Last Friday night the Cubs and Dodgers got together at a pristine Watervliet High School for a top 4 tilt.
The Dodger entered the game with a 3-1 record (with a recent lopsided win over the Yankees) and the Cubs sported a 3-2 record (losing close games to the
Yankees and Whiz). In the run up to the game, Don Ball and the Dodgers showed their sportsmanship, in allowing the Cubs to "borrow" Jim McQuade
for the game, and trying to move the game to Thursday night to allow the Cubs to not need to borrow a player. Even though they could not accommodate
this move, due to the 62 schedule conflict, the effort that Don put in was commendable. To a man his players commented that they wanted to face the Cubs
with a full team for the game, but Don would have lost his starting pitcher and another key player due to commitments to 62+ teams.

The game went on as scheduled with Jim McQuade in the line up (great to have him home for one game).
John Weber pitched great through the first 4 innings, keeping the Cubs hitters off balance with his off speed pitches, allowing just 2 Mike Girard singles and
doubles by Ron McCarthy and Andy Hoyle, but spread those hits out to one per inning, keeping the Cubs off the board.

The Dodgers would take advantage of two Cubs errors to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs, in the top of the third inning. Mark Trinchillo then hit a
solid single to left, and both runners scored to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Mike Girard (on the mound for the Cubs) kept the score at 2-0 until the bottom of the 5th inning. Andy Hoyle lead off the inning with his second double of the game.
Weber would retire the next two hitters on pop outs to the infield, and looked like he would keep his streak of stranding runners in scoring position in tact for a 5th straight inning.
That is when Jim McQuade stroked a clutch two out RBI single to left, cutting the lead to 1 run.

Dodgers manager, Don Ball, then replaced Weber, in the bottom of the sixth with (always tough) Jim Tesereiro to close out the final two innings.
With one out, Ron Massaroni worked a walk and immediately stole second. A routine ground out to second moved the runner to 3rd with 2 outs, and Mike Reutter
came through with a RBI single that tied the game at 2.

It was now down to a 1-inning game. The winner of the 7th inning would take home the win!
The Dodgers had first crack, and looked like they would get the job done when Dennis Lane and Jim Bradley led off with singles. Both runners moved into scoring position when Don Ball
grounded the ball to the right side, and the Cubs had to settle for a 4-3 put out. With two runners in scoring position and just one out, Girard got just what the doctor ordered with a
3 pitch strike out, to get the all important second out, without allowing a run to cross the plate. When the next batter lifted a lazy fly ball to center, the inning was over and the game
was still tied at 2.

Andy Hoyle led off the bottom of the 7th with his 3rd double of the game. At New Scotland, Andy may have had a 3 homer game. All 3 doubles were well over the outfielders heads.
One to left, one to center, and one to right. I think that he saw only 4 pitches in his 3 at bats. Quite a performance! The next batter was unable to get a sacrifice bunt down in two attempts, and
grounded out to short, with Hoyle unable to advance. John Columbe followed with a walk, and the next batter grounded out to 3rd. Was this game going to end in a tie?!
Maybe it should have. Both teams deserved the win. Tesereiro made a great pitch to Ron McCarthy, hitting him on the fists; but Ron muscled it over the first baseman's head and Hoyle motored home
with the winning run.

The Cubs walked away with a hard earned 3-2 victory, and the Dodgers were left feeling empty, as they had played good enough to win, but the final break in a tight game went to the Cubs.
The Cubs players always look forward to playing Donnie Ball's Dodgers, as the games are always hotly contested, but always rife with great sportsmanship. Both teams will have to wait quite
a while for the next match up, as they don't meet up again until the final game of the regular season on August 24th. Good luck Dodgers, until we meet again.









-- Edited by mgirard11 on Tuesday 14th of June 2022 09:38:39 AM