The fourth game of the Series
was another night game at Shea that was at least as cold and windy as Game 3.
The big pre-game news was that A’s owner Charlie O backed down to his manager,
players, and even the commissioner and “re-hired” infielder Mike Andrews. But Oakland manager Dick Williams had had enough at this point
and in a pre-game meeting with his team told them he was done, regardless of
the Series outcome. The general thought at the time was that he was setting
himself up to take the recently vacated Yankees manager position but that would
turn into a hot mess early the next season. Oakland had won the first NY game against Mets
ace Seaver so the Mets were a bit on edge. The photo on the card is of Rusty
Staub following through with Ray Fosse behind the plate. Rusty had a big night
this game and he seems to be looking towards left field. Two hits of his that
night went in that direction and the expectation here is that this shot is of
the bigger of the two which we’ll get to pretty quickly.
Ken Holtzman and Jon Matlack
had faced each other in the first game of the Series back in Oakland and were both having excellent
post-seasons when they went up again in Game 4. Matlack started his game pretty
well but in the bottom of the first Wayne Garrett led off an inning with a hit
for the third game in a row, this time a single to right. Felix Millan then
tipped a bunt single toward third and Rusty came up with two on. Rusty also had
the bunt sign on and back then Oakland
would do this aggressive thing on bunts where Bando and whoever was playing
first would cross after the pitch in front of the mound to take advantage of
their momentum. It was a pretty wiggy look but all for naught as Rusty fouled
off his two attempts. Then, like Holtzman in Game 1, Rusty turned loose on a
pitch, and he homered to center. After a groundout, walk, and single Ken was
gone. In came Blue Moon Odom and he got Don Hahn to hit into a double play. While Matlack had a couple 1-2-3 innings, Odom
kept putting guys in scoring position: Matlack got to third in the second via a
walk, wild pitch, and a groundout; and Staub to the same place from a walk and
a long Cleon Jones single. But when John Milner tapped one back to Blue Moon
Rusty took off for home and got nailed in a rundown. This time it ended when
Odom got another double play courtesy of Jerry Grote.
The fourth inning had some
action on both sides. After Joe Rudi struck out, Sal Bando hit a grounder that
glanced off Garrett’s mitt for an error. Reggie followed with a single that
sent Sal to third. Gene Tenace then grounded to shortstop, sending Bando home
before Jesus Alou popped out. In the bottom of the inning consecutive singles
by Hahn and Harrelson chased Odom and Darold Knowles came in for his fourth
game. He got Matlack looking – Oakland
did that first/third thing again while Jon was trying to bunt - but then hit
Garrett, loading the bases. Felix Millan, in a moment that must have felt a bit
redemptive, then sliced a gounder that got by Dick Green for an error, scoring
Hahn. Up came Rusty again, and this time he singled to right scoring Harrelson
and Garrett. After a Jones walk came double play number three but now the score
was Mets 6-1. That would be it for the scoring but there were a couple close
calls. In the seventh Grote got on against Horacio Pina by singling and moved
to second on a groundout. After an intentional walk to Harrelson Matlack
singled to left and again Rudi nailed a runner at the plate, this time Grote.
In the eighth Andrews pinch hit for Pina and got a standing ovation from the
Shea crowd. He gronded out though, and eventually Matlack had another shut-out
inning. After new pitcher Paul Lindblad shut down NY Ray Sadecki had a tougher
ninth: Tenace singled to left and after a couple outs, pinch hitter Deron
Johnson singled. Vic Davalillo got a walk and the bases were loaded. But
Sadecki got Bert Camaneris on a K and that was the game. Matlack won, Holtzman
lost, Rusty had four hits, tying a Series record – just as Reggie had done the
prior game – and Oakland had four DP’s, tying another one. Even Steven.
Matlack threw a nice game and
all the Mets starters but Milner got hits. I guess they left a bunch on. Here
are the pitching stats:
IP
|
H
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
SO
|
ERA
|
|
Holtzman
|
0.1
|
4
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
81.08
|
Odom
|
2.2
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
6.75
|
Knowles
|
1.0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
Pina
|
3.0
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
-
|
Lindblad
|
1.0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
-
|
8.0
|
13
|
6
|
5
|
6
|
2
|
5.63
|
|
IP
|
H
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
SO
|
ERA
|
|
Matlack
|
8.0
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
5
|
-
|
Sadecki
|
1.0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
-
|
9.0
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
7
|
-
|
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