77-NYY & 88-LA Split Series...Stay in Basement

Game 1, at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles took the first game of the series in a hard fought 1 run ballgame. The opening series matched up Mike Torrez of the Yankees against Tim Leary of the Dodgers. The Yankees struck first in the opening inning with an RBI single by Chris Chambliss. However, Los Angeles got their low octaine offense going in the bottom of the second inning as they erupted for 3 big runs on RBI singles by Mike Scioscia and Alfredo Griffin. Even pitcher Tim Leary got in the scoring mix with a sacrifice fly. In the top of the third inning, after a lead off single by Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson crushed a Leary fastball deep into the seats in rightfield to knot the game at 3. Fireworks were not done yet as Kirk Gibson blasted a long homerun to right in the bottom half of the inning to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. The Yankees tied the game in the fourth inning with a bases loaded walk to Chris Chambliss. Los Angeles retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single by second baseman Steve Sax and that is the way the game stayed. Mike Torrez went to 0-5 on the year. The Yankees smashed out 13 hits but could not get most of them in. Leary went 6 workman innings for Los Angeles and received help from his bullpen as Brian Holton and Jessie Orosco pitched the final three innings without surrendering a run. Orosco earned his 1st save of the year.

Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, The Yankees pounded out 6 runs on 11 hits as New York took the second game of the series. Shawn Hillegas got the start for the Dodgers and went only 5 innings surrendering 5 runs on 7 hits. Catfish Hunter got the start for New York and pitched a strong 7 innnings of 1 run and 4 hit ball to earn his first win of the year to improve to 1-2 on the season. Hillegas evened his season record to 1-1. The Yankees did not score more than a run in any one inning but managed to score one run in each of the first four innings to put this game out of reach early. No really hitting star in this game as everyone except Graig Nettles and Willie Randolph collected at least one hit for the game.


Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, This game matched up Fernando Valenzuela and Ed Figueroa. This game was another close one that was not decided until the final inning. For a while it looked like The Dodgers were going to win their second game in a row as they held a 5-1 into the sixth inning. With the game tied at one apiece going into the third inning, Kirk Gibson connected for this second homerun in two games but this time it was good for three big runs. Fernando Valenzuela got into the act with an RBI double in the sixth inning to add to Los Angeles's lead. The Yankees offense got rolling in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Yankees got 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh and leading off the 8th, veteran Paul Blair hit a leadoff homerun to get things started. The blast was Blair's first homerun of the year. New York added another run in the 8th to tie the game at 5 through 8 innings. Tim Crews was on the mound in the ninth inning for the Dodgers and the first batter he faced was captain Thurman Munson, who promptly singled for his third hit of the game. One out and a walk to Graig Nettles, Mickey Rivers was sent up to pinch hit for Paul Blair. Rivers lined a clutch double into the rightfield gap to score Munson giving the Yankees a great 6-5 victory. The Yankees were jubilant as they appeared dead for most of the game but were inspired by Munson, who refused to give up. Tim Crews(0-1) got the lost and Ken Clay(2-0) earned the victory for New York.

Game 4, at Yankee Stadium, This game was a classic pitchers duel between Ron Guidry and Tim Belcher. Both pitchers did a great job of holding the opposing offense down for most of the game. The Dodgers scored the first run of the game in the fourth inning as Pedro Guerrero singled and Mike Marshall walked. The next batter, John Shelby grounded out to third but it moved the runners up to second and third with only one out. Jeff Hamilton hit a rountine grounder to shortstop to score Guerrero to make the score 1-0 in favor of Los Angeles. Belcher was doing a great job of holding down the Yankee offense as he held the big bats to no runs on only one hit through 7 innings. The Dodgers added an insurance run in the 8th inning with a Marshall sacrifice fly to deep centerfield scoring Steve Sax, who doubled to lead off the inning. Jay Howell came in to pitch for Dodgers in the eighth inning a threw 2 innings of shutout ball to earn his 2nd save of the year. Tim Belcher evens his record at 2-2, while Guidry moves to 3-2. Final score...Dodgers 2....Yankees 0.