Sept. 27, 1964 - The Braves walloped the Phillies, 14-8, today. Philadelphia has lost seven in a row and 10 of their last 12. The Phillies are in second place now, a game behind the blistering Reds and a half game ahead of the onrushing Cardinals.
They have five games left in St. Louis and Cincinnati, and manager Gene Mauch says that’s okay because the Phillies have a fine road record. And besides, he thinks they’re “better going after something than holding onto it.”
It’s a phrase full of hope and courage, but it’s like clinging to a matchbox after a shipwreck. Besides, the Phillies held onto first place ever since July 16th. They owned a 6½-game lead last Monday morning, and it vanished in one nightmarish week.
Sure, the Phillies play well on the road (44-32), but all they have to face the rest of the way is Bob Gibson, Ray Sadecki, Curt Simmons in St. Louis and Jim O’Toole and Jim Maloney in Cincinnati.
“We’ve got to win two in St. Louis and two in Cincinnati,” Mauch said after today’s disaster. “The pitchers have to do the job. They’ve got to give Callison and Allen and some of these guys a chance.”
Johnny Callison hit three homers his last three times at bat today, and he is 10-for-23 in the last five games. Allen had three hits today, and he is 12-for-24 the last five games. But the pitching didn’t give Callison and Allen a chance because the Braves sprayed 22 hits around and out of the playground.
Mauch has used 30 pitchers in the seven losses, and before he got to Jack Baldschun today he used Jim Bunning (right), Dallas Green, Morrie Stevens, and Rick Wise.
Bunning was pitching with two days’ rest, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he had been in Florida for a month. The Braves got 10 hits off him, and nine of them squiggled, jiggled, and plopped.
“Bunning wasn’t knocked out,” Mauch said. “He was bad-hopped and blooped out. Then Green came in, and they hit him exactly the same way.”
Mauch looked tired. He seemed to be controlling his temper with an effort.
“What do you care how I feel?” he finally snapped at a reporter who had just asked him. “I’m sick and tired of even hearing my own voice,” he told another. “Especially the last seven days.”
“I don’t think anyone out there is choking up,” said Philadelphia catcher Clay Dalrymple. “I haven’t felt any pressure. I mean that. My wife’s the one who’s choking up. She got headaches. She can’t sleep; she can’t eat. I said to her, ‘Honey, let me worry. Not you.’ I’m telling you — we’re not choking.”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” said Callison. “We’re going to bounce back. I believe that. I really believe that.”
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