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This week in the 1963 Dodgers, they did just fine on the field, winning five of seven games in Pennsylvania against the Pirates and Phillies. But LA had to be that good as they try to hold off a hard-charging rival in the National League standings.
The highlight came on Tuesday at Forbes Field, when Sandy Koufax beat the Pirates with a complete game. His strikeout of pitcher Don Cardwell in the third inning gave Koufax 270 strikeouts on the season, breaking his own National League strikeout record set in 1961.
After the game, Koufax said he was working on a new pitch.
“I’ve been throwing the slider for just the last two weeks of my career,” Koufax told UPI. “The one I threw [Roberto] Clemente was the first one I threw for a strike.”
Koufax also struck out eight Phillies on Friday in a no-decision, pitching only seven innings as he was on only two days rest for the first time all season.
He ended the week with 284 strikeouts, looking to become the sixth major league pitcher in the modern era with 300 strikeouts in a season. The previous five were all in the American League, the last in 1946 by Bob Feller striking out 348 for Cleveland.
Batter of the week
Third baseman Ken McMullen hit .364 (8-for-22), including three hits and a home run in Saturday’s win over the Phillies.
Pitcher of the week
Pete Richert also pitched on two days rest this week. First he relieved Don Drysdale after only three innings Wednesday in Pittsburgh and pitched four innings of his own to pick up the win. Then on Saturday, Richert pitched a complete game, allowing only one run on short rest to beat the Phillies.
Week 23 results
5-2 record
28 runs scored (4.00 per game)
20 runs allowed (2.86 per game)
.649 pythagorean win percentage
Year to date
91-59-1 record
603 runs scored (3.99 per game)
512 runs allowed (3.39 per game)
.574 pythagorean win percentage (86-64)
National League standings: 1st place, up 1 game on St. Louis
Magic number to clinch pennant: 11
The Dodgers had a strong week, but the Cardinals are surging, winning 19 of their last 20 games to pull to within one game for the National League pennant, with 12 left to play. St. Louis trailed by seven games on August 29 and gained all that ground despite the Dodgers winning 12 of their last 18 games.
The two teams meet for three games in St. Louis beginning Monday in what is essentially a showdown for NL supremacy.
Game results
- Tuesday, September 10: Dodgers 4, Pirates 2
- Wednesday, September 11: Dodgers 9, Pirates 4
- Thursday, September 12: Dodgers 5, Pirates 3
- Friday, September 13: Game 1 — Phillies 3, Dodgers 2
- Friday, September 13: Game 2 — Dodgers 2, Phillies 1
- Saturday, September 14: Dodgers 5, Phillies 1
- Sunday, September 15: Phillies 6, Dodgers 1
1963 Week 23 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 |
| McMullen | 22 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 0.364 | 0.417 | 0.500 | 0.917 |
| Moon | 13 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 0.231 | 0.412 | 0.462 | 0.873 |
| T.Davis | 28 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0.286 | 0.276 | 0.536 | 0.812 |
| W.Davis | 23 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 26 | 0.304 | 0.385 | 0.348 | 0.732 |
| Fairly | 13 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 0.231 | 0.375 | 0.231 | 0.606 |
| Gilliam | 27 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 32 | 0.222 | 0.323 | 0.222 | 0.545 |
| Wills | 30 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 0.167 | 0.219 | 0.267 | 0.485 |
| Roseboro | 22 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 0.136 | 0.174 | 0.273 | 0.447 |
| Starters | 178 | 23 | 43 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 6 | 19 | 201 | 0.242 | 0.313 | 0.354 | 0.667 |
| Camilli | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.500 | 0.667 | 0.500 | 1.167 |
| Howard | 15 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 0.333 | 0.375 | 0.667 | 1.042 |
| Skowron | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0.182 | 0.357 | 0.182 | 0.539 |
| Walls | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.000 | 0.500 | 0.000 | 0.500 |
| Tracewski | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bench | 30 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 37 | 0.267 | 0.389 | 0.433 | 0.822 |
| Pitchers | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 0.105 | 0.150 | 0.105 | 0.255 |
| Offense | 227 | 28 | 53 | 5 | 6 | 23 | 6 | 25 | 260 | 0.233 | 0.311 | 0.344 | 0.655 |
1963 Week 23 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 |
| Richert | 1 | 1-0 | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1.00 | 0.556 | 2.52 |
| Koufax | 2 | 1-0 | 16.0 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 1.13 | 0.688 | 1.32 |
| Miller | 1 | 0-0 | 6.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1.50 | 1.333 | 1.80 |
| Drysdale | 2 | 0-1 | 10.0 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2.70 | 1.900 | 2.23 |
| Podres | 1 | 1-0 | 7.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3.86 | 1.143 | 3.49 |
| Starters | 7 | 3-1 | 48.0 | 45 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 33 | 1.88 | 1.063 | 2.11 |
| Perranoski | 4 | 1-0 | 7.7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0.00 | 0.913 | 3.15 |
| Richert | 1 | 1-0 | 4.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4.50 | 1.250 | 6.38 |
| Sherry | 1 | 0-1 | 1.0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9.00 | 1.000 | 3.63 |
| Calmus | 1 | 0-0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9.00 | 1.000 | 9.63 |
| Bullpen | 7 | 2-1 | 13.7 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2.63 | 1.024 | 4.61 |
| Totals | 14 | 5-2 | 61.7 | 53 | 20 | 14 | 12 | 43 | 2.04 | 1.054 | 2.66 |
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 | Ed Roebuck | Week 17 | Week 18 | Week 19 | Week 20 | Week 21 | Week 22
The week ahead
The Dodgers play their final three road games of the regular season, running the Bobby Del Greco gauntlet against the Cardinals in St. Louis then back home to host the Pirates in Los Angeles.
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