#16 Who Needs Strikeouts?

You may have been wondering, how did we craft the rankings for the top 25 Oakland A's wins of all time?

Good question!  We’ve done so using a 6 point system.  The 6 point system includes three categories: (1) stakes of the game, (2) memorable moments, and (3) quality of the game.  For each game, we have awarded 0-2 points to each of these three categories. For example, one game that didn’t make the top 25 list was Dallas Braden’s perfect game from 2010. On our scoring system, it received all 2 points for memorable moments, but it didn’t receive any points for stakes because it was an early game in April, and it didn’t receive any points for the quality of the game because it was a 4-0 win with really no dramatic moments. So, it only received 2 points out of 6.

Up to this point, all the games that have made this list received  a 4 out of 6 rating, and this week's #16 win is the last game that received a 4 of 6 mark. It’s okay to disagree with our categories and rankings, in fact, we know that our list of the top 25 wins will only ignite more debates, rather than end them. If you disagree with these rankings, we'd love to hear what your thoughts are! Don't be shy, we don't pretend to be perfect! 

We now return to the weekly countdown with Win #16 of our 25 Greatest Oakland A's Wins, and go back to October 11, 1973 for the deciding Game 5 of the 1973 American League Championship Series. The A’s were one win away from reaching the World Series and taking the American League Pennant for the second consecutive season. It was another hard fought series, after the first two games featured convincing wins from both teams, the next two games were a split of one run games. It all came down to this one game.

Catfish Hunter was on the mound for the A’s in this deciding game. If you've been keeping up, you recall that the #25 win was Catfish Hunter’s Perfect Game from 1968. Now five years later, Catfish had many big game performances under his belt and no A’s  fan in attendance at the Coliseum that day would've wanted anyone else on that mound!  In 1973 however, Catfish had given up a league worst 39 home runs and had a career low (judging seasons where he played the whole year) in strikeouts. He was still an All-Star and finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting that year after posting a 21-5 record with a 3.34 ERA.

The Orioles would toss out their 22 year old from the bullpen - Doyle Alexander, a tall and skinny right-hander, who was drafted and groomed by the Dodgers. Alexander would be starting his first postseason game and the stakes were through the roof.

The game would start with Catfish Hunter walking the first batter and then allowing that base runner (Al Bumbry) to steal second base. Bumbry would go no further, as Catfish recorded three contact outs to end the inning. The A’s would do much of the same in the bottom of the first, and both pitchers were humming along in the second.

In the bottom of the third, Ray Fosse would start the inning by reaching on a rare error by the Hall of Fame third baseman, Brooks Robinson. Dick Green would then lay down a bunt successfully that would move Ray Fosse to second. Campaneris would hit a pop fly for the second out, but then Joe Rudi would provide the big hit with a single to left. Fosse would score easily but Rudi would get too greedy and would be thrown out at second after the throw home was cutoff. It was now 1-0 A’s and the fans in Oakland were anticipating another celebration from Dick Williams’ men.

Catfish Hunter would take advantage of the vast Coliseum foul territory by getting two Orioles batters to foul out and negating a 2-out walk. Catfish was getting relatively quick outs, he wasn’t blowing away hitters but the low stress innings made it so Catfish was in a groove which is definitely an underrated part of pitching.

The bottom of the fourth presented more problems for Alexander, and it would come from unlikely heroes. After his contract was purchased from the Pirates in July, the 36 year old, Venezuelan, Vic Davalillo received 67 plate appearances for the A’s in 1973. He was thrust into more extended action due to the ankle injury of the regular A’s centerfielder, Billy North. A two-out Gene Tenace single set up the scene, and Davalillo would shock the world by lacing a ball to right field, Davalillo showed that he still could run a bit and he ended up all the way at third for an RBI triple. It was now 2-0 A’s, and Doyle Alexander appeared to have lost his way. Next up came Jesus Alou. Alou only had 111 plate appearances for the A’s during the season and here he was in a big situation for the A’s. Alou would also deliver with a single that allowed Davalillo to walk home and make it 3-0. This was the knockout blow to Alexander's afternoon.  Earl Weaver came out and brought in the Orioles ace, Jim Palmer. Palmer had been knocked out in the first inning the day before but perhaps he had come into the game a batter or two too late as he was just trying to stop the bleeding and give the Orioles a chance to come back.

Amazingly, Jim Palmer would only give up two hits in his relief outing and he wouldn’t allow the A’s to add onto their lead. This game must have been frustrating for the Orioles! It wasn’t the usual suspects of Reggie Jackson, Bert Campaneris, or Sal Bando hurting the Orioles, it was the supporting cast role players like Davalillo and Alou. And the most frustrating part of it all, Catfish Hunter wasn’t blowing away hitters, he was pitching to contact and really frustrating Oriole hitters. In the top of the 5th inning with a 3-0 lead, Catfish Hunter struck out Bobby Grich to provide the second out of the inning. Why is this brought up? Because this would be the one and only strikeout of Catfish Hunter’s day, and that’s incredible!

In fact, Orioles pitchers would only provide two strikeouts in the game. As Doyle K’d Bert Campaneris in the first and Jim Palmer K’d Gene Tenace in the bottom of the 8th for his one and only strikeout. In total, there were only three strikeouts in the game, an incredible fact and one that would be just about unheard of in this current era of baseball.

From that point in the game, Catfish would not allow more than one baserunner per inning, he did give up three doubles but none of them played any factor in deciding the game. Catfish would even give up a hit in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th innings but Catfish continued his masterfully crafted performance.

The 9th inning came, and Catfish was going the distance like an ace of the staff should, and all kept Catfish from executing a one-two-three inning was a Brooks Robinson double. Unfortunetly for the Oriles, the Robinson double only delayed the Oakland celebrations by 1 batter. Catfish Hunter got Bobby Grich to groundout to Bert Campaneris who fired it across to Gene Tenace and the A’s were going to the World Series again! The stakes were as high as they come, and the A’s once again had delivered in scrappy, Dick Williams fashion.

In total, Catfish Hunter tossed 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO for a game score of 76. Not his best game, but still the mark of a true ace is one that can still control the game even without his best stuff.

The unsung hero of this game and of the series has to be Vic Davalillo, in total, he went 5 for 8 in the ALCS batting .625. Not bad for an old, role player.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find any pictures or videos recapping this game, so if you have any, please share them with us. We will be detailing more from this series in the next few posts, stay tuned for Win #15 next week!

-- Wes

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