60 YEARS AGO/94: THE REIGN OF RUNS IN CHICAGO

Threatening skies in Chicago on Sunday, July 22, 1962 finally unleashed a torrent at Wrigley Field, but it was two innings too late for the Cubs. When the game was called at 4:15pm CDT, it was the bottom of the seventh, which made it official in the record books. Three of the five Chicago pitchers who took the mound that day were slapped and slugged all over the park by the Dodgers, led by Willie Davis, who scored three times and drove in four runs with his two triples (which were hit in consecutive innings, the first off starting pitcher and loser Don Cardwell, in the first; the second, off reliever Al Lary, in the second).

LA scored five in the first, two in the second and three in the third, but teenage monster Joe Moeller barely made it into the fourth inning after surrendering a healthy chunk of the lead thanks to a four-run Cub rally in the third (Ernie Banks' 24th homer, a three-run shot, being the big blow). Despite the absence of Sandy Koufax, this was Moeller's final appearance for the Dodgers in 1962; he would soon be replaced in the starting rotation by Pete Richert, recalled from Spokane after LA used the second All-Star break at the end of July to temporarily employ a three-man starting rotation.

The Dodgers banged out fifteen hits, including homers from Frank Howard and the otherwise very sinkable Larry Burright (his fourth and final homer as a Dodger: his two hits in as many days in Chicago had snapped an 8-for-92 stretch at the plate that, if nothing else, proved that manager Walt Alston was an inordinately patient man). Final score: Dodgers 13, Cubs 6 (called after 6 1/2 innings due to rain).

IN PITTSBURGH, the Pirates began a quick descent that would see them lose thirteen of their next sixteen games when Harvey Haddix allowed four homers to the Giants, providing Juan Marichal with just enough margin to burrow his way through to a complete game win. One of the four homers came from Willie Mays (his 28th); the last of them came from Jose Pagan (his fourth), prompting Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh to give Haddix the rest of the day off. 

The Pirates' pitchers would quickly become much too hittable, and that can be seen in the stats covering the stretch of nineteen games that began on July 20 and concluded on August 10, in which they were 4-15. Compare this to our earlier chart of the pitchers during the Pirates' 30-10 performance during June and July, and you'll see that their finesse pitcher starting rotation came undone simultaneously.

The Pirates would run into the Cincinnati Reds next, and would drop four straight to the '61 pennant winners, who (as noted before) would have the best second-half record in the NL during '62--only they began their charge about a week and a half too late to factor into the pennant race. 

Marichal surrendered a two-run homer to Dick Stuart in the sixth, but held on for his 13th win. Final score: Giants 5, Pirates 4.

SEASON RECORDS: LAD 66-34, SFG 64-36, PIT 60-37