Los Angeles Dodgers Tickets

THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS REACHED THE World Series in 1965 thanks to two magnificent pitchers. Don Drysdale went 23-12, while Sandy Koufax had one of the best seasons in baseball history, going 26-8 with 382 strikeouts, a new record. The LA Dodgers offense relied on the Los Angeles Dodgers Tickets orders and baserunning skills of Maury Wills, who stole 94 bases despite the physical wear and tear brought on by years of sliding into second base. "His slides tore his skin and beat him up," Johnny Roseboro remembered. "Opposing pitchers threw at his legs, trying to hurt him, scare him, slow him down. They couldn't catch him. They'd soak their infields, but they couldn't stop him. He loved it and lived for it." The Dodgers' Series opponents were the Minnesota Twins, who were appearing in their first World Series since 1933 when they were known as the Washington Senators. Although they had a history of futility, the Twins were a strong team in 1965. Their power-hitting young shortstop, Zoilo Versalles, won the MVP award, while Tony Oliva won his second consecutive bat¬ting title at .321. We Carry Dodgers Tickets. Although Minnesota was a solid club, the Los Angeles Dodgers were heavily favored to win, and their boastful general manager, Buzzie Bavasi, even went so far as to predict a four-game sweep.

A thirty mph wind blew through Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium on the opening day of the World Series, which fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Koufax, though he had never been a religious man, declined to pitch so he could observe the holiday. This meant that he could likely pitch only two games in the Series, a potentially fatal blow to the team. Dodgers Tickets are in our stocks. Drysdale took the mound instead, opposed by Jim "Mudcat" Grant, a fireballing right-hander who led the American League in wins and shutouts, and who sang in a rock band, The Mudcat and His Kittens, during the off-sea¬son. Grant pitched a complete game, and the Twins shocked everyone by pounding Drysdale 8-2. Each team suspected the other's pitcher of throwing spitballs. "I don't know if my guy throws it or not," Twins manager Sam Mele told the press after the game. "But Drysdale was using the spitter. If they can get away with it, what the hell is the difference?"

Game 2 was even worse for the Dodgers, as the Twins beat the previously invincible Koufax by tagging him for two runs in six innings. " I was high with the fastball when I wanted it low." Koufax said after the game. "And when I was trying to get it up, it was down." Twins left-hander Jim Kaat threw a complete game to beat Koufax. "I gained con¬fidence that day," Kaat said, because Koufax "was struggling and seemed human." Things were looking up for Minnesota. Not only had the Twins gained a 2-0 lead, but they had done it against one of the most menacing one-two pitching duos in baseball history.

The unheralded Claude Osteen got the LA Dodgers back on track when he threw a shutout in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium. And Drysdale bounced back in Game 4 by beat¬ing Grant 7-2. Then Koufax came back to the mound for Game 5 and was brilliant. The Los Angeles Dodgers also ran wild on the bases that day, scoring seven runs as Willie Davis stole three sacks to tie a World Series record. "I've never seen a team run like that," said the Twins' flustered catcher, Earl Battey. "The best way to keep them from stealing is to keep them from getting on base in the first place." But the Twins couldn't do that, either, as the LA Dodgers gathered fourteen Dodgers Tickets hits, including four by Wills and three by Ron Fairly.

The Series returned to the land of many lakes with the Dodgers in the driver's seat. The Twins flooded the infield with sand before Game 6 in an attempt to slow down the Los Angeles running game. It didn't make much of a difference, though, as the fun-loving Grant gave the Dodgers a sound beating, hitting a homer and pitching a complete game to win 5-1. It was now Drysdale's turn to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but manager Walter Alston, act¬ing on instinct, picked Koufax to start on two days' rest instead of the well-rested Drysdale. It was a gutsy move, and one that would have drawn much criticism had Koufax lost, but the great left-hander had no intention of losing. The LA Dodgers scored two runs for Koufax, which was one more than he needed. ( Check out Dodgers Tickets inventory) He pitched a three-hit shutout, striking out ten. The only Twins threat came in the fifth inning, when they placed runners on first and second. Versalles hit a smash down the left field line, but third baseman Jim Gilliam made a diving catch of the ball, turning it into a double play. "I thought we played well," Twins manager Mele said philosoph¬ically. "We were beaten by a great pitcher. He's the best I've seen."

WHEN DODGER STADIUM OPENED IN LOS Angeles in 1962, the home team inaugurated it with a style of play perfectly suited to the spacious new park: speed and pitching, and more speed and pitching. Fleet-footed batters like Maury Wills and Willie Davis specialized in "Dodgers Tickets doubles," hits or walks followed by stolen bases. More often than not they were driven in by Tommy Davis, who won his second straight National League batting title at .326. This kind of one-dimensionaloffense was good for only a few runs a game, but with the outstanding Los Angeles Dodgers Tickets and pitchers-Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres, and Ron Perranoski-it was usually enough, and they won the pennant by six games. The New York Yankees, meanwhile, went 104-57, winning the American League pennant with so little effort that Yankee front office per¬sonnel even began to hype them as one of the greatest clubs in baseball history. That may have been true during the regular sea-son, but in the four games that counted most, the Yankees played more like the 1963 New York Mets.