May 27, 1969...GAME 41 (BAL 7, SEA 5)

The Orioles are in town, and boy are they dominating the AL East. 31-15 is their record, but you still have to hope that you can beat them, especially after coming off a 7-0 domination of the Tribe. The game went to extra innings and the O's scored 2 in the top of the 9th to win it, because they are a great team, and great teams win these types of games. Brabender went 9 and gave up 5 (4 earned) and kept the Pilots in it even though he didn't have his best stuff (does anyone on this staff have their best stuff anymore ?). Earl Weaver, aka Paul Johnson, used 5 pitchers, with Dick Hall (3 innings) going the longest. Starter Tom Phoebus had nothing and didn't stick around after he surrendered 4 in the first 2 innings. Ellie Hendricks, who had only 1 hit in 6 trips to the plate singled home Don Bufford and Paul Blair off of John O'Donoghue. Harper and McNertney had 2 hits apiece. Boog Powell hit a tape measure 2 run shot off of Brabender in the 1st.

May 25, 1969...GAME 40 (SEA 7, CLE 0)

The losing streak is over !!! The Pilots just don't end losing streaks they end them in grandiose fashion. This time the offense came alive like Oyler on a bumpy bus ride to the tune of a 7-0 shutout of "the Tribe". After Marty Pattin tired before he could finish 5 innings Jim Bouton came on to throw two scoreless frames and notch his 3rd win of the season. Mike Marshall came out of the pen to throw 3 scoreless innings to get credited with a "meaningless save". Most curious was the fact that the Pilots scored their 7 runs on only 4 hits. Shouldn't it have been 4 runs on 7 hits ? Quick...run and hide and take the win before the official scorer reverses that too ! Rumor has it that Pattin was not happy about being removed after 4 innings of shutout ball and having his "lay up" win go to Bouton.

May 24, 1969...GAME 39 (CLE 5, SEA 2)

6th loss in a row. Just what the offense needed, Sudden Sam McDowell. Rumor has it Sam can tie one on with the best of him, but his "heat" is not a rumor. Sam can flat out bring it as he struck out 8. Barber had one of his better games (for him). He matched McDowell in the strikeout department, but not in the runs allowed as the Pilots lost by 3. Dick Simpson had the "Golden Sombrero", which means he K'd 4 straight time in embarrassing fashion. Batting averages around here are dropping faster than Nixon's approval rating.

Bullpen Chatter: Steve "sore armed" Barber left the game in the 6th when his arm stiffened up. This was cause for immediate conversation in the pen:

Gary Bell: His (Barber's) next start will probably come next July.

O'Donoghue: Or Later

Bouton: Depending on how his arm feels.

May 23, 1969...GAME 38 (CLE 3, SEA 2)

Marshall had the lowly Indians (7-27) shutout until the 6th when they posted 3 runs. Marshall went the distance and didn't allow another run. Unfortunately for him the Pilots only scored 2 on four lousy hits. Max Alvis had 3 hits and a key RBI in that inning. When Marshall pitches well we don't score, when he pitches poorly the Pilots score just enough to lose a close one.

Key Bouton Observastion: Flying into Cleveland last night I thought about lif in this gret American city and decided that if you were going to crash on a cleveland flight it would be better if it was an inbound flight.

May 22, 1969...GAME 32 (WAS 9, SEA 8)

"Ole Roomie" Gary Bell got torched for 8 runs (7 earned) in just over 3 innings of work, but Bouton got the loss since the team rallied to tie it. Jimbo gave up 1 unearned run in the 5th as Cox and Knowles blanked the Pilots for the final 5 stanzas. John Kennedy and Mike Hegan had key errors in the 5th to help give away the game. Mincher hit his 5th on the season, but the Pilots got swept by the Senators and now are riding a 3 game losing streak. Two big revelations occurred:Maglie and Bouton fought again about how many pitches he threw warming up in the pen (180) and Ray Oyler got discovered an errection in the back of the bus. Joe Schultz said he'd talk to Maglie and Oyler promptly offered to buy the bus.

May 21, 1969...GAME 36 (WAS 8, SEA 2)

Improvement !!! Washington scored 1 less run and Seattle posted one additonal one. All kidding aside, this was not good at all. Brabender got knocked out after 2, because he gave up 6 and was virtually throwing BP. Every Senator had a hit. Joe Coleman went 7 and gave up only 2 to improve his record to 6-2. Fred Talbot arrived on the scene. Former Yankee and former adversary of Bouton. Talbot immediately got the ball and pitched the final 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs. Fred's got the potential to be one of the good "ole" boys.

Coaching today at it's finest: Eddie O'Brien (aka Mr. Small) made a major announcement "Gentlemen, from now on we an ll run with our hats off. It's really silly for us to run with our hats on, because the band gets all sweaty and ruins the hat. Bouton of course had to respond by saying, "How come you weren't able to think about this a few weeks ago ?"O'B: "Well, it wasn't as warm then and we weren't sweating at the same rate as we are now"JIM: "Oh..."

Joe Schultz got thrown out of the game for offering the home plate ump his glasses after an obvious blown HR call. At least he's keeping the squad loose.

May 20, 1969...GAME 35 (WAS 9, SEA 1)

4 runs in the 1st and 3 runs in the 3rd tells the whole story. 3 hits off of Hannan further defines it. Pattin gave up 7 runs in 5 innings, but to his defense 3 were unearned. Washington hit back to back to back homers in the 3rd. Frank "Capital Punisher" Howard, Mike Epstein and Ken McMullen had the honors. Teddy "MF" Ballgame was seen smiling ear to ear in the home dugout. Surely Pattin's performance backs up his feeling that pitchers are dumb. Tommy Harper's solo shot in the 6th was all the offense Seattle could muster. Big news of the day, The Yankees ship Fred Talbot over here for Jack Aker, who was dying a slow death. Aker, who was targeted as the Pilots closer, closed the door on his Seattle career with an ERA higher than Jimi Hendrix. Talbot wasn't doing much better in New York. Chalk this one up to "a change of scenery might do them both some good".Since he's been pitching real well Bouton was interviewed by the local media the day before. Fans, media and especially coaches are frontrunners. The media asks stupid questions like "what are you doing different?" The great Johnny Sain says, "The world doesn't want to hear about labor pains, it only wants to see the baby".

Two "big" trades were made today: Jose Vidal / Jack Aker to the Yanks for Dick Simpson / Fred Talbot.