60 YEARS AGO/152: SAVAGED BY THE SIXTH, GORED BY THE SEVENTH...

Only three games were played in MLB on Thursday 9/27/62; two of them were central to the still-unresolved NL pennant race.

Billy O'Dell and the Giants made it clear that they were not going to gain any ground on the Dodgers very early in their game against the St. Louis Cardinals: by the time SF batted in the bottom of the fifth, they trailed 7-0. Cards manager Johnny Keane decided to start Stan Musial against the lefty O'Dell, and Stan the Man responded with three straight singles, two of them in scoring innings. (Musial wound up 5-for-5 for the night.)

Don Larsen served up a game-crushing three-run homer to catcher Gene Oliver when he came into relieve O'Dell. If he'd retired Oliver instead, the Giants would have tied up the game in the eighth when Ed Bailey hit a three-run homer of his own. But as it turned out, it just got them close--they did get the tying run to the plate in the inning, but little Bobby Shantz got Felipe Alou to ground out to short to end the inning--and the Giants' chances. Final score: Cardinals 7, Giants 4.

DOWN in LA, it looked as though Sandy Koufax had gotten things together in his second start since returning from the contretemps with his finger--he mowed down the Houston Colts for three inning, fanning four. In the bottom of the third, Frank Howard's two-run double capped a three-run Dodger outburst that had Dodger fans cheering and singing as the ongoing action in the Giants-Cards game was transmitted to them. A win by LA coupled with a Giant loss would clinch a tie for the pennant with three games to go.

But baseball is a game where the momentum can shift suddenly and drastically. Koufax held his 3-0 lead in the fourth, despite giving up his first hit (to the colorfully named yet totally forgotten Al Heist). In the fifth, however, after he'd walked the pesky Bob Aspromonte, his first pitch to Roman Mejias was too fat--and the Colts' HR leader smacked his 24th of the year to get Houston within one run.

LA scored in the bottom of the inning, knocking out ex-Dodger Jim Golden, but Frank Howard hit into an inning-ending double play with men on first and third. But no worries yet...it was 4-2 and Koufax looked pretty strong.

But Walt Alston decided that Sandy had thrown enough for the night (73 pitches) and decided to trust the game to his bullpen. And all three of his top relievers would fail him in this game.

Ed Roebuck took over in the sixth. He walked Johnny Temple, then got Al Spangler to foul out. On his first pitch to ex-Dodger Norm Larker, Temple stole a page from the Dodger playbook at stole second. This seemed to unnerve Roebuck, who left his slider over the plate on a 2-2 to Larker, who tripled off the top of the right-center field wall, scoring Temple. With the tying run now at third and the Dodger infield drawn in, Roebuck pitched carefully to Dodger nemesis Bob Aspromonte, who uncharacteristically lunged at a 2-0 pitch and grounded to second. Larker stayed put, and Jim Gilliam tossed to first for the second out. 

But then it was Mejias again. With Alston's penchant for the free pass, one would've thought he'd bypass the Colts' most dangerous hitter. But he didn't--and on a 1-0 pitch, Roman lined a single to center, knotting the game at 4-4. 

Alston replaced Roebuck with Larry Sherry, who had evidenced some difficulties with the first batter he faced in a game (.280 BA, .775 OPS). And, disastrously for the Dodgers, that pattern continued: catcher Hal Smith singled to left, sending Mejias (running on the 1-2 pitch) to third. Then the flyweight-hitting SS J.C. Hartman sliced Sherry's fat 2-2 slider down the left field lone for a two-run double. Dodger fans were shocked into silence as the Colts took a 6-4 lead.

The Dodgers rallied against Brunet in the bottom of the sixth, putting the first two men on. Tall (6'4") righty Jim Umbricht came in, and was sabotaged by second baseman Temple, whose throw was wild, loading the bases. LA would get the tying runs home, but via slow grounders. Umbricht would get tougher in the later innings, however...

And in the seventh, Alston (who batted for Sherry in the previous inning) brought in Ron Perranoski, who also had shown some issues with first batters. And--sure enough--Carl Warwick singled. Then Temple hit a slow roller to third baseman Daryl Spencer, just brought into the game for defensive purposes. Spencer's throw pulled Ron Fairly off the bag at first, putting two men on with no one.

Then Al Spangler's sacrifice bunt turned into a nightmare of perfection, dribbling up the third base line slowly enough that Perranoski had to eat the ball. All of a sudden, the Colts had the bases loaded.

But not for long. Alston decided to set the infield at double play depth. Perranoski got a grounder from Norm Larker, but it was hit too slow to turn two. Warwick scored, and Temple moved to third. The Dodgers tried for the DP again, and Bob Aspromonte hit one toward the hole at short that Wills backhanded, but his momentum carried him away from second and he had to windmill a throw to first for the second out...but Temple scored.

And Umbricht then proceeded to strand two Dodger runners in the bottom of the seventh, retired LA in order in the eighth, and got Ron Fairly (in a terrible hitting slump that would continue into the weekend series with the Cardinals) to pop up with two out and a man on in the ninth. The Dodgers, who'd specialized in heroic relief appearances, were undone by Umbricht's four scoreless innings--a most unwelcome display of heroism. Final score: Colts 8, Dodgers 6.

SEASON RECORDS: LAD 101-58, SFG 99-60