So the NL playoffs were
another tight series and since Bert Campaneris didn’t throw any bats at anyone
in ’73 this one had most of the non-baseball drama. This series had mismatch
all over it. The Mets, battling injuries to just about every starter all year,
were in fifth place the second week of September and didn’t clinch things until
the final game. Cincinnati, meanwhile, had a mid-year slump when their pitchers
ran out of gas but went on a tear from then on – partly due to picking up Fred
Norman – and finally threw off those upstarts from LA early in September to win
99 games, most in the NL. The Big Red Machine was running on all cylinders but
NY had a nice little streak going of its own. But outside of that the Reds were
heavy favorites and a second successive trip to the Series looked to be in the
offing.
This card is an action shot
of Jerry Koosman pitching at Shea. That is some NY crowd behind him and with
the banners there seems no doubt that this photo is actually from the playoffs.
Jerry only started one game in the series so placing this photo time-wise will
be a piece of cake. Let’s get to the games.
Game 1 – Tom Seaver opened
the playoffs with a gem in Cincinnati
on a Saturday, giving up six hits and no walks while striking out 13, breaking
the record set by Steve Blass for playoff game strikeouts. Despite a continued
sore shoulder he also knocked in NY’s first run with a second-inning double to
drive in Bud Harrelson. The big problem though was that was the only Mets run as Jack Billingham pretty
much matched Tom Terrific in his eight innings of work: three hits, three
walks, and six strikeouts. He left the game in the bottom of the inning for
pinch-hitter Hal King, who struck out. But then Pete Rose took an inside pitch
deep to right to tie the score. After Tom Hall and Pedro Borbon held NY
scoreless in the ninth Seaver got Tony Perez to ground out in the bottom half.
Up came Johnny Bench and when Seaver threw him a fat one with “nothing on it”
(his words) Bench jumped on it for solo shot number two. Borbon got the 2-1 win
and Seaver the loss and the Mets seemed all used up from their late-season
emotional rally.
Game 2 – If Tom Seaver and
his 13 K’s couldn’t beat Cincinnati,
what shot did Jon Matlack have. Five months earlier the poor guy almost lost
his life after he was nailed in the forehead by a Marty Perez line drive. But
he did go 6-0 down the stretch and he did a pretty good job emulating Tom by
throwing his own gem. Jon and Don Gullett both threw excellent ball until
Gullett left the game for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth which was
too bad since that batter – Phil Gagliano – struck out. In the first five
Matlack gave up a single and a walk to Andy Kosco and two walks to Darrell
Chaney while throwing shutout ball. He also nailed Dan Driessen when he
attempted to steal second on a cool 1-3-6 take-out. Gullett – who was sometimes
the NL’s answer to Catfish – liked to make things dramatic and had eight balls
hit to the outfield. The one that counted was the fourth-inning solo shot by
Rusty Staub to put NY up 1-0. But everything else was pretty good for Don as he
left the game after giving up only two hits - Don Hahn singled in the fifth –
and two walks. Then Clay Carroll took over and for three innings pitched no-hit
ball until Sparky pulled him for a pinch-hitter. Oof! Sparky’s pinch hitters
that day all struck out and Clay’s replacements Tom Hall and Pedro Borbon got
smacked around pretty good in the top of the ninth as seven successive walks
and singles produced four NY runs. But all that really didn’t matter: Matlack
was ice, finishing with a two-hit, three-walk, nine-strikeout shutout to even
things up. Just to keep the records flowing, it was the first two-hit shutout
thrown in the playoffs. If Andy Kosco had stayed home – he had both Reds hits –
it might have been the playoffs’ first no-no.
Game 3 – The first game of
the series in NY was a Monday – it wasn’t raining in the east – and was not a
terribly great game. The match-up on the mound was Jerry Koosman – so this is
the game from which the photo was taken – and Ross Grimsley. The scoring
started pretty early when Rusty Staub hit a solo homer in the bottom of the
first and continued the next inning in what was a hot mess if you were a Reds
fan: Jerry Grote walked, followed by a Don Hahn single, a Bud Harrelson liner
for an out to right, and a Koosman single. Bases loaded and Wayne Garrett flied
to center, scoring Grote. Felix Millan singled, scoring Hahn and in came Tom
Hall, who was having a nasty series. That continued when he gave up a three-run
homer to Staub, giving the Mets a 6-0 lead. Cincinnati took two back in the top
of the third on a Denis Menke solo shot and a Joe Morgan single that scored Larry
Stahl, who had pinch hit for Hall and was the first successful Red in that
role. In the bottom of the inning Dave Tomlin came in and Koosman knocked in
Grote with a single: 7-2. In the bottom of the fourth Millan walked, Cleon
Jones doubled him in, and John Milner singled in Jones, making it 9-2. That was
it for the scoring, but not the drama. In the fifth inning Harrelson was
turning a double play when lead runner Pete Rose came at him hard and away from
the base. Bud took exception and said something to Pete who shoved him. Bud
went at Pete and they were rolling around in the infield dirt when both benches
emptied. Bud gave up about 40 pounds in that one so he gets some credit. Mets
reliever Buzz Capra hooked up with Pedro Borbon a bit and Borbon bit a hole in
Capra’s cap. After everything settled down and the Reds came on the field for
the bottom half – the DP ended the inning – some idiot threw a bottle at Rose’s
head and the game had to be called while Yogi Berra and Willie Mays – two NY
sports icons if there ever were any – went to talk some sense to the clowns in
the bleachers. When the game resumed Koosman gave up a couple hits: a Hal King
pinch single and a Johnny Bench double, but stayed out of serious trouble the
rest of the way. In the end he threw the series’ third straight NY complete
game, giving up eight hits, the two runs, zero walks, and striking out nine. Ed
Armbrister, who would go on to be Carlton Fisk’s best friend, started the game
in center, which sort of surprised me. And Bud and Pete became buddies again.
Game 4 – By now the AL series had seen a
pitcher’s duel go into extra innings so the NL may have felt it was time for
one of its own. The starters for the game had very similar seasons, coming out
of nowhere – well, San Diego and Atlanta which that year were both pretty close
baseball-wise – to rescue their respective teams. Fred Norman and George Stone
went a combined 18-9 at crucial times to help propel the Reds and Mets to the
spot they were now in. It was a good spot to be and both did awfully good jobs.
Norman flew
through the NY order until the third when two walks, a groundout, and fly out
all got Don Hahn to third base before a Felix Millan single got him home. It
was the only hit and run Fred would give up before he got pulled by Captain
Hook/Sparky Anderson for a pinch hitter. Meanwhile Stone was more than matching
him until the seventh when Tony Perez hit one out to tie things. After a walk
George was gone, giving up just three hits and two walks in nearly seven
innings. He was relieved by Tug McGraw and Norman by surprise reliever Don
Gullett, both of whom provided shutout ball for four innings. Gullet only gave
up two hits over his span before he left in the tenth for – guess what? – a
pinch hitter. Tug, really working that “Ya Gotta Believe” thing, somehow kept
zeroes in the runs column even though he put seven guys on. But he was clutch,
stranding Pete Rose and Joe Morgan in scoring position in the ninth with a
strikeout and pop-up. In the tenth he loaded the bases with two outs when he
got Tony Perez on another pop-up. In the 11th things got really
scary when with two on and two out Dan Driessen hit one to deep right that
Rusty Staub grabbed before crashing into the wall, banging up his shoulder. Tug
came out in the top of the 12th for a pinch hitter but Clay Carroll
mowed down NY just as he had in the 11th. In the bottom half with
other pitching surprise Harry Parker in the Reds re-asserted themselves with
NY’s two least-favorite – from the fight the day before – players. Pete Rose
hit another solo shot to put Cincy up 2-1 and Pedro Borbon shut NY down in the
bottom half to keep it there. Borbon got the win and Parker the loss and
another Game 5 was on the way.
Game 5 – A rematch of Game 1
on the mound saw Tom Seaver and Jack Billingham there for the right to go to
the Series. Their first game was pretty smooth for both of them, this one a lot
less so. In the top of the first Seaver gave up a walk, a single, and a wild
pitch to put runners on second and third and then went 3-0 on Tony Perez. But
he got Perez to fan and after walking Johnny Bench intentionally got Ken
Griffey to fly out. Billingham didn’t fare as well, giving up a couple runs on
a two-run single by Ed Kranepool, the last original Met, who was making his first
appearance of the post-season. After trading groundouts the next couple frames
a Joe Morgan double in the third was misplayed by Cleon Jones in right – he had
to start there because Rusty Staub was still banged up – allowing Dan Driessen
to sacrifice him home. Billingham outpitched Seaver the next inning-plus and
Cincy evened things up in the top of the fifth on a Pete Rose double and a Tony
Perez single. Then the Mets broke things up: Wayne Garrett led off with a
double followed by a bunt single by Felix Millan putting runners at the
corners. Another double by Jones scored Garrett and Jack was done. In came Don
Gullett who walked John Milner and Don was gone. Then came Clay Carroll who’d
been pitching super ball and so Yogi pinch hit for Kranepool. Some guy named
Willie Mays came off the bench and his 42-year old wheels beat out a Texas
Leaguer to score Millan. After a Jerry Grote grounder got Jones at the plate a
Don Hahn grounder scored Milner and a Bud Harrelson single scored Willie before
Hahn got nailed at third. Four hits on four runs went a long way. In the sixth
Seaver stroked his second double of the series and scored on a Jones single.
Things didn’t get sticky until the top of the ninth when Larry Stahl got his
second pinch hit of the series and successive walks by Hal King and Pete Rose
loaded the bases and took Tom out of the game. In came Tug McGraw who this time
left the theatrics home and two quick outs later the Mets had a 7-2 win,
evening Tom’s record, giving Billingham a loss and Tug a save, and nearly
destroying Shea as the lovely NY fans demolished the place. For the second time
in five years the once-lowly Mets were back in the World Series.
Since there was no DH in the
NL series Topps leaves out both the Cincinnati
series records and the NY pitchers’ offensive work. That’s a shame that needs
to be rectified because the NY hurlers outdid their teammates. So here we go:
Batting
|
G
|
AB
|
R
|
H
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
AVG
|
||
Koosman
|
1
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0.500
|
||
Matlack
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
McGraw
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Parker
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Seaver
|
2
|
6
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0.333
|
||
Stone
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
5
|
14
|
2
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0.286
|
|||
Batting
|
G
|
AB
|
R
|
H
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
RBI
|
AVG
|
||
Armbrister
|
3
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.167
|
||
Bench
|
5
|
19
|
1
|
5
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0.263
|
||
Billingham
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Borbon
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Caroll
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Chaney
|
5
|
9
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Crosby
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.500
|
||
Driessen
|
4
|
12
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0.167
|
||
Gagliano
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Geronimo
|
4
|
15
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.067
|
||
Griffey
|
3
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.143
|
||
Grimsley
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Gullett
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Hall
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
King
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.500
|
||
Kosco
|
3
|
10
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.300
|
||
Menke
|
3
|
9
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0.222
|
||
Morgan
|
5
|
20
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0.100
|
||
Nelson
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Norman
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
Perez
|
5
|
22
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
0.091
|
||
Rose
|
5
|
21
|
3
|
8
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0.381
|
||
Stahl
|
4
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.500
|
||
Tomlin
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
||
5
|
167
|
8
|
31
|
6
|
0
|
5
|
8
|
0.186
|
|||
Pitching
|
G
|
ST
|
CG
|
W
|
L
|
IP
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
SO
|
ERA
|
Billingham
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
12.0
|
6
|
6
|
4
|
9
|
4.50
|
Borbon
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
4.2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
1.93
|
Carroll
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
7.0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1.29
|
Grimsley
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3.2
|
5
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
12.27
|
Gullett
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
9.0
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
6
|
2.00
|
Hall
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.2
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
54.00
|
Nelson
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2.1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
-
|
Norman
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
5.0
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
1.80
|
Tomlin
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1.2
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
16.20
|
5
|
5
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
46.0
|
23
|
23
|
19
|
28
|
4.50
|
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