July 11, 1963 - Whitey Ford labored hard and long today in Los Angeles to get his 10th straight victory and keep the Yankees’ American League lead at 5 games. The southpaw held the Angels without an earned run in 9 innings, then the Bombers won it in the 10th, 3-2, extending L.A.’s losing streak to 9. The losing streak equals L.A.’s longest in the three years the club has been playing. The crowd of 36,851 was the second largest of the season. Hal Reniff pitched the final inning and sealed Whitey’s 14th win, tops in the American League. Ford was popped for 11 hits in his long struggle. The game was marred by sloppy Yankee fielding and baserunning before the Bombers got to Julio Navarro for the winning run with two out in the 10th on Joe Pepitone’s double to right-center and Elston Howard’s single to right. Mickey Mantle is still out of the lineup with a broken foot. Roger Maris is also out, recovering from minor surgery. Maris should be back within a week, while Mantle could return in 10 days. Buzzie Bavasi, the general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has assigned scouts to this Yankee-Angel series. Bavasi is already preparing for the World Series — and this time, he expects to make it. The Yankee players, meanwhile, were astonished by an opinion expressed by Bill Skowron, as printed by a Los Angeles columnist. Their former teammate reportedly said the Yankees, if they played in the National League, would finish no better than fourth because their pitching has no depth.
