...it does not bode well for the outcome of the Dodger game in question during 1962.
So Ortega inherited all the garbage time. The Dodgers lost 15 games by seven or more runs in 1962 (which is kind of a shocking number for a team that won 102 games--we're writing a note to ourselves to check into where such an "achievement" ranks compared with other 100+ win teams). Of those 15 mega-losses, Ortega appeared in 12 of them. The Dodgers' won-loss record in 1962 when he appeared in a game (as mentioned awhile back in a previous post...) was 2-22.
Ortega was a man with his own sense of principle: when he first arrived in LA in 1960, he dug a hole for himself with management when he insisted on identifying himself as a Native American, when the Dodgers preferred that he go with their front office PR lie that he was Hispanic. For reasons known only to the Dodger brain trust, they left an older pitcher with more experience and better control (Howie Reed) at Spokane in 1962 (and, indeed, for two additional seasons) instead of Ortega, who had great stuff but lacked experience and polish.
The rust and the desperation just hurl themselves out of Ortega's 1962 game logs--where, out of 24 appearances, he manages to walk no one in exactly three (3) of them. (An exaggerated windup was retooled in the minors in 1963, but it took Phil until 1966 to bring his pitches fully under control. By the following year, he was the best pitcher on an overachieving Washington Senators team led by his ex-teammate Gil Hodges. An arm injury in spring training the following year forced Ortega into delivery adjustments that undermined his control again, and brought his career to a premature end.)
But Williams unpardonably walked Joey Amalfitano and fell behind in the count to Roman Mejias, who hit Stan's 3-1 pitch for a home run, making it 5-1 Colts. Walt Alston, not knowing that Bruce was going to become the equivalent of Don Drysdale whenever he pitched in Colt Stadium, decided to bring in Ed Roebuck in hopes of keeping the score right there, to make a comeback more likely.
But if you've read the previous post, you'll likely recall that there is no entry in the "heroic lengthy relief appearance" log for Roebuck on 6/9. Not hardly. Ed proceeded to get lit up for five runs in just a third of an inning (surrendering a single, a homer, and two triples). It was 10-1 when he was removed--and, of course, it was now Ortega Time.
Phil coughed up Roebuck's inherited runner, but otherwise got out of the fifth, making it 11-1 Colts. He served up the Colts' third triple of the game (be still, my heart) in the seventh--the hapless Amalfitano, of all people, who scored, making it 12-1. And a couple of hits and an RBI ground-out in the eighth got Houston to the 13-run pool and left the Dodgers all wet. Final score: Colts 13, Dodgers 1.
UP in St. Louis, the Giants got back-to-back homers again (Willie Mays and Felipe Alou) to score three in the first...but a two-run double by Carl Sawatski off Jack Sanford got the Cards even in the bottom of the inning. Bill White homered in the fifth, putting the Cards in front 5-3, then Al Dark got tricky and made a double-switch in the sixth, bringing in "Young Gaylord Perry," who hadn't pitched in a couple weeks. It worked for an inning, anyway, and the Giants made it 5-4 in the seventh on a run-scoring double by Harvey Kuenn.
But young Perry (sorry, those words still don't seem to belong together...) coughed up a homer to pitcher Ray Sadecki to start off the bottom of the seventh. After retiring Curt Flood, he then surrendered back-to-back doubles to Julian Javier and White before Dark could get Bobby Bolin warmed up in the bullpen. The Cards wound up with three runs in the inning, and a couple of days later Gaylord was sent back to AAA, where he'd remain until September. Final score: Cards 8, Giants 4.
SEASON RECORDS: LAD 41-19, SFG 40-19
