|
 |
|
STAN SPENCE |
BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE
CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
The Red Sox pound away at the Browns
August 3, 1948
... The Red Sox outscored the 7th place St.
Louis Browns, 15 to 8, in a sloppy game played at Sportsman's Park.
They thus found themselves simultaneously in third place by
percentage points, and yet in a virtual tie for first. The Browns
outhit the Red Sox 14 to 12, but their six pitchers gave up nine base on balls,
and thirdbaseman Bob Dillinger, committed two costly errors, which gave the Red
Sox impetus in this seventh and eighth innings, thus sewing up the verdict. Jack
Kramer was given credit for the win, although he was forced to retire at the end
of three innings because of a sore arm. He was leading 5 to 3 at the time and
lefty Earl Johnson finished up for him, going strong for three innings, but
weakening in the last three.
Stan Spence, who seems to have recovered his batting eye, led the Sox attack
with three hits, one of them his eighth home run of the year, and he chased home
four runs. Ted Williams also knocked out his 18th home run of the year, that
cleared the right-field stands and landed on Grand Boulevard.
Spence's four-bagger highlighted a four-run Boston first inning, scoring Vern
Stephens ahead of him. Stephens had just tripled, scoring Johnny Pesky and
Williams. Ted made it 5 to 0 in the third inning with his home run.
Kramer had trouble with his control and was behind the batters constantly and
kept shrugging his shoulders as if to loosen them. But after he gave up four
straight hits and a walk for three runs, after two were out in the third,
manager Joe McCarthy decided something wasn't right and lifted him in favor of
pinch-hitter Jake Jones in the fourth inning.
Entering the Red Sox seventh inning, Zach Taylor, the fourth pitcher for the
St. Louis took to the mound and before he retired the side, 10 Boston hitters
had come to the plate and four runs came in on three base hits, two base on
balls and two-hit batters.
Five more runs crossed the plate for the Red Sox in the eighth on only two
hits. There were two walks and Spence singled to short right to load the bases.
Then Billy Goodman poked the ball between first and second to score Ted Williams
and Vern Stephens. Frank Biscan, who was the pitcher, was relieved by Bill
Kennedy after that and he passed Birdie Tebbets to load the bases. Finally, Dom
DiMaggio hit a ground ball down to Dillinger, who threw the ball into right
field, and three more runs crossed the plate, giving the Red Sox a total of 15
runs. |
.jpg)
