Koufax, Dodgers Dominate Phillies

Apr. 18, 1965 - Sandy Koufax, showing signs of his arm ailment, today pitched the Dodgers to a 6-2 victory over the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium.

The 29-year-old southpaw, suffering from traumatic arthritis in his pitching arm, was not quite the fastball ace who had won 44 games for Los Angeles in the last two seasons. He allowed only five hits, but his control wasn’t sharp, and he appeared to be taking something off his fastball. He struck out seven men and walked four.

“There have been days,” remarked Philadelphia manager Gene Mauch, “when Koufax looked like the best picture I’ve ever seen. Today, he looked like the best Jewish pitcher I’ve ever seen.

“If he’s only going to be a once-a-week pitcher, then maybe his extra strength will help him overcome any wildness he might have.”

The Dodgers scored enough to win and to hand Bo Belinsky his first loss as a National Leaguer with a three-run rally in the fourth.

Singles by Tommy Davis and John Roseboro and a passed ball put runners at second at third. Jim Lefebvre then tripled home two runs and scored himself on Ron Fairly’s sacrifice fly.

LeFebvre’s triple came on a hanging screwball after he had fouled off a couple of 3-2 pitches.

“I jammed him real good with fastballs, and he hung in there,” Belinsky said. “It kills you when you need the strikeout and the guy barely gets a piece of it.”

Koufax, who left the Dodgers’ training camp April 1 with a swollen left elbow, gave up a hit to the leadoff hitter, Cookie Rojas, then held the Phils without a hit until Richie Allen singled with one out in the sixth and Dick Stuart followed with his first homer of the year.

“I once went 100 times at bat in 1960 without a homer,” Stuart recalled. “It was good to get that first one, but I wish I could have gotten a couple more. The way that wind was blowing to left field, even the lefthanders were hitting shots out there.”

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