'63 Cards sweep '63 Giants

It was baseball at Candlestick Park as the Giants hosted the Cardinals in two game set. The Giants came in winners of 8 out of the last 10. They came away losers of 4 straight to the Cards. Manager Mike Roberts has the Cards on a roll, as they've won 9 of their last 10.

Game 1
Juan Marichal took the mound for the Giants and faced Curt Simmons for the Cardinals. San Fran took the lead on 4 straight singles in the bottom of the 4th to take a 2-0 lead. But it wouldn't hold up as Altman hit a routine grounder to 2nd. Hiller threw the ball in the dugout and Altman went to 2nd. Musial was intentionally walked, then Sawatski followed with a HR and the Cards were ahead,3-2. The Giants tried to tie it up in the bottom of the 9th by scoring a run but Simmons shut the last two batters down and the Cards had the win, 4-3

Game 2
With the Giants looking for a split in San Francisco, the Giants threw Jack Sanford at the Cards, with St. Louis throwing future Giant Ray Sadecki at San Fran. The Giants opened the scoring in the 4th by scoring 4 runs highlighted by an Ed Bailey HR. Sadecki was pulled in the 3rd as Stan Musial pinch hit for him and Ron Taylor relieved Sadecki to start the 4th. Throwing no hit ball the rest of the way, the Cardinals scored 2 runs each in the 6th,7th,8th to take game 2, 6-4.

Game 3
Game 3 moved to Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, with Bobby Shantz getting his 4th win of the year as he relieved starter Lew Burdette and Harry Fanok. San Franciso, for the 3rd straight game opened the scoring in the 4th with singles by Mays, Davenport,a double by Bailey and another single by Hiller and it was 3-0, Giants. With the score 4-1 going into the bottom of the 8th the Cards slapping base hits and a Giant error tied it up. Going into extra innings the Cardinals put runners on the corners with one out. Stan "the Man" Musial pinch hit for Booby Shantz in the bottom of the 11th and smacked a base hit to right and the Giants went home a loser, 5-4.

Game 4
The Giants looking to salvage something from the series put Bobby Bolin on the mound. St. Louis countered with future Hall of Famer, Bob Gibson. Again, San Francisco jumped to a lead,scoring 3 in the top of the 1st and 2 in the 3rd to take a 5-0 lead. St.Louis came roaring back to tie the game over the next 5 innings to send into extra innings.In the bottom of the 10th Ken Boyer flied to right and Tim McCarver followed with a walk off homer to end the game and give the Cards the sweep.

The series propelled St Louis to the top of the NL East while San Fran dropped back to a game back in the west. -contributed by Jim Walden-