BASEBALL'S WEEK

AMERICAN LEAGUE
All-round efficiency (10 home runs, nine double plays, solid pitching) lifted BALTIMORE (5-1) into first place. Boog Powell hit five homers, Luis Aparicio stole five bases, and Dave McNally shut out the A's. In addition to their wins and saves, the Oriole relievers were recording "scares." Reliever Dick Hall explained: "A scare is credited only when a relief pitcher does not enter a game. When hitters are faced with the imposing spectacle of one of us warming up, they begin to tremble. Then they submit to our starting pitcher because they do not want to bat against us." KANSAS CITY (1-5), which will try anything, hired a taxi to deliver its relievers to the mound. Last week the taxi racked up plenty of mileage, for the A's needed 15 relief pitchers. If nothing else, the Athletic pitchers had long and colorful names: Monteagudo, Santiago, O'Donoghue, Handrahan, Bowsfield, Drabowsky, Grzenda. To improve its pitching, the team planned to spend $500,000 on bonus boys, and the first was a pitcher with a nice short name—John Lee Odum. It was BOSTON (4-3) more than any other club that kept the K.C. taxi rolling, scoring 22 runs against the A's in two games. Dick Stuart hit three homers, including his third grand slam of the season. Lee Thomas, in his first two games after being acquired from the Angels, had six hits, two of them home runs. Lou Clinton, who went to LOS ANGELES (4-3) in that trade, homered in his first game with the Angels, a 3-2 win against the Yankees. Bob Lee picked up a save in that game, his third of the week. In all, the Angels won four straight. For the first time since the opening week, CHICAGO (5-3) lost two in a row. Second Baseman Al Weis cut his head while doing chin-ups on the edge of the dugout, and the two games he missed were those two defeats. Camilo Pascual cut his finger while shaving and Jim Kaat hurt his shoulder, thus depriving MINNESOTA (3-4) of its two best pitchers. Nevertheless, lefthanders Dick Stigman and Gerry Arrigo beat the Yankees. NEW YORK (3-4) hit only .228 and stranded 64 runners. Only shutout pitching saved the Yankees. Whitey Ford blanked the Twins, and Jim Bouton and Bill Stafford stopped the Angels 2-0 in 15 innings. DETROIT (1-4) lost four in a row and had trouble off the field as well. Frank Lary, sold to the Mets, accused Manager Charlie Dressen of being "too strict." Countered Dressen: "If anything, I'm softer than most managers," and a majority of the Tigers agreed. WASHINGTON (2-3) went three games without an error, but when the Senators made one it was costly. Catcher Mike Brumley pulled a Mickey Owen-type error on what should have been the final out, and the Indians went on to score four times and win 9-6. Outfielder Fred Valentine let a ball bounce out of his glove for a home run, giving the Indians a 6-4 win. With help like that, plus good pitching from Sam McDowell (two wins, 14 strikeouts in one game) and four home runs by Leon Wagner, CLEVELAND won five of eight.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Eleven of the 30 games last week were decided in the final inning. CINCINNATI (5-2) provided much of the drama. Three times the Reds won in the ninth, first with a two-run rally, then on a three-run homer by Frank Robinson, and finally on a four-run uprising. Bob Purkey started the week by shutting out the Cardinals, and John Tsitouris and Sammy Ellis combined to end the week the same way. Del Crandall's pinch double in the 23rd inning gave SAN FRANCISCO (5-2) an 8-6 win over the Mets. Other clutch hitters were Harvey Kuenn, whose pinch hit beat the Phillies in the 11th, and Tom Haller, whose home run in the ninth also upended the Phillies and put the Giants back into the league lead. PHILADELPHIA (3-3) fans were not dismayed. Everywhere they went—supermarkets, public meetings, the office—they carried transistor radios to keep tabs on their Phillies. NEW YORK (2-4) fans merely showed up at Shea Stadium, 171,913 of them for five dates. Galen Cisco shut out the Dodgers on four hits. And the Mets scored seven runs in one inning, equalling their alltime high. That was more runs than CHICAGO (4-2) scored in any full game, but Billy Williams (.417) beat the Braves with a 10th-inning homer, and Ron Santo's two-run drive edged the Cardinals 2-1. Sandy Koufax of LOS ANGELES (3-3) beat the Pirates but complained that "I haven't felt right so far. Maybe one of these days I'll wake up." When he awoke four days later, though, he might have felt he was dreaming, for he defeated the Phillies by pitching the third no-hitter of his career. Two of HOUSTON'S no-hit pitchers—Ken Johnson (this year against the Reds) and Don Nottebart (last season against the Phillies)—were driven from the mound. A third, Don Larsen, who pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series, saved the Colts' lone win in four games. PITTSBURGH (3-2) settled for a pair of five-hitters by Bob Veale and Steve Blass for two wins against the Giants. The Pirates wound up the week by coming through with five hits and three runs with two out in the ninth to defeat the Colts. Lee Maye's two-run single with two out in the ninth gave MILWAUKEE (2-4) a win over the Cubs. Denny Lemaster picked up the other victory, a 3-2 game against the Reds in which he struck out 10 men. ST. LOUIS pitchers hit .471 and Charlie James batted .375, but the rest of the Cardinals were .191. The result was five losses in seven games.

PHOTO

DEAN CHANCE: A MARK TO AIM AT

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers is the toast of Los Angeles, and rightly so. There are, however, other pitchers in Los Angeles, and one of the best is 23-year-old Dean Chance of the Angels. Early this season Chance shut out the Yankees on three hits. Last week he faced them again, but first he warmed up by beating Boston 1-0, striking out 15 batters—a regular Koufax performance. Enter the Yankees. This time Chance gave them only one hit in nine innings, shutting them out. Trouble is, the Angels could not score either, so the game continued. When Chance went out for a pinch hitter after 14 innings, the score was still 0-0 and he had allowed only three singles. Although the Angels lost, there were two salient and soothing thoughts: Chance had helped lure the biggest Angel crowd of the season (30,496) at a time when the poor Angels desperately need crowds. He had also extended his string of scoreless innings against the Yankees to 30, dating back to last September 25. Angel fans like to point out that when the Dodgers' Koufax was Chance's age, he had a 4.47 ERA, averaged seven walks a game and led the league in wild pitches. Chance has an ERA of 1.66, has averaged only three walks a game and has thrown only two wild pitches all year. All of which means that if Dean Chance can pitch three no-hitters, win 25 games plus two more in the World Series, he too can be the toast of Los Angeles.