Redbirds get hot and take 2 of 3 from Dem Bums

GAME 1:  As Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals took the road to open a series against the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, there was no reason to feel optimistic about their chances of turning around from a stretch of five straight series in which the club was lethargic on offense, and the pitching wasn't exactly stellar.

Bob Gibson, not exactly a dominant hurler so far, took the mound against Sandy Koufax and his 1.00 ERA. The Cardinals came in to the game having hit a total of 13 homers in 21 games. The Giants' Willie Mays has 10 all by himself. The Dodgers were looking to take advantage of a reeling ball club, and solidify their position as strong playoff contenders in the NL West.

After Koufax faced the minimum of three batters in the top of the first, albeit with a walk and GIDP in the mix, things went about as they have for the last couple of weeks for St. Louis as Gibson walked Jackie Robinson leading off the contest, then Maury Wills singled. Gibson then poured gasoline on the smoldering embers by trying to bear down too hard and uncorking a wild pitch while facing Steve Garvey. But he settled down and induced Garvey to pop up on the infield, and got Duke Snider to ground out to first, with Joe Torre making the play unassisted as Robinson scored the first run of the game. Gibson then struck out Pedro Guerero.

Torre then lead off the 2nd with a rocket shot into the left field bleachers to even the score at 1. Gibson retired the Dodgers in the second, and lo and behold, little Curt Flood duplicated Torre's feat with another solo home run to put the Cardinals up 2-1.

The Dodgers evened things up in the third on yet another walk-single combination by Robinson and Wills, with Robinson scoring on a double-play grounder by Garvey.

The Cardinal fourth saw the third solo home run of the game as Ken Boyer connected with one out to put the Redbirds back on top 3-2. The Dodgers failed to score in the fourth, when the Cardinals erupted for three runs off of Koufax on a walk to Flood, a stolen base, and a double by Red Schoendienst. Koufax fanned Stan Musial, but then Joe Torre connected for his second home run of the game (and season). Then in the sixth, George Hendrick greeted Koufax with home run number 5 of the game. 

The sudden outburst of power was perplexing in itself, but to erupt against Koufax made one wonder if it's not a sign of the apocalypse!

Gibson settled in with the offensive support and went the distance for his second win, striking out 9 in the 8-3 victory.

Game two saw things return more to form for both clubs, as the Dodgers got off to a fast start against Steven Carlton, putting two on the board in the bottom of the first after Fernando Valenzuela blanked the Cardinals in the top half. The Dodgers had their two runs after only three batters, as Pee Wee Reese started things with a single, and his Brooklyn batter mate Jackie Robinson tripled into the right field corner to plate the first run. Jackie then crossed the plate when Gil Hodges grounded out to Boyer, into the hole between short and third. The Dodgers added solo runs in the third and sixth, the latter coming from Roy Campanella's second of the year, and Valenzuela went the distance in getting second victory, 4-1.

The series shifted to the Midwest for game three, as the Cardinals sent Larry Jackson to the mound to face Don Sutton. Jackson surrendered a one out single to Robinson and a double to Garvey to put Dodgers on second and third, but then reached back and struck out Duke Snider and Pedro Guererro to keep the Dodgers off the board.

The Cardinals then went to town, and were never really threatened. Lou Brock reached first on a bouncer to short that Maury Wills rushed the throw and pulled Garvey off the bag for an error. Brock moved to third on a bloop single by Curt Flood, and Musial walked to load the bases. Bill White then drilled a long home run into deep right, a grand slam.

The Cardinals continued their offensive outburst in the third, on a Musial double, and after two outs, consecutive singles by Schoendienst, Tim McCarver, Ozzie Smith, and even Jackson got into the act with a run scoring base knock.

The Dodgers got three back in the next two innings, but the Cardinals had another 3-run outburst in the sixth, with Tommy Herr, who replaced an injured Schoendienst at second, doubling home two.

The Dodgers added two late runs on a Steve Garvey homer, but the die was cast as St.Louis coasted to 10-5 victory.

--submitted by BikeMike--