Baseballville

Jerry Lynch has been a solid pinch hitter for the Redlegs all year. In 18 at bats as a pinch hitter he has come through with 6 base hits, but none bigger then the one he got tonight at Pittsburgh. He hadn't hit a homerun yet this year and he was facing the "forkballing" righthander from the Pirates Elroy Face. Lynch came on in the 9th inning with the bases loaded and hit a two-one pitch into the upper deck in right field that gave the Redlegs a 6-5 lead. In the bottom of the 9th inning the Pirates loaded the bases up against "Eating Raul" Sanchez on three walks, the last one was intentional with men on 2nd and 3rd and the blodding Hank Foiles coming to the plate with just one out. Sanchez coaxed a hard grounder to Don Hoak at thirdbase and he started an "around the horn" double play to end the game. One Pirate, Frank Thomas, is having a horrendous season so far. He started out solid with a .304 batting average going into the month of May. In May Frank only hit .179, but did manage to hit 3 homeruns. So far in June, Frank is carrying a "weak hitting pitcher's" average of only .115. He is 6 for 52 with only two doubles as extra base hits in the month of June. Why is Bobby Bragan staying with the "Big Hurt"?... Oh, that's the wrong Frank Thomas.... "Thomas should be hitting 100 points higher and ten to 15 homeruns, says the brash one. (he only is hitting .192 with 5 homeruns) He is just struggling and swinging at too many bad pitches", claimed the Bucco Skipper. Other heroes on Wednesday were Andy Pafko driving in 4 runs in the Braves 9-0 win over Brooklyn. Also in that game the combined shutout pitching of Gene Conley and Dave Jolly. Roberto Clemente got 4 hits, three doubles for Bucs while Red Schoendienst is trying to get his season going with the Giants. Red had a three for 3 day raising his average to .276