Wednesday – May 20

Things weren’t looking good for the Phillies when red-hot ace Juan Marichal (6-0) shut them down on the three singles thru the first four innings.

Marichal was coming off a 25-8 season in 1963 with a 2.41 ERA. He’d already racked up wins over the Braves, Reds, Cubs, and Colt 45s – plus two wins over the Dodgers. His ERA was a sparkling 1.75 with eight complete games and two shutouts.

Back to the Action – Plus, the Giants had already taken the lead with a run in the bottom of the first:

• Jesus Alou led off with a single and moved to second on Chuck Hiller’s sacrifice bunt.
• After Willie Mays flew out to right, Willie McCovey singled Alou home for a 1-0 lead – McCovey’s 16^th RBI.

But then the Phillies got to Marichal in the fifth:

• With two outs, Richie Allen homered (#8) to tie the score 1-1 – his 18^th RBI.

And the Phils weren’t done.

• Johnny Callison singled.
• Wes Covington homered (#4) to up the lead to 3-1 – his fourth home run and 16^th and 17^th RBIs.

The Giants responded in the bottom of the fifth:

• Jesus Alou led off with a single and Chuck Hiller walked.
• After Willie Mays flew out, Willie McCovey singled Alou home to cut the lead to 3-2 – his 17^th RBI.

When Gene Mauch went to the mound to discuss the situation, starter Art Mahaffey told the Little General that his arm was bothering him. So Mauch replaced him with Jack Baldschun.

Baldschun hit Orlando Cepeda with his second pitch – but then got Jim Ray Hart to ground into a 6-4-3 DP.

The Phillies got right back to business with Marichal in the top of the sixth:

• With one out, Clay Dalrymple walked.
• One out later, Jack Baldschun batted for himself and singled – Dalrymple stopping at second.
• Tony Taylor singled to load the bases.
• Richie Allen singled and the runners moved up a base – Dalrymple scoring to make it 4-2. It was Allen’s 19^th RBI.

With the bases loaded, two out, and Johnny Callison due up, Giants manager Al Dark wanted to go lefty-versus-lefty. So he replaced Marichal with Billy O’Dell.

• But the strategy failed when Callison hit a two-run single to make it 6-2 Phillies.

Baldschun sailed through the sixth and seventh – and then the Phillies iced the cake in the top of the eighth:

• With lefty Billy Pierce on the mound and two out, Johnny Callison homered (#3) to up the count to 7-2 – Callison’s fifth hit of the day and third RBI – bringing his RBI total to 16.

Jack Baldschun (2-0) nailed down the win with two more strong innings in the eighth and ninth. He’d given up a total of three hits over the final 4 ^2/3 innings.

Juan Marichal (6-1) absorbed his first loss.

Around the League – The Phillies moved back into a first-place tie with the Giants – with the Cardinals remaining one game behind both.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com – Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Birth of the Birds
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
• Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
• Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow