Sept. 13, 1964 - “When you go into the eighth inning with a 4-3 lead, you shouldn’t lose,” Jack Fisher sighed. He was in the process of taking on a burden he didn’t completely deserve.
Fisher was in that situation today at Dodger Stadium. He dissipated the lead immediately, the Met bullpen took care of the rest, and Los Angeles beat the Mets, 5-4, in the bottom of the ninth.
Fisher gave up the tying home run to Frank Howard (pictured). The Mets gave the Dodgers plenty of help throughout.
There were two vital errors, one sloppy play, a wild pitch, and a passed ball. And even the slick old manager, Casey Stengel, made a move he later described as “a bum play.”
The Mets had a 4-2 lead after four. Tommy Davis had hit a two-run triple for the Dodgers, but Charley Smith’s three-run homer capped a four-run fourth for the Mets.
A fumble of an easy grounder by Bobby Klaus and a passed ball by Jesse Gonder gave the Dodgers a run in the fifth. It was Gonder’s 18th passed ball of the season.
Fisher had his one-run lead. But with the Mets, that is not enough. Casey tried for more in the seventh, but it backfired. With Roy McMillan on second and Fisher on first, Casey had Klaus swing and the runners run on a 3-and-0 pitch.
But Don Drysdale “threw it harder than I’ve ever seen him throw,” according to Klaus. Klaus tipped a strike into John Roseboro’s glove. The runners were off base, Fisher was out, and the Mets didn’t score.
“I had McMillan, who don’t run too good, and Fisher, who is slow,” Stengel sighed. “I just fouled it up.”
“Is that what he said?” Klaus asked. “I’ve seen some strange plays, but that’s one of the strangest. But Casey admits it. I admire him for that.”
Still holding that one-run lead, Fisher pitched into the eighth. Then Howard smashed his tremendous homer to center, his first of the season off the Mets. “If I had that pitch to do over again, I’d put it in the same place,” Fisher said. “He just has too much brute force.”
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