Aug 14, 1981 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
1981 CAL 3-1 2 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 6 14 2
1981 OAK 4-0 0 3 2 0 2 0 1 0 - 8 12 0

GAME 1 - Oakland Coliseum

Steve Renko vs Matt Keough

This was purely a day for the offense. Competant starters like Steve Renko  
and Matt Keough do not normally get battered around like this. Renko was  
done after giving up 5 runs on 7 hits in just 4 innings. Keough had a  
longer leash, but was marginally more effective. With 1 out in the 6th  
Keough was given a free pass and a bar of Ivory. 12 hits and 6 runs isn't  
an acceptable linescore for beer league softball, let alone major league  
baseball. The lead bounced back and forth until the bottom of the 5th, when  
Oakland scored 2 to take a tenuous 7-6 lead. Big Cliff Johnson hit a moon  
shot clear to Stockton off reliever Jesse Jefferson to give Oakland the  
lead for good. With Keough gone Jeff Jones (2 1/3) and Tom Underwood (1  
1/3) combined to shut the door on the Halos the rest of the way. Brian  
Downing and Rick Burleson both had 3 hit days for the Halos. Wayne Gross  
had a monster 3 for 4 day with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI's, which included a  
2 run homer in the 3rd. Rickey Henderson went 2 for 5 and saw his  
average "drop" to .611. The speedy left fielder also had 3 RBI's.

Aug 15, 1981 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
1981 CAL 4-1 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 7 1
1981 OAK 4-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0

GAME 2

Ken Forsch vs Brian Kingman

The Angels went to their "stopper", Ken Forsch, and the big righty  
delivered a 5 hit complete game shutout. Forsch fanned 6 and walked just  
one as he went the distance. Brian Downing's solo shot in the 2nd with 2  
out put the Halos on the board. His second homer of the day came in the 5th  
and that made it 2-0. Bobby Grich's 2 run blast in the 6th made it 4-0 as  
Forsch cruised to victory. Kingman was pretty sharp, but fell victim to the  
long ball. He went 7 innings and gave up all 4 runs. On a positive note,  
Kingman fanned 10 and didn't walk a batter. He just needs to keep the ball  
inside the park to be successful.

Aug 16, 1981 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
1981 CAL 4-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1
1981 OAK 5-1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 4 0

GAME 3

Geoff Zahn vs Rick Langford

After the offensive fireworks of game #1 the balance of the series belonged  
to the arms. Forsch's 5 hitter on Saturday was followed by a 6 hit gem by  
Rick Langford today. Langford was locked in mortal combat with the soft  
tossing lefty Zahn. For a while it looked like neither team would be able  
to push across a run. Oakland was poised to break it opening the 5th when  
Shooty Babitt singled with one out to move Rickey Henderson to third.  
Dwayne Murphy just got under a slow jug and lifted a deep fly to "Disco"  
Dan Ford in right. Henderson easily scored the first, and what would  
eventually turn out to be the only run of the game. Oakland could add to  
their lead, so the pressure fell squarely on Langford's shoulders.  
California had runners on 1st and 2nd in the 7th, but Langford was able to  
get Downing to hit a can of corn to Rickey in left. The top of the 9th saw  
the Halos have runners on 1st and 2nd with just 1 out. Veteran DH, Don  
Baylor came to the plate as Dave Beard and Tom Underwood awaited a call to  
the pen to bail Langford out. Manager Weiss' first impulse was to go to the  
pen and a fresh arm, but he fought back the temptation and said, "WWBMD ?"  
Translation: What would Billy Martin do ? Billy would stick with his  
starter until his wing fell off. Since this is Martin's team the choice was  
simple; let Langford close it out. On a 2-1 count Baylor hit a one hop  
bullet to Rob Picciolo at short. Piccilo scooped the ball up and with his  
momentum carrying him toward the bag, stepped on second and then threw a  
pea to Jim Spencer at first to end the game.

--
Posted By distantreplay.org to KOD 13 at 9/15/2011 09:02:00 PM