Common Denominator: Lou Johnson

 "Scored the only run in Koufax's perfect game 9/9/65 and gave Sandy the only run he'd need in the seventh contest of that year's Fall Classic."

That would be Lou Johnson, who passed away two days ago. Sadly, baseball lost Bob Gibson later that day. Ron Perranoski, Johnson's teammate on the 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers, also passed away just yesterday. It has been a sad year for baseball legends.

Lou Johnson might not have been a legend, but as LA took on Chicago at home on September 9th, 1965, it was Sandy Koufax on the hill. Sandy needed no introduction. He'd finish the year with 26 wins, 382 K's, and top the National League in earned run average for the fourth straight year.

The Dodgers did have a weakness, though. Don Drysdale was second on the club in '65 with 23 wins, Claude Osteen third, 15. Osteen also lost 15 contests that season despite an earned run average of 2.79. Koufax was at 2.04 and Drysdale at 2.77. Though they won 49 games between them, it didn't come easy. Johnny Podres was able to win just seven games despite a no-so-bad ERA of 3.43.

In the bullpen, Perranoski and Bob Miller each won just six games despite earned run averages of 2.24 and 2.97.

But all those numbers could have been so much better if the team had any offence. The 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers finished a distant eighth with just 608 runs scored. The pitching held 'em in there. The staff had the best (lowest) earned run average in the National League, 2.81.

And Sandy Koufax no-hit the Chicago Cubs 1-0 on September 9th at home. However, all the Los Angeles fans had to make sure he got that 27th out, or you never know.

Bob Hendley hung in there with Sandy all night. The only run scored was by Dodger Lou Johnson.

It happened in an interesting way. Obviously, the scored was tied. All the way until the last of the fifth. Johnson drew a leadoff walk on a 3-2 pitch from Hendley to become the game's first runner. Ron Fairly, hitless of course, bunted. The sacrifice moved Johnson into scoring position with just one away. Johnson wasted no time while on second. First pitch to Jim Lefebvre, he made a b-line towards third.

Chris Krug, the Cubbies catcher, threw to third. And it was a bad throw. Into left. And here's the thing: Lou Johnson was sure he had it stolen anyway, and told Krug later!

But most importantly, Johnson scored on all that transpired (Which, if you are scoring...No at bat has been charged from the walk to the crossing of the dish). 1-0, Los Angeles. Oh, Lefebvre struck out and Hendley got Wes Parker to ground out. So those two AB's resulted in outs. However, it's the ones that didn't that led to the final score.

Hendley continued to pitch well. Sixth inning, Bob needed just five pitches to get the side out. In the seventh, he needed eight more to get the first two men out. And then Lou Johnson was back at the dish.

After taking a ball, Lou lifted a pitch to first. Just out of the reach of first basemen Ernie Banks. Johnson motored to second. And there, he stayed as Bob Hendley got behind Ron Fairly 3-1, but retired him on a grounder to short.

But Koufax didn't need that hit. He had his run from the fifth inning. In the seventh, he'd needed just a dozen pitches of his own to retire the side. Eighth inning? A K of Ron Santo. A strikeout of Ernie Banks. When Byron Brown fanned, Sandy needed just three more outs for a perfect game.

Bob Hendley needed just ten pitches to get 'em 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame. So Sandy didn't have long to wait. How'd he do in the ninth?

Krug fanned on a 2-2. Joey Amalfitan fell behind 0-2, and then fanned. Bob Hendley would not bat for himself, of course. So Harvey Kuenn hit for him. Sandy fired a strike. 0-1. But then missed, twice. A swing and a miss for 2-2. And a swing and a miss for strike three! And...A perfect game.

Oh, did you remember Lou Johnson scored the only run? And got the only hit? Koufax actually hadn't won a game since August 14th, no doubt raising some eyebrows. All was back to normal after September 9th, though.

And Koufax, who won game number 22 on the night, added four more wins to close the season. Oddly enough, both Don Drysdale and Koufax lost their first starts in the World Series that season to Minnesota.

Claude Osteen beat the Twins in the third contest at home. Drysdale won 7-2. Koufax did even better! He beat Minny 7-0.

Osteen had a chance to put this thing away and be the hero in the sixth game. But back in Minnesota, it was the Twins whippin' LA to a tune of 5-1. So this was going to a seventh and deciding game.

It was Sandy Koufax (1-1) vs. Jim Kaat (1-1).

And the two lefties kept things scoreless through three innings at Metropolitan Stadium. Johnson flew out to right to leave a man on second in the top of the first. Koufax had big trouble. He got two outs in the bottom of the frame, then walked two before ending the inning with his second strikeout.

Sandy got two more K's in a 1-2-3 second. Although he allowed a single in the bottom of the third, Koufax not only pitched out of it, he got two more strikeouts.

In the top of the fourth, Lou Johnson broke the scoreless deadlock. He hit a home run just fair, leading off. Two more hits followed an it was 2-0, Los Angeles. Jim Kaat hit the showers. Those two runs would be the only touches of home the entire contest. For either side.

The home team, Minny, got two on with only one out in the bottom of the fifth, but Jim Gilliam made an excellent stop of Zoilo Versalles's hit to third. Gilliam made the putout at third unassisted. Gilliam was the oldest LA Dodger still left over from their Brooklyn years. The veteran still had it. Sandy Koufax then got Joe Nossek to ground into a force at second.

From there, Koufax seemed to just be that much better. He got 'em 1-2-3 in the sixth, fanning Tony Oliva on an explosive fastball. The same in the seventh and eighth. Sandy retired the side in order.

Lou Johnson, meanwhile, tried to get his pitcher more offence. In the top of the seventh, he'd come up with two on and just one out against Minnesota's Johnny Klippstein. But Klippstein (Who'd not only been a Dodger, but even got a ring as part of their 1959 World Championship) got Johnson to ground out to third. Although both runners advanced, Ron Fairly was retired and a promising inning had led to zilch on the Dodgers' part.

Johnson did not bat again. But the left fielder collected the ball as Harmon Killebrew singled with one away in the last of the ninth. There was no pinch runner. Sandy Koufax fanned Earl Battey on three pitches. Bob Allison, the game's last batter, went to 2-2 before Koufax collected K #10!

Lou Johnson's contributions to these two huge Sandy Koufax games in 1965 have been forgotten over time. With he died on September 30th of this year, though, it is time to remember the Los Angeles Dodgers' outfielder for giving Sandy the offence he needed to win both those contests.

References

“1965 World Series.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965_World_Series. 

Buckley, James, and Phil Pepe. Unhittable: Reliving the Magic and Drama of Baseball's Best-Pitched Games. Triumph Books, 2004. 

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-Play of Every Game, 1903-1989. St. Martin's Press, 1990. 

Nemec, David. The Baseball Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of Major League Baseball. Publications International, Ltd., 2008. 

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. https://www.baseball-reference.com/. 11 Oct. 2020.

Common Denominator: Sandy Koufax's Perfect Game And Game Seven Win

Koufax simply did it all in 1965. He dominated on the mound with a 26-8 record. Another ERA title, his fourth straight, 2.04. 8 shutouts and 382 K's. He was unhittable. And on September 9th of that year, the Chicago Cubs could not get a man to first safely against him. But for a while, neither could Sandy's own team. Sandly looked to Lou Johnson to get some offence in two important games that year.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, were giving Koufax the usual support. As in one or two runs. Actually, in this game at home, the Dodgers were going down fast at the dish. While Sandy was humming along, his mound opponent, Bob Hendley, was getting 'em out. The Dodgers were going down so quick Sandy wasn't getting the proper rest between innings.

Hendley needed just ten pitches to get 'em 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first, matching Koufax's own ten-pitch inning. In the second, Koufax needed thirteen, but Hendley needed just seven. Bottom of the third, Hendley needs just six. Bottom of the fourth, seven again. Someone should have told the Dodgers to be patient.

In the bottom of the fifth, Bob got ahead of Lou Johnson 1-2, but could not find the plate on the next three pitches. A baserunner! Ron Fairly bunted him to second, first pitch. Johnson then stole third on the first pitch to Jim Lefebvre. The throw to nail him at third was for not, and it also ended up a miss fire. Johnson scored. There had not been an at-bat on that entire sequence. When Lefebvre fanned and Wes Parker grounded back to Hendley, the inning was over. Hendley had the no-hitter intact. Koufax, though, had the perfect game.

The next inning was the easiest of the night for Hendley as it took him just five pitches to retire the side in order. Now he was through six, had a no-hitter, and was losing 1-0. Koufax looked like he was about to walk Billy Williams in the top of the seventh with two down. He was behind in the count 3-0. Koufax threw a strike. Williams fouled one off. The count was full. Billy flied to left.

Hendley got the first two batters out in the bottom of the frame to keep pace. But back at the dish was Johnson, who then doubled on an 1-0 pitch. The inning ended, however, as Ron Fairly grounded out. It was too bad for the Dodgers, as Fairly himself had gotten ahead in the count 3-1. A walk here might have knocked the red-hot Hendley out of the game.

But Koufax did not care. He had his one run lead. Top of the eight, K, K, K. Three pinch hitters came to the dish in the top of the ninth to try and stop him from perfection. No chance. They all went down, including pinch hitter Harvey Kuenn, who was batting for Hendley as the games' last batter. 1-0 Dodgers on a 113 pitches. 79 for strikes. Perfect game! Thank you Lou!



It seemed more of the same for Sandy as the Dodgers took on the Minnesota Twins in the World Series that year. The home team won the first six games, but guess where game seven was? In Minny. Koufax was up against Jim Kaat, who'd been good enough to beat Sandy 5-1 in game two.

Kaat and Koufax looked shaky early. Koufax walked a pair in the bottom of the first. In the top of the third, it was Johnny Roseboro with a double and Koufax himself with a walk to start things. But Los Angeles could not score.

Koufax himself gave up a single in the bottom of the frame, but in the top of the fourth, he was primed for some support. Up came Lou Johnson. On a 1-1 from Kaat, he took him deep to left for a solo home run. It was just fair. As it turns out, that's all Sandy needed.

Unlike the perfect game, the Dodgers added a run as Ron Fairly followed the home run with a double and Wes Parker hit a single. Each of that on the first pitch. The Dodgers were up 2-0 in the sequence of three pitches.

And Sandy held it up, of course. He gave up a one-out single to Harmon Killebrew in the bottom of the ninth, but then fanned Earl Battey and Bob Allison to complete the shutout (His second, as he'd gotten one in game five, too), give him ten K's and be the hero.



Koufax didn't get much offence from the Dodgers, even when he really needed it. But Lou sure helped Sandy win two (games) in '65, eh?


References

Retrosheet (Retrosheet) http://www.retrosheet.org/

Baseball Reference (Baseball-Reference.com) http://www.baseball-reference.com/

(YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/

(ESPN)
http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/108965/stats-to-remember-sandy-koufaxs-perfect-game