Saturday Game of the Week - July 6

 

I remember this theme song vividly. It was too hot to be outside in the summer afternoons (I grew up near Phoenix, AZ) so I watched a lot of baseball games. The Reds, Pirates, Red Sox, and Yankees seemed to be on every week. 

I suspect the main game of the week this week would have been Baltimore vs. Oakland. The A's were leading the AL West and cruising on their way to another pennant. The Orioles were picked to be contenders in the AL East but were stumbling a bit at this point.

In this replay, the A's were victorious over the Orioles 3-2 in front of 32,319 fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Joe Rudi and Sal Bando homered for the A's. Dave Hamilton got the win with Rollie Fingers picking up the save. Ross Grimsley took the loss for the Orioles.

July 1 - How's it Going? NL Pitching Leaders

 

Atlanta's 1-2 punch of Phil Niekro and Carl Morton have kept the Braves close in the NL West. They have combined for 25 wins, 14 of them by shutout. The Braves also have ERA champion Buzz Capra in the rotation but he isn't pitching quite this well.

At this pace there should be a lot of 20-game winners in the National League.

July 1 - How's it Going? NL Batting Leaders

 

The batting average leaders include a few unexpected names, but it's only halfway through the season. Bob Bailey leads the league in RBI for the last place Montreal Expos. Joe Morgan has joined Lou Brock in the chase to break the stolen base record.

July 1 - How's it Going? - National League

 

The Cincinnati Reds have been playing at a torrid clip. They lead the NL West by 4 1/2 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are playing well too, but they're having a hard time keeping up with the Reds. The Atlanta Braves are also playing better than expected thanks to the pitching of Phil Niekro and Carl Morton, but they are starting to tail off. The San Diego Padres have been brutal -- right now they have won 13 fewer games than they did in real life at this point.

In the NL East, the Pittsburgh Pirates are the only team to be above .500. Willie Stargell has been knocking the cover off of the ball.

July 1 - How's It Going? - American League Pitching Leaders

 

Doc Medich is doing his part to keep the Yankees close in the AL East. Medich is 15-2 with a 1.77 ERA at the beginning of July. Luis Tiant, These were the days of teams with multiple 20-game winners. Several pitchers are on track to reach that goal this season.

July 1 - How's It Going? American League Batting Leaders

 

In the American League batting race, Rod Carew is on top as usual.

The biggest surprise on this first page of leaders is probably seeing Bucky Dent  in the top ten in batting average.

Wow -- Dave Duncan already has 17 home runs. There are a lot of Cleveland players on the leader boards. Too bad for them that their pitching is having a tough time.

July 1 - How's It Going? American League

 

For some strange reason I didn't make note of how things were going at the end of each month until I got to July 1. So it's a bit of a fast forward here.

The Boston Red Sox are off to a great start and are leading the East by 3 1/2 games. Luis Tiant has been lights out and will probably end up being the starter for the All Star Game. Baltimore, the real-life division winners, have struggled out of the gate and are barely at .500. Inconsistent starting pitching from Jim Palmer and Dave McNally has been a problem along with an offense that doesn't quite click. The biggest underperformers so far have been the Detroit Tigers. In real life at this point they were 38-36 but in the replay they are an atrocious 22-52!

In the West, Oakland is leading as expected. The Chicago White Sox were right up there with the A's for the first 2 1/2 months but they have been tailing off lately.

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Crazy Day for Roric Harrison

 

On April 18, Roric Harrison had quite a day. He not only pitched a three-hit shutout, but he homered twice! Not bad for a grade 3 pitcher.

 As of July 5, Roric is pretty close to his real life record. With two more starts to go, he is 7-10 with a 5.52 ERA. He has hit three home runs (same as in real life). He was 6-11 with a 4.71 ERA in real life.

Knucksie Off to A Great Start

 

Phil Niekro started off the season in great fashion. He pitched four shutouts in a row, including a one-hitter against the San Diego Padres. He allowed a total of 11 hits in the four games.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end. In his fifth start Phil was bombed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Who Is Supposed to Win?

 

According to Baseball Digest, here is who "should win" in 1974. In real life, they got three of the four divisions right. We'll see how they did with this replay.

Baseball Digest also did a quick summary of each team's strengths and shortcomings:

It's interesting how it says that Houston needs starters. The team ended up with four B starters and a C.

Trying to Relive Some Memories

 In 1974 I got my first awareness of the great sport of baseball at the age of seven. It was the first year I:

* watched games on TV. 

* was aware of players and teams.

* read the morning paper and kept track of standings and statistics.

* collected baseball cards.

A while back I started getting back into the APBA Baseball game after a long vacation. I got a hold of the old DOS game and a few data disks. I decided to do some replays. The first year will be 1974. I'm using a virtual DOS thing so that it will work on my computer.

I will post highlights of the replay along with standings and stats at key times. For some reason I didn't save the stats at the end of the month in April, May, and June. I wish I would have done that.

I hope you enjoy the little journey through a year long gone.