July 22, 1964 - You never hear much about Bobby Wine’s open stance any more. Or his closed stance for that matter either.
He’s just up there swinging, and every once in a while he looks like a kid falling off his skates. And every once in a while, he pounces on a high pitch and rips it into the seats.
Bobby (pictured) hit a homer and drove in the winning run last night. He hit another homer tonight off Warren Spahn that turned out to be the decisive run, as the Philadelphia Phillies made it two in a row over the Braves with a 4-1 victory at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Bobby now has four homers for the season, and it’s hard to believe he had ever hit back-to-back homers before. “Sure,” Wine said proudly. “It was in a Sunday doubleheader against the Dodgers. I hit one in the first game off Stan Williams and one in the second game off Don Drysdale.”
Wine’s average has struggled over the .200 mark, which doesn’t sound like much unless you know how low it sagged earlier in the year.
“I’m just swinging,” he said. “I’ll still look bad sometimes. I’ve taken lots of batting practice. But I go out there and hit for an hour off Al Widmar.”
Wine has played eight games in a row now, after it looked as though Ruben Amaro had won the shortstop job back. But Amaro has an aching wrist.
Wine likes the steady routine, which comes as no surprise.
“I you sit around three days, you lose your concentration,” Wine said. “When you play every day, at least if you don’t do good today, you can go out and battle ‘em tomorrow.”
Spahn’s defeat was his 11th against six victories. The southpaw veteran has failed to finish 11 times in his last 12 starts. He supplied the Braves’ only run with a homer in the third.
After Wine cracked his homer, the Phillies scored two runs in the eighth when Mike de la Hoz made a wild throw after fielding Danny Cater’s infield single.
The Phils now lead the National League, one game up on the Giants.
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