Game 59: Milwaukee drops the opener in Oakland, 5-4, with Skip Lockwood walking six batters in 5.1 innings of work. Milwaukee gets seven hits, all singles, and no batter has more than one.

Game 60: Oakland, 19-39 entering the series, lays waste to the Riders in Game 2, 12-2. Fred Norman, not surprisingly, is the victim, allowing seven runs before departing in the second inning. He falls to 0-8. The offense hardly distinguishes itself, though AAA third baseman Paul Weisler has three hits.

Game 61: Milwaukee salvages the finale in Oakland, getting a third-inning grand slam in the third from Nate Colbert, eight scoreless innings from the bullpen, and two runs in the 12th for a 6-4 win. Colbert drives home five and has 56 for the season.

Milwaukee hosts the 31-30 Blue Sox next.

Game 62: The Riders' 3-6 hitters are 0-16 and Kansas City has no problem in winning the opener 4-2. Tommy John's ERA jumps a bit to 2.18, but his record is now 5-4.

Game 63: Steve Blass, 2-9 entering the game, throws eight shutout innings and beats the Riders 2-0. Milwaukee gets only three hits. Tough-luck Ron Reed falls to 3-7.

Game 64: The punchless Riders are held to six singles and allow five unearned runs.. not a good recipe. KC finishes a sweep with a 5-3 victory.

A quick interleague set with Houston is up next.

Game 67: Nate Colbert hits a two-out, three-run homer to tie the game in the eighth, then has a front row seat (from the on deck circle) for Richie Hebner's game-winning two-run shot in the 10th; Milwaukee wins, 6-4. Al Severinsen gets the win for retiring one batter in the top of the 10th. Colbert now has 14 homers and 61 RBI.

Game 68: Ron Reed allows home runs to Ron Blomberg and Willie Horton as the Mooseheads even the series with a 5-1 victory. Reed falls to 3-8.

Game 69: Minnesota takes the series with a seve-run explosion in the eighth, which propels them to an 11-3 victory. Joe Lahoud hits two homers and drives home six runs. Skip Lockwood falls to 5-5.

Milwaukee travels to Detroit to face the Stars next.

Game 76: Gorman Ely throws six one-hit innings, but is nearly matched by Baltimore's Gary Gentry, who doesn't allow a run through seven. The bullpens are equally effective, and the game goes to extras without a score. Finally, in the 12th, Milwaukee breaks through. Larry Biittner leads off with a double, then scores on Thurman Munson's single. Al Severinsen proceeds to allow a single and two walks to load the bases with no outs in the bottom half, but Bill Lee comes in to get a line out and a double play ball to end it; Riders win!

Game 77: Milwaukee scores three times in the ninth to take a 4-3 lead, but Baltimore's Ken McMullen hits a solo homer in the ninth to send the affair into extra innings. Jay Johnstone commits a two-run error in the top of the 10th to give Milwaukee a 6-4 lead, and it barely holds up when Jerry May grounds out to end the game with the tie run at third base after a Roy Foster homer to lead off the bottom half.

Game 78: Ron Reed finally gets some offensive support and the Riders sweep Baltimore with a 7-4 win in the finale. The Riders collect 14 hits (all singles) to give Reed his fourth win of the season (against nine losses).

We return home to face Boston to conclude the first half of the season.

Game 79: The Stranglers rock Skip Lockwood, scoring four in the second and three in the third, as they take the opener 10-4. Milwaukee collects 12 hits but strands too many baserunners to make a comeback.

Game 80: Fred Norman's season of futility continues.. he reaches the break at 0-11 after a 5-2 loss to the Stranglers. The bullpen throws four scoreless frames but the offense can't rally.

Game 81: The first half ends fittingly as the Riders drop a third straight game to Boston, 2-1. Darold Knowles faces two Strangler batters in the eighth.. they both homer.

We enter the break 32-49. Tommy John is having a great season with a 2.16 ERA, but is 5-5. Skip Lockwood has stumbled after a great start, but his 3.11 ERA is very good. He's a losing pitcher, though, at 5-7. And Fred Norman, of course, is 0-11 (7.00 ERA).

In the pen, everyone has a save except Al Severinsen; Bill Lee's 5.23 ERA is the high mark.

Nate Colbert, with 17 homers and 71 RBI, is the only real offensive threat. Richie Hebner ranks second on the team with 29 RBI. Part-timer Eddie Leon is the only hitter over .300.

The Riders rank last in the league with 282 runs scored (league average is 378) and 13th in ERA at 3.86.

Game 94: Wilbur Wood pitches a complete game one-hitter against the Riders (walking only one batter as well) to beat Gorman Ely, who allows only one run in five innings. The Rider bullpen makes the final margin 5-0. Nate Colbert's fifth-inning single is the only hit for Milwaukee.

Game 95: Catfish Hunter follows up Wood's gem with a complete game five-hit shutout and the Stars have a 4-0 win in game 2. Fred Norman throws five respectable innings but falls to 0-13.

Game 96: Dick Drago is not quite as dominating as Hunter and Wood; Nate Colbert and Larry Hisle each drives in two runs and the Riders take advantage of a brilliant performance by Tommy John to salvage the finale, 5-3.

We travel to Minnesota to take on the Mooseheads (54-42).

Game 97: Milwaukee takes a 6-3 lead after three, then needs to score three times in the eighth and ninth to preserve a 9-6 win over Minnesota. Larry Hisle has three hits and five RBI, including his first homer of the season. Ron Reed improves to 5-11.

Game 98: Skip Lockwood throws seven shutout innings, Jack Heidemann returns to the lineup with three RBI, and AAA catcher Ronny White has four hits as the Riders defeat Minnesota 9-2.

Game 99: Milwaukee can't pull off the sweep; Nate Colbert's golden sombrero is indicative of the problems the Riders have solving Joe Horlen and a pair of Moosehead relievers in a 10-0 defeat. Gorman Ely is rocked and falls to 6-6.

We host 39-60 Washington next.

Game 100: Something had to give in this one; Washington's Joe Niekro enters the game with an 0-5 record while Fred Norman is 0-13. Niekro throws five shutout innings and the Commando bullpen adds four more as Norman drops his 14th decision, 3-0.

Game 101: Tommy John gets hit hard, and John Strohmayer provides absolutely no relief as the Commandos run out to an 11-0 lead after five. Milwaukee gets garbage-time runs in both the eighth and ninth but falls, 11-8. Mike Lum drives home four runs and Eddie Leon three.

Game 102: Milwaukee avoids a sweep, getting seven big innings from Ron Reed and a home run from Zoilo Versalles (his first of the season) to beat Washington 5-1.

We're off to Chicago to face the 62-40 White Sox.