Aug. 20, 1963 - The Dodgers took on the Cardinals tonight, the hard-hitting club that had just swept three straight from the Giants, and defeated them, 7-5, to stretch their league lead to 6½ games over St. Louis and 7½ over San Francisco. A Dodger Stadium crowd of 50,122 enjoyed the contest. Bob Miller, pitching one-hit ball in five innings of relief against his former teammates, got the big win, and Ron Fairly (pictured) got the big hit — a two-run single that capped a five-run rally in the fourth against loser Lew Burdette that gave L.A. a 7-4 lead. Unless the Dodgers go into a collective swoon, they’re going to be mighty hard to collar down the stretch. With 39 games remaining, they can play 19-20 ball and finish with 94 wins. However, St. Louis manager Johnny Keane is not throwing in the towel just yet. “We play ‘em one at a time, just like always. We have to bounce back, just as we always have,” Keane said. “There’s a long way to go.” Tomorrow night, the Redbirds are faced with the daunting task of bouncing back against southpaw Sandy Koufax, who will be gunning for his 20th victory. “He’s a great pitcher,” Keane remarked, “but he’s only one of quite a few great pitchers in the league.” Stan Musial warned newsmen not to sell the Cardinals short. “We’ve got to do good here and in San Francisco to stay in the race,” said Stan, “and if we can do that, we’ll be sitting pretty good, because in September we play 19 of our last 27 games at home.”
