[Westheim]

Week 7 (May 21-27, 1962)

West Coast road trip. Best to fear the worst.

The Week That Was

Mon – May 21 – @ Colt .45s – L 5-1
Tue – May 22 – @ Colt .45s – L 1-0 … Neal 2-3, BB, 2B; Hook 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (1-5);
Wed – May 23 – @ Dodgers – L 10-3 … Marshall 2-4, 2B; Hodges 2-4, RBI; Thomas 2-4; Landrith 2-4, RBI;
Thu – May 24 – @ Dodgers – W 7-3 … Kanehl 2-5, 2B; Hodges 3-3, 2 BB, 2 HR (9), 2B, 5 RBI; Chacon 2-4, RBI; Craig 8.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-4);
Fri – May 25 – @ Dodgers – W 5-1 … Mahoney 3-4, 2 RBI; Jackson 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-7);
Sat – May 26 – @ Giants – L 13-6 … Hodges 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Thomas 2-4, RBI; Bouchee (PH) 1-1, RBI;
Sun – May 27 – @ Giants (1) – L 7-6 … Ashburn 2-4, BB; Landrith 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI;
Sun – May 27 – @ Giants (2) – L 2-0 … Stallard 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (2-4) and 1-2;

Weekly record: 2-6
Weekly runs scored: 28-42
Power Rankings: 20th (same)

AL Player of the Week: LAA INF Jim Fregosi (.364, 4 HR, 18 RBI), batting .481 (13-27) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
NL Player of the Week: STL CF Curt Flood (.387, 5 HR, 23 RBI), hitting .533 (16-30) with 1 HR, 7 RBI

Plays of the Week

Dick Gernert’s leadoff jack in the second inning on Tuesday was all the offense in a particularly sad loss for the Mets, who had leadoff doubles by Neal and Kanehl in different innings and never got them around to score.

On Thursday in LA the Mets scored four runs in their first five batters against Johnny Podres. Mantilla, Kanehl, and Christopher all reached to begin the game, followed by Gil Hodges’ bases-clearing shot into the left corner. Hodges scored on Frank Thomas’ sac fly, then tacked on two solo home runs for cushion, giving Roger Craig his first Mets win.

New arrival Don Larsen (more on that below) and Gaylord Perry have a decent duel going in the first leg of the double-header on Sunday, 1-1 through five, before the Mets break through for a 4-run sixth. The Giants immediately reverse everything – Larsen retires nobody in the bottom 6th, and ends up charged with five runs in the Mets’ 6-run meltdown between him and Craig Anderson.

Around the Leagues

May 21 – San Francisco 1B/LF Orlando Cepeda (.416, 7 HR, 28 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak following a ninth-inning single in a 3-2 win over the Dodgers.
May 22 – The Giants win another 3-2 decision from the Dodgers, but Orlando Cepeda (.409, 7 HR, 28 RBI) goes empty, 0-for-3, and has his hitting streak end.
May 24 – BAL SP Milt Pappas (2-5, 3.95 ERA) is out for the season with some weird elbow injury they may or may not be able to fix until next year.
May 25 – PIT SP Tom Sturdivant (5-2, 3.21 ERA) allows only one hit in a 4-0 shutout of the Colt .45s. 1B/LF Dick Gernert (.250, 5 HR, 18 RBI) spares his team getting no-hit for the first time.
May 25 – SF SP Juan Marichal (4-4, 4.94 ERA) hangs the Phillies out to dry, allowing three hits in a 4-0 shutout.
May 25 – LAA INF Jim Fregosi (.365, 4 HR, 18 RBI) drives in five runs on five hits and misses the cycle by the triple in a 13-1 whooping over the A’s.
May 25 – Rookie Pirates 1B/LF Willie Stargell (.327, 6 HR, 19 RBI) will have to sit out a month with a torn quad.
May 27 – The Angels beat the Athletics, 18-12, making up a 6-run deficit with a 12-run eighth inning.

Reasons to resort to wining

That Fregosi kid looks like the real deal. I wonder how the Mets can get a player like that.

Alright. Bright sides. Well, nobody got killed, first of all. Everybody made it back to New York fine. Well, one exception…

When we hit Candlestick on Saturday, the Giants right away offered us Don Larsen, he of the perfect game. Now, it’s six years on and he’s pretty scuffed around the edges, and probably the least sparkling pitcher they have on staff. And they were in a real urge to get him out of town, because they wanted nothing more than Elio Chacon for his services. Parting with a .172 hitter with gruesome defense was not something that came hard to the Mets. They even let us use him on Sunday right away!

And then they allowed three runs or less in half of their eight games and still only won half of those… I am slightly concerned by this team’s penchant to hug the .250 mark.

There were also some pointless transactions this week, like sending .222 hitter Sammy Drake back to the reserves for Jim Hickman, who had had some time to think about his own .148 average there. Gus Bell went back on the shelf when Richie Ashburn was activated from the DL on Friday. Charlie Neal missed the last bunch of games of the week with a sore shoulder, but should soon be good.

Next week will bring more of the Dodgers and Giants at home, but will actually begin with two days off for travel and licking wounds. After that the schedule will become a bit more colorful, with five different teams up in the next seven series, after which another trip to the West Coast will be upon these poor Metsies.