May 19, 1977 – Yankees 9, Orioles 1

NEW YORK – You know it’s a good night when one of your players scores three runs before the opposition scores any, and that was the case at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees and Orioles opened a lengthy five-game series.

Willie Randolph, still occupying the leadoff spot in Billy Martin’s lineup, stroked four hits, walked once, and scored four times, three of his runs coming in the first five innings when the Yankees opened a 6-0 lead on tough-luck Baltimore starter Mike Flanagan.

“I wasn’t that bad,” reasoned Flanagan, who started the night with a 1.87 ERA but was touched for a bunt single, an infield hit, one broken-bat hit, and two seeing-eye grounders in giving up seven earned runs. “I never saw so many balls go between third and short.”

Thurman Munson had a big night, too; a single, triple, and home run, scored twice and drove in four to support yet another superb outing by Ed Figueroa. Figueroa pitched his fifth straight complete game, this one a six-hitter in which the only run he allowed came on a Ken Singleton sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. He struck out seven and walked none as he lowered his league-leading ERA to 1.23. Over his last 45 innings, the right-hander had allowed just four earned runs.

All in all, a good night to be at the ballpark, but as was becoming the case with this Yankee team, not a great night to be in the clubhouse if you were a reporter. Despite the one-sided victory, the Yankees opted not to say much to the media, something the typically caustic Martin had no problem with. “We’ve been reading lies about ourselves since spring training,” Martin said. “We haven’t had one fight in the clubhouse. We haven’t had a single murder or rape. But you’d never guess it from what you read.”

Occasionally, I'm going to post videos reflecting the music scene in 1977. Punk rock was starting to catch fire, so here's The Dead Boys performing Sonic Reducer at CBGB's in 1977.

One player who was in a particularly surly mood was designated hitter Jimmy Wynn. The 15th-year veteran, who was playing what turned out to be his final major-league season, had grown frustrated by his inconsistent playing time. Since the start of May, he had appeared in only six games, he was currently riding an 0-for-23 slump, and his average was down to .179.

Before the game, it was reported that Paul Blair, a former long-time Oriole, was visiting with a few of his old teammates around the batting cage and said that, “Jimmy Wynn packed his bags and was gone when they went and brought him back.”

Wynn seethed over this comment, and when Martin was asked about Wynn’s attitude, he said that no, Wynn hadn’t checked out on the team. Of course, that didn’t guarantee Wynn would start seeing more playing time as he was basically splitting the right-hand designated hitter duties with Lou Piniella.

The daily baseball report

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