D-Whit - It Was 45 Years Ago Today...Sunday August 24th 1969

August 24^th

Swoboda rips game winning two-bagger

The Mets, 8-1 since being swept in Houston, looked to sweep the Dodgers in this Sunday getaway game at Shea with over 48,000 on hand to see if they could do it. 

Dodger starter Don Sutton loaded the bases in the 1^st, walking in a run but the Dodgers tied it at 1 all in the second behind Ted Sizemore’s RBI two-bagger to left. An inning later Gary Gentry hung one in the zone to Wes Parker who drilled it over the right field wall with Willie Davis on-putting Los Angeles up 3-1. Parker’s error the following inning gave one back and Met’s trailed by one. 

Willie Davis followed up with an RBI single the next inning but New York struck back with Tommie Agee’s RBI double-cutting the lead to one run. The next inning back-to-back singles from Cleon Jones and Art Shamsky chased Sutton. Reliever Jim Brewer then gave up a bunt single to Ken Boswell, loading the bases for Ron Swoboda. He promptly cleared the bases with one swing of the bat. His double to the gap in left center put the Mets up by three. They’d add one more when Jerry Grote singled home Swoboda. 

Cal Koonce (6-3) pitched two scoreless to pick up the win. Meanwhile at Wrigley, the Cubs split a pair with 1969 Met nemesis Houston. New York (71-52), just three wins away from a franchise seaon high, picked up half a game and now trailed by 5 ½ games heading into the last week of August. Now it was off to the left coast and visits to San Diego, SF and LA.