OVERVIEW: In a series that had to battle both a northeast snowstorm and a southeast power outage, the 1964 Los Angeles Dodgers punched their ticket to the Sweet 16, but not without a fight. It took 5 hard fought games, some clutch bottom of the order hitting, a lot of quirky plays and a classic game 5 performance by a Hall of Famer to secure the victory. But, the Dodgers roll on and now await the winner of an interesting series between the ’77 Houston Astros and the ’04 Chicago Cubs. How long will they be able to ride the arms of Koufax and Drysdale?
GAME 1 : ’12 ARIZONA wins 2-0 (WP – Wade Miley, LP – Sandy Koufax)
In what can only be described as the game of his life, Wade Miley matched his boyhood idol Sandy Koufax pitch for pitch in an instant classic. Ok, Miley was born in 1986 long after Koufax left the game, but rumor has it he did a killer project on the Dodger lefty while at Loranger High School. While Koufax racked up a gaudy 13 strikeouts over his 7 innings of work, Miley had a much more efficient outing. He scattered 4 hits over his 7 shutout innings. The offense for Arizona came in the first after a bunt single by Gerardo Parra. Parra stole second and then scored on a Justin Upton single. Upton came around a couple batters later on a double by Paul Goldschmidt. That was all the scoring in a great game. Maury Wills had 2 hits for the Dodgers but was thrown out attempting to steal both times by DBack catcher Miguel Montero. Brad Zeigler and JJ Putz closed out the Miley gem by shutting the Dodgers out in the 8th and 9th.
GAME 2 : ’64 LOS ANGELES wins 5-0 (WP- Don Drysdale, LP – Trevor Cahill)
Not to be outdone by Wade Miley in Game 1, Don Drysdale threw a 1 hit shut out to even the series. Drysdale struck out 11 Arizona batters and did not give up a hit until a Ryan Roberts single in the 6th inning. The Dodgers got 4 hits from Willie Davis and 3 more from catcher Johnny Roseboro. But really the story of the game was the dominance of Drysdale.
GAME 3 : ’64 LOS ANGELES wins 4-2 in 11 innings (WP – Bob Miller, LP – Josh Collmenter)
Another instant classic saw a 9th inning game tying homer by Jason Kubel off of Dodger closer Jim Perranoski. Both teams had their chances in extras before the Dodgers pushed 2 across in the top of the 11th to pull out the victory. The winning run was driven in by backup catcher Jeff Torborg. Torborg drove in Wes Parker with a bases loaded single to break the tie. The offensive star of the game was Dodger 2nd baseman Nate Oliver who had 4 hits on the day.
GAME 4 : ’12 ARIZONA wins 5-3 (WP – Josh Collmenter, LP – Jim Brewer)
The Diamondbacks lived to fight another day by outslugging the usually offensively challenged Dodgers in a game highlighted by 6 home runs. The big blows by the DBacks came in the 7th inning of Dodger reliever Jim Brewer. Miguel Montero hit the go ahead blast down the right field line with 1 out and AJ Pollock followed that up 2 batters later with a pinch hit bomb that gave the DBacks pen some extra breathing room. Craig Breslow and JJ Putz shut down the Dodgers in the 8th and 9th to preserve the win and force a game 5. Frank Howard and Jason Kubel each hammered a pair of homers earlier in the game.
GAME 5 : ’64 LOS ANGELES win 2-0 (WP – Sandy Koufax, LP – Wade Miley)
Wade Miley came up just short in his bid to outduel Koufax twice in a week. Miley followed up his game 1 gem by scattering 6 hits and a run over 7 innings. Unfortunately for Miley and his DBack teammates, Sandy Koufax and his freakish left arm refused to give Miley a story to tell his grandkids about. Koufax struck out 12 men and came 1 out away from a 5 hit shutout. Rarely in trouble in the contest, Koufax was brilliant for the 3rd time in 3 outings in the tournament. He now has thrown 23.2 innings, allowing only 12 hits and 3 runs while striking out 36 overmatched batters. Tommy Davis gave Koufax all he needed with a single in the 3rd inning to drive in Nate Oliver.
--submitted by Peter Daly--
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