GAME 1 - Detroit 11, Manhattan 3    BOXSCORE
Flyin' Lions Rout Sox in Opener
DETROIT (Oct. 3) -- Enos Cabell led a 15-hit onslaught that chased Don Sutton after 4.2 innings with the Sox trailing 8-0.  Cabell had four hits in the game, including a two-run homer, and drove in three runs along with Claudell Washington.  Everyone in the Detroit lineup got a hit, and all but two drove in a run, as Bruce Kison cruised to a complete game nine-hitter.  Sutton allowed 12 hits and eight runs, including five in the fifth inning, which blew the game wide open.  Gorman Thomas' three-run homer in the sixth was the lone highlight for the Gray Sox, snapping a 1-26 playoff slump.  Righthander Glenn Abbott pitched a very solid 2.2 innings of no-hit ball, but by then the score was 11-3.  Kison threw 139 pitches in the CG effort, making his return in Game 4 less than certain.

GAME 2 - Detroit 6, Manhattan 5    BOXSCORE
Cabell Clout Caps Rally, Detroit Up 2-0
DETROIT (Oct. 4) -- Steve Carlton was cruising toward victory, with a four-hitter and a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, when it all came crashing down.  After striking out slugger Dick Allen and getting Don Money to fly out to right, the 29-year-old southpaw stood just seven outs away from the win.  The walk issued to Otto Velez looked innocent enough.  And even the single by Denis Menke seemed harmless.  After all, there were two outs and the Griffins weakest hitter, the #8 hitting Enos Cabell, was up next.  What happened next changed the game, and perhaps the complextion of the whole series.  Cabell lifted the first pitch fastball 367 feet to left, giving the Griffins a 5-4 lead.  A Brian Downing double in the eighth plated Reggie Jackson for a two-run lead, which proved crucial when the Sox rallied off closer Tom Walker in the ninth.  Tim Blackwell and Buddy Bell singled, and Robinson doubled home Blackwell.  But with men on second and third and no outs, the Sox failed to push across the tying run.  Steve Garvey flied out to center, but too shallow for the slow Bell to tag up, Tom Grieve struck out swinging, and Ollie Brown sent a ball to deep center that Claudell Washington ran down for the final out.  The series goes to Yankee Stadium for Game 3, where lefty Dave Hamilton (1-1, 4.26) will face Steve Rogers (2-1, 6.17).

GAME 3 - Manhattan 4, Detroit 1     BOXSCORE
Rogers Dominates in 4-1 Win
MANHATTAN (Oct. 6) -- Steve Rogers struck out 10 and allowed just one run in a nine-hit complete game, as the Gray Sox took Game 3 at home for their first win of the UL World Series.  Detroit starter Dave Hamilton got into trouble early, coughing up four runs on two hits and an error in the bottom of the third on a rally started by Don Money's biffed grounder and ended with Ollie Brown's two-run homer.  Hamilton was rock solid after that, allowing just two hits and no walks over the next five innings, but the Detroit offense never got going despite getting two men on base three times.  The Sox were models of efficiency, putting just eight men on base but plating half of them.  Game 4 will see a Game 1 rematch between Bruce Kison (1-1, 2.78) and Don Sutton (0-2, 7.98).

GAME 4 - Manhattan 8, Detroit 7, 10 inn.     BOXSCORE
Series Level After Sox Mount Multiple Comebacks
MANHATTAN (Oct. 7) -- In a war of attrition involving 34 players, 30 hits, and a see-saw battle over 10 innings, the Gray Sox emerged 8-7 winners, leveling the series at make it a best-of-three affair from this point forward.  Detroit right fielder Otto Velez figured prominently in the first act, throwing out runners at the plate for the last out in the first and second innings.  The Griffins struck first with RBI singles by Dick Allen and Denis Menke, but the home team went up 3-2 after solo homers by Gorman Thomas and Ollie Brown in the fourth.  Sutton dominated for a long stretches, retiring 11 straight and 14 of 15 from the 3rd to 8th innings, but Brian Downing's three-run blast with two outs in the eight gave the visitors a two-run lead, the first of two such leads they would blow in the 8th and 9th innings.  It took the Sox just six pitches in the bottom half of the frame to tie the game; Rico Petrocelli reached on an error by first baseman Dick Allen, his second dropped ball of the game, setting up Thomas' second homer of the game, a game-tying two-run shot. 

A pair of fateful subs, Dave Giusti and Curt Flood, entered the game in the ninth.  Giusti struck out Bobby Bonds and Claudell Washington and appeared to be on his way to a perfect inning, but Matty Alou doubled, Don Money walked, and Allen singled to load the bases.  What happened next was a classic playoff freak play.  Flood, who made just two errors in 118 games, dropped a routine fly to shallow right that allowed Alou and Money to score, putting Detroit up 7-5, three outs from a commanding 3-1 Series lead.  But the never-say-die Gray Sox, who won two straight elimination games on the road just to get to the World Series, rallied again.  Tom Grieve's solo blast off Tom Walker halved the lead, and walked then issued three straight walks on 14 pitches to load the bases.  Petrocelli tied the game with a sac fly before Tippy Martinez came in to extinguish the threat.  Reggie Jackson singled off Ken Tatum in the top of the 10th, but was left stranded, and Gary Nolan got the first two outs before Manhattan staged another two-out rally.  Grieve walked, and Steve Garvey and Buddy Bell singled, loading the bases for defensive catcher Tim Blackwell, who hit .241-1-25 in 116 games, but delivered the most clutch single of his life to win the game and even the series. 

After a pair of Semifinal Series in which the visitors were 12-1, the home team is now 4-0 in the World Series.  Starters for Game 5, the last in Manhattan, will be Ken Holtzman (3-0, 1.90) and Steve Carlton (1-2, 2.79).

GAME 5 - Detroit 6, Manhattan 5      BOXSCORE
Allen Blast in Ninth Puts Griffins on the Brink
MANHATTAN (Oct. 8) -- Dick Allen's three-run tater off Ken Tatum snatched victory from within two outs of defeat, spoiling a solid outing by Steve Carlton and putting the Detroit Griffins one win away from their first UL title.  The Gray Sox led 4-3 after a pair of home runs by MVP front-runner Tom Grieve in the second and third innings, and Carlton was cruising toward his second playoff win, striking out 11.  But a throwing error by Buddy Bell to lead off the top of the ninth opened the floodgates.  After a Claudell Washington fielder's choice, Otto Velez singled, setting up Allen's first-pitch, 355-foot clout to right.  It was the 33-year-old's second homer of the postseason and ran his RBI total to 11.  Tom Walker allowed a single and a walk, but induced ground balls by Curt Flood and Tim Blackwell to nail down the win.  The Series returns to Motown for Game 6, where the Griffins' Dave Hamilton will try to wrap up the title against Steve Rogers.

GAME 6 - Manhattan 11, Detroit 2       BOXSCORE
Sox Rout Forces Game 7
DETROIT (Oct. 10) -- Craig Robinson, Steve Garvey, and Tom Grieve combined for 10 hits as the Gray Sox routed the home team 11-2 to force a seventh game.  The Griffins took an early 2-0 lead on RBI hits by Otto Velez and Matty Alou in the first two innings, but Manhattan clawed back, taking the lead in the fifth on a two-run homer by Robinson.  The score was 5-2 heading into the eighth, when the Sox erupted for four runs off Jim Hardin and Tom Hilgendorf to bury the Griffins.  A solo homer by Rusty Staub and a sac fly by Tom Grieve in the ninth was icing on the cake.  Steve Rogers allowed seven hit and two runs over six inning for his fourth playoff win.  The seventh and final game will feature Don Sutton against Bruce Kison.

GAME 7 - Detroit 6, Manhattan 0       BOXSCORE
Griffs Win First Title With Four-Pitcher Shutout
DETROIT (Oct. 11) -- Starting pitcher Bruce Kison left injured after just three innings, but combined with three Detroit relievers for a four-hit shutout as Detroit blanked Manhattan 6-0 for their first UL title.  Kison was injured in a collision at the plate with Tim Blackwell scoring the game's first run in the bottom of the third.  Tippy Martinez allowed just one hit and no walk in three innings, and Tom Hilgendorf and Gary Nolan allowed just one hit between them in the last three innings.  Dick Allen had an RBI single in the third and added a two-run double in the sixth after Vern Fuller scored on Rico Petrocelli's error.  Don Sutton allowed seven hits and only two earned runs, but lost for the third time in the postseason.  Allen won Playoff MVP honors with 14 RBIs in 13 games; his three-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 5 was the turning point of the series and he added three more RBIs in the decisive Game 7. 

The victory capped a Cinderella season for Detroit.  Widely picked among the league's worst teams in preseason polls, the Griffins were the surprise team of the season, finishing third overall and upsetting the West Division champion Los Angeles Outlaws to secure the first World Series appearance in their 25-year history.  For the Gray Sox the loss was a bitter disappointment, but in hindsight the club exceeded all expectations and knocked off the first place Montréal Voyageurs in the Semi Series to make their first UL World Series appearance in seven years.