They Can't Even Give It Away
The Los Angeles Dodgers might have been back in Brooklyn the way they were playing. Sandy Koufax, the National League's top pitcher (with 21 victories), had not won a game in three weeks. The Dodgers had lost seven out of their last 13 games; last week the Pittsburgh Pirates edged them 3-2 and 2-1 in a doubleheader--beating Koufax and Don Drysdale. So at week's end there were the Los Angeles Bums--leading the league.
It made no sense. Neither does anything else about the 1965 pennant race, closest and wildest in National League history. Last week only 41 games separated the top five teams--most of which seemed extraordinarily determined to give the pennant to somebody else. The Milwaukee Braves lost ten out of twelve, still found themselves only two games back, in fourth place. Led by Jim ("Double No-Hit") Maloney, who closed in on Koufax by winning his 17th against six losses, the Cincinnati Reds swept a double-header from the Braves and jumped from third place all the way to first. Next day they lost to the reluctant Braves and bounced back to third again. The second-place (1-game) San Francisco Giants had been waiting breathlessly all week for Pitcher Juan Marichal to get back in action after an eight-game suspension for beaning the Dodgers' John Roseboro with a bat. Then word got to Marichal that Roseboro was suing him for $110,000. He lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3.
The only real smile around belonged to Pittsburgh Pirates' Manager Harry Walker. Sure, his top pitcher, Vernon Law (record: 16-9), had a sore elbow, and his top slugger, Willie Stargell (92 RBIs), was limping around on an injured knee. But the fifth-place Pirates had won ten out of their last 13 games--including four from the Giants, three from the Braves and two from the Dodgers. Insisted Walker: "With any kind of break, we'll win the pennant." Well, they might at that--since everybody else seems to be trying to lose it.
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