June 8, 1969...GAME 51 (SEA 5, BAL 1)

Cuellar was tossing a shutout until the top of the 7th when the Pilot bats exploded for 3 runs. Tommy Davis led off the inning with a homer to knot it at 1. Comer and Mincher both made out and it looked like Cuellar was back in cruise control mode until Kennedy tripled. McNertney walked and Larry Haney, pinch hitting for Oyler, singled home the second run of the inning to put the Pilots on top 2-1. To finish it off Cuellar grooved one to Gus Gil who doubled down the right field line to make it 3-1. The Pilots followed up with 2 more runs in the 8th to put the game out of reach as Mincher homered off of reliever Dick Hall. 5 Pilot pitchers combined to allow the mighty Orioles only 1 run. Barber went 5 and gave up that one run, which was a solo shot to Boog Powell in the bottom of the second. Barber's arm tightened up and he was gone after 5 innings of good work. Brabender pitched one inning to get the win and Bouton, O'D and Segui held down the fort as Seattle took 2 of 3 from a 1st place team.

Bouton Bites: Today was the day for the clinic at DC Stadium, which was going to be rededicated RFK Stadium. The Pilots contingent of Joe Schultz, Don Mincher, Mike Marshall, Marty Pattin and Bouton headed out on a bus from Baltimore to D.C. When they got to the hotel staging area, to find out which ghetto neighborhood they were to work at both Schultz and Mincher bailed and jumped a cab back to Baltimore. Mike Marshall said he could see it coming. "Joe couldn't cope with the situation. he wasn't in charge. he was forced to follow along. It was frustrating to him not to know what the plan was and he's neither intelligent nor competent enough to be at ease with the unknown. That's why he surrounds himself with other people, coaches, who are as narrow as he is. He wants to rule out anyone who might bring up new things to cope with. He wants to lay down some simple rules---keep your hat on straight, pull your socks up, make sure everybody has the same color sweatshirt---and live by them."Joe Schultz tidbit: Marshall and the Pilots just blew a game yet Schultz was as happy as a lark in the clubhouse. Marshall thought it was strange until he heard Schultz saying, "Lou Brock stole his 25th base tonight. That's 25 out of 25." At that moment Marshall thought, "My God. The man's living in a dream world. He still thinks he's with the Cardinals."

June 7, 1969...GAME 50 (SEA 4, BAL 3)

Reverse the score and give the Pilots the win this time. Brabender went 7 and gave up only 3 and Segui came on to toss 2 scoreless innings of relief to beat the mighty O's. With the score tied at 1 the Pilots posted a 3 spot in the top of the 6th to go ahead for good. Brabender led off an Palmer struck him out looking. Harper singled and stole second. Palmer must have been rattled by Harper, because he walked Hegan on 4 pitches. Tommy Davis singled home Harper and Mincher brought in Hegan. Jim Palmer didn't have it, giving up 4 in 7 innings. Eddie Watt relieved, and didn't allow a run.

Bouton Bites: The players were discussing the aborted player strike during the exhibition season. The topic came to Carl Yastrzemski because he ignored the strike. Gary Bell (former teammate of his in BOS) said, "Didn't surprise me. Carl Yastrzemski is for himself first and second and the hell with everybody else." Bouton: "Gee, Gary, Carl Yastrzemski ?" During the so-called strike Yaz called several superstars in an attempt to form a separate committee and settle things without the Players' Association. Fortunately they told him to take a hike, son.

June 6, 1969...GAME 49 (BAL 4, SEA 3)

The Pilots lost a heartbreaker to the league leading Orioles. Up 3-2 the Pilots surrendered 2 to Baltimore in the bottom of the 6th and that was it. Gary (Bell) went 7 strong innings and only yielded 4 runs to the mighty O's. Gelnar and O'D finished out the 8th. McNally gave up 3 runs in 5 inning to Seattle and looked shaky. Unfortunately Marcelino Lopez looked like a vintage McNally in 3 innings of 1 hit work. Pete Richert, the lefty who does better vs righties, came on to notch his 3rd save. The Orioles scored 2 in the 6th as Brooks Robinson doubled home Frank Robby and Boog Powell.

Bouton Bite: "And why is it, I ask myself, that baseball players are allowed to smoke during a game and that it's all right to sneak a smoke in the runway or even to go back into the clubhouse for a goddam cigarette, but if you take a candy bar out to the bullpen you get all kinds of static."

June 4, 1969...GAME 48 (CLE 6, SEA 0)

Marshall was the sacrificial lamb being sent to the slaughter as Sudden Sam McDowell threw a 2 hitter and recorded 11 strikeout. After 2 straight games filled with offensive fireworks the Pilots were grounded tonight. Dick Simpson and Wayne Comer had both hits. Talbot relieved Marshall and threw 3 scoreless innings. He also mentioned to Joe and Sal that his arm feels real good and he's ready to start anytime the need him. Great, a lobbyist !

June 3, 1969...GAME 47 (SEA 10, CLE 1)

The Pilots scored 9 runs off of El Tiante', who is having a down year (1-7, 4.52). Marty Pattin again got pulled early, even though he was tossing a shutout. Looks like Joe and Sal saw Marty laboring and didn't want to risk that 9 run lead. The recipient of the "gimme" win was Bouton, who did throw 4 innings of 1 run / 1 hit ball. Of course that run turned out to be a homer by Lee Maye. Bouton notched his 4th win of the season against 1 defeat. Steve Whitaker had 3 hits and 2 RBI's and Mincher had 4 RBI's. Both homered. Gosger got in again as a pinch hitter and walked which did not help his .063 average. Gut feeling here is that he is not going to be around much longer with numbers like those. Oyler finally got a hit to boost his average to .164. Good thing he's got a great glove.

June 2, 1969...GAME 46 (SEA 13, CLE 5)

An almost 90 minute rain delay coupled with a 13 run offensive explosion by the Pilots combined to make the evening both enjoyable and frustrating. Seattle spotted Cleveland 5 runs in the first. By the time the rain hit in the third the score was 5-1 and most fans, not that there were a lot attending, decided to not return when the clouds cleared. What they missed was one of the finest offensive explosions the Pilots put together all year. 3 runs in both the fourth and fifth innings respectively gave the Pilots a 2 run lead that was never challenged. 1 run in the sixth helped out and 5 in the 8th made it a laugher. Both Mincher, and Rich Rollins had 3 hits apiece. Rollins and Whitaker had 4 RBI's each. Not wanting to risk hurting Barber's sore arm, Joe Schultz removed him from the game and Brabender took the hill after the rain ended. Newcomer John Gelnar tossed 4 innings of 1 hit ball to notch the "W" and Talbot handled the mop up duties in the 9th.

Bouton Bits: (Fred) Talbot is in rare form these days. Like he was telling us how it used to be in the sheet-metal shop of the industrial school he went to. When they were taught how to weld, the first thing they did was weld the door shut when the teacher left the room. the next thing they did was weld every tool in the place onto a metal tractor, which was kept in the center of the room. And for kicks, they heat a steel bar until it was red hot, let the color cool out of it and then ask the new boy to bring over the metal bar. All it would cost was the skin off his hand.

Why Baseball Didn't Make it in Seattle: The team agreed (against Bouton's suggestions) that they accept nothing less than $100 for personal appearances and autograph sessions. They also agreed to stand by the MLB rule that states that players should not sign autographs while in uniform and on the field. Bouton makes the case that they need to be more fan friendly and that the lesser known players should charge less or they would not receive any invites for personal appearances. In a related story the team was asked to participate in a clinic for underprivileged kids in D.C. Bouton said sarcastically, "Well, isn't there some way we can get these kids to kick in their lunch money or something to us ?" Surprisingly almost everyone laughed !

June 1, 1969...GAME 45 (DET 13, SEA 6)

Second bad outing in a row for Brabender, who gave up 11 runs in 4 innings worth of work. On the bright side, only 8 were earned. The fielding has been less than stellar as of late. The offense came to life, as it seems to do one out of every three games...but the pitching (sorry Gene) and the fielding took the night off vs the defending World Champs. Norm Cash again came to work. Tonight he went 3 for 4 and hit a solo shot in the 5th to help chase Brabender. Fred Talbot again got some work, throwing 5 innings and giving up 2. Seems the newcomer is already ahead of the Bulldog on the depth charts.

Beaver Shooting Tale: Jim Gosger, hiding in a closet to shoot a little beaver while his roommate made out on the bed with some local talent. Nothing sneaky about it, the roommate even provided the towel for Gosger to bite on in case he was moved to laughter. At the height of the activity on the bed, local talent, moaning, says, "Oh darling, I've never done it that way before," Whereupon Gosper sticks his head out, drawls "Yeah, surrrre," and retreats into the closet. "Yeah surrre" is now the official watchword on the club.