BUMMER OF ’62
Stan Williams says he’s gotten over blowing a pennant-clinching save against the Giants, but he feels it made him an outcast with Dodgers
It’s been 56 years, and he still remembers every pitch.
“Ball one, down and away,” says Stan Williams, spitting out the words with a grimace. “Ball two, down and away.”
This former Dodger threw to 7,521 batters in a career he believes has been defined by only one — Jim Davenport, San Francisco Giants, Dodger Stadium, 1962, ninth inning, bases loaded.
“Threw him a strike down the middle, he took it,” Williams says.
It was a pennant-deciding playoff game between the Dodgers and Giants. The score was tied 4-all. Williams had been summoned from the bullpen to save a season, drive a stake through a rival and help send the Dodgers to the World Series.
With a count of two balls and one strike, he lost it all.
“Threw him two more balls, and that was it,” Williams says, shaking his head. “Walked him. Walked in the winning run. That’s how I’ll be remembered.”
On a recent afternoon in a modest Lakewood home he has owned for more than half a century, the 81-year-old man has had enough of the reminiscing.
“Let’s go out to my garage,” he says. “I want to have a cigarette.”
They say they forget. They never forget.
They claim to be thinking only about the next day. Yet that next day can last a lifetime.
With this Dodgers season painfully focused on their struggling bullpen, it seems like every blown game is followed by claims of short memories and fresh tomorrows.
Stan Williams stretches his 6-foot-5-inch frame across a recliner, tightens his jaw and offers weathered proof that it’s not al-
San Francisco catcher Buster Posey will undergo season-ending hip surgery Monday, ending what has been a painful and frustrating year for the six-time All-Star.
The 31-year-old Posey has been playing in pain and is hitting .284 with only 41 RBIs and five home runs — his fewest since 2011, the year before he was named National League most valuable player.
Posey is expected to be out six to eight months.
Etc.
Toronto manager John Gibbons said shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (bone spurs in both heels) will not play at all this season. Tulowitzki had surgery on both feet at the start of the season. The fivetime All-Star hasn’t played since July 2017, when he seriously injured his right ankle in a collision at first base . ... In four games since he joined the Chicago Cubs in a trade with Washington, Daniel Murphy is seven for 19 (.368) with two homers and five RBIs.