1958: Head Of The Class On A Poor Transcontinental Team
1958 saw the Dodgers travel 3013 miles to Los Angeles where Koufax was presented with a problem. Another short left field porch!
The Dodgers played their first 4 seasons in that ridiculous ballpark (Memorial Coliseum), which was build without baseball in mind. To compensate for a distance of 250 feet to the left field foul pole, the Dodgers came up with a huge netting that measured 40 feet tall. This mesh extended to the left field power alley, which was 320 feet from home plate. Sort of like the Green Monster in Fenway, only transparent and even more absurd. Centerfield was a little for forgiving: 425. Right field? 440. Murder on Duke Snider’s bat. Snider hit 40 homeruns in 1957, he would never hit as much as 25 in one season for the rest of his career.
And the homeruns that were hit there? During the next 4 seasons, here are the homerun breakdowns totals for the Dodgers and their opponents at Memorial Stadium:
1958
Left: 182
Center: 3
Right: 8
1959
Left: 132
Center: 1
Right: 39
1960
Left: 155
Center: 3
Right: 28
1961
Left: 147
Center: 7
Right: 38
How did Koufax deal with this scenario? Far from bad, actually.
The Dodgers as a team, however, hit almost rock bottom that year. Many of the Brooklyn veterans looked lost in their new home. Roy Campanella wasn’t even there anymore, as he was paralyzed from an off season car accident. Pee Wee Reese played his last season. And it was only 59 games. Duke Snider was forced to deal with that deep right field fence. It was more like Death Valley for Snider, who played in just 106 games and dropped to only 15 homeruns. Don Newcombe started the season 0-6 with a ERA of 7.86 and was traded to Cincinnati. Johnny Podres was 13-15, Don Drysdale was only 12-13.
Koufax, meanwhile pitched in what amounted to a full season for the first time in his career. His record was only 11-11 and his ERA was 4.48. In addition, only Stan Williams (9-7) Clem Labine (6-6) and Fred Kipp (6-6) could post W-L like Sandy
The Dodgers fell all the way to 7th place (71-83) and their team ERA was 4.47, so Koufax was really no worse in earned runs than any average Dodger pitcher that season. The Dodgers were a team in transaction in more ways than one. Drysdale, only 21, led the Dodgers in innings pitched despite the fact that it was only his second full season.
Koufax kicked off the 1958 season with a perfect relief appearance against the Cubs on April 24. To give you an idea on how bad things were going for the Dodgers, they lost the game 15-2. The inning that Koufax pitched was the ninth. Earlier in the home opener between new San Francisco Giants and new Los Angeles Dodgers, Drysdale was beaten 8-0. The Dodgers need more offence, defense and pitching, eh?
Koufax started his first game, six days into May. He pitched five innings and the number 4 kept popping up in the stat line other than innings pitched: 4 (earned) runs, 4 hits, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts. A no decision overall.
Two weeks and two relief appearances later, Koufax got another start. This time, the Dodgers and Sandy emerged victorious. And it was a dandy!
Koufax went 11 strong innings, gave up just 3 runs (2 earned), 2 hits, 4 walks, and had 6 strikeouts. All this on just 134 pitches!
Eight days later Koufax had another complete-game win, although this time it was only 9 innings. Koufax allowed just six hits and 4 walks. He fanned only 6, however.
On May 30th, he actually lost a game in relief. But he finished May with his ERA at 3.41. Respectable.
His first June start is one of the most bizarre starts you will ever hear about. Perhaps thought, this is why Koufax (no matter how hard he was to get a hit off) was going to be vulnerable until he harnessed his control.
June 3rd, the start was. A date with wildness for Koufax against the Cincinnati Reds.
Sandy pitched a 1-2-3 first inning. In the second he walked one batter and had no further damage.
The third inning, though, Koufax got himself into a “walking” rut that he couldn’t quite get out of.
Gus Bell led off the faithful inning with an appropriate walk. Then Koufax appeared to settle down as Alex Gammas flied out to center and pitcher Frank Lawrence went down on strikes (#3 for Koufax).
However, Johnny Temple walked, as did Frank Robinson. Bases loaded. Smoky Burgess walked, 1-0 Cincinnati. Then when Sandy fell behind in the count to Steve Bilko, he was removed for Don Bessent. Bilko walked, which counts as a walk against Sandy. 2-0, Cincy.
So the wild lefty has walked 6 in 2.2 inning. The Reds scored 4 more runs that inning. A total of five were charged to Koufax.
Koufax, did however win his next start. And it was against the eventual pennant winning (for the second straight season) Milwaukee Braves, who beat the Dodgers to the punch in franchise shifts. The Braves had moved to Milwaukee in 1954 If you can’t beat another team in attendance because there home is in nowhereville (Yes! I know that isn’t a word. I invented it!) and yours isn’t? Join ‘em!
Join 'em out west! Only go further!
However, the Braves couldn’t beat Koufax on this day and he fired seven innings of six hit ball. The control was back, and Sandy struck out eight (Aaron only once, and ditto for Mathews, though), a season high thus far. This time, he walked but two batters, for his third win on the 1958 campaign.
After two more starts and two more relief appearances (to little effect), he picked up a win in his third relief appearance of the month. This was Sandy's 5th straight game of facing the Pirates. 3 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk and 4 punch-outs.
Then it was time for a doubleheader, June 24th.
Sandy would pitch in both to pick up a win and a save.
In the opener, though, he actually blew the save. But it should be noted that starter Don Drysdale, and relievers Fred Kipp and Johnny Klippstein where all hammered off the mound.
Klippstein had entered the game in the forth ahead 6-3, but couldn’t hold it, thus he also got charged with a blown save. Jonny left in the 6th with Los Angeles back on top 9-8. Koufax came in with one out and a runner on second.
Koufax allowed an infield single as the Dodgers got out that problem, still ahead.
After cruising through the 7th, despite a walk, Koufax was given another run to work with by LA. Now a nice 2 run lead!
However, even here Koufax couldn’t hold it. A walk, a double and a single in the eighth tied the score, earning Koufax his blown save.
Sandy stayed right with it, though, and his perseverance was rewarded soon enough. In the ninth he punched out the side despite allowing another walk, and then the Dodgers took the lead for good in the top of the 10th.
Koufax nailed down the win despite surrendering a single and still another walk in the final bottom frame.
The second game a little easier as he needed just two thirds of an inning to earn his first save of the season, This was another game that required extra innings.
He last start in June was on the 27th, as he faced Milwaukee again. It was essentially the same story as last time, as Koufax dominated the Braves again (9IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 8K). Win # 6 on the season for Sandy.
The very first day of July saw him toss another good start. 7 2/3 strong innings 7 hits, 3 earned runs, just 2 walks, for still another win. This upped his win loss record to 7-3.
July would be a strange month for Koufax, as he really didn’t pitch that bad, except for 2 starts. There weren’t any more good starts, however. He managed to start 8 games that month with no relief appearances, but back came the walks. And I mean, the BB really came back. What happened in his second start of the month might explain that.
In that start (July 5th), Koufax was off to a great game against the Cubs. But in the second inning, Jim Bolger hit a ground ball that Koufax ran to cover first on. Bolger was out, but he collided with Sandy and the lefty sprained his ankle on a spiking. It took a while to come back. And when Koufax did make it back, he took him a while before he could regain his earlier form.
Sandy Koufax's first game back was July 18th and showed some rust, as he lasted just 2/3 innings against the Phillies. He walked 4 batters. The two outs he recorded were on strikeouts.
The Dodgers decided to give him the start the very next day, given his quick exit.
It was a so-so performance. But he couldn’t overcome the walks (6) in just 7.1 innings. Those lead to 4 runs, 3 earned.
It got even worse his next start against the Pirates, as Koufax failed to get a single batter against Pittsburgh. It was the second game of a doubleheader. Actually, in that outing, he would face just 2 batters. When Roberto Clemente doubled home a run, Sandy was out of there. The Dodgers lost the game 6-2 and this earned Sandy his 4th loss.
He won his next start to make it 8 wins on the season. It was a mixed bag of a start. He went the distance and gave up just 7 hits. Along the way he fanned 7 other batters. Now for the bad part: 4 earned runs and four walks!
He walked another 5 in his next start, as the Braves finally defeated Koufax for the first time that season. Koufax sort of beat himself, really, as he walked another five batters in just 7 1/3 innings.
The poor control continued into August as the Reds knocked Sandy out after just 4.2 innings in his first start of the month. The whole month was really a washout. He had one great start in which he fanned 10, walked only 3 and gave up just 4 hits in 8 1/3 innings.
He started five more games and relived once the rest of the month. Sandy Koufax failed to get to the eighth inning of any of those starts. The walks, and now the hits, were just too much for Koufax and the Dodgers' patience. He ended the month by losing four straight starts. Now the lefty was a win one, lose one pitcher (9-9) on a team that would finish 12 games below .500.
It wasn’t a start, but his first appearance in September really got the ball rolling on a good month for Koufax.
On September 3rd, in a game against San Francisco, Stan Williams was knocked out in the second inning. After Babe Berrier pitched them out of that frame, it was Koufax’s turn from 3 until 9.
And it was a fine 7 innings: 2 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts!
Win #10!
Could he do it from 1 to 9, though? In his next four appearances, half of them starts, he couldn’t. Sandy's ERA was now 4.92, following a 1.2 inning start against Cincinnati on September 16.
However, to borrow a phrase, “Save your best for last”, Koufax delivered in his last two starts.
First came a 7 IP, 6H, 0ER, 5BB, 6K performance against the Cubs. Good enough for his eleventh win on the season.
Then he faced the Cubs again in the Dodgers 153rd and second last game of the season. Sandy gave up just one earned run in complete-game 5-hitter that included 9 strikeouts. The downside was 7 walks and his 11th loss, 2-1.
His eleven wins are even more impressive when you consider that he tossed a career high (to that point) of only 158 2/3 innings. Of his 40 games pitched, only 26 were starts.
As for the bad numbers, the ERA can be explained partially because of the home park. Here is his home / road numbers. Note the difference:
Home
2-6 5.60 ERA 62.2 IP
Road
9-5 3.75 ERA 96 IP
A bit of a difference, eh? In addition to starting out 7-3 in the first half, his ERA at that time was 3.54. All this just before that ankle injury. Then the wheels came off in the second half, as Sandy went just 4-8 with a 5.36 ERA the rest of the way. In September, however Sandy notched his best ERA month (2.90).
He walks have shot up to 6 per game (105 total, second most walks allowed in the league). Also, he led the league in wild pitches with 17. His strikeouts are down to 131, for 7.4 per nine innings.
On the plus side however, Koufax surrendered just 132 hits for 7.5 H/9 and .220 batting average against. This would be the first of 8 times he would lead the league in lowest batting average against. Only Sam Jones allowed fewer hits against per nine innings.
References
"Chicago Cubs 7, Los Angeles Dodgers 1." Retrosheet, 1996. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. <http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1958/B07050LAN1958.htm>
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
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