Sept. 17, 1964 - The league-leading Philadelphia Phillies scored four runs, all unearned on three Dodger errors, to beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles tonight, 4-3.
The triumph was the Phillies’ seventh straight over the Dodgers’ ace righthander Don Drysdale, who hasn’t beaten them since June 1, 1962, when he won his 13th in a row over them going back to 1958.
The Phillies got three gift runs in the first inning when Maury Wills booted a grounder, then bobbled a double-play relay from Drysdale.
“I don’t know what it is,” Wills said afterward. “Maybe I’m trying too hard against the Phillies.”
Little Bobby Shantz, who relieved Rick Wise in the first inning, got credit for the victory, his second against four defeats.
The loss mathematically eliminated the Dodgers, last year’s world champions, from pennant contention.
In the top of the ninth, the Phillies scored the winning run when Ruben Amaro, who had reached base when hit by a pitched ball, scored from third on Ron Fairly’s throwing error.
The last time Shantz pitched so long he was the starting pitcher for Houston on opening night, 1962. After that, it was strictly short stints at St. Louis and Chicago, until the Phillies plucked him from the Cubs last month.
“I said then that Shantz could pitch longer than he has pitched,” Philadelphia manager Gene Mauch reminded newsmen tonight. “The way he was being used was tough, pitching to one man and knowing he had to get that one man out.”
“You pitch to one man,” Shantz explained, “and you’re groping for the plate. You’re hoping to throw strikes, instead of hitting the corners the way you have to. It’s been like that for almost two years. I was glad they left me out there as long as they did.”
Someone asked Shantz if he’d like to start again. “I’d better not answer that,” he replied. “I’m just glad to be here.”
But the thought had already occurred to Mauch. “Cincinnati just might see him next,” he said.
As of now, the Phillies hold a 6½-game lead in the National League race with 15 games to play. The “magic number” is 10 — that is, any combination of victories by the Phillies and defeats by the second-place Cardinals that total 10 will assure Philadelphia of its first pennant since 1950.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments