June 19, 1964 - Art Mahaffey (left) looks so much better with four days rest than he does with three, you’d think Phillies’ manager Gene Mauch would move heaven and earth to guarantee Mahaffey four days rest between starts.
But when you’re carrying 11 pitchers and two of them don’t shave yet and two of them are strictly short relievers and two of them are having trouble getting people out and doubleheaders keep cropping up, it isn’t easy.
A doubleheader cropped up today, and the Phillies breezed past the Mets, 2-1 and 7-2, at Shea Stadium. Mahaffey, pitching with four days’ rest, dominated the first game, even though Ed Roebuck had to sneak in from the bullpen to get the last out.
The doubleheaders now thin out for a while, which will help the Phils. But what may help even more is Ray Culp’s return to his 1963 form. Culp flashed some of that form in the second game, pitching a five-hitter.
“Yes, Mahaffey always seems better with four days’ rest,” Mauch agreed, “and sometimes we can do it, and sometimes we can’t. And yes, that was the best Culp has looked all year. He got to stay out there long enough to find himself.”
In fact, Culp stayed out there long enough to pitch his first complete game of the season. He found a portion of his old self, but Culp is a tough man to please.
“I feel much better,” he admitted, “but I’m not going to say ‘this is it.’ I still don’t have the stuff I had when I was pitching good ball. I’m still throwing a ‘Hank Aaron curveball,’ the kind Hank hits on top of the roof.”
If Culp wasn’t pleased, nearly everyone else was. The Phillies widened their hold on first place to 2½ games, the biggest bulge anyone has had since the season started.
In the first game, Johnny Callison had a single and a triple in addition to the game-winning homer, and he kept going in the second game with two more singles.
“When he goes for the line drive, he’s really something,” Mauch said.
Callison was happy with his performance. As for Shea Stadium, not so much. “This had to be one of the all-time worst fields,” he said, peeling off muddy socks. “I changed three times, and the outfield was full of holes.”
The crowd was 41,310, and that’s not bad for a team that’s now lost eight in a row.
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