Sunday, July 12 – First Game

The Braves came to town for a Sunday double-header and a single game on Monday. The Braves were a game under .500 at 40-41, in seventh place, and ten games out of first place. But they’d just taken two-of-three in Pittsburgh.

The Phillies led the season series 3-2.

Chris Short (7-4) and Wade Blasingame (1-1) started the first game of the series.

Play Ball:

After three scoreless innings, the Braves took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third:

• With one out, Wade Blasingame, Mike de la Hoz, and Frank Bolling all singled to load the bases.
• Hank Aaron hit a two-run single – Bolling stopping at second.
• Joe Torre forced Aaron at second as Bolling moved to third.
• Gene Oliver hit a two-run double to make it 4-0.

The Phillies scored a run in the bottom of the fourth:

• Johnny Callison homered (#13).

Next came scoreless innings until the Phillies rallied in the bottom of the eighth:

• Wade Blasingame walked Tony Taylor and Cookie Rojas – and then wild-pitched the runners to second and third.
• Taylor scored when Johnny Callison grounded out to second – Rojas holding second.
• Richie Allen doubled to score Rojas and close to 4-3.

Bobby Bragan replaced Wade Blasingame with Chi-Chi Olivo (0-0) – and Olivo ended the threat and pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the save (#2).

Wade Blasingame (2-1) picked up the win.

Chris Short (7-5) took the loss.

In Between Games: the Phillies activated Art Mahaffey after a 15-day stint on the DL – and put him back to work in the nightcap.

Sunday, July 12 – Second Game

Art Mahaffey (7-3) for the Phillies and Hank Fischer (6-5) for the Braves in the second game of the doubleheader.

Play Ball:

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first:

• With one out, John Herrnstein doubled and scored on Wes Covington’s single.

And added another run in the second:

• Ruben Amaro reached base on an infield single and scored on Johnny Callison’s double.

Hank Fischer tweaked his arm during the half-inning and Bobby Bragan replaced him with Billy Hoeft (2-0) to start the bottom of the third.

The Braves tied it up 1-1 in the top of the fourth:

• Hank Aaron doubled.
• One out later, Aaron stole third.
• And one more out later, Aaron scored on Ed Bailey’s single.

And the Braves took a 3-2 lead in the fifth:

• Woody Woodward singled and moved to second on Billy Hoeft’s bunt.
• One out later, Frank Bolling hit a two-run homer (#5).

The Braves padded the lead in the seventh:

• Once again, Woody Woodward singled and moved to second on Billy Hoeft’s bunt.
• Eddie Mathews doubled to score Woodward.
• One out later, Hank Aaron singled to score Mathews and make it 5-2.

And they added yet another run in the ninth:

• With one out, Eddie Mathews hit a home run (#11) over the scoreboard to end the scoring at 6-2.

Meanwhile, Billy Hoeft (3-0) surrendered just three hits in seven innings of work to earn the win and Art Mahaffey (7-4) took the loss.

Losing both games of the doubleheader extended the Phillies losing streak to four games.

Around the League:

The Giants lost a single game to the Colt 45s to move one game ahead of the second-place Phillies.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com – Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Birth of the Birds
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
• Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
• Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow
• Work-in-Progress A Fuckin All-American