A’s 41-34, .547
Angels 39-33, 0.5 games back
White Sox 37-32, 1
Twins 37-33, 1.5
Royals 40-37, 2
Rangers 24-44, 13.5
Here are the other divisions:
AL East
Yankees 41-33, .554
Orioles 36-30, 1
Brewers 37-36, 3.5
Red Sox 35-35, 4
Tigers 36-37, 4.5
Indians 27-46, 13.5
NL East
Cubs 46-31, .597
Expos 34-35, 8
Cardinals 35-37, 8.5
Phillies 35-38, 9
Pirates 32-38, 10.5
Mets 31-39, 11
NL West
Dodgers 49-27, .645
Giants 44-43, 5.5
Astros 43-34, 6.5
Reds 38-36, 10
Braves 32-44, 17
Padres 24-51, 24.5
The A’s are playing the craziest run of schedule I’ve ever heard of in sports. Their last day off was Monday, June 11. Last weekend, the A’s were in Chicago for a five-game series with the division-leading White Sox. They closed it out with a double-header on Sunday, June 24, and then they had to be in Dallas to start a two-game series with the Rangers on Monday night. After Tuesday night’s game there, the A’s hustled back home for Wednesday- and Thursday-night games with the Royals. Now the White Sox are in town for four games (another double-header Sunday), and then it’s the Angels in Oakland for games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The A’s will belatedly observe the nation’s 197th birthday with a day off on Thursday, July 5—but don’t party too hard, guys, because you have a double-header on Friday, July 6. In Baltimore!
Everybody likes to talk about how ill-humored these A’s teams were; maybe these guys were so testy because they were having to work all of the time after Major League Baseball tried to stick it to Charlie Finley with the worst schedule in the history of sports.
Nonetheless, the defending World Series champs are--at last this season--thriving. This is, of course, a much better scenario for 1973 me than when-- at first this season--the A's were last.
Oakland opened MLB73 at home with three games against the Twins. They were swept. I’m sure he is a very nice man in real life, but I don’t know Jim Kaat in real life. So, seriously, if you discovered this 2019 HP report on the 1973 A’s because you Googled your great-grandfather Jim Kaat on a cigarette break from the cheese mines on the moon in 2065, please don’t take offense—I freaking can’t stand Jim Kaat. Everything that dude has ever said on TV I took as a direct shot against the A’s, but it started even back when he was a player. I don’t even know why. Maybe 10-year-old me got rooked in some baseball-card trade involving Jim Kaat. Maybe it was just because he beat the A’s to close out this season-opening sweep by the Twins in 1973. I don’t know. Whatever, can’t stand him.
So the A’s started MLB73 in last place in the AL West. They spent a lot of the rest of April and May in fifth. Their last game before their most recent day off—a 5-0 win over the Tigers on June 10—punched them over .500, to 29-28, and into fourth. Now they’re amid this torrid stretch against the rest of the division contenders, and a couple of 3-2 wins for a sweep of the short series with the Royals has them, finally, in first.
Last night’s game was especially huge. Vida Blue looked good, and the A’s debuted a promising kid, Manny Trillo, in the middle of the infield, where they’ve had injuries all season.
Blue went 7 2/3 innings for the win and yielded two earned runs, three hits and three walks. Blue has been good in MLB73 but not dominant (7-3, 3.62); John Odom has been bad and hardly even useful, other than as a pinch-runner (1-9, 6.19). That has left Ken Holtzman (11-7, 1.99) and Jim Hunter (11-3, 3.05) to do the heavy lifting in the Oakland rotation. Recently, Dick Williams has shelved “Blue Moon” and opted instead for a kid starter, Dave Hamilton (4-1, 2.90).
The A’s, in fact, have a slew of promising young players in the minors, and 1973 me is excited about this next crop of home-grown studs (Manny Trillo, Phil Garner, Jay Johnstone, Chet Lemon, Claudell Washington, etc.) continuing Finley’s success right into the 1980s. Trillo’s major-league debut was last night’s game with the Royals, and, in his first at-bat, he singled home in the second inning what would eventually hold up as the game-winning run.
Now it's four games with Chicago. It has not gone unnoticed by 1973 me that Sports Illustrated this year has already twice featured the White Sox on its cover while devoting nary a cover to the defending-champion A's (you just made the list, with the schedule makers and Jim Kaat, SI). Chicago has the last two AL home-run leaders (Bill Melton in MLB71 and Dick Allen in MLB72), and it has a knuckleballer who got off to such a fast start that people started talking about his chances of winning 40 games (Wilbur Wood). But the White Sox have fallen out of first, and, just this 1973 week, they lost Allen to an injury and another slugger, Rick Reichardt, in a contract walkout/cut/squabble. I am excited about watching this series in Oakland.
And, as always, I am excited about all of the television to be watched this (freakin') 1973 weekend. (Welcome home from the mission trip, ladies!)
Kicking things off on Channel 3 at 6:30 p.m. Central Friday is Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. It's an animated show that originated with a Love, American Style segment and was a softer-edged, laugh-tracked All In the Family. Here's a DailyMotion.com video of the first of 48 episodes that aired over three seasons. Wikipedia has a very interesting and thorough article about this show, and I have only two things to add:
-- I love Tom Bosley. I spent the last hour reading about his life, and it's staggering to think about his losing his first wife at the height of his Happy Days fame. I'm thrilled that he found love again and that it lasted for the rest of his life, and I'm glad his daughter is a huge success.
-- The ongoing thing where the Wait Till Your Father Gets Home father digs at his teen-age daughter about her weight is really off-putting. I'm glad we're getting smarter as a people.
This was the show I was trying to think of on the podcast yesterday, in terms of shows with stuff that doesn't age well (along the lines of Fish's wife jokes in Barney Miller). Next up on Channel 3 is the famous (and typically fantastic) "Oh, my nose!" rerun of Brady Bunch. I'm going to watch that now with my daughter.
Comments flow!
