Wednesday, November 19, 2014

World Series: Did You Know?

Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale lost their first start in the 1965 Fall Classic. Good thing Claude Osteen was there for the win in game three! The Minnesota Twins, egged on by their home fans, must have felt on top of the world for a while. But at the end of it all, it was Koufax and Drysdale's Dodgers on top!

Koufax, was off for Yom Kippur for game one and Don Drysdale took the hill. But Don didn't have it on this day. The score was tied at 1 in the bottom of the third when the wheels really came off the chariot.

Frank Quilici started things with a double. Mudcat Grant, the opposing pitcher, made it on an error. It was back to the top of the order, and Zoilo Versalles blasted a three-run home run to make it 4-1 for the Twins. That was all they would need. Three more runs scored before Don departed. The final score was 8-2 and a reporter jokingly told manager Walter Alston that he'd wished that Drydale was Jewish, too!

But the Dodgers had Koufax for game two, right? Nothing to worry about, right?

For a while, yes!

Koufax got 'em 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first. Then, a 1-2-3 second was puctuated by a pair of K's. In the third, Koufax did walk a batter. Quilici made it to first. But then was caught stealing second. Neither of the other two batters, including pitcher Jim Kaat (one fine hitter, too) had a chance to reach first, as Koufax got two more K's. Sandy was off to a fine start in this one!

Reality time came in the fourth inning. It started out innocently enough as Koufax fanned Versalles. But then Joe Nossek broke up the no-hit bid (Hey! Sandy always seemed to be on the verge of these everytime he pitched, right?) with a single. Tony Oliva then became Sandy's sixth strikeout victim of the day. Harmon Killebrew then got the Twins second hit of the inning and game. Two on, two out. Koufax had to dig deep! He did just that to get Earl Battey. Whew! But Minny had some life in the bats after all against Koufax! A lot of life!

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Don Mincher got Minnesota's third hit of the day. But Koufax got out of that inning without allowing another baserunner, And Mincher did not get to second. By fanning both Bob Allison and Jim Kaat, Sandy Koufax was up to eight strikeouts in only five innings!

But the Twins took control in the bottom of the sixth. Versalles reached on an error by Jim Lefebvre. Nossek bunted back to Koufax and Versalles was now on third with only one out. Koufax was not about to walk a batter intentionally. It was Oliva, the left-hander. But Sandy gave up a double to him and the Twins had broken the ice. When Killebrew followed with a single to left, it was 2-0, Minny. Battey then singled Killebrew to second. Koufax fanned Bob Allison and got Mincher on a grounder, but the damage had been done!

In the top of the seventh, Los Angeles got a run back to cut it to 2-1. They had runners on second and third with only one out. A base hit here and it's 3-2, Los Angeles. But Sandy Koufax was the next scheduled batter. So the Dodgers sent up, of all people, the very player who had pitched game one, Don Drysdale. Don was a good hitting pitcher, you see. Just like the pitcher he was facing, Kaat.

But Kaat got Drysdale on strikes. And when Maury Wills flied out to short centre, the inning was over.

The Twins salted this one away with three more runs to the Dodgers' zero the rest of the game. Kaat himself drove in two. With that, it was a 5-1 final. Minnesota was up two games to none.

But Claude Osteen won game three for Los Angeles, 5-0. Koufax and Drysdale came back to win their next starts. When Osteen lost game six to Mudcat Grant, it was on to a deciding game. There, Koufax won 2-0 over Kaat, to win the 1965 Fall Classic for Los Angeles.

Even the best of pitchers, like Koufax and Drysdale, lose games. Even in World Series time. The Fall Classic is about overcoming obstacles. The Dodgers sure seemed on the ropes are two games in '65. But with the third starter coming through, and Koufax and Drysdale redeeming themselves, the Dodgers managed to comeback from that!


References


Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Fonseca, Lew, director. World Series Of 1965. Major League Baseball Productions, 1965.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Seaver, Tom, and Martin Appel. Great Moments in Baseball. New York, NY: Carol Pub. Group, 1992. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Informationhttp://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

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