speed to reach 10 years later. The Bullpen would surrender 4 more in the 8th for the Yanks 6-1 win. Game three would be a rout as the Daytraders would get 11 hits and 9 runs including 2 homers from Willie Stargell and one from Ted Simmons and go 5-13 with RISP while Phil Niekro’s knucker would baffle the Yanks for 8 1/3 innings with only a Danny Thompson grounder in the 2nd producing a run and a lead that would not make it through the top of the 3rd.
Season series 3-3.
This is a tough series to call. The Yankees have an overwhelming offense and solid pitching meanwhile the Daytraders have perhaps the best pitching staff in the majors with Niekro, Carlton and Seaver along with Dave Nelson who has been unbeatable in the playoffs. Given the Yankess sweep of the impressing rotation of Milwaukee you might naturally think they would get the nod here but there is one factor that I think is decisive. Unlike the Brewers they Daytraders have an offense that’s not only nothing to sneeze at but has a lineup of full of pull hitters (Stargell, Lee, Lis, Mays, Wynn, Nettles Cash) that are taylor made for the Polo Grounds and with the short left and right field fences even pull hitters with moderate power like Bob Montgomery and Dwayne Josephson or little Power like Wayne Garrett can go deep with ease. If the Yankess pitchers can keep the ball in the park at home they should have the edge, particualry if you consider their sweep gives them time to adjust their rotation, but with Carlton, Seaver, Niekro and Nelson I think it’s too tough a hill to climb against a team of power hitters who pull the ball. The Yanks will score their runs and win their games but I don’t think they’ll win 4.
Daytraders in 7.
