Sam’s stuff has A’s awed
by Bill Nichols

There wasn’t much being said in the A’s clubhouse after last night’s game at the Stadium, but what conversation there was concerned Sam McDowell.

A’s rightfielder Reggie Jackson, who had never faced Sam before kept talking about smoke.

Jackson slammed a triple up the alley in left field and scored Oakland’s lone run. But he also accounted for three of McDowell’s 16 strikeouts.

"All he has to do is throw smoke," said Jackson in near disbelief of what he faced.

"The person who taught him how to throw a curve and slider was crazy.

"When he pitches the entire team can play the opposite field. Nobody is going to pull him. (Jackson is a lefthand swinger.)

Bob Kennedy, manager of the A’s, was equally impressed with McDowell’s performance, but for different reasons.

"I didn’t think he was as fast as he used to be," Kennedy explained, "but he got a good slider and curve over. And his control was sharp." (McDowell didn’t walk a man).

Kennedy, when a scout for the Indians, was partially responsible for the Tribe signing McDowell.

"I'm glad to see him win, but not against us," the A’s skipper concluded.

Clevelander Sal Bando, a whiff victim twice, thought that McDowell’s sliders were as quick as his hummer.

"Your hands aren’t as loose in the cool weather, but you can’t take anything away from McDowell," Bando chipped in.

Joe DiMaggio, who faced his share of speedballers as the famed Yankee Clipper, was another McDowell admirer.

"This is the first time I saw Sam and he had it from the sidelines," DiMag said. "He showed just how good he is.

"I don’t know of anyone faster than he was tonight."

John (Blue Moon) Odom, the losing pitcher hurled quite a game, too, and Kennedy thought his team still could have won.

Tony Horton came across with the Indian’ second run in the seventh inning on a passed ball by A’s catcher Rene Lachemann.

"I can't blame our catcher on that passed ball," Kennedy said. "The pitch was moving and it was rising.

"John had a lot of stuff out there and deserved a better fate," said the manager.

Odom retired the first 15 batters he faced until Chico Salmon singled in the sixth.

But that old thing about not how good you pitch, but when you pitch, applied to Odom last night.