the unusually fresh and clear air, blue sky, geese overhead, the whole works, clears out some cobwebs in my brain, and reminds me that, what was i thinking last night, i made a whole post about the images in my memory, without once bothering to look up what nowadays has become very simple googling. so it turns out, after mulling it over a little today, a little clarifying is in order. i don't want to change the post (below)- it's an accurate though rambling account of my memory- but the least i can do is set the record straight.

when i told my son about it this morning, i had to admit, first of all, that i had no idea about the standings today, who was up, what was up, anything. so, first thing tonight, i looked those up, and found out, lo and behold, there is actually one and only one race in the majors, in our very own division, between the tigers & twins, with the twins but 2 games out & playing the tigers a lot. but both are at least ten wins behind the red sox & not likely to win the wild card if they don't knock out their brother. so, that's ok, i like the twins too, even lived in minneapolis for a while, but that's not to mention the ten years in toledo, shadow of tiger stadium, watching al kaline and dick mcauliffe from far left field. i love 'em all, even the white sox & royals,they're our neighbors, except of course when they play the indians, but in case they make it & the indians don't, i'll stick with 'em most of the way, i'll keep likin' 'em, tigers, twins, whoever makes it.

so then, turns out koufax's big decision was in 1965, and occurred against the twins; if the yankees were involved at all, i couldn't discern. probably the giants were, on some level, as they were always haunting the dodgers those days no matter how good the dodgers were; but that would have been the regular season, this was the series. and what was remarkable here was that, one would think that by not pitching game one, koufax would forfeit the right to pitch three of the series games (in a 7-game-series)- a true star signs right up for 1, 4, & 7, no? but religious koufax, in ducking 1, would now pitch 2 & 5, & miss 7. but lo & behold he pitched 2 & 5, then pitched 7; and, though he lost 2, he won 5 and came back even stronger in 7, and won that too. so he came back very powerful, as if rested by the spirit, as if, you sit out the big one, you can pitch 20 innings if you like. and bowl them over in the process.

another story involved al rosen, an indian, and then, greenberg, a tiger, and then, a few modern players also, all of whom now face this problem. my own recollection, though, is funny- how did i turn it into a game against the yankees? or, as a perennial new york argument?

koufax, it turns out, was from brooklyn itself. native son, trolley dodger. i'm ok with that. i'm going for a twins-dodger series, drawn out to seven, maybe i'll even get a tv again; haven't had one, really, since the days of 9/11 or before, when everything on there pretty much turned my stomach, but when, ironically, the weather was much like it is now: cool, clear, blue-sky, geese-honkin' beautiful. if there were a twins-dodger series, now that would be different, it would be worth getting or at least watching a tv. that, maybe, or the indians again. chou...