Thursday, July 9

The Phillies returned home for six games riding a four-game winning streak. And they found themselves atop the National League standings with a record of 47-28 and a 1½-game lead over the second-place Giants.

First came the Reds for an unusual Thursday-Friday-Saturday series. Mired in third place, the Reds trailed the Phillies by six games. The Phillies dominated their season series thus far by taking four-of-five games from the Reds.

Since Jim Bunning and Chris Short both pitched in the All-Star Game, Gene Mauch started Ray Culp (5-6) and the Reds went with John Tsitouris (5-5).

Play Ball:

After a scoreless first inning, the Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second:

• With two outs, Clay Dalrymple homered (#5).

The Reds tied it up in the fourth:

• Johnny Edwards led off with a home run (#5).

And the Reds took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth:

• Pete Rose singled and Marty Keough
• Vada Pinson bounced into a force at second – Rose moving up to third.
• Frank Robinson hit a sacrifice fly to take the lead.

The Phillies reversed the lead in the bottom of the sixth:

• Tony Gonzalez walked, moved to second on John Herrnstein’s sacrifice, and to third on a wild pitch.
• Johnny Callison
• Richie Allen singled to score Gonzalez and tie the score – Callison stopping at second.
• Wes Covington singled to score Callison – Allen taking third and Bobby Wine coming in to run for Covington.
• Clay Dalrymple singled to score Allen and make it 4-2.

Gene Mauch made a triple-switch in the top of the seventh:

1. Ruben Amaro moved from short to first.
2. Bobby Wine stayed in to play short.
3. John Herrnstein moved from first to left.

And then the Reds staged a rally of their own:

• Pete Rose drew a walk.
• Ray Culp struck out Marty Keough and Vada Pinson for the first two outs.
• Frank Robinson hit a ground ball to third that should’ve ended the inning. But Richie Allen let the ball get thru him into short left – his 13^th error – Rose advancing to third and Robinson to second.
• Deron Johnson singled to score Pete Rose and trim the Phillies lead to 4-3. Frank Robinson also tried to score – but Johnny Callison threw him out at the plate to end the threat.

In the bottom of the seventh, Johnny Briggs pinch-hit for Culp and Jack Baldschun (3-3) replaced Culp in the top of the eighth.

Baldschun gave up a single in the eighth and walked a batter in the ninth, but he kept the Reds off the scoreboard to pick up the save (#8).

Ray Culp (6-6) got the win as the Phillies extended their winning streak to five games. John Tsitouris (5-6) took the loss.

Around the League:

The Giants beat the Cubs 9-4 to keep pace with the Phillies and remain 1½ games back.

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