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BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE
CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
Ted Williams
helps knock the Indians
out of first place
July 24, 1948
... The Red Sox won a thrilling twin bill
before 34,129 raucous rooters at Fenway Park. The Sox twice beat the
Cleveland Indians, coming from behind both times, to sneak by with a
6 to 5 decision in the first game and a 2 to 1 victory in the second.
They therefore captured second place only percentage points behind
the league-leading Philadelphia Athletics, who knocked off the
Detroit Tigers 8 to 6. Ted Williams' line drive single won the
first game, and his double off the left centerfield wall tied the second one,
setting up the winning run. In addition, his bullet throw home held the speedy
Larry Doby at third, with a run that would have given the Indians a fifth inning
2 to 0 lead. The Sox battled through the doubleheader without the services of
Johnny Pesky and manager Joe McCarthy, who were evicted prior to the start of
the third inning by Umpire Stephens.
The glorious day for the turned away crowd highlighted a drive that started
at the end of May, when the Red Sox were 11 1/2 out of first. Their record since
then shows them winning 39 games in their last 52, to pass both the Yankees and
the Indians. The Indians have held first place since June 1st until today.
Dave Ferriss, superb in a first game relief role, and Mel Parnell, who was
hit hard at times but proficient in the clutch, were the winners. The Indians
received some good pitching from Sam Zoldak for a major portion of the second
game, while Bob Lemon was spotty at times, but might have staggered through the
opener with some additional hitting by his teammates. However, the Indians left
a total of 24 men on base for the day.
Singles by DiMaggio, Pesky, a double from Williams, and a walk to Stephens,
along with a sacrifice fly by Bobby Doerr, gave Boston three runs in the very
first inning against Lemon. The Indians took kindly to Jack Kramer, having
beaten him in Cleveland, landed hard on him for four runs in their second
inning. The highlight for them was a home run over the leaping Sam Mele by
pitcher Lemon.
Ferriss took over for Kramer in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and
one away, striking out Jim Hegan and getting Lemon on a pop up. In their half,
the Red Sox came back to tie the game temporarily, on a walk to Doerr, an error
by Sid Gordon on Sam Mele's grounder, and Billy Goodman's double, that got by
leftfielder Dale Mitchell, trying for a shoestring catch. But in the eighth, the
Indians put together one to re-take the lead on a single by Mitchell, a double
by Hank Edwards and a sacrifice fly by Sid Gordon.
Then came the Red Sox vital rally. Goodman waited out Lemon to get the
seventh walk he allowed in the game. Goodman moved over to second when Lou
Boudreau threw out Dave Ferriss and scored the tying run on DiMaggio's solid
single to left. Then the Red Sox got a break when Billy Hitchcock reached on a
slow roller, mishandled by the in rushing Gordon behind the mound for a base
hit. Dominic reach second, where he scored on Williams' hard single to right,
that gave the Sox a 6 to 5 win.
Down 1 to 0 in the second game, DiMaggio was walked to open up the home half
of the seventh-inning. Williams then belted a pitch from Zoldak off the
centerfield fence for a double that scored Dom with the tying run. That was all
for Zoldak, and none other than Bob Feller came in a chorus of increasing boos.
Feller got Stephens to line one hard out to Mitchell, and with first base
open decided walked Bobby Doerr. But he couldn't get the ball over the plate to
Mele, who also took a walk to load the bases. Goodman looked at two pitched
balls and Feller was thgen replaced by Russ Christopher. Christopher finished
the at-bat by walking Goodman, to force in Williams with what proved to be the
winning run.
It was the first time Joe McCarthy had been chased from again this year.
Pesky was ejected for disputing a called third strike in the third inning and
that was too much for McCarthy, so he too was chased.
The Red Sox have now won 13 of 15 without Williams and three in a row since
his return. |
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