Braves take 3 of 4 to eliminate Redbirds

8/1-8/2 - County Stadium
GAME 1 - Braves 3, Cardinals 1
The ageless wonder, Warren Spahn, went the distance and allowed just a solo run in the 9th inning, while scattering 7 hits.  Milwaukee broke the ice with a 2 run / 2 out homer by Eddie Mathews in the bottom of the 3rd then added an insurance run with a Joe Adcock solo shot in the 6th off of Larry Jackson.  Ken Boyer hit a deep sac fly with runners on the corners and nobody out in the 9th, but the heart of the Cardinal order failed to produce anymore runs.

 

GAME 2 - Cardinals 3, Braves 2
A young and hungry Bob Gibson carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th, but began to tire.  Gibson gave his manager that mean grimace when he came to the mound to take the ball.  Lindy McDaniel came on to get the final 5 outs to close it, but that was only after he made it real interesting.  Pinch hitter Jimmie Schaffer solo homer gave the Cardinals a super important insurance run.  Milwaukee would score with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th to make it a 1 run game when Lee Maye singled home catcher Joe Torre.  Frank Bolling would come up with runners in scoring position and 1 out but grounded into a tailor made 6-4-3 DP to end it.

8/4-8/5 - Sportsman Park
GAME 3 - Braves 8, Cardinals 2
Ray Sadecki gave up 4 in the third and 4 in the 7th as the Braves took a 2-1 series lead.  Frank Bolling, who was yesterday's rally killer, was today's hot hitter.  Bolling went 4 for 5 hitting in the #2 hole.  Bob Buhl threw 6 1/3 shutout innings before letting Tony Cloninger to finish it out.  St. Louis was only able to manager 2 runs on 10 hits.

 

GAME 4 - Braves 7, Cardinals 4
Spahn returned for a second go round in the series.  Spahn battled to stay in it all day.   Fourtysomething year old pitchers do have off days.  It was a credit to his fortitude that he was able to battle.  The Cards finally solved his potpourri of junk pitches for 4 runs in the 6th to grab a 2 run lead.  Unfortunately for the Cards their starter Ernie Broglio ran out of gas by the 5th inning and they were forced to rely on the pen.  Lindy McDaniel was called on again and in less than 2 innings of work he imploded to allow 5 runs.  That turned a 2 run lead into a 3 run deficit, which was just too much for the Cardinal bats to overcome.  Ron Piche, Don Nottebart and Don McMahon shared the final 3 innings worth of work and allowed just 2 hit.  Joe Adcock knocked in 3 runs for the Braves by going 2 for 4 and blasting 2 doubles.  Young Joe Torre went 2 for 5 in the 8 hole and has begun to show lots of promise.  Milwaukee's win eliminated the Redbirds in 4.