Giants best Dodgers 2 games to 1

8/12 - Dodger Stadium - Dodgers 8, Giants 2
Don Drysdale goes the distance, allowing just two runs while scattering eight hits in an 87-pitch performance. The Dodger bats open the season with a bang, battering Giants ace John "Count the Baserunners" Montefusco for eight runs and seven hits over five innings. Willie Davis delivered three hits and six different Dodgers had RBIs to lead the way. Bobby Murcer staked SF to an early lead with a first inning solo homer. But Drysdale had the SF batters eating out of his jar of Vaseline jelly after that. The Giants could muster just one more tally the rest of the game. The Blue Crew stranded nine runners, making the game look a lot closer than it actually was.

8/13 - Dodger Stadium - Giants 8, Dodgers 5 (12 innings)
The Dodgers bang out another 19 hits but waste a 10-inning, 14-strikeout effort by Sandy Koufax as the Giants score come-from-behind win. Willie Montanez slugged a three-run homer deep into the right field parking lot to awake the sleeping Giants offense. Bobby Murcer added his second bleacher-reacher of the series in the sixth and SF scored an unearned run off of
Koufax in the eighth for what appeared to be a comfortable 5-2 lead. But the Dodgers chased Giants starter Jim Barr with four hits and three runs in the bottom of the inning to force bonus ball. It stayed 5-5 until the 12th, when San Francisco's Glen Adams ripped a two-run pinch single. Dave Heaverlo pitched two scoreless inning in relief for the win and Charlie Williams, the last man standing in the Giants pen, notched the save.

8/14 - Dodger Stadium - Giants 7, Dodgers 3
Home runs by Chris Speier and Dave Rader staked starter Pete Falcone to an early 5-0 lead and the young southpaw made it stand up. After battering Giants pitching for 19 hits in the first two games, LA was checked on just four hits over six innings by Falcone. The Dodgers aided their own demise with poor base running (two runners gunned down at home plate) and stranded seven more, giving the Southlanders 27 for the series. San Francisco's Derrel Thomas collected two hits and swiped a pair of bases to lead the Giants offensively. --submitted by Ron Leone--