the barber                           larsen

13-5, 2.87                        11-5, 3.26

maglie, a former giant was outright sold by the indians in may after making only 2 appearences for them. from mid august on, maglie went 8-1 posting a 2.21 era, during which he beat cincy twice and milwaukee once, the exact difference the dodgers finished ahead of both teams in the pennant race.

larsen, dreadful at home (4.24) as opposed to on the road (2.19). ultimately, lost his spot in the rotation for much of july. larsen switched his delivery, using no windup and having better results. although posting a pedestrian w-l record, he threw a 2.15 era and earned himself a start in game 2 of the series. larsen's problem is that he isn't a strikeout pitcher. his k:bb ratio is damn near 1:1.

in game 2, larsen was spotted a 6-0 lead and still didn't make it out of the 2nd inning. larsen wouldn't be credited with any earned runs but was lifted after giving up a single, 2 walks, and error and a sacrafice fly.

maglie started game 1 and outdueled yankees ace whitey ford. mantle tagged maglie early with his first homerun of the series and afterwards 'the barber' settled in and stymied the yankees offense sans a billy martin dinger. it is somewhat of a suprise that larsen is starting today. stengal had hinted at skipping him with the series tied. last year's version of this series, stengal went with 25 year old bob grim in game 5 only to see the yankees lose and give brookyln the 3-2 series lead.

first pitch @ 7:00 pm est on mlb network