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The Texas Rangers faced the Houston Astros on April 1st, 1978 at the Astros Spring Training Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Houston was a perennial 500 team, managed by Bill Verdon in his fourth year with the Astros.
Texas was looking to improve upon its surprising 1977 season when it finished with 94 wins despite churning through four managers.
They finally settled on Billy Hunter who led the Rangers to a 60-33 run to finish the 1977 season.
This audio recording is from the Houston Radio broadcast featuring announcers Gene Elston, Bob Green, and Dewayne Staats.
...as they were last night. Terry Poole will lead off and he'll be the center fielder. Enid Cabell will play third and bat second. Again today, Cesar Sedenio, the designated hitter, and he'll hit third. Jose Cruz is in right field. Dave Bergman at first base. Dennis Walling starting in left field batting sixth. Julio Gonzalez is the second baseman batting seventh. Ed Herman will be doing the catching this afternoon. And Roger Metzger will play short and bat ninth with JR Richards on the mound.
For Texas, Mike Hargrove will lead off man at first base. Toby Harrow will bat second and play third. Hal Oliver will be in left field. He's the third place hitter. The designated hitter, Richie Sixx. Claudel Washington is the right fielder. In center batting sixth is Juan Bonicas.
Bump Wills is the second baseman hitting seventh. Bert Campaneras, the number eight hitter, and he'll be the shortstop. And Jim Sundberg, the ninth place hitter, and he'll be doing the catching for the Texas Rangers here against the Astros.
Meeting at home plate just about to break up. Bill Verdon brought out the lineup card for the Astros. Billy Hunter, the manager of the Texas Ball Club. The umpires, Darryl Merrill, will be behind the plate calling the balls and strikes. Joe West at first. Al Clark at second base. And Eric Gregg will be the third place umpire with a ballgame here at Little Rock today.
We'll be back with the first pitch as the Astros play the Rangers right after this.
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The Texas ball club just now taking the field here at Ray Winder Park. J.R. Richard has completed his warm-up tosses and heads in from the left field both in for the Astra Bug-Out. And Doyle Alexander takes the mound for Texas.
Don't forget we'll be on the air again tomorrow afternoon against the Texas Ranger ball club. Joe Nicrow will be doing the pitching for the Astros and Texas will counter with right-hander Doc Ellers will be on the radio side at 1250. Ten minutes until one o'clock again tomorrow afternoon.
That ball game will be televised as well on KPRC in Houston and on the Astro Television Network as well.
And the TV hookup time will be one o'clock tomorrow. Then the barnstorming tour will conclude on Monday in San Antonio. The Astros and the Rangers, it'll be Doc Medich for Texas and Joaquin Anduar doing the pitching for the Astros.
And that one Astros will return home Monday evening following that ball game and play an exhibition contest Tuesday evening in the Astrodome of the University of Houston.
And Wednesday travel up to College Station to meet Texas A&M in an exhibition game. And immediately following that ball game we'll be heading to Cincinnati to open the regular season, the championship season for 1978 with an afternoon contest on the 6th.
That's next Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds. Boy that is just around the corner. We'll be in Cincinnati Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All afternoon games with the exception of the Friday night game.
And then back home to open the Astrodome season on Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers will be in town for three games.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, that's the 10th, 11th and 12th of April. All three games beginning at 7.35. I hope you're making plans to get out. That's going to be a good series.
And then the Cincinnati Reds are in town over that weekend with a Friday and Saturday night games and then we'll conclude the first home stand of the year on the 16th with a Sunday afternoon contest against the Cincinnati Reds. And that will begin at 2.05.
There's a lot of baseball in store for us and it's not that far away.
We're all set to play ball here in Little Rock this afternoon. Jim Sundberg fired the ball to second base and the Rangers whip it around the infield.
Well Alexander, the right-hander with a record of two wins and two losses this spring.
And as we mentioned, it will be J.R. Richard for the Astros who's on one. Alexander, although he has won two games this spring, has been knocked around fairly well.
He has an earned run average of 5.14 coming into this one as opposed to J.R.'s mark of 2.84.
Here's Terry Poole, left-handed hitter, steps in and the first pitch is low and outside ball one.
Poole batting 265 with two home runs and four RBI.
Here's the one-oh pitch and Terry hammers it to first, right through the legs of the first baseman, Mike Hargrove.
It'll be an error. Poole around first. He's going to dig for two and Washington's throw will be not in time.
Poole moves up to second. That's an error all the way.
Ground ball right through the legs of the first baseman, Mike Hargrove.
And Poole winds up at second, alertly taking advantage of Washington's lethargic move to get the ball back into the infield and right field.
Other at second with nobody out. Just started and here's Enos Cabell.
Pretty little ballpark here in Little Rock.
Cabell hitting from the right side and Alexander deals and there's a fly ball deep right field way back down the line but it's foul.
Poole just over the small fence there beyond the Texas Ranger bullpen.
3.30 down the left field line and 3.45 down the right field line here at Ray Winder Park.
3.90 to straightaway center field.
But the fence is double-decked.
That's at least 20 feet tall, maybe 25 feet tall.
No homers, two RBIs for Cabell. He has a chance right here with Poole. Good speed at second base.
Off-speed pitch from Alexander is high. One ball and one strike.
From the point of view of stuff, we probably saw Texas' best pitcher last night.
And Matlack, he has a pretty good fastball but in terms of being the accomplished pitcher, you have to look to Doyle Alexander.
He knows how to pitch. Pickoff play at second and Poole slides back in safely with Wills to second base when taking the throw.
One ball, one strike to count. Nobody out. Runner at second base, top of the first.
Alexander at the belt. Checks Poole. Now the pitch and Cabell hammers it past the first base but Hargrove.
He's got a glove on it, knocks it down. Poole's going to round third. The ball trickles into shallow right.
Hargrove runs it down. Poole scores no throw and the Astros lead 1-0.
That will be a base hit off the glove of Mike Hargrove.
Hargrove got a glove on the ball and had it trickle away from him about 15-20 feet out on the shallow right field.
Well the Astros have run across with nobody else. Cabell the first and here's Saoirse Dainio.
Alexander, 27 years old, won 17 ball games a year ago, 17 and 11.
There goes Cabell. Here's the pitch, a base hit on the hit and run in the right center field.
Cabell's around second heading for third. Benekes makes the pick up. They're going to stop Cabell at third and going into second is Dainio.
Cabell had ideas of trying to score but Tony Pacheco, who's coaching third today for the Astros, stopped the Maros around to the back.
Two base hits for Dainio and the Astros have runners at second and third with nobody else.
Here's Jose Cruz. Dainio sixth, double of the year.
Alexander stretches down the pitch fastball, swing and a miss by Cruz, strike one.
Jose comes into the 323 batting mark. One homer and four spring runs batted in.
Alexander out the ball, he wheels again. This pitch is high and outside. One ball and one strike.
21 headings of work, 26 hits allowed for Doyle Alexander. 13 runs, 12 earned runs. He struck out nine and walked seven.
This is his sixth appearance, his fifth start of the spring. One-one pitch to Cruz, a fastball outside. Two balls and a strike.
Well, Poole reached on the air by my cargo of the first baseman.
He wound up at second base. Cabell single him home and Dainio has doubled Cabell the third.
Runners at second and third, nobody out. Two-one pitch is low. Three balls and a strike to Cruz.
Dave Bergman playing at first base for the Astros is on deck.
Cruz will be looking for a pretty good pitch to hit here on three and one. It's inside, gets away from Sundberg, goes back to the face of the stands.
Here comes Cabell in the score. And moving over to third is Cervaino.
So ball four to Cruz turns out to be a wild pitch, I think they rule it.
Cervaino moved up to third. The Astro lead is two-nothing and Dave Bergman is up there with runners on the corners at first and third, still nobody out.
Bergman's official spring mark, 161. Off to first and Cruz got back sliding.
Alexander threw the ball wide to the right field side of the bag and Hargrove had to come off first base to make the play.
Another move and it gets away from Hargrove. Here comes Cervaino trying again from third and Cruz is going to go over to second base.
Astro lead is now three-nothing.
Another error charged to the Texas Ball Club, I would assume.
Well, they have to give an error to somebody and they will probably give it to the pitcher Alexander.
Here's the pitch to Bergman, it's high, ball one.
Astros have jumped to a three-nothing lead on a couple of hits and a couple of errors.
1-0 pitch, Bergman takes it inside, two-nothing to count.
Alexander 6'3", 205 pounds, born in Alabama, now makes his home in Arlington, Texas.
The 2-0 delivery is high, a fast ball and Bergman has a three-nothing count.
He'll look to Tony Pacheco at third base to coach over there. Deacon Jones coaching in the first base box.
3-0 pitch, Bergman takes the call strike on the inside corner, taking all the way, 3-1.
Dennis Walling is on deck. Three runs are home, Cruz at second and a 3-1 count to Bergman.
Here's the pitch and a ground ball right side, Wills to his left, gloves it on the edge of the grass and the outfield and makes the play to first to Hargrove.
Bergman is retired and on the play Cruz moves up to third.
That's the first out on the ground ball to Wills and Dennis Walling will bat.
Dennis Walling on third.
Walling playing in left field.
Here's the ball sharply this spring. Texas infield is in.
One out runner at third. Here's the pitch. Alexander brings it in low and inside, ball one.
Walling a left-handed batter. Here's the next one on the way and it's high and outside, 2-0.
Here's the next pitch, a high pop-up off the left side, it's fouled.
Toby Herra chases over but it's going to be well out of play.
And a number of young fans battle for the souvenir baseball.
2-1 to camp.
Herra at third, Campanera at the shortstop, Wills second base and Hargrove at first.
With only one out, infield remains in.
In the outfield, Oliver left Benico's center into Washington and right.
Sundberg doing the catching, Alexander on the bound.
2-1 pitch is high and outside, three balls and a strike to count.
Alexander calls time and has to play dumb fire at Derwood's mirror or something.
Unsatisfied, three balls and a strike to count and he's set to go back to work.
Here's the pitch. He jams them and the pitch is foul out of play, back up under the roof off the left side.
The other count is now full, 3-2. Good crowd on hand on a perfect day for baseball in the block.
I really didn't expect weather like this but it is outstanding.
And the weather reports from Tulsa with the two clubs will be playing tomorrow afternoon.
Weather reports have been good from Tulsa.
Here's the stretch and the 3-2 pitch and he struck them out, a swing and a miss.
Walden got a little piece of the ball and Sundberg hung on.
First strike out for Alexander, two men gone and Julio Gonzalez, the Astro second baseman, steps in.
Sundberg goes out to talk with Alexander.
Ooh, Cabell and Cedeno have scored.
Cruz, the runner with third, he's over there with two men gone.
Hardhow getting the afternoon off, at least for a while, while Julio Gonzalez plays second base.
Alexander continues to work from the stretch and there's a ground ball to the right side.
Wills can cover the ground, moves to his left and makes the play to first and that retires the side.
Gonzalez with a pretty good hit ball towards the hole on the right side of the infield
but Wills went over there and made the play to get Gonzalez and the Astros are retired in the first.
Three runs score, however, two hits, two errors and one man.
Once we got to the bottom of the first with a score, the Astros three in Texas coming in to hit.
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Come to the bottom of the first here in Little Rock, the Astros have jumped to a three-numbing lead over the Texas Rangers
and JR Richard takes the hill.
This will be the fifth strike for JR this spring.
He's worked 19 innings, allowed 19 hits and seven runs of with six have been earned.
He has 12 strikeouts and he's walked five minutes.
No runs and a loss this spring for JR. Astros come into this ballgame with a record of eight and ten.
The Rangers counting to win last night, 13 wins and seven losses for the Springs and they've had a pretty good spring.
County Ryan, the third base coach for Texas, Fred Kean, he's crossed the other side at first base.
Astros defensively have Enos Cabell at third, Roger Metzger at short,
Alas Julio Gonzalez at second, Dave Bergman at first, and the outfield Dennis Walling at left,
Terry Poole in center and Jose Cruz in right and Herman doing the catching.
JR Richard is the pitcher.
It will be Mike Hargrove to lead off the Texas first baseman. He'll be followed by Toby Harrah and Al Omiver.
Richard, 28 years old, 6'8", 237 pounds. That's a rust in Louisiana.
Here's the lineup for the first pitch from JR, fastball high, a ball one.
JR's last outing was Monday against the Minnesota Twins in Orlando. He worked six innings in that ballgame.
That's the longest JR has worked this spring, six innings.
Here's the one-oh pitch to Hargrove and a pop-up foul out of play off the left side.
That'll send the youngsters scurrying for a souvenir. One and one to count.
Hargrove batting 250 for the spring. Richard's pitch is a little high, says the plate umpire.
JR with Merrill. Two and one to count.
Richard right back with the next pitch. Here it is. And a foul ball again off the left side out of play.
Two-two to count. That Texas after Billy Hunter took over that club a year ago, or into the season of the 77 season.
They did some kind of turnaround. They won 60 and lost only 33 under Billy Hunter. That's not too bad.
Here's the two-two from Richard to Hargrove and a ground ball to second.
Gonzalez gobbles it up and goes to Bergman at first. Hargrove is out 4-3.
One out of the Texas first and Toby Harrow will hit.
They have a giant scoreboard here in left center field. It extends even higher than the double-deck fence.
When picking up a little bit, you can probably tell.
Pick Harrow back ball low from JR, ball one.
JR when he has that slider working is extremely tough.
One-oh pitch. He changed up a little bit. Brought it in high and tight for a ball, two and nothing to count.
Astro scored three in the top of the first to go out in front.
JR rocks back in the two-oh pitch. Harrow missed it.
Trying to check. Did not have a very healthy cut of that one. Two and one now.
Astro's straight away for Harrow. There's a high fly ball back toward the bullpen.
Bergman giving chase. He might have kept that ball. He didn't.
He was battling that wind and chasing it back over toward the fence.
And it would have been an extraordinary play had Bergman been able to come up with it.
But it dropped just out of his reach. So it's a two-ball, two-strike count.
When the ball left the bat, you felt there'd be no way that Bergman would be able to get down there after that ball.
But the wind was blowing across from right to left, and the wind kept blowing it back in toward the playing field.
And it dropped in play just inside the fence and just out of the reach of Bergman.
Here's a two-two fastball inside. Moved him back off the plate around the belt, and the count is full.
Three and two now.
Now Oliver, the on-dack hitter.
Richard delivers the three-two pitch, and it's high. So Harrow draws the base on balls.
And Harrow takes over at first with one out.
And here's the left fielder, Hal Oliver.
Oliver wears number zero on his uniform.
He says that is indicative of his new start over in the American League with the new ball club.
Here's the pitch, fastball a little high, ball one.
He also says it stands for Oliver. It's not zero at all.
So think your pick.
Richard at the belt checks Harrow, the runner at first, and brings the pitch home.
It's high again, two and nothing now.
Astro Enfield hoping to get a chance to turn two.
To them the first inning.
Harrow inches away from the bag at first.
Here's the two-oh pitch, and Oliver grounds it to the second baseman, Gonzalez.
He'll have to move to his left and has only one play to Bergman at first, where he tosses Oliver out.
And on the ground ball to the right side, Harrow moves up to second base.
Ball not hit all that sharply.
Over toward the hole, Gonzalez moved over for it, and had only the one play, and that was to get Oliver at first.
Two men gone. Runner up at second base is Toby Harrow and Richie Zitz, the designated hitter, steps in.
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Here's the pitch to Zitz. Gets high and tight, ball on.
And the Western Division of the National League looks even tougher and even tighter than it was thought to be earlier.
Here's the one-oh pitch. He tried to check, but that pitch was in there. Good fastball from JR. One and one.
JR got it in on the inside part of the plate. Cleaned the knees and the belt.
JR takes his time looking for the sign. He has it from Ed Herman.
The one-one pitch. That's a good slider from Richard right there.
This one's happened by plenty.
A ball and two strikes to count.
Two men out. Runner at second.
JR works to Richie Zitz. Here's the pitch. And he stuck him out. Zitz went for a pitch into the dirt.
And is out on strikes, and the Rangers are finished in the first. No runs, no hits, no errors. And the man left on base.
Ball game is through one inning. And the Astros have a three-numbing lead.
The Astros have a three-numbing lead.
Astros and the Rangers get set to move into the second inning at the three-numbing Astro lead.
This broadcast is authorized under broadcasting rights granted by the Houston Astros solely for the entertainment of our listening audience.
And any publication, rebroadcast, or other use of the description of accounts of this game without the express written consent of the Houston Astros Baseball Club is prohibited.
Announcers are employed and paid via the Houston Astros.
Here's Ed Herman to lead off the second for the Astros. Roger Metzger will follow in the top of the batting on her cherry pool.
This is WRR Dallas.
A very good spring at the plate, batting 421. Alexander into the windup, and that soft breaking pitch is in there for a call of strength.
No homers and two RBIs for Herman. Alexander's next one is low, one and one. Oh, what a day.
Alexander uncoils and comes in and pitches foul out of play. Foul off the left side. One and two.
Bob Watson is not in the Astros lineup today. He sustained a bruise behind the right knee in the first inning of last night's ball game and is taking it easy today.
One and two pitches lined out of play foul again.
Injury to Bob is not believed to be too serious. He may not play tomorrow as well.
Here's the one ball two strike pitch and Herman pulls this one out to Wills. Slowly hit ball. Wills has plenty of time and knows it.
That makes it an easy toss over to Hargrove and Herman is retired.
One man gone to open the second inning and Roger Metzger will step in from the left side.
Roger had a triple at last night's ball game and three official trips.
Triple drove all the run.
Alexander's pitch outside with a fastball ball one.
Texas Rangers will be trying to overhaul the Kansas City Royals in the Western Division of the American League this year.
Here's the one hole pitch. There's a shot back in the right center field by Metzger.
Benekes on the run and that's going to be off the wall. Benekes gets a pretty good carat. Metzger digging for two. Here's the draw and he's safe at second base.
Benekes the center fielder got a very good carat off the wall over in right center field and threw a strike back into second base but Metzger beat the throw in there.
Roger has his first two base hit of the spring.
Well the last couple of days Metzger has been muscling up with the play.
It would be nice to see Roger be able to come back play every day and hit about 235 or 240. What a help he'd be to this ball club.
Well you can play shortstop for the best of them. There's no question about that.
Here's Terry Poole with a chance to do further damage. The pitch from Alexander is high. Ball one. Sunberg had to reach up for that one.
One and nothing to count to Poole. One out. Metzger out at second base.
Alexander's pitch. Ooh what a curveball. The swing and a miss. Good breaking pitch by Alexander.
No way you're going to hit that pitch. You'd have to have a bat five feet wide to hit that one Bobby.
Left handed hitter waits for Alexander's one one and here it is a liner foul. Well you got around on that one and pulled it back down the right side.
Now to play over the range of bullpen. Back into the equipment area. Now he's behind the right hander a ball and two strikes.
Poole with a slightly close batting stance. Here's the pitch. And there's the base hitter center field. Line shot to the right of Will. Metzger a round third. Now he's slowed up for a moment. The ball gets away from Sunberg. Metzger scores.
Moving up to second base is Poole as the ball scamps back to the base of the stand.
Well there you have Metzger. He was dead at the plate. If they could make that play because Metzger stopped coming around third. He hesitated a couple of steps and lost his momentum and then started up again.
And had Sunberg been able to come up with that draw Metzger would have been out at the plate. But as it turns out he scores the fourth astral run of the game.
And Poole gets credit for an RBI. And I guess they move him up to second on the throw home. No error has been presented on the play.
Here's Enos Cabral. He thinks the pitch high.
Alexander went into the stretch and then stepped back off the rubber and looked back towards second to Poole.
One-oh pitch sails in high. Two and nothing to count.
Poole has driven home his fifth RBI.
Alexander out the belt. Two-oh pitch to Cabral. He goes after a high pitch. The sky is a foul. Sunberg chases it but it's going to be out of play back all the way up onto the roof.
Two and one to count.
Well the Astros have scored four runs here. Three in the first, one in the second so far.
Back off play at second and Poole is safe. Boy that was close. Bump will. Six to throw out there.
But Poole went back in sliding under the tag.
Alexander has the sign from Sunberg. Two-one pitch to Cabral and a high pop up down the right side again. Hargrove chases this one down but he will not have a play.
And the count will square off with two balls and two strikes.
Astros scored three in the first on an RBI single by Cabral.
A wild pitch also helped as did an errant pickoff play at first base.
Two-two to Cabral outside and high so the count runs full. Three balls and two strikes. They say our Cedeno will be next.
Enos Lynch for Alexander's next delivery. The right-hander at the belt turns towards second, does not throw and Poole goes back in sliding anyway. Wheels again breaking for the bag at second.
Here's the three-two to Cabral. He jammed him and Cabral fouls the pitch back into the screen off the right just a little bit.
Well the count remains at three balls and two strikes.
After Herman rolled to second, Metzger doubled and Poole's single him home went to second on the play at the plate.
Alexander's three-two comes home again to Enos Cabral.
And that is a base hit line drive. It's going to drop in front of Vanayjit, pops away from him. Poole rounds third. He will score.
And stopping at first with an RBI single to Enos Cabral. Cabral hits that ball squarely, a liner to center field.
Makes it a five to nothing ballgame.
Second run batted into the afternoon for Enos.
And Cesar Cedeno throws to the plate.
In the meantime Toby Herum trots over from third to talk with the right-hander Alexander.
Rangers will choose from among Jim Umbarger, Lynn Barker, and Steve Colmer as possible subsequent pitchers to Doyle Alexander here today.
Pitch to Cedeno, ground ball to short. Campanella's to Wills. The ones go back to first. They get the double play.
And that retires the side. Astros out on the second inning, but they score a couple of runs.
And after a inning and a half, it's a five to nothing Astro lead.
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Don Grogg, president of Texas Process Equipment Company, tells how important...
The official starting time of the ballgame is actually 1.05.
That ballgame will also be televised to the Astro Network, and you can hook up with that at 1 o'clock.
Joe Nikro will get the pitching nod for the Astros in that one. Doc Ellers for the Texas Ball Club.
And the broad-storming tour will conclude with an afternoon ballgame in San Antonio Monday at 1.35, and that ballgame will be on radio only.
Well, we hope you'll join us the rest of the way until the Astros get set to open the season against the Reds on the 6th of April in Cincinnati.
Here at the bottom of the second inning, the Texas Rangers will send Claudel Washington to the plate against J.R. Richards for Carstens.
Washington will be followed by Moniquez and Wills.
Five runs on five hits for the Astros.
Nothing so far for Texas.
Left-handed batter Washington is ready, and here's Richards pitch.
All strikes at the letters on the outside corner, strike one.
Washington has pretty good speed, and Cabell respecting that plays him a couple of steps just back of the infield grass.
Swing and a miss, a fast ball, they blow a fire.
Two strikes to count.
Washington a good young hitter.
The O2 pitch is made, a sign outside, one and two.
Wind is blowing in at about 10 to 15 miles an hour from right field now.
One and two pitch from J.R., and a ground ball back to the mound.
Richards loves it and flips to the ball to Bergman.
So Washington has retired.
I tell you, with the band J.R. has out there on the mound, it's tough to get anything by him one way or another, either side or above him.
Long, lanky arms, he's 6'8".
And that's one thing over the past year, year and a half, J.R. has done.
He's made himself a pretty good fielding pitcher.
At one time he was very poor in that department, but did not make an error in all of last year.
He's done a good job, you have to give him credit.
Here's one, Bonica.
First pitch is high, ball one.
Bonica's at 2'38 for the spring, one home run and eight RBI.
Right handed batter, so one nothing pitch from J.R. Richards.
Swing and a miss, that's the slider.
He took a little something off of it that time, one and one.
J.R. brings it in and gets the swing and a foul tipped into the middle of Herman, pitch in on the hitter.
Outfell time, one and two now.
One out, we're in the second.
J.R. rocks and delivers, breaking ball down and away, two-two down.
And that's too many seats available here today.
Couple here and there, two-two, pop up, that's a foul ball and it will be straight back out of play.
That remains two and two to Juan Bonica.
They're saying the Texas everyday lineup, two-two, swing and a miss.
Juan Bonica just waved at that one, half-heartedly, and he strikes out.
Second recorded by Richards today and here's Bump Wills.
Wills is hitting 235.
Wills batting from the left side.
He takes the first pitch for a call strike and fast ball at the knees in the outside part of the plate.
Wills wins, adjusting to the infield arc.
Here's the O-one pitch, fast ball down low.
One and one now.
Ring training winding down to an end, the Florida portion already behind us.
The one-one pitch, swing and a foul tipper.
Now soft to the right side of ball and two strikes to count.
Two men out, base is empty.
Richards has the sign from Herman and delivers on one and two and he strikes Wills out swinging.
Wills and Everberg have done a good job of that one as well.
Two strikeouts for J.R. in the frame.
The Rangers are out of order in the second inning.
No hits, no errors and nobody left through to the Astros lead by a score of five to nothing.
Uh-huh, caught you.
This thermostat's sitting at 60 degrees.
Hey, I'm dying in here. Do you realize how hot it is?
Well, I'm dying too looking at this utility bill and I've decided to do something about it.
We're going to move up north, right?
Wrong. We're going to get a Fedders central air conditioning system.
Oh, and we can afford that.
Yeah, because Fedders air conditioning is better.
It has a new rotary compressor for high efficiency air conditioning.
With Fedders, we can save on cooling bills year after year.
Yeah, year after year, but what about now?
Listen, heard about this today.
Now is the best time to buy Fedders because during April we'll get a factory rebate on any central air conditioning system.
$50 rebate on two to two and a half ton units, $75 on three to three and a half ton units, and $100 on four to five ton units.
Don't worry, we'll be cool this summer with Fedders.
Okay, if you say so.
Trust me.
University Refrigerator, 709 South Grove Street, Richardson, Hoff Air Conditioning, 128 Fairview in Arlington.
One, two, three, one.
That was a third elegant.
Jose Cruz will lead off for the Astros against the Texas Ranger right-handed oil Alexander.
Cruz walked his first time.
First pitch and he loosed his foul back onto the screen.
Back one.
There's the first day of April.
The one strike pitch is blown away.
April fools day.
But a phone call right now to Buddy Hankin at the Astrodome could be a very smart move.
Here's the one-one.
It's high and outside.
Two balls and a strike to count.
The reason for that call, today is the last day you have to take advantage of season ticket discounts for the 1978 season.
Ball three high and outside.
The Cruz three and one.
And today Buddy Hankin and his season ticket crew are standing by to take your order.
Here's the three-one pitch foul ball right back into the screen.
Full count.
You can save up to $25 a seat.
Pick your own plan.
Get preferred parking.
And infield boxes, club boxes, the box seats, mezzanine and loads of locations are all available.
Here's the pitch. Call strike three on the outside corner.
Cruz caught looking on a pitcher round and a second strike out for Doyle Alexander.
One out. Here's Dave Bergman.
But to get that discount you're going to have to call today.
Today is the final day.
The number is 749-9675.
749-9675.
Here's the pitch to Dave Bergman, a foul tipper in and out of the mood of Jim Thunberg. Strike one.
Give you that number again for Astro season tickets.
You want to get in on the final day of discount.
749-9675.
Here's the pitch to Bergman inside. Smash ball one and one.
Buddy will be glad to talk to you over there.
Here's the one-one. Swing and a move.
Here's a lost drive on that one, a ball and two strikes.
But he has good seats still available, although the season tickets have gone this year about as well as ever again.
Here's the one-ball, two-strike pitch. He goes the other way and lines a foul down the left field line up against the fence.
Count remains a ball and two strikes.
Bergman has hit two spring home runs. He has four RBI.
He came up in this ballgame and ground it out to the second baseman, Bump Will.
Here's the high end Alexander on the count with the bases empty and one out.
And here's the one-two from the right-hander. It's right down central, a fast ball.
Bergman's out and he knows it.
Oh, he could have asked for a prettier pitch right down the middle, a fast ball.
Two outs on called strikes here in the third. Three strikeouts for Alexander and now Dennis Walling is the batter.
Walling fanned his first time, went down swinging.
Here's the pitch on the way, down and in, ball one.
Walling could be a little bit of a surprise. He could be a good man to have on the bench this spring.
He tried to check but could not.
I don't know how they count.
First and up remains to be seen. Here's a young man who has not played that much in the major leagues.
And I guess you're realistic about it. He's still an unproven quantity but he has had a very good spring.
Here's the one-one pitch. Ball strike two. Alexander found his location now.
Alexander, not unlike Mark Lemon Jell-O, struggled early in this game. Mark did so last night finding that control.
Pitch is outside, 2-2. And Alexander has to have the good control to be effective.
That's his bread and butter.
Here's the 2-2 on the way. And a tapper off the right side of the plate rolls down the first base side
and Deacon Jones will make the pick up and foul a ground.
And up remains 2-2. Alexander is not exactly going to blow you away at the plate but he knows how to pitch.
He does so very well.
Here's the 2-2 made. And it's high on outside. Full count, three balls, two strikes.
Cruz and Bergman have been called out on strikes in the Astro third.
Here's the 3-2 to Walling. And it just missed inside and rolled for ball four.
Second walk allowed by Alexander. Walling trots to first.
That'll bring up Julio Gonzalez.
Gonzalez rolled out to Bump Wills his first time. He's nothing out of one, batting 176.
And here's a toss over to French to keep Walling close. No tag applied by Hargrove.
Gonzalez chokes way up on the bat. Here's the pitch outside and rolled.
Ranger Outfield shifts his way around to the right side for Julio.
He's going to your room down that left field line. Oliver is well off the line.
Here's the stretch and a toss to Price and Walling is back in time.
A pitch is made and a tapper fouls. It'll roll off the right side and the Ranger manager, Billy Hunter, makes the pickup.
Down on the far end of the Ranger dugout.
Three runs in the first for the Astros, two more in the second inning. And the score is 5-0.
Alexander at the belt again on a one-and-one and a pitch is pulled down the third base side just foul.
That's a good idea by Gonzalez is he can pull the ball of all down that way. There's a lot of room.
That one was foul and now he's behind Alexander, a ball and two strikes.
Here's the pitch. It's high. That's though the first and Walling is back. Sundberg guns it down to Hargrove.
Not in time, however, in 2-2 the count on Gonzalez.
Alexander on 2-2 changes speeds and Gonzalez ambers it to short. Campaneras picks it up and flips the ball to Will the second to get the fourth on Walling moving down.
Gonzalez rolls into the fielder's choice, short the second to fourth Walling and the Astros are out on the third.
No runs, no hits, no errors, one man left. They move to the bottom half of inning number three. The Astros five and the Rangers nothing.
Make it cool, make it cool, it's like a video.
Like a mountain mornin' sunrise comin' slowly through the trees.
Like an easel when it spreads its wings across the blue sky breeze. It's all that's big and bold and free.
Come taste the glengal soons. It's a part of what you're dreamin'. Make it yours.
Make it cool, for we taste the mornin' sunshine.
Make it cool, make it right for you and me.
Taste the wild wind sky. Taste the wild blue mountain high.
Make it cool, make it cool, make it yours.
The ball game moves into the bottom of the third inning. J.R. Richard on the hill for the Astros.
Bert Campanaris, Jim Sundberg and Mike Hargrove will be the top three hitters against J.R. in the frame.
Joe Ferguson and Bob Watson, we've been notified, will be returning to Houston today.
They'll be x-rayed at Methodist Hospital tomorrow as a precautionary measure.
Bob Watson, we told you earlier, sustained a bruise behind the right knee in the first inning of last night's ball game.
And Ferguson injured a rib cage when he slid into the backstop chasing a wild pitch in the second inning last night.
Those injuries are presumed not to be serious, but just to make sure they're going to be x-rayed tomorrow in Houston.
Ferguson on the rib cage and Watson on that knee.
Here's Campanaris.
Right-handed batter. He's hitting 269.
First pitch to Campy is outside. Oh, a call strike.
He tried to bump the ball. I guess he went for it.
He was down to drag it. Strike one.
He's a little high and away.
The terrain here is interesting if you view it on the field.
Here's a nice pitch and a ground ball out to second.
A couple of hops out to Gonzalez. Julio gloves it and goes back to Bergman to get Campanaris, 4-3.
The infield is elevated a little bit.
It's a foul ground. The terrain slopes off and it does likewise in the outfield.
When you get to the rim of the infield, you move over the outfield grass and it slopes down.
But right field is higher than left center.
It moves and it slopes down from right back into left center and then slopes back up back in the corner in left field down the line.
First pitch to Sunberg is a call strike.
The left-handed hitters are hitting uphill today.
One strike to count, one out, base is empty.
Sunberg hammers this one to third where Cabello blubs it off and shoots out.
An easy play to Bergman. Sunberg is retired.
Two men out before my car goes up to step 10.
We'll take ten seconds for station identification.
This is where you hear Houston Astros baseball.
This is WRR Dallas.
Hargrove, an uphanded batter steps in there. He's nothing out of one.
First time up, he hit a ground ball after the second baseman comes down it.
Hargrove came in batting 250. Here's the pitch. It's a fastball high and wide, ball one.
Two homers, six runs batted in for my Hargrove.
He'll be the leadoff man for Billy Hunter this year. Did a very good job last year after they finally moved him into that role.
Here's the one-oh pitch. It's high, two and nothing.
Hargrove, if you look at him, does not appear to be the ideal leadoff man, but his on-base percentage is impeccable.
Richard has the sign from Ed Herman, and here's the two-nothing pitch on the way.
High ball back in the left-center field.
Poole and Walling giving chase, and Walling is going to catch up with it to make the play, and that retires the sign.
A running catch by Dennis Walling. The Rangers are out of order. No hits, no errors, and nobody left on base.
The ball game is through three. I'll be leaving it out. Gene will be coming over to join you.
After three, the Astros lead the Rangers by a score of five to nothing.
Uh-huh, caught you. This thermostat's sitting at 60 degrees.
Hey, I'm dying in here. Do you realize how hot it is?
Well, I'm dying too looking at this utility bill, and I've decided to do something about it.
We're going to move up north, right?
Wrong. We're going to get a Fedders central air conditioning system.
Oh, and we can afford that.
Yeah, because Fedders air conditioning is better. It has a new rotary compressor for high-efficiency air conditioning.
With Fedders, we can save on cooling bills year after year.
Yeah, year after year, but what about now?
Listen, heard about this today. Now is the best time to buy Fedders because during April, we'll get a factory rebate on any central air conditioning system.
$50 rebate on two to two and a half ton units, $75 on three to three and a half ton units, and $100 on four to five ton units.
Don't worry, we'll be cool this summer with Fedders.
Okay, if you say so.
Trust me.
West Heating and Air Conditioning, 1001 East Celeste, Garland and Acons. Service Company, 3025 Forest Avenue, Fort Worth.
Right hander, Doyle Alexander of the Texas Rangers will be facing Ed Herman as we go to the forebedding.
Here's a little rock, Roger Metzger, and on the top of the batting order, Terry Poole will follow.
An absolutely beautiful day for baseball today. And we're expecting the same tomorrow at Tulsa.
And these two clubs will square off in the third game of the series, 10 and 20 on Monday afternoon.
Ed Herman left-handed batter, about to second his first time. It's a very high popper to right field.
Bob Wills, Wim carrying it back a little bit, and not too far out in the shallow right field makes the play.
For the Herman on the first pitch, it's popped to second base, Bob Wills.
Here's Roger Metzger, he had a big double in the second inning.
That helped the Astros tally their fourth and fifth runs of this ballgame.
Metzger a switch hitter will be batting left against Alexander.
Astros five and the Texas Rangers nothing, top half of the fourth inning.
Fly ball left field, Al Oliver drips back for this one and got it. Two quick outs here by Alexander.
Alexander settled down a little bit now. He didn't give up a base on balls in the third inning.
He's been having some trouble getting his breaking stuff over today, but he's been relying mostly on fast stuff here the last couple of innings, and he has managed to put the Astros down.
Two outs, and Terry Poole the hitter.
Poole, safe on an error his first time, has scored two runs today, both times batted in by following hitter Enos Cabell.
One for two for Terry, following the air on the first, had a base hit on the second.
Left handed hitter on the first pitch by Alexander, he got that off of P50 that time.
Poole has a run batted in, he drove in Metzger after Roger's double in the second inning.
Fast drive call, two quick ones. Alexander now getting into a groove, as Richard failed to do in the first inning, but then settled down.
Two outs and nobody on, and the 0-2 pitch by Alexander, and Poole takes the ball outside.
Weeks from Monday night, the Astros open at home.
Thanks Thursday in Cincinnati for the got him clean. Breaking pitch, struck him out.
That was a quick inning for Alexander, he chalked up his fourth strikeout.
And the Astros, for the first time this afternoon, are down in order.
Rangers will be batting in the bottom half of the fourth inning, but the Astros on top, are to glorify the nothing.
We love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet.
Wet your lips America, cause Chevy's serving up a fresh new slice of apple pie.
A tasty new mid-sized car called Malibu, that's so right for so many people right now.
You'd be inclined to believe it was designed by John Hugh Public himself.
It's got crisp good looks, a nice trimmed body, and even more headroom, more legroom, and more trunk room than last year's Malibu.
It's a car that's gonna get you grinning when you point it down the road.
Now I ask you America, isn't that what you had in mind?
New slice, crisp, nice mid-sized Malibu, a fresh new slice of apple pie from Chevrolet.
When it comes to value, a fresh new slice of apple pie from Chevrolet.
America comes to Chevrolet.
All Chevy Malibu.
Mmm, juicy.
A fresh new slice of apple pie from Chevrolet.
A fresh new slice of apple pie from Chevy Malibu.
K.I. Richard loosens up now to base on Morales, the only thing that he's had problems with today, once.
He comes out here in the last half of the fourth inning, his retired eight consecutive batters.
And Toby Harrow, who threw that walk off him in the first inning, will be the lead hitter.
He'll be followed by Al Oliver and the Richies this.
J.R. has struck out three today.
So he has struck out 15 batters in the 22 innings that he has pitched this spring and has given up in 22 innings, six walks.
That's good news.
Although, Richard's control has been good the last couple years.
Toby Harrow, third baseman, right-handed batter.
Last to the fourth, half-road five, Rangers nothing.
Richard, a little wild high and not throwing especially hard on the first inning, has really been cutting loose lately.
There's the pass ball. That one's gone Harrow around.
Swing and a ridge bank one.
Al Oliver waits for the bat, thanks.
Over four crowd here.
That's rock for this one today.
I couldn't ask for a better day.
Little right breeze blowing in from right field, about 75 degrees.
That's a little low. Got it over the down.
Richard thought he had a strike on that one.
One ball and one strike.
Nobody out, nobody out.
Pass ball missed again and the Dirt Herman had to dig that one out.
Ball two, strike one.
I feel pretty well back for Harrow around the left side.
Here's Richard's pitch to him and a swing at a high wing.
Got that high hard one on that side.
Two-two.
Harrow almost left his feet on that one again.
Two balls, two strikes on Toby Harrow.
That field moved a little bit off the left side for the third baseman also.
J.R.'s pitch fast ball. He laid that one right in there for him.
Harrow got a piece of it. He fouls it back up against the screen.
Richard has the pass head on occasion, usually when he does get control problems, he's up.
And he has that little bit of a problem early.
Two balls, two strikes.
Foul ball again. That's over the roof off the first base side.
Harrow right-handed hitter.
Richard all ready to work again now.
And the pitch to the third baseman is a ball three up a little bit.
Five to nothing. Astros on top of the bottom half of the fourth inning.
Here's the three-two to Harrow.
Ready, one. Checked on it.
Did he get the appeal? No.
Ball four.
And the ball's off Richard.
And both times it was from Harrow.
Richard's string of eight in a row has stopped Harrow to Harrow on two walks.
Now, Herman did just now ask for the appeal from plate umpire Gerlitz Merrill
and the first base umpire Joe West.
Wait a minute, did he call him out? He did. He called him out.
They did get the appeal and that's a strikeout.
So, scratch the walk.
Now the first base coach, Fred Koenig, is arguing with West on that ball.
There was not an immediate appeal by Herman on that and as belatedly,
evidently someone from the bit wanted him to do it.
So, it did ask Gerlitz Merrill and Merrill went down to the first base umpire.
And Harrow, who thought he had a walk and everybody else did, has been struck out.
That's the fourth strikeout for JR instead of the second base on both.
Here's Al Oliver.
One out, nobody on base.
Oliver grounded out second his first time.
Up two high ball one.
Harris scored three in the first and two runs in the second.
Had some ranger help in that opening inning with a couple of errors.
Three unearned runs.
But they picked up five hits.
One and out Oliver.
Way up again. Two nothing.
Getting a little action down the line.
Chris Avocla is loosening up.
So, he'll probably take over for Harris third.
Richard down to Oliver. Two balls, no strikes.
Not ground ball to Gonzalez right.
Nice play by Iulio. Got him.
Oh yeah. Good play.
Well.
Gonzalez had to go follow his right on that one.
Had lighted himself quickly and got the strike over the bird.
And Oliver is down two down.
And Oliver gets some kind of a hard baseball.
Good hitter.
There's Richie Zisk the designated hitter. One of Richard's four strike out victims today.
Right handed batter.
Two outs, nobody on with a bottom of the fourth.
And Richard's first pitch to Zisk is.
Tried to hold a little bit on that one.
That's a slider and it was a good one.
And he was not sure whether he wanted to go for it or not.
And he just couldn't second time.
One side fastball. One ball and one strike.
Wind is picking up a little bit. We had just a little light breeze coming in from the fence and right.
It's up around ten miles an hour so it will hold some of those balls going out toward right field.
But it's not a strong gale.
One ball, one strike pitch by Richard to Richie Zisk and it's two low. Two balls and one strike.
Couple of X pitch for Esmeralda back to back in this game with Oliver Zisk.
That's a stopover in Chicago on the White Sox side for Zisk before coming onto Texas this year.
Ball two, spike one.
On the designated hitter for the Rangers, Richie Zisk.
And a call strike.
That was a dandy right above the knees fastball. Two two.
Zisk did not offer that at all.
Ten batters in a row put down by JR.
Two balls, two strike pitch to Zisk.
And that's a stopover in Chicago on the White Sox side.
Very uncertain on that one also.
We go to the top half of the first inning.
There a little rock. As goes five for Texas Rangers. Nothing.
It's time to do a little spring training around your place like getting the old painting arm limbered up.
So you can give the house a new coat of cook paint when the weather warps up.
Or you should at least check your workshop to see how you're fixed for brushes, center, all those items.
You can hardly do without during a summer of do-it-yourself jobs.
And the place to get stocked up with the paint and decorating supplies you need is your cook paint decorating center.
Stop by, say hello, and take a look at all the items he has on display.
Just about anything you need to brighten and beautify your home.
Cook paint. See you soon.
Well, we're moving on to the first inning now.
AR is up this consecutive string here to 11.
Kurt Babacka has gone in to play third base for the Texas Rangers.
As goes in Tulsa tomorrow. Same time on broadcast.
Ten minutes until one o'clock tomorrow with a third game of the series.
And the As goes will tangle with the Rangers with a wrap-up game of the four games set on Monday afternoon at San Antonio.
Kurt Babacka is now playing third base for the Texas Rangers. He has taken over for Toby Hara.
And Doyle Alexander back out on the hill.
That's the only change for the Rangers.
Here's Cabell, Cesar Cedeno, and Jose Cruz as we start the fifth inning and the As goes lead at five to nothing.
Cabell has had two hits today.
He's got it in his file and a long run by Hargrove and he got it. He twisted his ankle just a little bit. I hope he didn't hurt himself.
You saw it just as he went down. Twisted that ankle a little bit, but he's all right.
That's what caused him to fall. This way by Mike Hargrove at first.
He had a long way to go for that when the ball was not popped overly high and he had to run quite a ways for it over near the stand.
It's the first time that Cabell has been retired today after singling twice and driving in a couple of runs.
Cesar Cedeno the batter. Double and a double play ball off the bat of Cedeno today.
They try right-handed hitter off of right-handed oil Alexander. Off-speed pitch is too low ball.
One out and nobody on. Jose Cruz will be the next hitter.
That ball, long foul ball on the right field. No chance for a play on that one.
Down beyond a Texas Ranger bullpen and it's one ball and one strike on Cedeno.
Top of the fifth. Five to nothing Ashgrove.
Swing on the rim. A little off-speed. Alexander, as I mentioned, started to go with pretty much the fast stuff.
He didn't have any trouble controlling that. Now he's getting back to some of the breaking pitches and he's managing to get them in.
That ball wide, two balls, two strikes on Cedeno.
One out on Cabell's pump foul to Hargrove.
Two ball, two strike pitch by Alexander is in the dirt.
Full count three-two.
Two walks and five, four strikeouts for Alexander.
Fits to Cedeno, fly ball deep center field and Benitez has room.
Now he comes back in the wind. Well that went up a little bit.
Might have been up off the fence, although probably not.
Benitez still had quite a bit of room but he did go back and then come in on it.
This indicated that the wind blew it back in a bit.
Almost dead center field, two down.
Cedeno out and Jose Cruz is the batter.
Close his walks and strikeout and it's two-fifths of a day.
Left hand is battered and Alexander's first pitch is a swing and a miss.
Strike one.
Alexander, after being roughed up in the first two innings along with some fielding lapses for the Rangers,
has settled down now through the last three innings and in the last three innings has given up just the base on balls.
One ball and one strike on Jose Cruz.
Here's the one-one by Alexander. Foul ball after the screen.
And it's one ball and two strikes.
Right hander ready again on the pitch to Cruz.
Ball flash to right. Battle me off the wall.
Back goes the right fielder Washington, Katja Bedlin.
And Cruz goes into second base. Washington makes the pick-up and Jose is on with a stand-up double.
What's that about Bedlin?
That's about 15, 20 feet off the barrier in right center field.
And Cruz gets his third double of the spring.
He's one to two today with a walk the other time he struck out and that's the sixth pitch.
Off Alexander and the batter now is Dave Bergman.
Bergman is rounded out and struck out.
Jose Cruz, that's a big lead off second base. Shortstop Bergman, Campanera, stated in behind him.
With Bergman, let the interop.
First pitch to Bergman. A little bit high ball long.
First hit for the Astros. The two out here in the fifth. The first hit for the Astros.
Since Cabell singled in the second inning and rolled in the Astros fifth run.
A little bit up again. Same spot, off speed, two balls and no strikes on Bergman.
Broadcast time tomorrow will be ten minutes to one from Pelton. Rangers again.
Joe Nicrow will go on that one against Doc Ellis tomorrow afternoon.
There's the off speed again and now he's missing on that again. That's three and oh too high.
Ball three, no strikes.
Cruz on second base and two down. Bergman goes for the three and oh and hits the fly ball to the left field to Al Oliver.
Cruz there and got it to retire the side. Cruz is rounded out second base.
Astros still lead the Rangers five to nothing.
And tomorrow is Houston Chronicle. Be sure to check the full page color ad located in the comic section.
It will give you a pretty good idea of the fun and excitement in store for you in the 1978 afterdome season.
It lists most of the weekend promotional activities.
Giving dates for ball night, bat night, jacket night. Coming up on April 29th, photo album night, t-shirt night, and helmet night.
Uh huh, caught you. This thermostat sitting at 60 degrees.
Hey I'm dying in here. Do you realize how hot it is?
Well I'm dying too looking at this utility bill and I've decided to do something about it.
We're going to move up north right?
Wrong. We're going to get a Fedders central air conditioning system.
Oh and we can afford that.
Yeah because Fedders air conditioning is better. It has a new rotary compressor for high efficiency air conditioning.
With Fedders we can save on cooling bills year after year.
Yeah year after year but what about now?
Listen, heard about this today. Now is the best time to buy Fedders because during April we'll get a factory rebate on any central air conditioning system.
$50 rebate on 2 to 2.5 ton units, $75 on 3 to 3.5 ton units, and $100 on 4 to 5 ton units.
Don't worry, we'll be cool this summer with Fedders.
Okay if you say so.
Trust me.
Alps heating and air conditioning, 209 Rayburn Garland and Bob's heating and air conditioning, 323 North Beach Street, Fort Worth.
The Buddy Hankins and the Astrodome could be a real smart move for you.
Today is the last day you have to take advantage of season ticket discounts for the 1978 baseball season.
Buddy Hankins and his season ticket crew are standing by right now to take your order.
You can save up to $25 per seat.
Make your own plan, get preferred parking, infield boxes, club box, box seats, and as many as you need and as many locations are available.
Call today 713. Call right now to get a chance.
749-9675. There you go, 713.
749-9675.
Claudio Washington hits the ground ball, the court stops to Roger Metzger to open the inning, and Don DeBerghem is one down.
Keep in mind now, your last day to take advantage of the discounts.
749-9675.
$25 a seat.
A lot of gold, rain.
One out.
Here is Juan Beníquez.
Twelve batters in a row, retired by Richard.
Beníquez struck out his first time.
One out and nobody on base.
Ball outside.
1-0.
Beníquez's right-handed swing will be followed here by bump wheels.
Foul ball. That's not a play off the right side.
Richard spits 23 innings this spring now, counting today's ball game, and he has given up 19 hits.
He has not allowed a hit today.
Man, let's just allow that one baserunner. First inning loss.
Got one good play behind him by second baseman, Julio Gondalez, as swing and a miss.
Now tipped, and it's one ball and two strikes.
Bottom half of inning five. Astros got three in the first and two runs in the second inning.
Three in the first runner.
Here's a one-and-two pitch by James Rodney.
Fastball, fly ball, left center field.
Dennis Walling. Oh, there's a lot of room out in that area.
Walling makes the play on that one, and they're two down.
As Richard spring goes up to 13 consecutive batters, and bump wheels who struck out his first time as the hitter.
Switch hitter batting left-handed.
Two outs, nobody on base.
Washington is shortstopped, and Benekes hits wide to left field.
Rodney's first pitch is very high. That's right back over Herman's head, way up in the air.
Jim Umbacher, south-faw, starting to stretch his pitching arm out now.
He's getting ready to loosen up a little bit down the right field line for the Rangers.
One ball and no strikes on bump wheels.
There's a shot. There's a first hit of the ball again in the right field for the Texas Rangers.
Bump wheels.
It's the gap out in front of Jose Cruz.
Richard retires 13 consecutive batters from a walk with one out in the first inning to Toby Hara to bump wheels based on the right.
There's Bert Campanaris.
That'll be no, no, no today.
Campanaris bounce second base to Gonzalez for the first time.
Pretty good lead by Wills off first base. Richard will hold him close with a quick flip over to Dave Bergman at first base.
Gets our six Houston and one Rangers here on the bottom of the fifth.
Two low ball runs.
Herman Bigs that went out of the dirt. One ball and no strikes.
Richard has gone six innings twice this year. This is his fifth alley.
He's turning up for opening day as a genetic.
Throw to first again. There's a little toss over there.
Little, little token lob to first.
Token lob, token toss.
One ball, no strikes.
Bert Campanaris shortstop.
Second first by James Rodney and the pitch.
Little bit low outside. Two and one, two and oh.
Both of those pitches down on Campanaris.
On deck hitters, Richard Campanaris, Richard, catcher Jim Sunberg.
Bump wheels on first with the base hitting two out.
Here's the two out pitch and Campanaris takes the ball.
Herman flips the first to Bergman, but the wheels is back in.
And now Campanaris is up on JR three and oh.
Three balls and no strikes.
Campanaris takes the strike on the outside corner of the letters.
Looking all the way on that one.
Three and one.
Here's the next pitch now and a swing and a foul.
It's none of a check on that one.
A high fastball that Campanaris actually changed his mind on,
but he couldn't check on as the ball hit his bat.
Richard comes back from a three oh and he has a full count.
So wheels will be taking off on this pitch.
And Sunberg waits to bat back.
Astros lead it by a count of five to nothing.
You're in the bottom of the fifth.
DiGaberto Campanaris, DiGaberto Blanco Campanaris.
Three two look at first base by JR.
Wheels is on his way to second base.
He's struck him out to retire the side.
Foul kick, six strikeouts for JR Richard.
And that retires the side and we go on to inning number six.
DiGaberto still on top of the Rangers, five to nothing.
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First half of the sixth inning in Little Rock,
and Dennis Walling will lead it off for the Astros.
Julio Gonzalez and Ed Herman off of Doyle Alexander,
the starting right-hander for the Texas Rangers, who spins into inning number six.
Six hits, five runs, two walks, four strikeouts, and a wild pitch.
Walling a left-handed batter, first pitch to him is a good strike.
Took one looking right around the knees, strike one.
Walling is struck out and walks.
He'll be followed by Gonzalez.
Kurt Baback with third and about a step there.
Miss outside around, oh, call strike two.
Little premature call, strike two.
Off the outside corner of the knees.
Humbarger starting to loosen up a little bit more.
Now he's starting to throw hard down the right side.
Alexander, as I mentioned, in his sixth inning.
We'll start getting some changes now.
I'm the both club, ball low inside.
One ball, two strikes.
You get Mike Jorgensen and Jim Mason are starting to loosen up
before the Rangers down the right field line.
Here's Alexander's pitch and a tap right side topper.
First baseman, Hargrove will handle, and the pitcher Alexander over and got him.
Alexander, a little bit of a ballet on that one.
He had to touch up a couple times with that toe to make sure he got the bag.
The feet walling in and there's one down.
First baseman, Mike Hargrove and pitcher Doyle Alexander on a chopper to the right side.
And Gonzalez is the batter.
Gonzalez is not out ahead.
He has had the defensive play of the day, however.
Strike called, outside corner fastball around the knees on Gonzalez.
Early up on that bat handle.
Not quite as much as usual, though.
He's only up a couple inches right now on Alexander.
A little pop-up left side of the infield.
This is Campaneras ball, shortstop.
He's on the skin part of the infield and two away.
Alexander, since the second inning, has pitched well,
walking one and giving up the double by Cruz off the barrier in right field.
That's it.
Here's Ed Herman.
Grounded out both times to bump Wills to second base.
Ball low.
One ball, no strike.
Astros batting on the sixth.
Ground ball right side directly to Wills.
And Wills to Hargrove.
That got a quick out, quick inning.
And that retires the side for the Astros.
Bottom of the sixth coming up.
Houston 5, six or something.
1978 Astros Buddies Club will have its first free game on April the 30th
with the Astros leading on the...
I've caught you.
This thermostat's sitting at 60 degrees.
Hey, I'm dying in here.
Do you realize how hot it is?
Well, I'm dying, too, looking at this utility bill.
And I've decided to do something about it.
We're going to move up north.
This is WRR Dallas.
Last half of the sixth inning.
Astros lead at five to nothing.
J.R. Richard will be towing to Jim Sundberg to get the inning underway.
Sundberg batting in the number nine spot.
And then it'll be Hargrove and Bavaqua.
Sundberg has bent up once.
He bounced out third.
J.R. Richard has given up only one hit through five and walked one.
Six strikeouts today for the big right-hander.
We'll have some wholesale changes in the next inning for the Rangers.
Ball high, ball on.
Nobody on, nobody on, bottom of the sixth.
Brown ball foul chopper handled by Connie Ryan on the third base coach.
He's a, that man's a used to me.
He's, Bobby, he's a.
He's gone all over with the Astros.
Cut that ball, he fell out of the stands.
Got it?
I talked to him before the game, he knows what I'm telling him.
One ball and one strike.
Ball high.
Good one.
That cap he's wearing is an Astro cap.
It doesn't have any bill on it.
He said that was the one that he originally got when they made the trip to San Francisco.
I don't know what happened to that bill though.
He got to get so many bills in San Francisco that he lost that one too.
So that's, it's a moment, it goes to first.
Ball hit directly to Enos, little bit of a juggle, he had to pick it up off the ground.
But he got Sundberg at first base and there's one down.
Here's Mike Hargrove.
Sundberg will be all through for the day now.
He'll do his running and we'll have another catcher to open at seven.
One out, nobody on base.
J.I. will go seven today at least, as no one is warming up for the Astros.
Hargrove is open to ground ball fly ball.
Two high ball one.
One of the few off-speed pitches that Richard has thrown today.
One out and nobody on.
Kurt Zaback will hit next.
James Rodney Richard, Hargrove, they sent down the middle.
That's the second hit off Richard.
Hargrove comes one into right center field.
Here's Zaback coming out.
This will be Zaback's first trip to the plate.
It's over for Toby Hira.
Hira walked and struck out and is two times the bat.
Astros are leading at five and nothing.
We have seen the last of Alexander today.
Also Jim Umberger has come into the dugout so he'll drop to pitch at seven for the Rangers.
Runner first is Mike Hargrove, the batter, Kurt Zaback.
He's hitting 262.
Pitch is a little bit high at side ball one.
We now will have a runner at first.
Hargrove is coming out and Mike Jorgensen will run for him.
One ball and no strikes on Bovacqua.
They are at text Jorgensen's first base.
The pitch is low and it's two and a half.
They're not holding Jorgensen on.
First baseman Dave Bergman back off the base.
Astros have a five run ball here.
Two balls and no strikes on Bovacqua.
Fastball is a strike called at the letters, two and one.
Runberg bounced to third and Hargrove is single.
Two ball, one strike out in Bovacqua.
JR's pitch is a fly ball to start.
Poole, Catalonero maneuvers under, plays the wind a little bit back in, got it, and Jorgensen back to first base, two down.
Fly to center by Bovacqua.
And the center, the left fielder for the Rangers, Al Oliver is the hitter.
Oliver has not had a hit although he had a tremendously high ground ball to the right of Julio Gonzalez back in the fourth inning.
That was, as I mentioned earlier, the defensive way of this ballgame with Gonzalez going in out.
Oliver bats left.
Two outs, runner first base, Astros lead the Rangers in the bottom of the sixth inning, five to nothing.
Oliver, Dan misses, strike one.
Bergman playing a very deep first base.
James Rodney Richards, pitch, round ball to Metzger who is shaded over by the bag of second, touches the bag to get Jorgensen coming down unassisted off Oliver's round ball to retire the side.
We finish sixth here in Little Rock and the Astros are leading it five to nothing.
Opening day in the Astrodome will be on Monday, April 10th as the Astros meeting the National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in a 7.35 contest.
That's a game you want to plan to see and get there early.
We'll have the Electronic Eagles as part of the pregame activity and they'll be featuring a dog fight between Stupi and the Red Baron as well as many other aerial surprises.
We'll also have high school bands in attendance from La Porte High School, from Harlingdale High in San Antonio, and from Fort Nature's Girls High School.
The thrills and excitement of the 1978 championship season opener for the Astros meeting the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Pregame entertainment and surprises, over the counter sales of tickets to Gorgonar right now at the Advanced Ticket Office, further than Kirby and of course at all Astros coming to get out left.
The opening series for the Astros will be on the end of the Dodgers beginning April 10th in the Astrodome.
Let's pick up those real early.
Astros and Rangers continue this ballgame.
They're in Little Rock. The Astros on top by a score of five to nothing.
We go into the seventh inning. Rangers have a new pitcher. The left-hander Jim Humbarger takes over.
So Alexander works the first six innings against the Astros. Six innings of work to be allowed six hits, five runs, four strikeouts, two walks. Two run runs against Alexander.
Rangers also have some other changes. John Ellis takes over behind the plate.
I think that's Sandy Alomar at second base now.
Jim Mason in short step along with Jorgensen at first. Roger Metzger leads off batting from the right side and hammers the ball to third with a vockhlo.
Gloves it, goes across to Jorgensen. The retired Roger gives him one out of three on the deck.
Brings up Terry Poole with the bases empty and one out here in the seventh inning.
Poole is one out of three and pops this one up on the left side at the foul ball. Ellis and Bavach were after it and Ellis dropped the ball.
Right there is a good case. And where the third baseman should have made that play.
Ellis the catcher running away from his position up the third base line. Bavach was coming in. Both were there.
And Ellis attempted to make the catch from the vockhlo out of better perspective as he should have made the grab.
So Poole gets another chance. The pitch from Umberger is high and outside. One ball and one strike to count.
Here's a pitch Poole pops it up again. This time on the right side. Here comes Jorgensen in from first. Almost in front of the plate. Makes the basket depth.
Bobby Thompson has also gone into the ball game to play center field for Texas. And Dave May is the new left fielder.
Claudel Washington remains in right. Two and a half. Base is empty and here's Enos Cabell. First pitch from Umberger is high and outside.
Ball one. Umberger went to the Texas camp this spring having to make this ball club. They reacquired him last year.
And here's the next pitch foul ball back into the screen. Enos had a pretty good pitch to hit right there and the wishes he had it back.
One ball on the count. Umberger came back to Texas and what they referred to as a dead arm. Next pitch down and two balls.
I'd say it's come back now. I think he has a chance to be a pretty good pitcher again. There's the next pitch foul back over toward the Astros.
Youngster makes the pick up with his glove reaching down. Two to the count.
The left hander Umberger delivers the next one and Cabell chops it to the right side for Jorgensen. He gloves it and races Enos into the bag and wins.
And the Astros are out of order in the semifinals. No runs, no hits, no errors. Nobody left on base. We go to the bottom of the seventh.
The Astros lead the Rangers five to nothing.
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JR Richard goes back to the mound to work the semibunning for the Texas Rangers.
JR has worked six already allowing two hits and no runs, tracking out six and walking one along the way.
That now equals the longest 10 JR has worked this spring.
In the meantime, Kenny Forst begins to loosen for the Astros with a bullpen.
Jimmy Sexton has entered the ballgame for the Astros, a shortstop taking over for Roger Metcher.
And that's the only defensive change. The infield the same, Cabela the third, Sexton short,
Gonzalez second and Bergman at first, and the outfield.
Walling remains in left with Poole in center and Cruz in right.
Bergman still doing the catching, JR Richard on the mound.
He'll be facing Richie Zip to open the mound up at the semibunning.
It will be Zip to be followed by Claudel Washington in the center fielder, Bobby Thompson.
Here's the windup by JR in the pitch. Zip takes it on outside, breaking ball into the dirt, ball one.
What a great day it's been.
Zip can struck out swinging both times he's been up.
Here's the 1-0 pitch on the way. Now ball back into the screen and it will roll all the way up, up onto the roof.
One and one they count.
JR has been impressive today.
There's a chopper out to Gonzalez, an easy play for Poole who loves it, goes back to Bergman.
Zipk is retired, second to first for the first out of the bottom of the seventh inning, brings up Claudel Washington.
Joel Alexander the first six innings for Texas. Humbarger brought on the seventh, retired the Astros in order.
That has been JR Richard all the way for the Astros so far.
Here's the pitch to the left-handed hitting Washington and he checks in time, too high, ball one.
Back to pitch on the way. Now ball looked down, he got Bill Verdon sitting in front of the Astros.
Verdon had his glove on and got that up to protect himself.
Now Bill of Tellis, he still has the reflexes and we see him after the game.
Next pitch to Washington, chopper to the right side again, lower over for Gonzalez.
He gloves it, goes to Bergman. Washington becomes the second out of the inning.
That's going to bring up Bobby Thompson, he'll be batting for the first time in the ball game.
He's over in center field for Juan Bonincos.
Thompson has had a pretty good spring, that's too bad. 14 out of 41, batting 341.
The homer and knight, RBI, has made some kind of a good. He's also stolen seven bases this spring.
Richard first hits the top, then over to Herman's head and goes all the way back to the three.
Well, that doesn't give a raw rookie something to think about, I don't know what does.
Opposing figures such as JR displays out there.
28, 237, throws as hard as anybody around here.
Check swings now, ball into the feet, about four wheels deep off the left side.
One and one, Thompson really displayed a defensive swing on that one.
He was trying to get out of the way more than anything I think.
One and one they count, two men out, bases are empty.
Richard winds and delivers.
Thompson's trying to go, the pitch was in there, now he's behind of all the two strikes.
That first pitch JR threw may have given him something to think about.
He does not look very aggressive at the plate on the two-stroke position.
Here's the one-two pitch. Ooh, he didn't nip by much. JR wanted that one.
Two balls and two strikes to count.
Here's Richard's next pitch, ground ball to first.
Big hop to Bergman, the underhand is talked to Richard,
streaking across over from the mound, and that retires the turn.
Thompson out on the ground ball to first with McMitcher Richard covering.
Three up and three down for the Rangers in the innings.
No hands, no hips, no air, there's nobody left.
Through seven, the Astros have a five to nothing lead.
Uh-huh, caught you. This thermostat's sitting at 60 degrees.
Hey, I'm dying in here. Do you realize how hot it is?
Well, I'm dying too looking at this utility bill, and I've decided to do something about it.
We're going to move up north, right?
Wrong. We're going to get a Fedders central air conditioning system.
Oh, and we can afford that.
Yeah, because Fedders air conditioning is better. It has a new rotary compressor for high efficiency air conditioning.
With Fedders, we can save on cooling bills year after year.
Yeah, year after year, but what about now?
Listen, heard about this today. Now is the best time to buy Fedders because during April,
we'll get a factory rebate on any central air conditioning system.
$50 rebate on two to two and a half ton units, $75 on three to three and a half ton units,
and $100 on four to five ton units.
Don't worry, we'll be cool this summer with Fedders.
Okay, if you say so.
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Hawke Air Conditioning, 128 Fairview in Arlington.
...in the first two innings for five runs. Not much doing after that, however.
And Umbarger retired the side in order in the seventh inning.
He'll be facing St. John Sedanio to open the eighth. It'll be Sedanio, Cruz and Bergen.
Here's Sedanio with a two-base hit and three trips. He doubled in the first and scored.
He's also grounded into a double play and flying out the center.
First pitch is up high from Umbarger, ball one.
Umbarger's 25 years old. He's six feet, six inches tall, 200 pounds.
Next pitch is in there for a call strike, one-on-one.
Lives in Tempe, Arizona, out of Arizona State.
Two-and-six last year in the American League with a 632-hundred on average.
Off-speed pitch is inside a little bit. And Sedanio out front.
The Safer are laid off. And it's now a two-ball, one-strike count.
Umbarger comes down in a line at a left field. It's in there for a base hit down the line.
Davey May over to pick it up and Sedanio will stop it first with a base hit.
Safer picks up his second hit.
Good to see him swinging in the back going into the season.
Umbarger has been 75 and 76.
Putting together records of eight and seven and ten and twelve back to back.
And then went into that arm problem. They traded him to Oakland. Oakland traded him back.
Here's Jose Cruz. Berk pitch is bounced foul down the right side, up over the fence into the stand.
Strike one.
Cruz has walked. He's been called out on strikes and doubles today.
Here's Umbarger's pitch. And it's in there.
Jose laid off. Check that the pitch was in there. Two strikes to count.
J.R. Richard is heading down the left field line to get his running hand and the fans realizing that they have seen the last of J.R. today.
Give him a fine hand. Umbarger talks with the ball to first.
J.R. pitch very well today, working seven innings.
And Kenny Forch will be the new Asheville pitcher. Forch today, and he gets a giant lead off Umbarger at first.
Umbarger delivers to Cruz and the pitch is high on outside. A ball and two strikes to count.
There's a ground ball and it's going to get through up the middle of the center of base hit.
Savanio goes to second and stops there. Thompson gets the ball back in towards the shortstop.
Cruz still as bad at the ball as bat wound up almost all the way out of the mound as he made contact.
Roll the ball through the middle of the infield for his second hit of the afternoon.
And for the Astros, hit number eight. First two men are on here on the eighth inning.
Runners at first and second, nobody out in Dave Bergman the batter.
Bergman's off for three. Grounded out, struck out and flying out.
Umbarger at the belt checks the runners. Here's the pitch. Bergman's going to bump the ball.
Don't go down the third base side. Ellis makes the pick up, goes to first, goes high.
Bull Jorgensen off the back. Everybody's safe.
Ellis thought about going to third and then decided better of the idea.
And then went back over to first base and draw was high and then Bull Jorgensen off the back.
Everybody is safe.
Savino split into third hard and...
I'm going to jam up that knee a little bit.
Pacheco is taking a look at him at third base and Willie Howard is going to come in to pinch run for him.
Pacheco's going to be lifted here and Willie Howard will take over his third base as a pinch runner.
Bases are loaded and Dennis Walling the hitter.
Walling goes after the first pitch and hits it to center field.
Thompson started in on the ball and I have to break back. He's there.
Makes the catch. Howard tagged. He will score. Here's the ball to Bird and Mose is safe.
That's Thompson made a pretty good throw to Bird.
To Brevoqua.
Much stronger than I think anybody anticipated and Mose just did get in there.
Bergman in the meantime tagged up and went up to second base.
Macheco's have scored their sixth run of the ball game and lead 6-0.
And that brings up Julio Gonzalez.
So Walling gets a sacrifice fly on a shot to center field and now they're going to walk Julio Gonzalez intentionally.
Gonzalez being fast intentionally. There's ball two.
This will load the bases again.
And Ed Herman will be the hitter, a left-hander against the south ball.
Umberger. Gonzalez drops to first and before Herman steps in, we'll take ten seconds for station identification.
This is where you hear Houston Astros baseball.
This is WRR Dallas.
Ed Herman steps in there with the bases loaded facing the left-hander Jim Umberger. One run is home.
Couple of singles and error by the catcher Ellis.
On a sacrifice attempt.
And a sacrifice fly. The Astros have scored. There's the ground ball. Two to the right side of the infield for Herman.
Brevoqua. Here comes Bergman around third. He's going to score. The throw. Back towards second. Now they have Herman.
And Ed is tagged out at second base as Gonzalez moves into first.
They didn't even get Herman in a run down.
The shortstop Jimmy Mason was around the back at second. He had to come over towards the first base side to get the throw and he tagged Herman as Ed was trying to move up to second.
That's two runs of score. Gonzalez winds up at third. It will be an RBI single driving home two runs for Herman.
And he's out trying to move up to second. It brings up Jimmy Sexton who will be hitting for the first time.
Fitz to Sexton is inside ball one.
Next pitch to Sexton is hired outside. Two and nothing.
Three runs of score in the inning. And the Astros lead is now eight. Eight to nothing.
Herman came up with an RBI single. Sexton tops it up on two and all. It's a foul ball.
Ellis is chasing it but it's going to be out of play back into the seat behind the Astros.
Two balls and a strike to count. Base hit by Sedaniel, single by Cruz and a sacrifice by Bergman on which Ellis the catcher threw high at a first base allowing Bergman to reach.
Then the sacrifice fly to center scored one. Gonzalez then walks and the base hit by Herman scored two more.
Ground ball is short. Mason loves it and goes across to Jorgensen. Sexton is out six-three.
And the Astros are retired in the eighth but not before they score three more runs on three hits. One more Texas error and the Astros leave the man.
So the ball game heads into the bottom of the eighth with the score of the Astros eighth and the Rangers nothing.
Gotta bail and haul some hay. Gotta steer a ride today. Gotta drop the shoes and all. The first bat gotta stop at golf. People all kind to keep going.
More than a million today. Keep their lives moving on by making a stop along the way.
That's golf, the stuff that keeps America going. Every day over a million people stop at golf. Our new soft serve stations are a good reason.
No waiting at the pump, simple to use and best of all a way for you to save on every gallon.
Dependable products are another reason people stop at golf. Gasolines and motor oils of consistent high quality formulated by golf for top efficiency to help your engine last.
Got somewhere to go? Remember conserving gasoline is important so use it wisely and when it's time stop at golf.
That's golf, the stuff that keeps America going.
Kenny Forrest the new pitcher for the Astros. Kenny is making his seventh appearance of the spring.
He has one decision a loss and an earned run mark of 4.09. In 11 of the third innings he's about 15 hits and 8 runs. 5 earned. He struck out 5 and walked 3.
And has given up a home run. J.R. Richard pitched very well today. 7 innings for J.R.
Two hits in all runs. He struck out 6 and walked 1.
And Kenny Forrest takes over for Richard. Andy Alomar the first man to face Forrest.
And this is Alomar's first trip to the plate since taking over back in the seventh inning at second for Bump Will.
He chops the first pitch off the plate foul back off the left side. Strike one.
Jim Mason will be next to shortstop. We're in the bottom half of the eighth inning. The Astros up by eight.
Next pitch fastball from Kenny high and away.
One ball and one strike.
Little infielder Sandy Alomar punches one back into left center field. It'll be in there for a base hit.
Walling over to cut it off. Alomar makes the big turn at first and holds there.
Alomar comes on to greet Kenny Forrest for the base hit. The third hit of the afternoon for the Texas Rangers.
Here's Jim Mason now.
Kenny last pitched day before yesterday in the inner squad game at Cocoa before the ball club left for this barnstorming tour.
Four three innings allowed. A couple of runs and four hits and that's out again.
Mason goes after the first pitch and fouls it back into the screen. Strike one.
Mason batting from the left side. Runner at first base is Alomar. Nobody out.
Here's the next pitch. It's right in there. Two strikes to count.
Kenny's last outing other than the inner squad game was Monday in Orlando.
He pitched an inning against the twins. A lot of hits. Struck out of me. Had no runs.
Mason at the high fly ball back into right center field. Not too deep.
And Jose Cruz has all kinds of room and he goes over and makes the catch.
Cruz made the grab in right center field for the first out and here's John Ellis the catcher batting for the first time.
Alomar the runner at first.
Ellis the right handed hitter. He's strong. Swings and misses. Had a pretty good cut at that one. Strike one.
Steve Comer is throwing in the bullpen for Texas down the right field side.
Horsh at the belt checks the runner and brings the pitch home. It's outside. One and one they count.
Horsh on one and one. Swings and a miss from Ellis. Now he's ahead of the hitter. A ball but two strikes.
Don't forget this is the final day to get the discounts on the season tickets for the 1978 season.
The one two pitch on the way. Look out a little high and tight. Two two they count.
Buddy Hankin and the crew waiting there. Ready to assist you in collecting your season tickets. You can save a $25 a seat.
Pick your own plan. A lot of seats to choose from. A lot of different levels.
Swing and a miss. He got Ellis. I think he threw him the fork ball that time.
He had Ellis chopping down and away at that pitch.
Seven strike out for Astro pitching. The first recorded by Horsh. Out number two in the eighth.
And here's the leadoff man Mike Jorgensen batting for the first time.
Horsh stretches. Swing and a miss.
Horsh was up and away from the left-handed hitter and then broke in on him. Jorgensen was chopping in that one. Strike one.
There's a shot right back through the middle. Boy I thought it was going to get forced for a moment.
Solid base hit to center. Stopping at second is Andy Alomar.
Jorgensen has himself a base hit. Second hit of the inning and hit number four in the ballgame.
Horsh stretches. Bring up Kurt Zavokwa.
Oscar Zamora is throwing for the Astros in the bullpen.
Runners at first and second. Two men gone. Zavokwa right-handed batter goes after the pitch and pops it up foul.
Herman and Bergman chase it off the right side but it's going to be well out of play. Strike one.
Zavokwa's 0 for 1. He flied out to center field. His only trip to the plate.
He replaced Toby Harrah at third base when Harrah was ejected earlier.
Set up on that fourth ball and the pitch was high. One and one to count.
Astro runs of common clusters to the Dantonese.
One-one pitch. He missed again.
Here comes Mel White out of the Astro. Doug out calling for time. He'll talk to Kenny Horsh.
Herman will join the activity on the mound as well.
Regarding those season tickets and this being the final day to get the discount on those,
give me your telephone number here. You might give them a call.
749-9675. Call Buddy Henkin and the crew. 749-9675 for Astro season tickets for the 1978 championship campaign.
In-field boxes, club boxes, Longwood box seats, mezzanine and loge locations are all still available.
And today you can get them at the discounted rate.
Here's the stretch. Two-one pitch and it's in there. Two balls and two strikes.
Two balls strike to Bavocla.
Alibar, the runner, is second base. Jorgensen on his first.
Next pitch, ground ball to the right side of the infield.
It's a base hit for Bavocla. Cruz makes the pick-up and his throw will be back in the second as Alibar gets the touch and score.
He's off towards the plate but decided better the idea. Bavocla hasn't felt the run batted in with that base hit.
Three hits off Forch here in the inning.
And Davey May will come out the bat.
This is also May's first trip to the plate.
Two on, two out, a run home. Left-handed batter May.
It's a strike for the first one from Forch and it's a call strike at the letter, strike one.
It's now an eight-to-one ball game.
Astros on top. Here's the pitch. Ground ball back to the mound.
Forch grabs it, flips the ball to Bergman and the Rangers are out of the inning.
One run, three hits. No errors in two men left for the Texas club in the eighth.
Whip through eighth, going to the ninth. The Astros have an eight-to-one lead.
Uh-huh, caught you. This thermostat's sitting at 60 degrees.
Hey, I'm dying in here. Do you realize how hot it is?
Well, I'm dying too looking at this utility bill and I've decided to do something about it.
We're going to move up north, right?
Wrong. We're going to get a Fetters central air conditioning system.
Oh, we can afford that.
Yeah, because Fetters air conditioning is better. It has a new rotary compressor for high efficiency air conditioning.
With Fetters, we can save on cooling bills year after year.
Yeah, year after year, but what about now?
Listen, heard about this today. Now is the best time to buy Fetters because during April,
we'll get a factory rebate on any central air conditioning system.
$50 rebate on two-to-two-and-a-half-ton units, $75 on three-to-three-and-a-half-ton units,
and $100 on four-to-five-ton units. Don't worry, we'll be cool this summer with Fetters.
Okay, if you say so.
Trust me.
West Heating and Air Conditioning, 1001 East Celeste, Garland and Acon.
Service Company, 3025 Forest Avenue, Fort Worth.
To 8, we go to the 9. The Astros up by 7. Last core of 8 to 1.
Then we'll have the top of the batting order against the left-hander Jim Umbarger.
In the ninth inning, it'll be Terry Poole, Enos Cabell, and then Willie Howard.
Same two teams tomorrow afternoon from Tulsa's Driller Park.
We'll be on the air at 10 minutes until 1 o'clock on the radio side.
Game time is 1.05, and on the TV side, APRC in Houston and along the Astros TV Network will be with you at 1 o'clock.
Here's the first pitch to Terry Poole. Line drive, base hit in the hole between first and second.
So Terry picks up his second base hit of the afternoon, his third trip to first.
He's been on three out of the five times he's been up.
Four hits on Umbarger. The Astros have 10 for the afternoon. Here's Enos Cabell.
Here's the pitch. It's small, ball one.
Cabell had a couple of hits early in the ball game to drive home a couple of runs.
Off-speed pitch sails up high, two and nothing to count.
Cabell goes to the left side in the hole between short and third with a base hit.
Chopper into left, Davey May makes the play on.
Poole stops at second base. All the Astros open the night with a couple of base hits.
We'll bring Willie Howard up. He'll be making his first plate appearance and taking over as a pinch runner for Cedeno on the eighth inning.
Howard now serving as the designated hitter. Cedeno was two out of four this afternoon.
Cedeno continues to throw for the Astros in the bullpen.
Here's Howard now. He'll be batting 412. Seven out of 17 this spring.
First and second, nobody out.
Humbarger's pitch sails in high, ball one.
Poole the runner at second, Cabell at first.
One hole pitch is made and there's a shot of Liner out to Alomar at second. He'll step on the bag to double off Terry Poole who was racing toward third.
Liner up the middle, a little thinking Liner that Alomar got to just behind the bag. All he had to do was step on second to get the double play.
Two quick outs with Cabell remaining at first base.
One out, one on. Runner at first and here's Jose Cruz. Humbarger's pitch to the left-handed hitter and a base hit to the left side of the infield.
Cabell trumps up to second and stops there. Cruz has his third straight hit. After walking and striking out, Jose has doubled and single twice.
Twelve hits for the Astros, eight runs.
Here's Bergman. They put down a sacrifice his last time and was safe on the air by the catcher Ellis on the bad throw to first.
First pitch is inside, ball one. Officially Bergman is 0 for 3.
Cabell on second, Cruz on first. Here's the pitch, chop foul off the right side. One and one.
Top of the line for the Astros out in front, eight to one.
The next pitch is blown away. Another run into two balls and a strike.
Glynn continues to blow in from right center.
Two-one pitch, line drive right after the shortstop Masons and that retires the side.
Bergman hits the ball on the nose but right to Mason.
Ending is over as far as the Astros offensive side is concerned. No runs, three hits, no errors, two men left.
They go to the bottom of the ninth with the score. The Astros eight and the Texas Rangers one.
Making goods, making goods, making goods. Making rights for someone's best of, making magic, making real. Making natural life a mountain stream beside a green grass field.
Making big and foodlessly like the old and the waiting road. It's what you always want, making it yours. Making goods for the taste of morning sunshine.
Making goods, making rights for you and me. Making the world a better place, making the rocket rocket high. Making goods, making goods, making it yours.
To the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Astros and the Rangers. Rangers will send Richie Zitz to lead off.
McGraw-B expansion ball playing except for a Washington play to the Secretary of balance.
差點For one shot on the mound who opened his won, we could tell you going to your work.
Here's the pitch to this, gets a higher pass ball outside, ball one.
Here's the next pitch, calls strike on the outside corner, one-one.
Kenny right back with an X-man and a foul tip on a swinger.
Right back towards the screen, one ball and two strikes.
This goes out for three, couple of strikeouts and a ground ball to second.
One-two pitch, he got him. This cap on strikes, he got him lucky.
Two strikeouts for force eight for Astro pitching.
One gone in the ninth and Claude L. Washington will be the hitter.
First pitch to Washington, a big swing and a miss, strike one.
On Delva's, oh for three, three ground balls. Swing and a foul tip in and out of the mood of Ed Herman. Two strikes to count.
Force right back with an excellent swing and a miss, he blew that one by a fastball up.
This is the force, draw that fastball again.
Two strikeouts in the ninth inning and Bobby Thompson the batter.
Thompson batting from the left side, he's up for the second time in the ball game, first time up, he grounded out to first.
He takes the call, strike on the outside corner of the letters, strike one.
Mike Ellis and Joe Dicro tomorrow from Tulsa.
Right two, boy that was a good pitch and Thompson argues with the plate on fire.
On the inside side of the plate, down around the knees.
Here's the oh two from force, this was a little high, Thompson started to go and checked the time.
One-two to count.
Force into the lineup, here's the pitch, fly ball back to left field, Dennis Rowling going back, still back and reaches up and makes the catch as he hits the warning track.
And that's the ball game.
Astros win it by a score of eight to one.
In the ninth inning for Texas, no runs, no hits, no errors, nobody left on base.
The Astros win. Here are the totals for the Astros. Eight runs on twelve hits, no errors and six men left.
For Texas, one run on five hits, three errors and five men left.
The winning pitcher is J.R. Richard, his record is now one and one, the loser, Doyle Alexander.
His spring marks two and three. Time of the ball game, approximately two hours and twenty minutes and the estimated attendance here in Little Rock was fifty-one hundred.
We'll be back to recap it for you now. Take a look at tomorrow's activity in just a moment.
This is what you hear in Houston Astros baseball.
Uh-huh, caught you. This thermostat sitting at sixty degrees.
I'm dying in here. Do you realize how hot it is?
Well, I'm dying too looking at this utility bill and I've decided to do something about it.
We're going to move up north, right?
Wrong. We're going to get a Fedders central air conditioning system.
Oh, and we can afford that.
Yeah, because Fedders air conditioning is better. It has a new rotary compressor for high efficiency air conditioning.
With Fedders, we can save on cooling bills year after year.
Yeah, year after year, but what about now?
You heard about this today. Now is the best time to buy Fedders because during April we'll get a factory rebate on any central air conditioning system.
Fifty dollar rebate on two to two and a half ton units, seventy-five dollars on three to three and a half ton units, and one hundred dollars on four to five ton units.
Don't worry, we'll be cool this summer with Fedders.
Okay, if you say so.
Trust me.
Elf's heating and air conditioning, 209 Rayburn Garland and Bob's heating and air conditioning, 323 North Beach Street, Fort Worth.
Now a sports exclusive on the worst contract in pro football. Why did you sign it, Joe?
It paid me four thousand dollars per play.
For every play?
Yep.
But that sounds great.
Yeah, well, I only made one play all season and broke my leg into little pieces.
Wow, tough break. What did you do?
I applied for earned income credit on my tax return. I'll get up to four hundred dollars back from my IRS.
It's a special tax break for a lot of parents who earn less than eight thousand dollars in 1977. And that's me.
A message from the Internal Revenue Service.
Arkansas with the Astros have squared this barnstorming tour at a victory of peace after dropping the first one last night in Baton Rouge by a score of seven to five.
Went it here in resounding fashion this afternoon over the Texas Rangers by a count of eight to one.
Good performance, very good performance by J.R. Richard.
He went the first seven, allowed two hits, no runs, struck out six and walked a man. Kenny Force finished up.
Going to final two, he allowed three hits and a run, struck out three, did not walk anybody.
Doyle Alexander went to front six for Texas, allowing six hits and five runs, two earned runs.
He struck out four and walked two. And then Jim Umbarger, the final three, allowing six hits and a run.
He did not strike out anyone and he walked one man.
Three runs allowed by Jim Umbarger and the front five by Doyle Alexander.
The Astros jumped out in front with three in the first. On an RBI single by Enos Cabell, an error by the pitcher,
allowed another run to score on a wild pitch with Jose Cruz at the plate, allowed the third run of the inning to score.
RBI singles in the second inning by Terry Poole and Enos Cabell made it a five to nothing ballgame.
And in the eighth inning, the Astros ran the score out to eight nothing with three more runs on a sacrifice fly ball to center field by Dennis Walding
and a bases loaded single to right by Ed Herman chasing home two more.
The only run of the ballgame for Texas scored in the eighth leadoff single by Bump Wills and an RBI single by Kurt Savakwa
screwed him around the bases to make the final score eight to one.
Same two teams get together now. Tomorrow afternoon at Tulsa will be on the air at 1250 on the radio side.
Doc Ellis will pitch for the Texas Rangers and Joe Nikra will be on the mound for the Astros.
He'll also be on television on KPRC in Houston as well as the Astro Television Network.
And we'll join you on the television side for that ballgame at one o'clock.
All the play-by-play begins at 105, the actual activity tomorrow from Driller Park in Tulsa.
Well, the barnstorming tour is even at a game of peace.
The Astros this spring have won nine and lost ten as they prepare to open the season on the sixth of April
against the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium.
Final score here this afternoon, the Astros win it by a count of eight to one.
RBI's in the ballgame, Terry Poole had one, Enos Cabell had two,
Dennis Welding had one, and Ed Herman had two more for the Astros.
For Jeanne Elston and Bob Green, I'm Dwayne Stapp saying I hope you enjoyed the broadcast this afternoon
and hope you'll join us again tomorrow afternoon from Tulsa when we greet you again with a free game show at 1250,
the Astros against the Texas Rangers.
Final score today at Middle Rock, the Astros eight and the Rangers one.
Today's game has been brought to you by Chevrolet and your neighborhood Chevrolet dealers
who are serving up a fresh new slice of apple pie, the new size, quick size.