July 31, 1977 – Yankees 9, Athletics 2

OAKLAND – The Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the A’s as they needed only eight hits to score nine runs as Oakland helped their cause with four errors and nine walks.

The shining example of the A’s ineptitude came in the second inning. After touching Ed Figueroa for a run in the first to grab their first lead of the series, Oakland handed the Yankees two runs even though New York did not get a hit off starter Vida Blue.

Cliff Johnson drew a leadoff walk but should have been erased by a double play grounder hit by Graig Nettles. Instead, A’s first baseman Rich McKinney bobbled it for an error. Willie Randolph followed without another routine grounder that should have been a double play, but this time A’s second baseman Marty Perez let the ball roll through his legs for another error, loading the bases. The two runs came home as the Yankees were making a pair of outs, and they never trailed again.

Before long, Johnson hit a three-run homer and Mickey Rivers delivered a two-run single and that was more than enough for Figueroa.

The result of the Yankee game wasn’t on the minds of many back home in New York though, because in the early hours of this Sunday morning, the Son of Sam struck again, claiming what would be his final victims.

Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante, both 20 years old and on their first date together, were parked in the Bath Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn at around 3 a.m. The .44 caliber killer, who would later be identified as David Berkowitz, approached the vehicle and fired four shots. Moskowitz would later die, while Violante lived but lost an eye and much of the vision in his other eye.

The shooting touched off another round of panic in the city, and New York chief of detectives John Keenan announced that more than 300 officers would now be on round-the-clock duty in the manhunt for the serial killer, the largest of its kind in the history of the city.

“I hope he suffers the rest of his life,” Moskowitz’s grieving mother told reporters. “I hope he eats his heart out with a cancer. I would die to see this man punished.”

Berkowitz had been crafty throughout his killing spree which had begun in the summer of 1976, but this time, there were witnesses nearby who were able to give police a modest description. For the first time, there seemed to be hope that the man who had now killed six people and wounded seven would be caught.

The daily baseball report

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