4/20/84: Ken Dayley for Cy Young! (Who am I kidding, he was horrible!)

No doubt they were watching the Superstation in Ken Dayley's Idaho hometown on this Friday night. Within a few minutes though, they were watching the 6:00 news, and the news was, Ken Dayley was HORRIBLE! He faced only 7 batters, 6 runs scored, no outs recorded. The Houston Astros took advantage of Dayley's rotten misfortune and even more horrible pitching on their way to a 14-5 pummeling of America's Team, also known as the Atlanta Braves, also known as a property of Ted Turner. 

Kevin Bass led the hit parade with 4 singles, while Enos Cabell and Alan Ashby each belted 3 hits. The big hit of the night was provided by Phil "Scrap Iron" Garner, who reduced a Dayley pitch to well, just plain "scraps" with a grand slam homer. Garner also tripled. The Astros added to their 6 runs with 8 more in the 4th, courtesy of 14 Astro hitters. 

Dayley was followed by Rick Camp in the 1st, Terry Forster in the 4th, Jeff Dedmon in the 7th and Gene Garber in the 9th. 

The Astros needed just one pitcher on this night, some Texan known as the "Express." Nolan Ryan struck out 11 but added another dimension to his game in that 6-run 1st. After Craig Reynolds was retired on a DP, the first Braves outs of the evening, Ryan drew a 2-out walk from Camp and with a lead of "3" which was actually rolled, Ryan took off for 2nd. He just barely beat the throw from Bruce Benedict.

The Braves made the final score respectable with 2 in the 8th, including a solo pinch-hit homer from Milt Thompson, one inning after Claudell Washington had his own homer taken away by a leaping catch at the wall by Kevin Bass in right. But on this night, it was a very short "Dayley" show.

HOU 14-18-1 ATL 5-11-1 WP-Ryan LP-Dayley HR-Garner, Thompson HOU 7-7 ATL 6-7

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