May 18, 1969...GAME 34 (BOS 7, SEA 2)

Mike Marshall had nothing and by the 6th he was gone and the Pilots were facing down a 3 run deficit. Ray Culp also went 6, but he only yielded 2 runs en route to his 8th win on the season against zero losses. Marshall seemed ok until the 4th when the Bosox posted 5 runs. Both Mike Andrews and Reggie Smith hammered out 3 hits for the Sox. Steve Whitaker, in a rare start in right went 3 for 5 himself, but never touched home. Jack Aker came on in the 8th for mop up duty and yielded a run. His ERA is so high that 1 run in 1 2/3 innings actually helped lower it. Bouton got to thinking about God and sports today. Like many of us he begins to wonder about athletes who are interviewed and credit God or Jesus with their success. He even feels tempted to go out of his way to say "God didn't help me". Sometimes I wonder what happens to the losers ? Did God omit them from his success list today ? I respect everyone's right to believe in what they believe it, but come on guys it just might be your skill and maybe God has bigger things to worry about in this world than who wins a dumb kids game.

May 17, 1969...GAME 33 (SEA 3, BOS 2)

Nobody wanted this win more than Gary "Ding Dong" Bell. Beating the team that cast you off is the goal of any expansion team player. Bell was brilliant for almost 8 innings, but the Pilots could not score for him. Jack Aker started the ninth and could not protect another lead. His ERA has ballooned to 15.00 and rumor has it Marvin Milkes is looking to find him a change of scenery. The Pilots scored in the top of the 10th and Diego Segui came on board to get one out and notch his 6th save on the season. Don Mincher hit a homer off of Romo to put the Pilots ahead. Aker blamed the 35 minute rain delay in the 9th for his shoulder stiffening up. One curious observer said, "but he wasn't even in the game at that point".

Bouton and Maglie went at it again. Maglie again is clinging to the idea that a pitcher can not get by with just one pitch, aka the knuckleball. When asked about throwing it all the time Sal responded:

SAL: Well, you can do that if it's breaking

JIM: Fine, Then I can throw it all the time

SAL: But they start looking for the damn thing, and if it doesn't break you got nothing else.

JIM: What about (Hoyt) Wilhelm ? They wait for his knuckleball.

SAL: He throws that slider of his once in a while.

JIM: sure, but they don't look for his slider. They look for his knuckleball. He throws that slider of his once in a while. And what about when you threw the curve ball ?

SAL: When I was pitching they always looked for the curve (said with huge pride).

JIM: But you threw other pitches, didn't you ?

SAL: Oh, yeah !

JIM: But they always looked for your curve, right ?

SAL: Yeah, but they just couldn't hit. They tried, but they couldn't.

JIM: (thinking to himself) Even after all that he wouldn't admit that it didn't matter if the hitter was looking for it as long as the pitch was good enough. It all goes back to not wanting to contradict what he said in spring training.

May 16, 1969...GAME 32 (SEA 5, BOS 4)

Wayne Comer hit two homers and knocked in all 5 of Seattle's runs. Boston's manager, Dick Williams, was heard mumbling, "Comer hits 2 in one game ? He didn't even hit 2 in his career". Sour grapes, no...just an accurate assement regarding the former Tiger castoff. The big clout was the grand slam he hit off of Sonny Siebert in the 1st. Marty Pattin got the win, but he did give up 3 runs in only 5 innings of work. Bouton went 3 and gave up 1 and Diego Segui got the save.

May 14, 1969...GAME 31 (NYY 13, SEA 9)

Interesting discussion on caps. Some players put their caps on front first, while others put them on from the back. The conversation turned toward how Joe "I've got a collection of hair pieces" Pepitone puts his cap on...response: VERY CAREFULLY !. For all those interested Pepitone wears a toupee under his cap that he calls his "game piece". Rumor has it that it almost fell off once during the national anthem when he doffed his cap. Speaking of Pepi, his bat came alive in this one as he went 2 for 5 with a big 2 run shot in the 5th and played smooth at 1st. Mike Marshall had nothing on the mound and was forced to take one for the team as he surrendered 11 runs in 7 innings. The Pilot offense did score 9, which begs one to wonder why Marshall stuck around so long and wasn't replaced with some one who could protect a 9 run offensive explosion. Pilots again dropped below .500.

May 13, 1969...GAME 30 (SEA 3, NYY 2)

Roommates Bell and Bouton (Killer B's ?) combined for the win over Yankee ace and Washington state native Mel Stottlemyre took the loss. The Bombers were up 2-1, when Seattle touched Mel for 2 in the 5th. Don Mincher singled home both Tommy Harper and Mike Hegan who reached base on consecutive walks. The news of the day was that Bouton threw 3 hitless / scoreless innings to notch his 2nd save of the season and more importantly get some sense of satisfaction. Prior to the contest Yankee skipper Ralph Houk commented on how well the Bulldog looked this season. The Bulldog intimated that he wouldn't mind coming back to NY to finish his career and be close to home.

May 12, 1969...GAME 29 (NYY 8, SEA 6)

They world stops when the Yankees come to town. Not the vintage Yanks of the early 60's, but still enough remnants of those great teams to draw a crowd. Nobody wants to do well in this series more than "the bulldog" himself. When a team gives up on you and casts you off like a sack of moldy potatoes you really want to get a pound of flesh back from them. The opener was a tight 6-5 game until the Bombers came alive and scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to run away with it. Again Schultz went with Segui out of the pen and he was rewarded with 1/3 of a inning of work and 3 runs, which blew a 6-5 Pilot lead. This was Segui's 2nd blown save opportunity of the young season. It all started with Gene "Stick" Michael leading off with a pinch hit double. Michael replaced Tommy Tresh, who looks to be in full decline. Fernandez reached second on a throwing error by McNertney on a bunt attempt. Stick scored as the throw went into left. Sammy Ellis registered the second pinch hit double of the inning for NY and played Fernandez to put the Bombers up by 1. Jerry Kenney singled him home after Horace Clarke advanced him on a bunt. The game took 3 hours and 41 minutes as the Pilots fell below the .500 mark again.

May 11, 1969...GAME 28 (SEA 4, WAS 1)

When you need a win to bust out of a slump you need to got to the B & B boys (Brabender and Bouton). Gene went 7 innings and gave up only 1 run, but his arm was ready to fall off. Bulldog came on and didn't allow a hit in 2 innings to notch his 1st save of the season. Sal Maglie second guess nothing. Joe Schultz promised him time to throw in the bullpen whenever he needed it. Jim Gosger, who is hitting .073, must really make his hits count as he blasted a 2 run shot off of Hannan in the 4th to make the score 3-0 Pilots, who never looked back. After 28 games the expansion Pilots are now 14-14, which is more than respectable for a 1st year club.