Baseball's Week

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

Pittsburgh kept the bottles corked, the magic number steady and the reserves anxious while losing four of seven, but accomplished the inevitable by clinching the division with a 6-2 victory over the Mets as Steve Blass allowed only seven hits and won his 18th. The Bucs were letting some young hitters have their turn at bat, among them Outfielder Richie Zisk, who in one game knocked in three runs with a double and a single. And an older slugger, Roberto Clemente, was just six hits away from 3,000.

Although they never threatened the Pirates, the Cubs have been a spirited club since Whitey Lockman replaced Leo Durocher as manager. A sweep of a doubleheader with St. Louis gave Chicago six wins in its last seven and put the team 14 games above the .500 mark for the Lockman era.

But Montreal was not overly impressed with Chicago, especially the Expos' manager, Gene Mauch. After Milt Pappas of the Cubs won the 200th game of his major league career, Chicago received a locker-room visit from Mauch and a large group of his Montreal men. The Cubs assumed they wanted to congratulate Pappas. Not so. Mauch was there seeking Cub Outfielder Jose Cardenal who, he said, had called him a bad name. At the door, Mauch blustered: "Nobody is going to call me that and walk away. The next time, I won't wait until the end of the game." Cub Coach Pete Reiser commented: "It's a good thing he didn't walk into the clubhouse. He might not have walked out."

Steve Carlton won his 25th game for Philadelphia, beating Rick Wise and his old St. Louis teammates 2-1. Wise, who was traded for Carlton, has won 15 games—and has a 3-12 record in one-run decisions.

PITT 92-54 CHI 81-65 NY 75-70 ST.L 70-78 MONT 66-79 PHIL 55-91

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

The Reds beat Houston in the Astrodome 4-3 to clinch their divisional title, and broke out their own champagne. "This is the best thing in the world for me," chortled Joe Morgan, one of the Reds who had gone from Houston to Cincinnati in the big winter trade. But Cincinnati still had some unfinished business. Morgan had 56 stolen bases and a chance to lead both leagues in that category; Johnny Bench barely trailed San Diego's Nate Colbert in the home run derby 37-38; and feisty Pete Rose was hustling for another 200-hit season.

San Francisco lost six straight and Giant Owner Horace Stoneham continued his personal reducing program. Stoneham lost weight dramatically this season, explaining that he went on a diet because his cook quit. One dyspeptic fan in a letter to Stoneham suggested that he hire the cook as the Giant manager and move Charlie Fox, the incumbent, into the kitchen. Last year's West champs were 27� games out of first.

Like most teams, the Dodgers were gazing ahead to next year, and Steve Yeager was one of the rainbows on the horizon. The young catcher, up for a trial from the minors, absorbed some batting intruction from Manager Walt Alston and proceeded to hit safely in 15 of 18 games. Atlanta and San Diego were still hunting their rainbows.