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.
