|
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
1967
WORLD SERIES, GAME #1
Lou Brock steals
the show for Bob Gibson
October 4,
1967 ... Right-hander Bob Gibson silenced the
Red Sox bats, as the Cardinals took the first game of the World
Series, 2 to 1. The 34,796 fans who sat silently throughout the park
for most of the game, left accepting defeat, but not feeling like the
Red Sox were overmatched. Santiago was greeted by a single from Lou
Brock in the first inning and he stole second on José's first pitch to Curt
Flood. But José struck out Flood, and got Orlando Cepeda to hit into a
doubleplay, after he walked Roger Maris.
In the second inning after José struck out Tim McCarver he gave up singles to
Mike Shannon and Julian Javier before walking Dal Maxvill, to load the bases.
But he got Bob Gibson to ground into a doubleplay and was out of the jam.
|
.jpg) |
|
SANTIAGO HOMERS |
In the third inning, Brock hit his second single and Flood doubled him to
third. Maris grounded one down to George Scott, that allowed Brock to score the
first run of the game. Santiago got Cepeda and Shannon on pop-ups, sandwiched
around a walk to McCarver, to end the inning.
Gibson had struck out five of the first eight men he faced when José came to
bat in the third inning. José had two strikes run by him on the first two
pitches, but then Gibson gave him a slow hanging curve that he parked into the
left-field net, for his second home run of the year, tying up the game.
The Cardinals used their speed to score the winning run in the seventh
inning. Santiago had been having an inconsistent game, digging himself out of
holes, except in the seventh when Brock got his fourth single to open the
inning. Brock broke for second and stole the base for the second time in the
game. Flood hit a ball to George Scott at first, putting Brock on third-base.
The infield had to be drawn in for Maris, who hit a ground ball to Jerry Adair's
left at second base. Adair got to the ball, but had no chance to getting the
speedy Brock, who broke on the pitch, for home. That was the Cardinals' second
run of the game and that's all they needed.
|
.jpg) |
|
RUSS GIBSON TAGS JAVIER AT HOME |
Gibson pitched a better game than Santiago with a good fastball and a sharp
breaking ball. Carl Yastrzemski hit a foul fly, a ground ball to second, and two
easy fly's to left-field during the game. It was the first time he had been
shutout in 13 games.
But Yaz made two great defensive plays that kept the game close. In the
fourth inning, Javier singled up the middle when Rico Petrocelli missed it,
diving for the ball. As Javier broke for second, Maxvill topped a grounder to
Adair, whose only play was to first. Brock got the second of his singles on a
ground ball in the hole thru short toward Yaz. While the ball was on the ground,
Javier was running around third and heading for home. Yaz scooped up the ball
and in a sweeping motion threw a perfect strike to the plate on one hop to Russ
Gibson. Gibson grabbed the ball, swung his big mitt over the plate and got
Javier, who was trying to hook slide from the third-base side.
|
.jpg) |
|
TIM McCARVER
CONGRATULATES BOB GIBSON |
That ended the inning and the start of the fifth inning, Flood hit a liner to
left that was streaking toward the wall with two bases written on it. Yaz took a
couple of fast steps, looked back, took a few more steps to the wall and stuck
up his glove, grabbing it in the webbing. Roger Maris followed with a single, so
the catch was very important to keep the game tied at the time.
It was a close game but it was a lopsided because so many of the offensive
plays and scoring chances belonged to the Cardinals. They may have outscored the
Red Sox 2 to 1, but they out-threatened, them 5 to 1. But the Red Sox showed
their ability to stay in the ballgame with the other team setting the pace. The
Red Sox may been run out of this game by Lou Brock, but as a team they were not
run out of Fenway Park by the Cardinals. |
.jpg)
