Game 61: Dobson Silences Tigers, 1-0

Detroit (June 21) - Pat Dobson insists he has nothing against the Tigers.

Today he didn't pitch like it.

Dobson, the Yankees right-hander who the Tigers traded away a year after the 1968 World Series championship, fired a complete-game, four-hitter as the Yanks scratched out a run in the fourth inning for a 1-0 win at Tiger Stadium.

Dobson walked none and struck out five. But he was aided by two fortuitous plays.

In the eighth, Aurelio Rodriguez led off with a double. But John Wockenfuss's liner was speared by another former Tiger---shortstop Ed Brinkman---and one quick throw to second base later, the Tigers had two outs and nobody on base as Rodriguez was doubled off.

In the ninth with two outs, Dan Meyer drove a ball into right center field, and instead of stopping at first base, Meyer tried to stretch the hit into a double and he was nailed at second base by center fielder Walt Williams. Brinkman made the tag and the game was over.

"Sometimes it's your day, and sometimes it isn't," Dobson said afterward. "Today was my day, I guess."

Modesty aside, Dobson was brilliant; at one point he retired 13 straight Tigers hitters.






The Yankees got their run when Bobby Bonds delivered a two-out single that scored Alex Johnson---a Detroit native, continuing the theme of ex-Detroiters and ex-Tigers returning to haunt the team.

The "losing" pitcher was Mickey Lolich (6-8), whose fourth complete game of the season wasn't enough, despite allowing only five hits and one run.

As for Dobson, he said beating his old team is no big deal.

"That was a long time ago," Dobson said of the December, 1969 trade to San Diego. "Players get traded all the time. You have to expect it."

For one day, though, the Tigers (25-36) wished they had never made the trade.

The loss ended a modest two-game winning streak, but the Tigers have a chance to take three of four in the series on Sunday, when Yankees lefty Larry Gura faces Tigers righty Tom Walker.

Notes: Mickey Stanley started in center field and batted lead off, giving Ron LeFlore his first rest of the year...Meyer had two of the Tigers' four hits...The Yanks won despite committing two errors...Roy White was doubled off second base in the ninth in a play similar to the one that nailed Rodriguez.

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Tigers record: 25-36 (actual 26-35)
Home: 12-23
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 4-6 

Game 60: One Game After Slugfest, Tigers Win 2-0

Detroit (June 20) - Ain't that how it usually works?

The day after the Tigers and Yankees combined for 27 runs, only two were scored tonight at Tiger Stadium.

Both those runs were Detroit's, and they took a second straight game from the Yanks, 2-0.

Vern Ruhle (5-6) pitched a complete game, five-hit shutout in his first start in 10 days.

Dan Meyer had both Detroit RBI: on a ground out in the third inning and a single in the seventh.

The Tigers (25-35) have won four of their last six games.

"These games are more my speed," manager Ralph Houk said, referring to tonight's pitcher's duel in comparison to last night's slugfest.

Yankees lefty Rudy May pitched well (seven innings, two runs) but Ruhle was better.



"Vern was amazing," Houk said. "Especially when you thought he might be rusty."

Ruhle missed his last start with a "dead arm" and hadn't started since June 10.

"I felt refreshed," Ruhle said after the game, enjoying a cold can of beer while his pitching arm was being wrapped in ice. "Had all three pitches working. It was fun tonight."

Even with the paltry run support?

"Can't score 16 every night," Ruhle said, prompting laughter.

Gary Sutherland continued his torrid ways. Last night Sutherland was 4-for-4, and tonight he was 3-for-3. The 7-for-7 series has lifted his average to .332.

The Yanks managed to get four runners to second base, but Ruhle was in command all night. As a result, he tossed the Tigers' first complete game this season by anyone not named Mickey Lolich.

"I only walked one, and that is huge," Ruhle said. "I got ahead of hitters and that was key, too."

Notes: Mickey Stanley started at first base...Houk said that catcher Bill Freehan's back continues to tighten up on him every morning, making his return to the lineup unknown...May pitched well, but hit two batters and committed a balk...Sutherland is going so good that he was intentionally walked in the seventh inning. But the next batter, Meyer, delivered a run-scoring single.

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Tigers record: 25-35 (actual 26-34)
Home: 12-22
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 4-6

Game 59: Wow! Tigers Erase 8-Run Deficit; Dump Yanks, 16-11

Detroit (June 19) - If this is the Tigers' new formula for winning home games, then get ready for some 3-1/2 hour baseball games. And for some fireworks.

The offensively-challenged Tigers spotted the New York Yankees an 8-0 lead, then exploded for 16 runs from the third thru seventh innings to beat the Yanks 16-11 tonight at Tiger Stadium.

Yes, that's right. The Tigers scored 16 runs, a total that sometimes takes them a week to achieve.

"Who can explain it?" manager Ralph Houk said. "That's baseball."

What's even more amazing is that the outburst began against the Yankees' much-ballyhooed free agent signee, Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

Hunter had an 8-0 lead going into the bottom of the third. The Tigers nicked him for two runs in the third, then poured it on in the fourth with eight runs (seven charged to Hunter) to go ahead 10-9, the last two coming on Willie Horton's mammoth home run into the left field upper deck. It was Horton's second at-bat of the inning.

The eight-run fourth included seven hits, highlighted by Horton's homer and Danny Meyer's two-run triple.

The Tigers extended the lead to 14-9 with four runs in the sixth. Horton knocked in two more with a double.


Horton had four RBI to lead the Tigers to an unexpected victory


Ron Blomberg clubbed a two-run homer in the seventh to bring the Yankees to within 14-11, but the Tigers answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame on Leon Roberts' two-out, two-run single.

The Tigers banged out 20 hits as everyone except shortstop Tom Veryzer had at least one hit. Ron LeFlore (three hits) and Gary Sutherland (4-for-4) stayed hot. Combined with Meyer's three hits, the Tigers' 1-2-3 hitters went 10-for-14 and had seven RBI.

Quite a change from a team that normally scores runs like it's pulling teeth.

"It was a lot of fun out there tonight," Horton said. "Maybe this will get us going. Lots of smiles in the dugout, man."

LeFlore (.307), Sutherland (.322) and Horton (.318), three of the Tigers' first four hitters in Houk's lineup, are all hitting above .300. So why hasn't the team scored more runs this season?

"We've been streaky," LeFlore said. "I'm going good now but I wasn't for awhile. Suds (Sutherland) is hot again. And Willie has been the most consistent. But a lot of us have hit in streaks."

The offense made everyone forget the bad start of Ray Bare, who went just 1.2 innings and surrendered 9 hits and seven runs (five earned). Dave Lemanczyk (4-0) picked up the win with 3.2 innings of relief (two runs, none earned).

The game started ominously, as the first five Yankees scored, culminating with Chris Chambliss's three-run home run. When the Yankees went ahead 8-0 in the third, the booes could be heard loud and clear.

"It didn't look good, that's for sure," Houk said. "But baseball is nine innings, 27 outs."

The Tigers (24-35) get the Yankees three more times this weekend. It's doubtful any of those games will be as exhilirating as tonight's.

But you never know.

Notes: The 16 runs tied a season high, set exactly one month ago (May 19) in Minnesota...Chambliss had four hits for New York...The fourth inning knockout was Hunter's earliest since 1972...The Tigers team BA went from .264 to .268 during tonight's game...LeFlore is 17 for his last 34, raising his average 30 points (.277 to .307).

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Tigers record: 24-35 (actual (25-34)
Home: 11-22
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 4-6

Game 58: Livonia Kid Carbo Helps Sink Hometown Team

Detroit (June 18) - Bernie Carbo grew up watching the Tigers, and as a kid he marveled at the right field upper deck at (then) Briggs Stadium, so often reached by the likes of Norm Cash and Charlie Maxwell.

Tonight, Carbo himself deposited a baseball into that same upper deck, and in doing so, provided the margin of victory as his Boston Red Sox beat the Tigers, 3-2.

Carbo, a Livonia native, slammed a solo homer in the eighth inning to give Boston a 3-1 lead, and the Tigers couldn't make up the small deficit.

It was a local kid who hurt the Tigers with his bat, but it was a Cuban who baffled them on the mound.

Luis Tiant twirled eight innings of six-hit ball for the victory. Tiant walked one and struck out four.

Dick Drago pitched a fairly uneventful ninth for the save.

Carbo led off the eighth by drilling the first pitch from rookie Ike Brookens about five rows into the upper deck in right field.

"You have to be careful," Carbo said afterward. "That porch looks so close. It's easy to overswing. Fortunately I stayed within myself and got a good rip at it."





Carbo delivered for the 15 or so friends and family in the Tiger Stadium stands
 

Was the home run extra special because it came in his hometown?

"I had about 15 people in the stands tonight," Carbo said of friends and family. "So, yeah."

Joe Coleman (3-9) took the tough loss, despite seven strong innings.

The Tigers (23-35) dropped the final two games of the series after winning Monday night, and are now 10-22 at home.

The New York Yankees come calling for a four-game set to complete the 12-game home stand, on which the Tigers are 2-6.

"Another strong pitching start wasted," manager Ralph Houk lamented. "That's pretty much the long and short of it. Joe (Coleman) deserved better."

Especially since Coleman wasn't the one who grooved a fastball that Carbo crushed, as Brookens did.

It's one of baseball's odd scoring rules that gives the loss to Coleman, even though the eventual margin of victory was achieved off Brookens.

But any way you slice it, the Tigers are 3-8 in the 11 games after their five-game winning streak out west.

Thanks, in part, to a former kid fan of the Tigers.

Notes: Ron LeFlore (2-for-4 tonight) raised his average to .301, on the strength of a 14-for-29 hot streak...In the ninth, Drago walked Jack Pierce with one out but then retired Aurelio Rodriguez (ground out) and pinch-hitter Ben Oglivie (fly out) to earn the save...The Tigers committed two more errors, giving them 58 for the season. "That's not helping," Houk said of his team's leaky defense.

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Tigers record: 23-35 (actual 25-33)
Home: 10-22
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 3-7

Game 57: Tigers Claw Back, Still Lose

Detroit (June 17) - Danny Meyer knows how thin the line is between love and hate---and fair and foul.

Meyer, the Tigers left fielder, was at the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning at Tiger Stadium tonight. The Tigers trailed the Boston Red Sox, 6-5.

Meyer pulled a 1-1 fastball from reliever Diego Segui down the right field line---about six inches foul. The drive would have won the game for the Tigers, no doubt.

Two pitches later, Meyer grounded into a game-ending, 6-4-3 double play as what was left of a crowd of 9,874 groaned collectively.

"That's baseball," Meyer said afterward.

Indeed.

The Tigers (23-34) saw their modest two-game winning streak come to an end.

Meyer had two of the team's 10 hits, but missing his third by inches was yet another example of how the Tigers just don't seem to get the breaks at home, where they are 10-21.


Wise had a rough start, but settled into 8.1 innings for Boston


The game started ominously, as the Bosox scored four times in the first inning off starter Lerrin LaGrow (2-9).

Three batters into the game, the Red Sox led 3-0 after Carl Yastrzemski pulled a LaGrow slider into the right field upper deck. They tacked on another run after a Jim Rice double and Rico Petrocelli single.

The Tigers answered with two runs of their own in the first. Ron LeFlore led off with a home run, and after the next three Tigers reached base, it was 4-2 Boston thanks to a Willie Horton single.

The Red Sox led 5-2 before the Tigers tied the game with two runs in the third and one in the fourth.

But that's when Boston starter Rick Wise got stingy.

Wise survived a rocky four innings before settling down and retiring 16 of the next 17 hitters, giving way to Segui with one out in the ninth and a runner on first base.

A LeFlore single and Gary Sutherland walk greeted Segui before the veteran threw the double play ball to Meyer.

Notes: Livonia native Bernie Carbo started in right field for Boston and went 0-for-5...Rookie pitcher Ike Brookens made his debut after being called up from Toledo to replace Gene Pentz, who was sent down after last night's game. The right-handed Brookens entered the game in the sixth inning and pitched 1.1 innings of one-hit ball...LeFlore had three hits, one RBI and a stolen base...The series finale will be played on Polish-American night. Yastrzemski and Boston coach Eddie Kasko are to be among those honored on the field before the game.

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Tigers record: 23-34 (actual 25-32)
Home: 10-21
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 3-7

Game 56: Tigers Power Past Bosox, 6-5

Detroit (June 16) - Wins don't come easy for the Tigers these days. Even games that appear in hand.

The Tigers survived a three-run Boston rally in the ninth inning and held on to beat the Red Sox, 6-5 at Tiger Stadium tonight.

It was the first time the Tigers (23-33) won consecutive games at home since May 9-10.

Ron LeFlore (4) and Dan Meyer (7) slugged home runs for Detroit, who had six extra-base hits on the night. LeFlore's led off the first inning, and Meyer's two-run shot extended the Tigers' lead to 6-2 in the seventh.

Jim Rice smacked a two-run homer for Boston.

Things got dicey in the ninth, as the Red Sox put the first three men on base and scored three times, leaving the tying run on base when Doug Griffin struck out against John Hiller to end the game.

Hiller's save was his 13th, ensuring the win for Mickey Lolich (6-7).

Lolich pitched two batters into the ninth, but couldn't get his fourth complete game of the season.

"It would have been flat out irresponsible of me to leave Mickey in there," manager Ralph Houk said. "He was clearly tired and he deserved to win."

Hiller came on with runners on second and third and nobody out. Rice greeted him with a single that scored both runners when Leon Roberts bobbled the ball in right field.


LeFlore had three hits (single, double, HR), scored a run and had two RBI


Fred Lynn grounded out, then Rico Petrocelli singled to send Rice to third. Dwight Evans hit the ball back to Hiller, but the Tigers couldn't complete the double play and Rice scored, causing the crowd of 21,145 to squirm in their seats. But Hiller settled down to fan Griffin on a 2-2 fastball.

LeFlore had three hits and two RBI. Gary Sutherland, returning to his starting spot at second base after missing a week with a sore hand, had two hits and an RBI.

Lolich allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked only one.

Royal Oak native Jim Burton started for Boston and went five innings. Meyer's homer came off Reggie Cleveland, who relieved Burton.

The Tigers are now 10-20 at home and improved to 2-4 on their current 12-game home stand.

"We just have to play better at home," Lolich said. "We still have a lot of games left on this home stand, so we can maybe get back into the race."

Beating first-place Boston two more times in this series will address that.

Notes: The Tigers played their first game after the sale of 1B Nate Colbert to Montreal, which occurred after Saturday's game. Mickey Stanley started at first base tonight and went 0-for-4...Houk, on Colbert: "He just didn't get it going. His back flared up on him and that didn't help. The doctors in Montreal think he'll be fine in a few weeks. We wish him well."...Tonight's win was the Tigers' first over Boston in five tries this season...The Tigers have committed 55 errors this season, by far the most in the majors.

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Tigers record: 23-33 (actual 25-31)
Home: 10-20
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 4-6

Game 55: Tigers Finally Break Through, Slap A's, 7-5

Detroit (June 14) - Call it a blind squirrel finding a nut. A broken clock being right twice a day.

The Tigers will call it a win. And, because it came at home, a very rare one, indeed.

The Tigers pulled away from a 3-3 tie and held off the Oakland A's, 7-5, today at Tiger Stadium.

It was just the ninth home win for the Bengals (22-33) in 29 games.

Willie Horton struck the biggest blow---a three-run homer, his ninth, in the seventh to put the Tigers up, 7-3.

The win gave the Tigers three victories over the A's in the five games they played this week against the three-time defending World Champs.

"We needed this badly," manager Ralph Houk understated.

What he needed wasn't only a win, but for the Tigers to score more than three runs, which has been so very difficult for them to do in recent weeks.

The team finally did that in the seventh, when they rallied against reliever Glenn Abbott, who took over from starter Sonny Siebert.





Horton's big day helped carry the Tigers, breaking a six-game home losing skid


John Wockenfuss walked and moved to second on a two-out walk issued to fellow rookie John Knox. Dan Meyer singled, scoring Wockenfuss and sending Knox to third. Horton then drove an Abbott fastball deep into the upper deck in left, making the score 7-3.

Naturally, the A's didn't go down easily.

They added two runs in the eighth on two doubles and a single, but fireman John Hiller relieved Bob Reynolds with two outs and induced a pop out from Phil Garner, then pitched a mostly uneventful ninth for the save.

Reynolds got the win in relief of starter Tom Walker, who turned in another impressive effort in a spot role (6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER).

Ron LeFlore had three singles and a stolen base (and one caught stealing).

Horton, who had four RBI on the afternoon, said that the feeling of relief has to be followed with determination.

"This is nice, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't score runs tomorrow," he said.

The whole blind nut/broken clock thing.

Notes: Soon everyone will know whether Nate Colbert will be an ex-Tiger. The interleague trading deadline is tomorrow, and reports have the struggling first baseman going to several teams: Montreal, Atlanta and Texas among them...The bad news is that Jack Pierce, who seemingly would be Colbert's replacement at first base, is hitting .111 (3-for-27)...Leon Roberts, who hit into three double plays last night, was 2-for-3 today.

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Tigers record: 22-33 (actual 25-30)
Home: 9-20
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 4-6 

Game 54: Oakland Gets All A's: Tigers Routed, 9-1

Detroit (June 13) - When the Oakland A's scored a single run in the first inning tonight at Tiger Stadium, you got the feeling that the Tigers were already knee-deep in trouble.

That's how bad Detroit's offense has been lately.

Tonight, the pitching followed suit, and the A's breezed to a 9-1 victory.

The Tigers' toothless offense managed seven hits against Oakland starter Ken Holtzman, who shut them out in Oakland on Sunday.

Leon Roberts personified the team's struggles by grounding into three double plays, each started by different infielders.

Joe Rudi (solo), Gene Tenace (two-run) and Reggie Jackson (two-run) hit home runs for the A's, who poured it on with five runs in the ninth.

The Tigers (21-33) lost their fourth straight and sixth of their past seven games on the heels of their season-high five-game winning streak.


Rudi: three hits, three runs, three RBI in 9-1 win


Worse, the Tigers fell to an unsightly and unbelievably bad 8-20 at home.

Tonight's game was filled with apathy---from the fans and, at times, the Tigers (or so it seemed).

The crowd of 29,567 appeared too fed up to even boo the Tigers; instead, the fans responded to each Oakland scoring rally with little more than a low murmur.

"To be this bad at home is really unbelievable," said Willie Horton, who had three singles. "I feel bad that we haven't given these people a good show for their hard-earned money."

Rudi had three hits and scored three runs. Tenace had three hits and even a stolen base.

The Tigers scored in the sixth when Roberts---who else---grounded into a 4-6-3 double play that plated Danny Meyer.

That made the score 4-1---normally still a competitive game. But with the Tigers' offense, the score may as well have been 44-1.

Notes: With two days before the June 15 trading deadline, rumors are flying about the futures of Nate Colbert and pitcher Joe Coleman, who started tonight's game. Roberts' name has been mentioned, too, as a player who could be moved...Aging DH Billy Williams, the former Cubs star, looked every bit his age (he'll be 37 on Sunday) as he went 0-for-5 and grounded to second base in each of his last three at-bats...Colbert went 0-for-4 and is 20-for-168 (.119) as a Tiger in 1975.

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Tigers record: 21-33 (actual 24-30)
Home: 8-20
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 4-6