60 YEARS AGO/38: THAT TWO-SIDED ONE-RUN LOSS THING AGAIN...

Or should we say--that two-side one-run loss thing happening for the first time in 1962...

...for on this day--May 20, 1962, a Sunday--the Dodgers and Giants played games in which they both lost by a single run. It was the first time that had happened to them during the season.

As it turned out, this statement needs an asterisk, for the Giants played a doubleheader on this day and won the second game. But the definition as stated above still holds. 

In terms of playing one-run games on the same day, regardless of winning or losing, this was the fourth time such had occurred during 1962. (We'll keep a running count of that, which will include any head-to-head games--two of which will occur over the next two entries, marking a momentum shift for the teams. Back in April, as you may recall, the Dodgers and Giants played a one-run game against each other: the Dodgers won that game, 8-7.)

In LA on 5/20/62, station-to-station baseball prevailed again, with the only extra-base hits in the game being two doubles (one for each side). Manager Walt Alston was still looking to play the good shepherd for his "teenage monster" Joe Moeller, and the 19-year old pitched creditably through five innings, leaving the game trailing 2-0.

Unfortunately, Alston decided to try Phil Ortega in a "hold it close until the team can rally" mode, and it didn't work: after two batters, the score was 3-0. After two more batters, Alston had to bring in Ed Roebuck with runners on first and third, and starting pitcher Curt Simmons drove in the Cards' fourth run with a sacrifice fly.

These runs proved just enough to beat the Dodgers, who rallied for two in the bottom of the sixth and closed to within one run on a double by Larry Burright (three more hits and now hitting .375 as his "era" reached its apex). But a ninth-inning rally fell short, in part due to a botched sacrifice attempt, and Simmons wriggled off the hook, retiring Doug Camilli and Maury Wills on well-hit flies that were tracked down by Charlie James and Curt Flood. Final score: Cardinals 4, Dodgers 3.

In Game One of their doubleheader against the Colts in San Francisco, the Giants quickly learned that Juan Marichal was too hittable on this day: the Colts slapped three hits in the first for a run, then added four more hits and a walk to add four more runs in the third, taking a 5-1 lead. In the sixth, Marichal allowed the sixth and decisive run after walking Colts starter Bob Bruce, whose presence on the base paths created a scoring opportunity cashed in by Roman Mejias, making the score 6-3. The Giants rallied in the bottom of the ninth against Bruce, but Colts manager Harry Craft brought in his ace starter Turk Farrell (leading the league in ERA) and the ex-Dodger closed things out with a flourish, fanning Willie Mays to strand the potential tying and winning runs. Final score: Colts 6, Giants 5 (game one).

In Game Two, the Giants decided to leave nothing to chance by sending eleven men to the plate in the first inning, chasing starter Hal Woodeshick and scoring six runs. Giants starter Billy Pierce was not especially sharp in the early going, allowing a homer to Bob Aspromonte in the third and giving back two more runs in the fifth, but he tightened up in the later innings and drove in an insurance run in the seventh. (Some wags call a game like this "pitching to the score," and perhaps that's just what it was.) Pierce's Game Score was a middling 59, still relatively win-indicative; his QMAX score was 3, 1 (a bit better in terms of probabilistic WPCT: teams win about 65% of games where the starter has such a score). Final score: Giants 7, Colts 4.

SEASON RECORDS: SFG 28-11, LAD 23-15.