Three days after opening day, and four teams have yet to play a game. That will be remedied today (Saturday), with Kansas City at Cleveland, and the Yankees at Texas. Games of note:
Kansas City at Cleveland
It might be hard for anyone to remember, but the Royals were a good team in the late '70s/early '80s. In 1977 they had run away with the AL West, winning 102 games and finishing 8 games ahead of the Rangers. Cleveland lived at the other end of the spectrum, winning only 71 games in 1977.
Despite those 102 wins, the Royals had actually upgraded for 1977. They brought back most of the infield (George Brett, Fred Patek and Frank White), outfield (Amos Otis and Al Cowens), catcher (Darrell Porter) and DH (Hal McRae). Otis happens to be one of the best players most people today have forgotten or never heard of.
In left field, however, they would be sporting a speedy Willie Wilson instead of the forgettable Tom Poquette -- no, he's not the voice of Motel 6. That's Tom Bodett. At first base, they replaced an underperforming John Mayberry with the slightly better Pete LaCock. They "sold" Mayberry to the Blue Jays 2 days before the 1978 season started.
They also retained Dennis Leonard, Paul Splittorff and Andy Hassler in the starting rotation, but moved Larry Gura from the bullpen to start 26 games and brought up Rich Gale. And, instead of closing with the less-than-stellar Doug Bird, they'd have the Mad Hungarian, Al Hrabosky, who they obtained in a trade with the Cardinals for Mark Littell and future broadcaster Buck Martinez.
The Royals sported three of the strangest names in baseball, with Splittorff, LaCock (French for "rooster") and Joe Zdeb. "Zdeb's dead baby, Zdeb's dead."
As good as the Royals' lineup looked, the Indians' looked bad. Andre Thornton, Buddy Bell and an aging Rico Carty were the highlights. The lowlights were Frank Duffy (SS), Paul Dade (RF), Duane Kuiper (2b), and Fred Kendall (C), whose greatest accomplishment was siring Jason Kendall. Cleveland's pitching was a combination of talent and scrub. Wayne Garland, a 22-year-old Dennis Eckersley and Jim Bibby had anchored the rotation, but they were followed by Al Fitzmorris and Pat Dobson (past his prime). Similarly, the bullpen had Jim Kern closing and Don Hood setting up, but Sid Monge and Tom Buskey had little to add. They also switched managers mid-season, from Frank Robinson to Jeff Torborg, with no visible improvement.
What was on tap for 1978? Worse. Shorstop, center field and left field continued to be a problem. Gary Alexander improved their bat (but not the glove) at catcher, and Johnny Grubb added a stick to LF. Wayne Garland would get hurt and start only 6 games. None of the other 1977 starters had even one start. That's right: Garland, Eck, Bibby, Fitzmorris and Dobson made 139 starts for Cleveland in 1977, and made 6 in 1978.
Instead, they sported Rick Waits, Rick Wise (actually pretty good, but a down year), Mike Paxton, David Clyde (the #1 pick who was a total bust), Don Hood (setup man the year before) and Dave Freisleben. Well, at least Kern was still closing.
Despite having arguably the best pitching staff in the league in 1977, the Royals gave up 8 runs to Cleveland on this day. The Royals #1 starter, Dennis Leonard, did not make it out of the fifth inning -- no thanks to the left side of the infield, where Brett and Patek each made an error. Brett's error on a grounder by Larvell Blanks in the first inning opened the door to three unearned runs.
Lilliputian Freddie Patek went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI and a rare HR (he hit 55 of them in 14 years). McRae also homered, as did Pruitt and Thornton for the Indians.
Yankees at Texas
New York had won the pennant again in 1977, though they eked it out by 2.5 games against the Orioles and the Red Sox. Sure they won 100 games, but they had two teams nipping at their heels as they collectively beat up on bad teams in Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Toronto. New York tied with Kansas City for the fewest runs allowed.
The Yankees had one of their great teams in 1977, and returned almost all of them for 1978. This lineup is burned in my memory: Thurman Munson, Chris Chambliss, Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles, Bucky Dent, Roy White, Mickey Rivers, Reggie Jackson and Lou Piniella. The starters had been Ed Figueroa, Mike Torrez, Ron Guidry, Don Gullett and Catfish Hunter. Torrez left in the off-season for Boston, replaced by Jim Beattie. Gullett would be hurt in '78, but Dick Tidrow was moved from the bullpen to start in his place. In '77 Sparky Lyle closed, with Tidrow setting up. In '77, Goose Gossage closed with Lyle setting up. Wow!
Texas, never a good team before (or after) 1977, had won 94 games. Too bad Kansas City rolled over the AL West. The Rangers managed to score a goodly number of runs with Jim Sundberg (C), Mike Hargrove (1b), Bump Wills (2b), Toby Harrah (3b) and Willie Horton (DH). They got solid pitching from Doyle Alexander, Gaylord Perry Bert Blyleven and Dock Ellis. The bullpen was strong, but unspectacular. There was potential for gain.
They added Al Oliver to play left, and he would be their best hitter. Bobby Bonds to play right (but not until May, when he was traded for Claudell Washington and and Rusty Torres). Richie Zisk was added at DH. Unfortunately, Sundberg and Harrah dipped back to league average, and Bump Wills became below average. Not to mention Bert Campaneris hitting .186/.245/.238. That's an OPS of 483, with a slugging percentage LOWER than the on-base percentage and isolated power of .052. Likewise, Alexander and Ellis returned to earth. Jon Matlack was a quality #1 starter, and they added Fergie Jenkins too. So the pitching staff got better, but the hitters would score 75 fewer runs.
Today's game was a tight one. Matlack went the distance, giving up only one run. Guidry went seven innings, doing the same, but Gossage gave up a homer in the bottom of the ninth to Richie Zisk to give the Rangers the 2-1 victory.
Oakland at California
Carney Lansford debuted as a pinch hitter and flied out against the team he would play for soon enough. For the A's, Dwayne Murphy debuted as a defensive replacement in LF...curious, since he became such a good center fielder. Oakland won 4-2.
Baltimore at Milwaukee
Molitor, on the heels of his debut, went 3-for-6 with 2 runs scored and 5 RBI. Milwaukee pounded out 15 hits and scored 16 runs, including a grand slam from Gorman Thomas, and Larry Hisle's second HR of the young season. Dennis Martinez got no one out, as he was pulled after five batters, five hits and five runs. The Orioles also made five errors resulting in five unearned runs. Moose Haas, meanwhile, cruised to the complete game victory. Attendance was a meager 6,470...no, I didn't leave out a number. In Cleveland, there were 52,000.
Minnesota at Seattle
Rod Carew went 3-for-4. Is that even news? He also drove in three. Paul Thomodsgard threw a complete game three hitter for the Twins. Hmmm. I wonder if he is of Scandanavian extraction?
St. Louis at Philadelphia
First shutout of the young season for the Phils, courtesy of Larry Christenson. The Phils gave him seven runs of support. Or did they? Actually, Christenson himself went 2-for-3 and drove in four of the seven runs, including adding a HR. He had hit 3 HR the prior year, with double figure RBI totals. Alas, the four RBI in his first start of 1978 were the only four he would have all year. He would manage two more hits for the season, though.
Cubs at Pirates
Cubs pitchers managed to walk 10 hitters, and still push the game to extra innings. Sutter, pitching in the bottom of the 10th, gave up a double to Steve Brye, intentionally walked Stargell, unintentionally walked Ott to load the bases, and then walked Jim Fregosi for the winning Pirate run. That's got to be one of the worst Sutter performances of his career.
Los Angeles at Atlanta
Dodger juggernaut. 15 hits, but only 6 runs. Reggie Smith was 3-for-5 with three runs, two ribbies and a homer. Steve Yeager had three hits. That didn't happen often. Tommy John got the win. Fat Tub of Goo got the save.
Montreal at Mets
The Expos middle infield (Cash and Speier) went a combined 7-for-10 with three runs and two RBI. The Expos only scored five, in part because Cash and Speier were six hitters apart on the lineup card. Andre Dawson stole two bases...bet you can't remember a day when Dawson was a base stealer, since we watched his gimpy knees for years on WGN. The Mets won in the bottom of the ninth when pinch hitter Ed Kranepool hit a two run jack off Stan Bahnsen.
San Diego at San Francisco
Jim Barr went the distance for the Giants and got the shutout. Didn't walk anyone. Struck out only 1. Poor George Hendrick.
