1969 Mets Game 123: Win Over Dodgers

Mets 7 Dodgers 4

The love-hate relationship between Ron Swoboda and the Shea faithful continues.

Swoboda swatted a screwball from the hand of Jim Brewer with the bases juiced in the seventh to send home three runners and give the Mets a 6-4 lead they wouldn’t relinquish — much to the delight of the 48,435 fans at Shea Stadium, who showered him with applause.

Initially the recipient of catcalls and boos, “Rocky” was in the middle of everything in this contest, or so it seemed. He walked with the bases loaded in the first to give the Mets and Gary Gentry a 1-0 lead, and in the sixth, with LA up by one, Swoboda threw out speedster Willie Crawford attempting to go from first to third on a single by Ted Sizemore.

Gentry was hit hard by the suddenly potent Dodgers lineup, and removed after allowing 4 runs on 7 hits in only 4 2/3 innings — an outburst highlighted by Wes Parker’s 13th homer of the year, a towering, 2-run blast in the third. Jack DiLauro put out the fire in the fifth and held the Dodgers scoreless in the sixth before yielding to Cal Koonce, who won his sixth straight game in relief.

Notes

Swoboda — who was 2-for-3 on the day with 4 RBI — started against a righthander (Don Sutton) for the third straight game, and I’m wondering how Gil Hodges comes up with these hunches. Sutton is a curveball specialist — the kind Swoboda has struggled against all year — and Rocky is only hitting .243. At least Hodges isn’t taking at-bats away from Art Shamsky, who started at 1B and went 2-for-5 in the cleanup spot. Though, getting Swoboda and Shamsky in the lineup does mean that Eddie Kranepool rides the bench. Kranepool was starting to get it going last week but went cold again — he’s 0 for his last 9. It’s been that kind of year for the 24-year-old, and one wonders if he’ll ever hit enough to play first base in the big leagues.

Jerry Grote struck three singles, scored twice, and drove in a run — but was victimized by the base thefts of Maury Wills and Willie Davis. Cleon Jones also had three hits.

Davis had two hits, extending his hitting streak to 22 games.

Nolan Ryan is pulling extra duty on his reserve hitch so he can be available for the entire month of September, weekends included. Something tells me the Mets will be happy to have the young fireballer available down the stretch.

The Mets closed a wildly successful homestand with nine wins against one loss, and now head to the West Coast — against whom they are 21-5.

Scoreboard Watching

The Cubs split a doubleheader with the Astros. In the opener, Ernie Banks hit his 492nd and 493rd career homers, tying him for ninth place with Lou Gehrig.

The Cubs are now 79-49, eight wins better than the Mets’ 71-52, but the key number is in the loss column. The Mets can always win more games but the Cubs can’t lose less. It’s only taken a week to see Chicago’s season-high, 9-game lead shrink to 5. If the Mets can keep up this pace they may pull off a miracle comparable to Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
  1. Walnutz15 August 25, 2009 at 10:15 am
    Thanks for the summary, Janish.

    I got lost for a few days at Woodstock and missed a bunch of games….

  2. Mike August 25, 2009 at 11:26 am
    I know the Cubs are really talented, but man I just feel like the Mets actually have a shot at catching them! Call it a hunch but something tells me there is a little magic brewing at Shea…
  3. joejanish August 25, 2009 at 11:40 am
    Mike – it’s gonna be tough. The young hurlers look dominant at times but they’ve never been through a pennant race before … who knows that might be a plus.

    Still, the offense is ATROCIOUS! I mean, do we really expect Jones and Shamsky to keep it up? And our best longball threat is old man Clendenon? The Cubs have six guys in their lineup better than those three!

    Mark my words: it’ll come down to the pitching. If the kids can stay strong in September, and Hodges doesn’t wear them out, they have a shot. Crazier things have happened.

  4. isuzudude August 25, 2009 at 12:49 pm
    we need a miracle
  5. murph August 25, 2009 at 11:00 pm
    The Mets should trade Ryan. I bet they could get a decent shortstop for him. Maybe they can make him a third baseman, because we are already set at short with Harrelson.
  6. joejanish August 25, 2009 at 11:38 pm
    I don’t know, Murph … guys who throw as hard as Ryan does don’t grow on trees. (They should have Ryan throw against a motorcycle like they did with Feller a few years back … some say he throws harder than ‘Rapid Robert’ !)

    You’re right though — out of Seaver, Kooz, Gentry, and Ryan, Ryan’s the one who’s the least developed at this point, and most expendable. It’s high time the Mets traded an arm for a bat — I mean really, where are we going with Garret (or Pfeil) and Kranepool on the corners? And there are plenty more hurlers chomping at the bit on the farm (Folkers, Matlack, Frisella, Bibby, Hudson, Figueroa, Renko … the list goes on and on) to jump in Ryan’s place. The guy’s likely never to find the plate anyway — maybe the Mets should get something now, while his stock is still high.

    I wonder if the Padres would give up Nate Colbert for Ryan? They’re desperate for arms. So are the the Pirates … maybe they could be cajoled into giving up one of their young guys, like Hebner or Oliver … Mets-Bucs deal seems like a match made in heaven.