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BOBBY DOERR |
BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE
CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
The Sox come from behind against the Senators
August 14, 1948
... The scores of the Athletics and the
Indians games were all the incentive that the Red Sox needed,
trailing 3 to 0, when they unloaded three straight hits off Mickey
Haefner, to collect enough runs and win their second straight from
Washington, 4 to 3. It was the fourth win in a row for the Sox and
the comeback triumph also helped them the climb over the A's into
second place by two percentage points. Joe Dobson, with his sore
wrist, was the starter for the Red Sox and not around at the finish. It was his
first game since August 5th when he injured his wrist. He retired for a
pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, after giving up three runs and eight hits,
five of them doubles. Mickey Harris relieved him in the seventh and Earl Johnson
finished the final two innings in perfect relief. Harris was credited with his
fourth victory.
Haefner handcuffed the Red Sox until the eighth. In the first seven innings,
the knuckleballer had the Sox eating out of his hand, as he scattered out only
three hits. He was in trouble once, in spite of two errors behind him. That
happened in the second inning, when Bobby Doerr singled and then two of his
walks loaded the bases. He escaped however, by getting Dobson out on a pop up.
But there was no escape in the eighth-inning. Johnny Pesky led off with a hit
to deep short and Ted Williams lined his only hit of the afternoon into center,
moving Pesky over to third. Vern Stephens, hitless in his previous twelve times
at bat, snapped out of his slump with a line drive single to left. That scored
Pesky and gave Stephens his 100th RBI, to lead the major leagues in that
department. When leftfielder Ed Stewart threw to the wrong base, Williams took
the opportunity to move over to third. Doerr then drove rightfielder Sherry
Robertson back to the scoreboard with a long fly and Williams jogged home after
the catch. Stan Spence next walked, moving Stephens down to second and Billy
Goodman's ground ball made it thru into the outfield between first and second,
scoring Vern with the tying run at four each. Spence made his way to third and
Goodman went to second when Robertson fumbled the ball. Tom Ferrick came in to
replace Haefner and walked Matt Batts purposely to load the bases. Wally Moses
came in and batted for Harris and hit a deep fly ball to center that permitted
Spence to come across with the go-ahead fourth run.
Washington picked up their runs in three different innings, making two hits
in each one. In the second inning, Earl Wooten hit the first of his two doubles
just inside the left-field foul line and scored on a single to right. Successive
doubles by Robertson and Stewart accounted for a run in the third. Wooten, who
had doubled, advanced to third on an infield out and scored on a perfect squeeze
bunt by Haefner in the fourth.
The win gave the Red Sox the season edge over Washington, 6 to 5 on the year.
For the entire trip so far, the Red Sox have a 10-8 record. It was another
errorless day for Bobby Doerr, boosting his consecutive error less streak to 54
games, five short of his own American League record.
Billy Goodman flew back to Boston with Mel Parnell. Goodman was
stricken by stomach cramps in the first game of the doubleheader. Dr.
Ralph McCarthy examined him an determined that he could be suffering from the
first stages of appendicitis, but the situation was not serious. He wanted
to re-examine him in Boston. |
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