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Tonight, I played the highly anticipated Dodgers-Giants two-game series in my 1966 replay which took place on May 3-4, 1966. The first game had a tough pitching matchup between Juan Marichal (AXZ) and Don Drysdale (CYZ). Marichal was coming off of two straight shutouts but it seems nobody can stop LA this season. They came in with a 15-4 record and haven’t lost since April 20th. Meanwhile, San Francisco had been sub-performing with a 9-10 record despite the efforts of Willie Mays who is tied for the league lead in homers.
Well give Marichal credit. For eight innings, he didn’t give up a hit. In the second inning though, he gave up three. Two of those hits were homeruns too. One was a two-run shot by Jim “Frenchy” Lefebvre. Johnny Roseboro immediately followed it up with a solo shot, his first homerun of the year.
For his part, Drysdale did pretty well too. He pitched a five-hitter. He got into a little trouble fueled by a Lefebvre error. Jimmie Ray Hart hit a bases loaded single to drive home two runs for San Francisco’s only score of the day.
LA 3 SF 2
On the next day, Claude Osteen (B) just did have what it took and gave up six runs in three innings. Willie Mays continues his torrid season (.315, 6 HR, 14 rbis) and went 3 for 3 with two doubles.
San Fran had Joe Gibbon (CYZ) on the hill and he finally put the Dodgers in their place with a complete game win giving up just two runs.
SF 6 LA 2
Lefebvre’s homerun in the first game puts him in a tie for the league lead with Pittsburgh’s Bob Bailey and the Giants’ Willie Mays.
| Player | Team | Homeruns |
| Bailey, Bob | Pit | 6 |
| Mays, Willie | SF | 6 |
| Lefebvre, Jim | LA | 6 |
| Alou, Felipe | Atl | 5 |
| Javier, Julian | StL | 5 |
| Wynn, Jimmy | Hou | 5 |
| Bateman, John | Hou | 5 |
| Kranepool, Ed | NYM | 4 |
| Brock, Lou | StL | 4 |
| McCovey, Willie | SF | 4 |
| Fairly, Ron | LA | 4 |
| Allen, Dick | Phi | 4 |
| Ferrara, Al | LA | 4 |
| Clemente, Roberto | Pit | 4 |
| Aaron, Henry | Atl | 4 |
| Hart, Jim | SF | 4 |
The ERA leaderboard changed a bit in last two games. Marichal (2.09) dropped a few spots and Drysdale passed him with his nifty 2.00 ERA. Osteen who was hanging in there dropped out with his still very respectable 2.45 ERA. Unfortunately, he has four of LA’s five losses.
| Player | Team | IP | ERA |
| McGraw, Tug | NYM | 18 | 0.00 |
| Dierker, Larry | Hou | 27 | 1.00 |
| Maloney, Jim | Cin | 25 | 1.80 |
| Gibson, Bob | StL | 34 2/3 | 1.82 |
| Koufax, Sandy | LA | 43 | 1.88 |
| Drysdale, Don | LA | 36 | 2.00 |
| Blass, Steve | Pit | 31 | 2.03 |
| Sutton, Don | LA | 39 | 2.08 |
| Marichal, Juan | SF | 43 | 2.09 |
| Ellsworth, Dick | Chi | 27 2/3 | 2.28 |
Yes, if you’re wondering, the Cubs Dick Ellsworth (DZ) really does have a 2.28 ERA. He’s the Cubs rotation’s shining star.
Don’t mess with the Monkeyman! Juan Marichal can only gape at him in awe.
Look at that pitching list. 60s pitching was something else. I was looking at my ’63 card set the other day, and *think* Mr. Ellsworth was an “A”. Maybe he’s pitching by memory, for you.
I’m a dolt because I didn’t buy the ’66 set when it was reissued, and now it is gone again. It is the only 60s season I don’t have. It was the first season i followed closely; I was eleven years old.