S-O-M 1961

Sometimes a simple game summary doesn't tell the full story of my replays, as with the recent posting of Cards-Dodgers from 4/19/61, there was more to it than just a furious 9th inning rally. Starting with the inning-by-inning box score, here are the highlights of a game with everything, poor pitcher control, a highway robbery in left field and a Cardinal who made 3 outs in the 9th inning.          123 456 789 R-H-E STL      100 200 005 8-11-0 LAD      302 002 22X 9-12-0 Top of 1st-Red Schoendienst solo homer. Bottom of 1st-Dodgers sent 9 batters, scored 3 runs, including Frank Howard RBI single. Howard also hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 3rd.  Top of 4th-Ken Boyer 2-run homer cut lead to 5-3. Bottom of 4th-Dodgers chase Broglio, who walked 7 in 3.2 innings. Top of 6th-With Joe Cunningham on base, Boyer hit a very DEEP drive to left. Wally Moon saw to it that it would make a proper place in his glove. Boyer grumbled his...

  The last 2 NL games I played on 4/19 were real walk fests as both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals badly missed the strike zone. How bad? Pirates issued 9 free passes with the bulk of them by the bullpen in an ugly 12-7 loss to the Cubbies. The Cards dealt 11 free passes to the Dodgers, 7 of which were issued by Ernie Broglio in an early exit. (4.2 innings) The Dodgers though, nearly let a 9-3 lead get away thanks to a furious 9th inning Redbird rally. Here's the usual capsule reviews: NL: SFG 6-6-0 CIN 4-9-2 WP-Sanford (1-1) LP-Hunt (0-1) Orlando Cepeda slugged his lead co-leading 4th homer, but Jim Davenport had an even bigger homer with a PH 3-run shot in the bottom of the 8th.  CHC 12-13-1 PIT 7-14-3 WP-Anderson (1-0, 2-run homer) LP-Friend (0-3) SV-Elston (1) Dick Bertell also homered for the Cubbies. LAD 9-12-0 STL 8-10-0 WP-Drysdale (3-0) LP-Broglio (2-1) SV-L. Sherry (3) HR-Schoendienst (1) Boyer (1, Moon robbed a 2nd one) Howard (1) Furious Card ra...

Let's start off with this Cards-Dodgers entry from 4/18:               123     456     789     R-H-E STL            400     300     000     7-9-1 LAD           011     331     20X     11-18-0 Norm Larker, 3 doubles for the game, leads NL with 5 2-baggers The only innings the Dodgers did not score, they went down 1-2-3 WP-Williams (2-0) LP-Cicotte (0-1) Williams came on for starter Roger Craig in the 4th, he pitched the rest of the way. HR-Bill White (1) Willie Davis (2) The other NL games were fairly quiet by comparison: PIT 5-7-0 CHC 0-4-1 WP-Vinegar Bend Mizell (1-0, CG) LP-Ellsworth. CIN 4-14-0 (15 LOB) SFG 0-4-0 WP-Purkey (2-0) LP-Loes (0-1) HR-Robinson (2)   

Twins go to 6-0 with win at Fenway MIN 5-14-1 BOS 3-6-1 WP-Kaat (1-0) LP-Muffett (0-1) SV-Moore (2) Jim Lemon 3-5, 3 RBI Jim Kaat 8.1 innings, 7 strikeouts, 7 walks, 3 earned runs. The rest of the American League schedule for April 18 was rained out. Twins return to action after a rainout on April 21 against Washington in the Metropolitan Stadium opener.   

AL Standings: MIN 5-0 CWS 2-1 DET 2-1 LAA 2-1 NYY 2-1 WSH 2-2 BOS 1-2 CLE 1-3 BAL 1-4   KCA 0-3  AL: NYY 7-11-0 KCA 3-9-1 WP-Ford (1-1) LP-Walker (0-1) SV-Arroyo (1) HR-Skowron (1,2) Maris (1) Bauer (1) Skowron 4 RBI. LAA 3-10-0 BOS 2-8-0 WP-McBride (1-0) LP-Brewer (0-1) SV-Fowler (1) HR-Hunt (2) Kluszewski (2)  NL: STL 4-12-0 LAD 1-5-1 WP-Gibson (2-0) LP-Podres (1-1) Gibson CG, STL 1-4 hitters, a combined 9-18 (Javier (2) Cunningham (2) White (3) Boyer (2)).

AL Rainouts: CWS-DET KCA-NYY (2) LAA-BOS (2) NL: MIL-CHC WSH 5-13-2 CLE 4-8-0  ( 10)  WP-Sisler (1-0) LP-Stigman (0-1) HR-Keough (1) Donovan (1) Indians tie with 3 in the 9th, Senators get walk-off single by Bob Johnson with 2 outs in 10th to win it. MIN 9-14-0 BAL 5-13-2 WP-Ramos (2-0) LP-Estrada (0-1) SV-Moore (1) Twins score 8 in 1st inning, 4 on grand slam by Jim Lemon (1). Estrada pitched 1/3 of an inning. Mincher (1) homered for Twins in 2nd. 1st of 2. MIN 5-10-1 BAL 3-9-0 WP-Kralick (1-0) LP-Wilhelm (0-1) SV-Pleis (1) Jim Lemon doubled home the go-ahead runs off Wilhelm in the 8th. Twins record, 5-0. NL: CIN 7-9-2 STL 2-4-3 WP-O'Toole (2-0) LP-Sadecki (0-1) Gene Freese, 2 homers, 4 RBI. SFG 12-16-1 PHI 6-14-2 WP-Jones (2-0) LP-Roberts (0-2) HR-McCovey (4) F. Alou (2) McCovey 4 RBI's LAD 6-14-0 PIT 1-4-0 WP-Williams (1-0) LP-Law (0-2) HR-Stuart (1) Neal (1)

First, here are the updated NL Standings:  LAD 4-1 SFG 4-1 CIN 3-1 STL 3-1 CHC 1-3 MIL 1-3 PIT 1-4 PHI 1-4 MIL 7-12-0 CHC 4-4-1 WP-Willey (1-0) LP-Hobbie (0-2) SV-McMahon (1) HR-Heist (3) Rodgers (1) Adcock (1) Williams (2) NO-HITTER ALERT: STL 11-15-0 CIN 4-5-0 WP-Broglio (2-0) LP-Jay (0-1) HR-Spencer (2) Pinson (3) Ernie Broglio Perfect Game for 6.0 innings broken up on Eddie Kasko lead-off walk, then Vada Pinson broke up the no-hit bid with a double. MAYS MAGIC SFG 7-7-0 PHI 4-7-1 (10 INNINGS) WP-Marichal (1-0, 11 strikeouts) LP-Green (0-1) HR-F. Alou (1, Game-tying homer in 7th) Mays (1, walk-off 3-run homer in 10th) ROY FACE'S 6 COLUMN AGAINST LEFTIES IS A HOT MESS LAD 7-14-1 PIT 4-10-0 WP-Drysdale   (2-0) LP-Face (0-1) SV-L. Sherry (2) HR-Virdon (1, lead-off in 1st) Roseboro (1, tied game with 1 one on in 6th,2, go-ahead homer in 8th) W. Davis (1, 2-run homer in 8th) 

  Just finished the first NL game of 4/15/61 and all I can tell you is, Ernie Banks is saying "Let's hit 2." Through the first 4 games and 16 at-bats the slugging SS of the Cubs isn't, with only 1 hit in 16 bats and some liabilities in the field as well at bat. Among other shortstops in the league, Detroit's Chico Fernandez could give him a few hitting pointers, but as for fielding, even Ernie couldn't help him there as through 3 Tigers games Fernandez has butchered 5 ground balls.  May Ernie have been showing his age at this point? In real life, Banks was batting .231, so the C&D are painting a different picture. They're also painting a different picture for 2 of his teammates, as veteran OF Richie Ashburn is 0-13 in the replay and keystone-mate Don Zimmer is 2-17. A little Ernie optimism would certainly help, but that falls in the hands of the C&D, where the room for improvement is just a roll or two away.  Oh, the Cubs 1B booted one today in the...

Norm Cashes in Twice DET 4-11-3 CWS 2-8-2 WP-Mossi (1-0) LP-McLish (0-1) SV-Fox (1) HR-Cash (2,3) Brown (1, drives in go-ahead runs in 6th) Indians Win in a Landslide CLE 14-18-0 WSH 1-4-2 WP-Grant (1-0)   LP-Daniels (0-1) HR-Romano (1) Held (1) Willie Kirkland, single, double, 2 sacrifice flies, 5 RBI The Twins are 3-0 MIN 6-10-1 BAL 3-10-2 WP-Stobbs (1-0) LP-Barber (0-1) SV-Pleis (1) Earl Battey 3-4 with a double. KC Couldn't Dodge Turley's Bullets NYY 4-8-0 KCA 1-6-0 WP-Turley (1-0) LP-Daley (0-1) Bobby Richardson 3 singles, RBI. Angels Rejoice at Fenway LAA 11-15-0 BOS 10-18-0 WP-Fowler (1-0) LP-Fornieles (0-1) SV-Morgan (1) HR-Wertz (1) Hunt (1, drove in the go-ahead runs for the Angels in the 8th) Angels rally from 9-3 deficit. Ted Kluzsewski, 2 singles and a double.

It started with a wild one at Wrigley: (Then again, they're always wild at Wrigley) CHC 11-11-2 MIL 10-16-0 WP-Schultz(1-0) LP-Nottebart (0-1) HR-Heist (1,2, Grand Slam, 5 RBI) Santo (1, tied game in 9th) Billy Williams walk-off RBI single in 10th.   A "high five" for Vada at Busch CIN 9-15-0 STL 2-8-0 WP-Hook (1-0) LP-Simmons (0-1) SV-Henry (1) HR-Pinson (1,2, plus 2 doubles, a single and 6 RBI) Musial (1). Koufax K's 14 as Dodgers provide fatal late-inning blow to the Buccos LAD 5-8-0 PIT 4-7-0 WP-Koufax (1-0, 14 K's) LP-Face (0-1) Dodgers score 4 in the bottom of the 9th, including the winning run on Tommy Davis's RBI single scoring Maury Wills from 2nd on a very close throw at the plate by Pirate LF Bob Skinner. (D-20 roll of 19, right on Wills' number, the 20 would've been out) McCovey, Cepeda Phlatten Phils with their red-hot bats SFG 7-10-3 PHI 1-3-2 WP-McCormick (1-0) LP-Mahaffey (0-1) HR-McCovey (3) Cepeda (2) Herrera (2)