1962 season by establishing an early lead and, though they fell back by mid-April, held at least a share of that lead continuously from April 28 to June 7. At that point the Dodgers overtook the Giants, and for the next month the lead was traded between the two sides five times. The Giants held the lead for the last time on July 7. The Dodgers went 20–6 in July while the Giants went 16–11, allowing the Dodgers to take the league lead on July 8 and hold it until season's last regular game. The Los Angeles Times described the Dodgers' season as a "gamut of sublime" and "ridiculous", noting their successes—such as Maury Wills' 100 stolen bases breaking Ty Cobb's single-season record, Don Drysdale's 25 wins, and Sandy Koufax's no-hitter on June 30—together with problems such as the 18 unearned runs the defense had allowed for the season behind Drysdale, and other fielding issues. The Dodgers lost 10 of their final 13 games from September 16 to 30, while the Giants lost just 6 over the same span. However, with seven games remaining the Dodgers were still ahead in the league by four games, and held a two-game lead with three left to play. They entered their final game with a one-game lead over the Giants, but fell 1–0 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Giants won 2–1 over the Houston Colt .45's, after an eighth-inning home run by Willie Mays. These results left the Dodgers and Giants tied in the league at 101–61, necessitating a tie-breaker to decide the NL pennant. The two teams had also played closely against one another during the regular season to this point, with each winning 9 of their 18 match-ups prior to the tie-breaker. Dodgers' manager Walt Alston and Giants' manager Alvin Dark could not agree on dates and sites for the tie-breaker, so they flipped a coin to decide home field advantage. Alston won the flip, opting to play the first game in San Francisco and the remaining two games in Los Angeles. The Dodgers had been more successful at home in the season, holding a 53–28 (.654 winning percentage) record there while going 47–34 (.580) on the road. Alston had also won the flip for the 1959 tie-breaker, which the Dodgers had gone on to win, and had chosen the same format. Game 1 summary Sandy Koufax had missed