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By Jon Weisman
Jackie Robinson safe at home in 1949. Davey Lopes safe at first in 1977. The heat of Hanley Ramirez’s rib fractured by a pitch — two years ago this very day — still simmers. And above all, Reggie Jackson’s hip.
Nothing tops their notoriety in Dodger postseason history, but entering that pantheon is Chase Utley’s slide, a play we will be talking about for years.
By Jon Weisman
Pretty much the only drama in Game 5 of the 1965 World Series was whether Sandy Koufax would throw another perfect game or no-hitter.
By Jon Weisman
Fifty years ago today, in an episode that aired October 10, 1965, — yes, just hours after the Dodgers won Game 4 of the World Series — Dodger owner Walter O’Malley played a frontier doctor in the NBC TV western “Branded,” opposite series star Chuck Connors.
Connors was a former Brooklyn farmhand who had one at-bat with Brooklyn in 1949 and half a season with the Cubs in 1951, before embarking upon his acting career.
O’Malley was recruited to do the episode by Connors, after the Dodger chief asked him to entertain guests earlier that year, according to Times columnist Sid Ziff, who wrote about the filming of the episode in August 1965:
By Jon Weisman
After lasting only 2 2/3 innings in Game 1 of the 1965 World Series, Don Drysdale was his old self in Game 4.
Even better, the Dodger offense was a punishing crew, too.
Editor’s note: To say the least, Vin Scully comes by his gift for language honestly. In September 1965, while on a Dodger road trip, Scully wrote a guest column for the Times, excerpted below. He was a master of word and thought then, just as he is now. So pull up a chair …
By Vin Scully
PITTSBURGH — It came up rain, a gray somber rain that put a frown on the careworn face of Pittsburgh. My window was streaked with erratic wet lines that made me think of a small child crying. Rain meant disappointment to thousands of fans — and a doubleheader to broadcast — and it meant that on that wet afternoon, I was face to face with the biggest enemy on the road … TIME …
The radio hummed softly in the background and I began to pick out a few lyrics … “Lost out here in the stars … little stars … big stars …” I began to hold memories up to the light like color slides: New York — I could smell the cigaret smoke in the old Polo Grounds. I was 10 and in the bleachers and I first realized that I could see the bat hit the ball before I could hear it.
By Jon Weisman
Pummeled mercilessly in Game 1 of the 1965 World Series, the Dodgers could console themselves by handing Game 2 to Sandy Koufax, who had just completed one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history — a 2.04 ERA, a perfect game and a big-league record 382 strikeouts.
Koufax had clinched the National League pennant for the Dodgers with a complete game on two days’ rest, capping a stretch in which he threw 27 innings in only eight days, allowing one run and striking out 38.
The brilliant lefty, whose entire season had seemed in jeopardy back in April, had logged 335 2/3 innings overall, the most by any Major Leaguer in more than a decade and the fourth-highest total since World War II. Seemingly, however, he had gone from brittle to indefatigable, and with a full four days’ rest heading into his Game 2 start, on October 7, 1965, confidence was high.
“The Valenzuela story is an incredible one. He throws two screwballs, one a little harder than the other. Pretty good curveball, and a sneaky fastball. … (For) 1981, all you have to do is start thinking about looking at Guerrero every day, maybe looking at this kid as a starter, and getting (the team) healthy.”
— Vin Scully, October 3, 1980
Posted for no other reason than the game was being aired today on SportsNet LA.
— Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
The Minnesota Twins were the highest-scoring team in the American League in 1965, so even though the Dodgers — winners of 15 of their final 16 regular season games — were listed as a favorite to win the World Series, Twins manager Sam Dele was undaunted.
“We don’t expect to lose,” Twins manager Sam Mele told a reporter, according to Charles Maher of the Times.
The reporter kept looking at Mele, expecting him to go on.
“Hey,” Mele said. “You didn’t write that down.”
The reporter wrote it down.
Though the Dodgers had Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, not to mention several other tried-and-true World Series veterans compared with the inexperienced Twins, the Los Angeles offense remained a concern.
“If a guy like (Maury) Wills scores only 92 runs, it must mean he is not getting driven in much,” Mele said.
“On that club,” a reporter replied, “nobody got driven in much.”
As it turned out, the one thing the Dodgers didn’t really worry about betrayed them. Fifty years ago today, on October 6, 1965, Drysdale was knocked out of Game 1.
Ugh. (Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
OK, brace yourselves, because this post is going to mention that time in the playoffs when J.D. Drew and Jeff Kent … I can barely even say it.
The last year the Dodgers faced the Mets in the playoffs is also the last year the Mets were in the playoffs at all: 2006. Los Angeles was swept in three National League Division Series games by New York, which went on to lose a seven-game series to the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.
Nine years have passed, and of those who played in that NLDS, eight remain in the Major Leagues: Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, Andre Ethier, James Loney and Russell Martin. Ethier and Wright are the only players who are still with the Dodgers and Mets, respectively.
Here’s how it went down …
By Jon Weisman
The last time the Dodgers played in a winner-take-all playoff game, the winning pitcher was Orel Hershiser.
That was October 12, 1988, when Hershiser pitched the Dodgers to a 6-0 victory in Game 7 of the 1988 National League Championship Series (a series that receives some fine oral history treatment from Lyle Spencer of MLB.com).
For all the talk of home-field advantage in the postseason, the Dodgers have been in 12 playoff series since the last time one of them went down to the final game. Will this year be different? We’re certainly due.
The last time the Dodgers played the final game of a playoff series on the road was October 19, 1981, when Rick Monday homered in the ninth and Bob Welch got the final out for Fernando Valenzuela to win Game 5 of the 1981 NLCS.
In fact, the Dodgers haven’t lost a winner-take-all playoff game since Game 7 of the 1956 World Series, and haven’t lost one on the road since Game 7 of the 1952 World Series. The Dodgers are 5-3 overall in winner-take-all playoff games, triumphing in their past four, and have pitched shutouts in half of them.
By Jon Weisman
He’s done it. Clayton Kershaw has become the first pitcher since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2002 to strike out at least 300 batters in a season. Kershaw fanned Melvin Upton, Jr. in the top of the third inning to reach the milestone.
It took Kershaw 37 pitches to get the six strikeouts he needed today. He has the most strikeouts by a Dodger pitcher since Sandy Koufax had 317 in 1966. Kershaw and Zack Greinke are the Dodgers’ first 300-200 strikeout duo since Koufax and Don Drysdale in 1965.
Public Enemy No. 300. #Kershaw300 pic.twitter.com/C9BVDnc2Z5
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 4, 2015
With the first out of the fourth inning, Kershaw also won the 2015 MLB innings pitched title.
Kershaw wrapped up his day once he reached his 60-pitch limit in the fourth inning, finishing with seven strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings of two-hit, no-walk ball. He has 301 for the season, 1,746 for his career, and needs 254 next year to become the fourth pitcher in MLB history to strike out 2,000 batters before turning 29, after Sam McDowell, Walter Johnson and Bert Blyleven.
As a pitching staff, the 2015 Dodgers have the fourth-highest strikeout total in National League history. The Chicago Cubs broke the NL record earlier this week.
By Jon Weisman
Having won nine straight games, coming from 4 1/2 games back 10 days earlier to tie the Giants for the National League lead on September 26, 1965, the Dodgers still had work to do.
By Jon Weisman
“Breathing defiance in the face of the Giants’ seemingly insurmountable lead,” wrote Frank Finch in the September 24 edition of the Times, “the doughty Dodgers face the Cardinals tonight to open their final homestand of the gruelling, grinding National League campaign.”
Already, the Dodgers had made progress, trimming a 4 1/2-game deficit to two games. But their defiance was matched, and then some, by the Giants, according to UPI.
By Jon Weisman
When the 1965 Dodgers woke up the morning of September 16, they were a season-high 4 1/2 games out of first place with 16 left to play.
Their rivals to the north, the San Francisco Giants, had won 13 games in a row, asserting authority over the National League pennant race.
It had to be a desolate feeling for Los Angeles. Leading the NL for most of the season, the Dodgers were at serious risk of becoming an afterthought.
As if to underscore the moment, when they went out to play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field that afternoon, the announced attendance that day was barely enough for a hay wagon, let alone a bandwagon.
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By Jon Weisman
Corey Seager’s fourth-inning home run tonight was the 47th by a Dodger rookie this year, setting a franchise record.
Dodger rookies who have homered this year include Joc Pederson (25), Alex Guerrero (11), Kiké Hernandez (6), Scott Schebler (3) and Seager (2).
The previous record was shared by the 1960 Dodgers — Frank Howard (23), Tommy Davis (11), Norm Sherry (8), Willie Davis (2), Bob Aspromonte (1), Doug Camilli (1) — and the 1958 Dodgers — John Roseboro (14), Dick Gray (9), Joe Pignatano (9), Don Demeter (5), Norm Larker (4), Ron Fairly (2), Frank Howard (1), Bob Lillis (1), Stan Williams (1).
Seager’s homer gave the Dodgers a 4-1 lead, one they extended to 6-1 in the seventh. That was mighty fine for Zack Greinke, who retired 11 batters in a row after allowing a fourth-inning homer to Pirates second baseman Neil Walker. Greinke himself sacrificed, singled and doubled (and scored) in three plate appearances tonight, raising his batting average to .234.
Update: Greinke left the game after allowing a single and walk to start the eighth. With one out, Starling Marte singled home a run off Chris Hatcher, raising Greinke’s ERA from 1.60 to 1.65. But Hatcher got a huge out by getting Andrew McCutchen to foul out, and when Aramis Ramirez grounded out, the Dodgers retained a 6-2 lead.
Hatcher made 3 great pitches, gave up a hit and got two outs.
— Jared Massey (@JaredJMassey) September 19, 2015
Update 2: Kenley Jansen closed out the victory with a four-batter save, lowering the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West to nine. In San Francisco, Madison Bumgarner gave up two runs (one earned) in eight innings and left trailing, 2-0. The Giants had one inning left to rally.
Update 3: San Francisco lost, reducing the Dodgers’ magic number to eight with 16 games to play.
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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