LOS ANGELES 7, MINNESOTA 2 IN LOS ANGELES

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with two walks and a home run.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a home run.

Pitching star:  Al Worthington struck out two in two innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Don Drysdale struck out eleven in a complete game, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks.  Wes Parker was 2-for-4 with a home run and a stolen base, scoring twice.  Lou Johnson was 2-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  The Dodgers caught some breaks early.  They scored once in the first on two infield hits, a stolen base, and a ground out and got another run in the second on a bunt single, a stolen base, a wild pitch, and an error.  Killebrew and Parker exchanged home runs in the fourth to make it 3-1 Los Angeles.  Oliva homered in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 3-2, but in the bottom of the sixth a two-run single by Ron Fairly and a bunt single by Johnson made it 6-2.  The Twins did not threaten after that.  Johnson homered in the eighth to round out the scoring.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-4.  Mudcat Grant was not hit particularly hard, but pitched five innings and gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

Record:  The series was now tied 2-2.

Notes:  Sam Mele again played Valdespino in left rather than Bob Allison to gain a platoon advantage.  Allison actually hit right-handers better than left-handers in 1965 and while his batting average against them was lower than Valdespino's, his OBP was higher and his slugging average was a lot higher...Six of the Dodgers' ten hits did not leave the infield.  Three of them were bunts...The Dodgers were 2-for-4 in stolen bases in the game.

LOS ANGELES 4, MINNESOTA 0 IN LOS ANGELES

Date:  Saturday, October 9.

Batting star:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-3 with a walk and a double.

Pitching star:  Johnny Klippstein pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Claude Osteen pitched a complete game shutout, allowing five hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

The game:  Versalles led off the game with a double, but was ultimately thrown out at the plate when he and Harmon Killebrew tried a second-and-home double steal with two out.  The Dodgers opened the scoring in the fourth on a two-run single by Johnny Roseboro.  Lou Johnson doubled home a run in the fifth and Maury Wills did the same in the sixth.  The Twins put men on first and third with one out in the sixth, but Tony Oliva grounded into a double play.  The only other Twins threat came in the eighth, when an error and a walk put men on first and second with two out.  Eighteen of the Twins' outs came on infield grounders.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 0-for-4.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Camilo Pascual started and pitched five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk with no strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins led the series two games to one.

Notes:  Sam Mele once again used Joe Nossek in center rather than Jimmie Hall to try to get a platoon advantage.  On the one hand, while Hall had a fine season, he had slumped badly down the stretch and did not have a good record against left-handed pitchers.  On the other hand, Nossek had shown no particular ability to hit either left or right-handed pitching...I'm not one hundred percent sure about that first-inning double steal, but the Twins had men on first and third with two out and the play-by-play reads "Versalles Caught Stealing Hm (C-SS-C-3B)".  My assumption is that, while it may not have been a straight steal, Killebrew at least went far enough toward second to draw a throw and Versalles was trying to catch the Dodgers by surprise...Claude Osteen is kind of "the other guy" on those 1960s Dodgers teams, after Koufax and Drysdale, but he was a fine pitcher in his own right.  He posted an ERA under four every year from 1962-74.  In four of those years his ERA was under three and all but three of them in was under 3.50.  His WHIP was under 1.3 in all but two of those seasons.  He also pitched over two hundred innings every year from 1963-73, pitching over two hundred fifty in all but three of those years.  His won-lost record was usually around .500, partly because of the poor offense the Dodgers had.  He did win twenty games in 1969 and 1974, though.  For his career, which went from 1957-75, he was 196-195, 3.30 ERA, 1.28 WHIP.  His average season as a Dodger (1965-73) was 16-14, 3.09, 1.22 WHIP, 37 starts, 266 innings...The time of game was 2:06.  I wonder when the last time was a World Series game came that close to two hours.