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| Carlton's No-No: League's 3rd no-no this season. |
The 1977 Philadelphia Phillies, 2nd Place in the Ripken (Stripes III) Division, with a 15-13 record (trailing 1st Place - 1984 Detroit Tigers, 18-12) find themselves at Baltimore Memorial Stadium to play their division rival 1983 Baltimore Orioles (5th Place, 10-18), who are in the middle of a four game losing skid.
The pitching match-up was the Phillies' Steve Carlton against the Orioles' Scott McGregor; "Lefty" entered the game with a 4-2 record, 2.70 ERA with 35 K's & 21 walks allowed in 53.1 innings for Philadelphia... while McGregor sports a 1-4 record, 4.73 ERA, with more walks (15) than strikeouts (12) in 40 innings of work for the O's.
Both starting pitchers would not allow a hit through the first 3 innings, McGregor was more flawless in the first three than Carlton, by not allowing a single baserunner, while Carlton allowed three walks already.
A few times, the Phillies stranded solid baserunners in the 6th (runners on the corners), while Mike Schmidt with bases loaded in the 8th, could not deliver.
McGregor allowed his 1st hit to the leadoff hitter Bake McBride in the 4th Inning, but kept pitching solid, as the Phillies could not give Carlton any run support.
It became apparent by the 6th & 7th Inning that Steve Carlton was in solid shape to continue his no-hitter. The problem is Scott McGregor now advanced from a Grade B-Z to a Grade A-Z due to the fact that the Phillies were still scoreless as well, the game would go to extras.
Top of the 10th, with bases loaded, Mike Schmidt (this time) delivers with a long fly to left, in which Larry Bowa tagged up & scored...
It would be all that Carlton needed as he got Jim Nolan, Lenn Sakata & John Shelby to fly-out the side, to complete the no-hitter.
It is the 3rd No-Hitter in this project (Crazy 48's League), but the first in this league, in years, which started in early 2013, in which the league witnessed no-hitters in the first couple weeks of the league running.
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The game was Carlton's 4th complete game of the season & 3rd shutout in 8 starts, as he improves to 5-2 with a 2.27 ERA; He did allow 6 walks, with only 3 K's in the no-hitter though.
McGregor pitched 8 K's, allowing 8 hits & only one run through 10 innings.
Joltin' Joe Collins?!
First baseman Joe Collins went 4-for-10 in the first 3 games, with 2 HR, 2 doubles & 8 RBI, drawing 2 walks, with 3 runs. The 53' Yankees' two RBI leaders are Collins with 32 & Billy Martin's 29 ribbies -- which is unusual considering the team is led by Mickey Mantle & Yogi Berra.
You may remember Joe Collins' early heroics in the Crazy 48's with this article... Wild One in Washington.
After a semi-sluggish season start, the 53' Yankees trail their 1953 World Series counterparts, the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, by one game, for 1st place; Dodgers are 20-10, while the Yankees are 20-12 in the Jackie Robinson (Stripes II) Division.
The Brooklyn Dodgers may be the hottest team in the entire Crazy 48's as they are current riding a hot 9-game winning streak, with a league-best scoring differential of 73 runs! This hot streak was also due to Duke Snider's bat waking up (after a slow start) & now has 9 HR & 33 RBI, while batting .315, with a .573 Slugging percentage & .394 On-Base Percentage (.967 OPS).
The rest of the Robinson Division is a pitiful group for the most part...
- 1969 New York Mets (14-16)
- 1954 Cleveland Indians (11-19)
- 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates (10-20)
- 1971 Oakland Athletics (10-22)
The 1969 New York Mets, recently have won 5 straight, and have shown life as of late, but have a tough road ahead of them if they want to capture those last few wild card slots, with only 18 games remaining in the season. The team that currently owns the last playoff spot on the Stripes side of the spectrum are the 1917 Chicago White Sox (of the Mathewson Division / Stripes I) at 18-12.
We'll see if these Mets have an amazin' run left in them.
All right, Lefty!
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