Sept. 30, 1964 - Last year, the Cardinals lost a three-game series in September, just when they approached first place. Now, on the last day of September, the Cardinals have won this year’s big series. They think it means they will win the pennant.
The Cardinals beat the Phillies, 8-5, tonight to sweep the three-game series. The Cards have won eight straight and lead the Reds by one game with three left.
The Phillies have now lost 10 straight games and shuffled off to Cincinnati tonight with the look of men who have made the wrong kind of history.
“Last year, there was electricity,” Cardinal manager Johnny Keane said tonight. “It was Musial’s last year, and we had just won 19 of 20. Everybody was tense. Then the Dodgers came in. Podres, Koufax, Drysdale. They beat us. There’s no other word. They outplayed us.
“This year, there’s no electricity. Nobody’s tense. Everybody does his job. Our pitchers are rested, our hitters are hitting. Being through it last year has a lot to do with it. We know what to expect.”
The analogy isn’t perfect because neither team last year came into town with a seven-game losing streak. No team was in the process of a classic collapse.
The Phillies are in that process. After nine straight losses — in which all their talents turned to faults — the Phils seemed ready to lose in a new way tonight. It seemed that Curt Simmons (pictured) would pitch a no-hitter and the Cardinals would score a dozen runs.
Simmons, who was released by Philadelphia in 1960, did not allow a hit for 6⅔ innings. The prospect of a no-hitter — and Jim (perfect game) Bunning being the loser — seemed appropriate.
But Richie Allen hit a single up the middle, and Alex Johnson followed with a homer, and the possibility was gone. “I didn’t care that much about a no-hitter,” Simmons said. “I did want to shut them out. But I feel great — I can’t even express it. After all, I’ve been washed up once already, and I appreciate things. When you’re young, you think you deserve everything.”
At 35, Simmons was given everything and more tonight. He was given an eight-run lead by his hitters and by Phillie fielders. The disaster area extended to every Phillie. Bob Wine, Richie Allen, Tony Taylor, and Johnny Callison all made errors.
Tim McCarver, only 22, hit a two-run homer in the second. The Cardinals waited for him at the edge of the dugout.
“We’re quiet and calm,” Keane said. “We don’t jump out on the field to mob a man. We shake his hand in the dugout.”
“I remember last year,” said Bill White, who drove in two runs tonight. “Last year, we played professionals. Maury Wills — he’ll drag a bunt and steal second, and they’ll get a run off you. Then you need a run, and that pitching staff last year had an ERA of 2.85. This year, we’re the professionals.”
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