The Pennant Nobody Wanted

CBS made a terrible mistake--it should have bought the National League if it was entertainment it wanted. The American League came cheaper--it only had to buy one team instead of four --but the extra dough would have been worth it. At one point last week, all that had to happen was for the Philadelphia Phillies to win one game from the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Mets to take one from the St. Louis Cardinals. Then the National League pennant race would end in a three-way tie, and they could play the World Series in mittens and mufflers.

The Phillies started it all by losing ten in a row and blowing a 61-game lead. That put Cincinnati on top. So what did the Reds do? They went 34 innings without scoring a run. Along came the St. Louis Cardinals, ripping off eight straight victories, edging one-half game into first place. All they had to do to sew up the pennant was sweep a three-game series with the lowly Mets. who had won only 51 games all season. "Glad you're coming back," cracked Cardinal Manager Johnny Keane to Mets Manager Casey Stengel. "We need you." Like a hole in the head. The first time they tried to defend their league lead, the Cardinals committed three errors, and even the presence of an ally in the enemy infield was not enough to help. In the eighth inning, St. Louis loaded up the bases when Umpire Ed Vargo booted an easy two-out grounder before the Mets could field it. New York Pitcher Al Jackson bore down, and the Mets won 1-0.

But one loss does not a disaster make. The Phillies obliged by beating second-place Cincinnati 4-3 -- and now the Cards only had to take the next two from the Mets. Out at the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St. Louis, scientists fed season records into an IBM 7094 computer, came up with the prediction that the Cards were 79 and 20/100% sure of doing just that. Which just goes to show how much computers know about baseball. Next day, the Cardinals committed three errors in the first inning alone. Ray Sadecki, the Cards' 20-game winner, lasted one inning plus one batter. Before they finally tired of the fun, the Mets had pummeled seven St. Louis pitchers for 17 hits (including five homers), won the game 15-5.

So down to the last day of the season it went, with three teams separated in the standings by a total of one game, and fans wondering: Can't anybody here win this thing? At week's end, it was still anybody's guess who would be playing the New York Yankees in the World Series, whenever that was. Anybody was fine with the Yanks, who were happy just being there themselves --finally clinching the American League pennant with an 8-3 victory over Cleveland in their next-to-last game.

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