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The 1963 Dodgers lost their first two games last week, dropping a pair in Milwaukee, but then ripped off five wins in a row, taking the finale over the Braves before sweeping the second-year Mets in New York to complete a winning week.
Not only did the Dodgers finish off a 16-game road trip, but they head back to Dodger Stadium for a season-high 18-game homestand with a six-game lead over San Francisco in the National League.
Batter of the week
Tommy Davis extended his hitting streak to 12 games, including four multi-hit contests in seven games. He drove in 11 runs, including a pair of two-run singles in both ends of Sunday’s doubleheader sweep in New York, and also made a fantastic sliding, one-handed catch in left field to rob Al Moran of a hit in the opener.
On Tuesday, much like Frank Howard earlier in the year, Davis began wearing eyeglasses at the plate, and had multi-hit affairs in all three games in Milwaukee.
Honorable mention goes to Howard, who homered in three straight wins, Thursday in Milwaukee then Friday and Saturday in New York. His home run in Milwaukee was his fourth consecutive at-bat with a homer against Bob Hendley, off whom he also went deep on May 29 and twice on July 19.
Pitcher of the week
Dick Calmus is just 19, but has been turning heads as the last man in the bullpen all year. Signed with his brother Myrle, also a right-handed pitcher for a combined $76,000 in 1962, Dick Calmus struck out 131 in only 90 innings in the minors in 1962. Because of the large bonus, Dick had to stay on the major league roster for 1963, and heading into this week had a 2.88 ERA in 25 innings of mostly mop-up relief.
In Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times, before the Dodgers played any games this week, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Podres all lobbied for manager Walt Alston to let Calmus start a game.
“I wish at 19 I knew what Calmus knows about pitching,” Koufax told Frank Finch of the Times. “That kid has an idea when he takes the mound. Some of the guys on the club think Dick should have been starting three months ago.”
Alston didn’t let Calmus start any of the games this week, but he had the next-best thing, a pair of stellar five-inning relief performances rescuing a poor start. Koufax was pulled after allowing three singles and a grand slam (to Gene Oliver) in the first inning on Thursday in Milwaukee, and Calmus picked up the slack, getting the Dodgers into the sixth inning, allowing only a run and left in a tie game.
On Sunday in New York, starter Pete Richert was pulled after four innings. Calmus finished the game, allowing only a single and a walk to earn his second major league win.
Week 19 results
5-2 record
35 runs scored (5.00 per game)
25 runs allowed (3.57 per game)
.649 pythagorean win percentage
Year to date
74-48-1 record
494 runs scored (4.02 per game)
430 runs allowed (3.50 per game)
.563 pythagorean win percentage (69-53)
A rough week
After a five-week run of success that saw Johnny Podres looking like a world beater, the left-hander combined to record only six outs in his two starts this week. He allowed three runs to Milwaukee on Tuesday and left with one out in the first inning. Three days later in New York, Podres got into the second inning but allowed four more runs.
Combined with short starts by Koufax and Richert mentioned above, the Dodgers bullpen pitched more innings this week (31) than the starters did (30) in seven games.
Game results
- Tuesday, Aug. 13: Brewers 4, Dodgers 3
- Wednesday, Aug. 14: Brewers 5, Dodgers 3
- Thursday, Aug. 15: Dodgers 7, Brewers 5
- Friday, Aug. 16: Dodgers 9, Mets 7
- Saturday, Aug. 17: Dodgers 3, Mets 2
- Sunday, Aug. 18: Game 1 — Dodgers 7, Mets 0
- Sunday, Aug. 18: Game 2 — Dodgers 3, Mets 2
1963 Week 19 batting
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Howard | 25 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 0.400 | 0.464 | 0.760 | 1.224 |
| T.Davis | 28 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 0.393 | 0.414 | 0.643 | 1.057 |
| Moon | 14 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 0.214 | 0.389 | 0.643 | 1.032 |
| Wills | 31 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 0.387 | 0.387 | 0.452 | 0.839 |
| Roseboro | 18 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 23 | 0.222 | 0.304 | 0.500 | 0.804 |
| Gilliam | 30 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 31 | 0.300 | 0.323 | 0.300 | 0.623 |
| W.Davis | 27 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 0.259 | 0.286 | 0.333 | 0.619 |
| Fairly | 17 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 0.118 | 0.273 | 0.176 | 0.449 |
| Starters | 190 | 29 | 58 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 7 | 16 | 210 | 0.305 | 0.357 | 0.474 | 0.831 |
| Camilli | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 1.000 | 1.250 |
| Walls | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.500 |
| Ferrara | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0.000 | 0.286 | 0.000 | 0.286 |
| Tracewski | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Skowron | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| McMullen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bench | 29 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 0.103 | 0.161 | 0.207 | 0.368 |
| Pitchers | 20 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 0.100 | 0.174 | 0.250 | 0.424 |
| Offense | 239 | 35 | 63 | 4 | 10 | 34 | 7 | 20 | 266 | 0.264 | 0.318 | 0.423 | 0.741 |
1963 Week 19 pitching
| Pitcher | G | Record | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA | WHIP | FIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | G | Record | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA | WHIP | FIP |
| Drysdale | 2 | 1-1 | 15.7 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 0.00 | 0.830 | 2.18 |
| Richert | 1 | 0-0 | 4.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4.50 | 1.500 | 2.38 |
| Koufax | 2 | 1-0 | 8.3 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 5.40 | 1.440 | 4.31 |
| Podres | 2 | 0-0 | 2.0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 31.50 | 6.000 | 12.13 |
| Starters | 7 | 2-1 | 30.0 | 30 | 20 | 14 | 13 | 27 | 4.20 | 1.433 | 3.46 |
| Perranoski | 3 | 2-0 | 6.3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0.00 | 0.789 | 1.37 |
| Sherry | 2 | 0-0 | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 3.30 |
| Calmus | 2 | 1-0 | 10.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0.90 | 0.900 | 2.83 |
| Miller | 3 | 0-1 | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1.00 | 0.667 | 2.07 |
| Rowe | 1 | 0-0 | 2.7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 1.125 | 3.76 |
| Bullpen | 11 | 3-1 | 31.0 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 1.45 | 0.839 | 2.44 |
| Totals | 18 | 5-2 | 61.0 | 46 | 25 | 19 | 23 | 45 | 2.80 | 1.131 | 2.94 |
Previous 1963 reviews: Snider to Mets | Nate Oliver | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | All-Star Game | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17 | Week 18
The week ahead
The Dodgers are back home, running the Phil Paine gauntlet at Dodger Stadium with series against the Cardinals and Braves.
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