“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO ... October 8, 1967 ... The Cardinals with their great right-hander, Bob Gibson, won the fourth game of the World Series to put St. Louis ahead three games to one and need just one more win to wrap it up. It was Gibson's second win of the series. The game was almost over before the Red Sox could reach into their bat rack. The Cardinals had four runs in the first inning and with Gibson on the mound, the Red Sox had a mountain to climb. The rest of the afternoon produced nothing but admiration for the work of Gibson. Until the ninth-inning, none of the Red Sox players were able to reach second base. José Santiago, who has now been beaten twice in the series, had nothing more than his speed working for him and the Cardinal batters take to fastballs, like ducks to water. José was hung up for six hits and four runs.
Carl Yastrzemski, who was trying hard to carry load for the Red Sox, doubled to right field to open the ninth. George Scott flied out to Roger Maris in right and there was some hope when Yaz went to third after the catch. But it was all in vain, because Gibson struck out Reggie Smith and got Jerry Adair to ground out and end the game. Gibson was then mobbed by his teammates, having now pitched two complete games and given up only one run. In that first inning, Lou Brock started off by hitting a two hopper down to Dalton Jones at third. The throw to Scott at first base was weak and Brock had a scratch infield hit. For the next eight minutes, the Cardinals looked like they were running a race around the bases. Curt flood singled to left field and Roger Maris slashed a double down the left-field line to score Brock and Flood.
Orlando Cepeda hit a fly ball to short right field that was caught by José Tartabull and Roger Maris was able to scoot over to third. Tim McCarver singled him in and after an infield pop-up by Mike Shannon, Julian Javier and Dal Maxvill got base hits that scored McCarver with the fourth run. The Cardinals got their last two runs in the third inning. With Jerry Stephenson on the mound, Cepeda doubled down the left-field line to start the inning and went to third on a wild pitch. McCarver hit a fly ball to center and it was deep enough to score Cepeda. After Shannon walked, Javier lined a double to left. Yaz had a little difficulty figuring out the carom off the wall, so McCarver scored. By this time, manager Dick Williams decided to send out Dave Morehead to pitch in the fifth inning. For three innings the right-hander, who hadn't pitched since September 14th, shut down the Cardinals. The last on the mound was the youngster, Ken Brett, who pitched the eighth and allowed only a walk. At least Dick Williams had now managed to get all of his players in the World Series. |
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