‘67 Cards take 3 of 4 from ‘65 Dodgers to stay alive in pennant race.

9/26-9/27 - Busch Memorial Stadium
GAME 1 - Cardinals 4, Dodgers 1
The Dodgers entered this series fighting hard not to have the worst record in baseball.  Their opponents, St. Louis, were fighting even harder to keep pace with Cincinnati for the top spot in the division.  The fans were treated to a classic matchup between the two greatest pitchers of the 1960's.  Sandy Koufax (3-5, 2.23) would toe the rubber for LA, while Bob Gibson (4-1, 2.05) would oppose him and represent the Gateway city.  With the score tied at 1 the Cards would take the lead in the 5th as the most unlikely of characters, Dal Maxvill, would take the great Koufax deep.  Koufax would respond by fanning the rest of the side, which included 5 of the next 6 batters he would face.  In total, Koufax would fan 10 on the day, but it would not be enough as Maxvill would once again defy logic and the odds to his another solo homer in the 7th.  Julian Javier would single home Lou Brock, who tripled with 2 outs to provide an additional run as Gibson would have an easy day at the office vs the worst hitting team (.218) in the league.

GAME 2 - Cardinals 9, Dodgers 3
Don Drysdale, who hoped to use this stage as a chance to claim his second consecutive Cy Young award was rocked for 9 runs in 8 innings.  Lefty Steve Carlton (2-2, 3.16) gave up just 1 unearned run over 5 and let the pen take it the rest of the way.  Orlando Cepeda hit his league leading 12th round tripper in a 2 for 3 afternoon.  Curt Flood went 1 for 2 with 2 walks to increase his BA to .397, 10 points more than Cepeda who is trying desperately to win the NL's Triple Crown.

9/28-9/29 - Dodgers Stadium
GAME 3 - Cardinals 2, Dodgers 1
The pressure was now really starting to mount on the Cardinals.  They took 2 games from the Dodgers so far, as planned, but they couldn't get out of the shadow of the Reds, who were having their way with the Pirates.  Larry Jaster and Claude Osteen both went 7 innings and both sported identical linescores allowed with the game knotted at 1.  Extra innings loomed and in the top of the 10th Tim McCarver came off the bench and delivered a clutch 2 out double to score Roger Maris.  LA's Bob Miller (0-5, 4.86) had thrown 2 scoreless innings in relief up until that point, but couldn't get the final out.  Hal Woodeshick set the Dodgers down in order in the bottom of the 10th for his 2nd save as Joe Hoerner (2-0, 0.68) posted the win in relief.

GAME 4 - Dodgers 4, Cardinals 2
Dick Hughes (5-2, 2.88) and Johnny Podres (0-6, 5.40) hooked up in another nail biter.  Neither hurler would be involved in the decision.  Nelson Briles (0-2, 4.18) would replace Hughes in the 8th with the score tied at 2.  “Sweet” Lou Johnson would lead off with a single and steal second.  Briles would get Ron Fairly to pop out weakly to Javier at second before Jim Lefebvre would launch one to deep right that Roger Maris would make a sensational catch on.  Johnson would tag up and go to third then score as Maris' throw would sail over Mike Shannon's head at third.  Maris would be charged with a costly throwing error.  Wes Parker would double with 2 out and Willie "3-Dog" Davis would single him home to give LA a 2 run lead.  Ron Perranoski, who got the final out in the 8th stayed aboard to close out the 9th to get the win and even his record to 2-2.  St. Louis would now have to sit back and see if they would win the division or have to play a play in game with the Reds.