Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, MN
Here was my chance to revisit one of Sandy Koufax’s ‘great games’ as the ferocious Twins of 1965 dropped the most important game of the year against the Dodgers in a complete-game shut-out, courtesy of Mr Koufax.
Jim Kaat was all there, and all good early on in the game, but Lou Johnson’s lead-off HR in the 4th signaled a rapid decline. 2 batters later, the Dodgers had 2 runs on the board and Jim Kaat got the hook.
LAD 2 7 0
MIN 0 3 1
Kaat’s incredible lapse spelled the only offensive eruption of the entire game; the rest of the play was defensive magnificence for both teams. History would defend Kaat’s quick exit; at the time you’d think he might have been able to recover, but as his relief was effective, Koufax was more so. Aside from some baserunning antics in the 5th, he kept the Twins down and they stayed down.
The mighty Harmon Killebrew couldn’t even stir up the soup in the 9th. The Twins started to threaten when he singled, but Sandy effortlessly retired the next two batters and the Twins retired the series to Los Angeles.
The interference call during the Twins’ 3rd was a very unusual situation. Did it benefit the Dodgers? Probably not.
I scored this game 12/11/09.
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