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Some random thoughts jotted while watching the Phillies take a commanding lead in the series they weren't supposed to win:

• Sandy Koufax was sitting behind the Dodgers' dugout, which elicited this comment from Tim McCarver in the second inning: "Best curveball I've ever seen: Sandy Koufax. Everybody talks about his velocity, but it was his curve that stood out. If Sandy was getting his curveball over in the first inning, the game was over."

I once co-wrote a book about pitchers, and can heartily second McCarver's opinion. Contemporary National League umpire Jocko Conlan described Koufax's overhand curveball as "the greatest curve around … That was the reason for all his victories." And Conlan's colleague Tom Gorman said Koufax "had the best curveball, for a left-hander, that I ever saw."

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