BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
Ted Williams homers but the Sox fall to St. Louis

May 8, 1948 ... The Red Sox dipped under .500 again today at Fenway Park when Fred Sanford scattered seven hits and steered the Browns to a 9 to 2 victory before 11,662 fans. Sanford was forced to a three-two count frequently, but he was able to steady down and complete his mission. It was his third victory of the season against only one defeat. Ted Williams and Stan Spence each whacked out successive homers in the eighth-inning to lead the Red Sox.

St. Louis, led by Al Zarilla, rookie Ken Wood and Roy Partee, the ex-Red Sox catcher, chased starter Mickey Harris and jumped all over reliever Denny Galehouse. Tex Hughson made his first appearance of the year late the game, and although granting two hits, held St. Louis scoreless for two innings.

The Browns had 16 hits good for 23 bases, and the Red Sox helped them along by making three errors in the afternoon. The visitors took advantage of Red Sox mistakes immediately. Leadoff man Specs Dillinger wound up on third-base after Sam Mele misjudged a routine fly ball to right and had the ball slip off his glove. Dillinger scored as Bobby Doerr was throwing out Chuck Stevens on a ground ball for the first St. Louis run.

The Red Sox evened it up temporarily on Dom DiMaggio's walk and singles by Williams and Spence in the bottom of the first inning. But then the Browns scored in the second inning when Wood, up from Elmira, where the lead the Eastern League in home runs, reached second when Vern Stephens threw the ball past Spence, after taking his ground ball. Singles by Zarilla, Eddie Pellagrini and Partee produced three runs and gave the Browns a 4 to 1 lead.

Harris was knocked out in the third inning on Whitey Platt's single, a triple by Wood and Zarilla's base hit, which produced two more runs. Denny Galehouse then took over for the Red Sox, and after getting Pellagrini on a fly ball, was saved a run when Ted Williams cut down Zarilla at the plate after Partee's single.

The Brown scored one in the sixth and then jumped all over Galehouse in the eighth. Platt tripled over DiMaggio's head and the ball went off the centerfield wall. He walked home on Wood's fly ball to center, but then Zarilla homered 10 rows up in the right field bleachers.

The Red Sox hit Sanford hard in the eighth-inning, when the Red Sox, now down 9 to 2, scored two more runs. Williams slugged his fifth homer of the year into the right-field seats just inside the foul pole, with Spence practically duplicating the hit for his second home run of the season. The brief uprising died when Stephens fouled out and Mele flied out. The final score the game was 9 to 2 and Sanford threw 141 pitches. He ended the six-game hitting streaks of Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky and Birdie Tebbetts.

Vern Stephens had an indifferent day at shortstop, nevertheless came up with a fine play to throw out Pellagrini from the hole, after making a nice backhanded stop. Johnny Pesky came up with a pair good plays on a hard-hit balls by Priddy and Sanford. Mickey Harris made a great attempt on Sanford's attempted sacrifice in the second inning, and might have had a twin killing, had not Stephens thrown the ball over Spence's head, after forcing Partee at second.

In the 15 games played to date, the Red Sox starting pitchers have only finished three times.