Remembering 1965 – Part 33 – Koufax just too tough – Twins lose 2-0

1965 Twins World Series game 7 ticketGame 7 matched Sandy Koufax and Jim Kaat, who traded scoreboard zeroes until the top of the fourth, when Dodger left fielder Lou Johnson lined a homer off the left-field foul pole. Ron Fairly followed with a double, and he scored on Wes Parker‘s single just a moment later. Kaat was lifted by manager Sam Mele and he brought in his closer Al Worthington, who quickly put a stop to the Dodgers scoring spree, but the Dodgers had two big runs on the board and Koufax on the mound. Would a manager bring in his closer in the fourth inning today, I think not. Worthington was followed by Johnny Klippstein, Jim Merritt, and Jim Perry and they each held the Dodgers off the scoreboard. Jim Gilliam made a great play in the fifth to squelch a Twin rally, and Koufax cruised from there, retiring 13 of the next 14 hitters to finish with a World Series-clinching, three-hit shutout.

Sandy Koufax - World Series MVP
Sandy Koufax – World Series MVP

What more can you say? Some times teams don’t lose the game, the other team wins, I think that was the case here. You have to give credit where credit is due.

If you want to watch game 7 again you can see it on our Twins Audio and Video clips page.

Box score.

Sandy Koufax and the 1965 World Series on a site called Baseball Analysts.

The Twins have to be satisfied with this AL Championship ring instead of a World Series championship ring.
The Twins have to be satisfied with this AL Championship ring instead of a World Series championship ring.

German born Navy vet 65-68 and served aboard the Shangri La CVA-38. I run https://Twinstrivia.com, best MN Twins historical web site there is. Stop by daily and check out OTD in Twins history and much more. Live in Minnesota and Florida depending on what time of the year it is.