60 YEARS AGO/80: FOUR DAYS IN JULY, PART ONE

The Dodgers' 18-game July road trip began with four games in San Francisco, the first time the two teams had since May 22nd. After the series, the Giants would embark on their own 18-game road trip that would culminate on July 27-29 with a three-game showdown in Los Angeles.

In this game (Thursday, July 5, 1962) lefty Mike McCormick was an equal-opportunity enabler to Dodger hitters from both sides of the plate--he served up four home runs before departing after five innings, two to lefty hitters (Ron Fairly and Willie Davis) and two to righty batters (Tommy Davis and Frank Howard, who hit theirs back-to-back in the fifth inning). 

The Dodgers also revved up their running game, stealing four bases--two by Maury Wills, whose season total now stood at 46. (One of the reasons why Al Dark gravitated more and more to Tom Haller as his first-string catcher stemmed from Ed Bailey's inability to throw out runners on stolen base attempts--his percentage bottomed out in 1962 at just 18%. Haller's percentage was a more robust 36%.)

Don Drysdale scattered eight hits in the game, but was benefitted by two questionable baserunning plays by Giants' second baseman Chuck Hiller. In the first of these, Hiller was on third base with Jim Davenport on second with the Giants trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the third; Willie Mays was the batter. On the 3-2 pitch, Dark decided to send his runners; Mays struck out. Davenport had stumbled and was caught between second and third; when Dodger catcher John Roseboro threw to Maury Wills, Hiller--who'd stopped partway down the third base line--broke for home. Second baseman Larry Burright cut off Roseboro's throw and relayed it back to home plate, and Hiller was caught stealing. 

Gaffe number two occurred in the bottom of the fifth, when Hiller singled home Jose Pagan, but was caught attempting to take second base when right fielder Frank Howard threw to second instead of home plate. (Hiller's hitting would suffer greatly due to the strike zone change in '63 and he would go from the penthouse to the basement in '65 when the Giants sold him to the still-lowly Mets.)

Drysdale's success on this day came from taming Mays and Orlando Cepeda, who went a combined 0-for-8 with five strikeouts against the big Dodger righthander, who improved his record to 15-4 and secured his slot as the starter in the upcoming All-Star Game. Final score: Dodgers 11, Giants 3.

SEASON RECORDS: LAD 57-29, SFG 55-30