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MEL PARNELL |
BOSTON RED
SOX ...
THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
The Sox sweep
the A's behind
Mel Parnell and Denny Galehouse
September 11, 1948
... The Red Sox continued their pennant drive
by mopping up the Philadelphia Athletics, 9 to 1 and 2 to 1, in a
pair of sparkling performances at Fenway Park. They smashed the A's
in the afternoon, but at night it was a tense pitcher's duel between
Mel Parnell and Joe Coleman. A double dose of baseball lured 34,002
fans to the ballpark in the evening, after 21,415 had seen the game
in the afternoon.
Mel Parnell finally completed the perfecta of winning a game from each of the
major league clubs. Parnell made good when the Athletics failed to field a bunt
that he, himself, had laid down in the fifth inning of the second game. The Sox
scored their two runs on Dom DiMaggio's triple to centerfield.
For four innings, Parnell and Coleman had pitched brilliant baseball. Not a
run had scored, although both sides had a couple of opportunities shut down by
each pitcher. The break came in the fifth for the Red Sox.
Coleman walked Matt Batts to open the inning and Billy Hitchcock hit a fly
ball out. Parnell was the next batter and manager Joe McCarthy ordered him to
bunt, to put Batts in scoring position. Mel laid down a perfect bunt that rolled
untouched down the first base line. Ferris Fain the firstbaseman, expected
Coleman to field the ball, but Coleman didn't move off the mound. The ball
stayed fair and Batts moved down to second base while Parnell made it to first
undisputed. The big belt was delivered by DiMaggio. Coleman made a pitch a
little too good and Dom given a long ride toward the Red Sox bullpen for a
triple that scored the two runs that won the game.
Parnell was an able to just coast along on the slim lead. The A's threatened
to put the skids on Parnell in the seventh. Pete Suder singled and Coleman
sacrificed them over. Eddie Joost then walked on a three and two pitch. Parnell
cut loose and fired three straight strikes past Barney McCoskey, who walked back
to the dugout having not taken the bat off his shoulder. Fain had two strikes on
him quickly. After ball that just missed the plate, the A's firstbaseman nicked
one off the handle. The ball floated out to short left field, out of Stephens'
reach, for a bloop hit single that scored Suder. That was the only run of the
game for Philadelphia.
But trouble loomed in the ninth and Parnell started it himself by passing
Suder. Don White came in to pinch-hit and sliced a hot roller, just out of the
reach of Vern Stephens, into left field for a base hit. Joost sacrificed the
runners over to put them in scoring position. Carl Scheib, a good hitting
pitcher, was inserted to bat for Barney McCoskey and Joe McCarthy decided to
walk him intentionally to load the bases. Fain strolled to the plate and didn't
phase Parnell. Fain couldn't get his bat around quickly enough on a Parnell
fastball and rolled an easy dribbler back to him. Mell pounced on the ball like
a cat and fired a strike to his battery mate, to rub out Suder at the plate.
Batts then grabbed the ball and threw it down to Goodman at first, for a game
ending quick doubleplay.
In the afternoon game, Denny Galehouse held the Athletics in check, aided by
some tight defense. He was knocked for 10 base hits and gave up two walks. But
the Red Sox came up with five doubleplays to give Galehouse his eighth win of
the year.
Galehouse got a big margin to work with very early. The Sox battered Bill
McCahan four eight hits and six runs in the first four innings. A pass to
DiMaggio started the scoring in the first. Pesky lined one to Suder next, but in
his haste to try for a doubleplay, Suder threw the ball into the Sox dugout,
permitting Dom to reach third, where he scored on a single by Vern Stephens.
The one run margin was added on to in the third inning, when the Sox scored
four runs. With one out, Ted Williams singled to right and took second when
Stephens walked. Wally Moses poked a single to center to score Ted and Billy
Goodman dropped a double down the left-field line that scored Stephens. The A's
then decided to walk Birdie Tebbetts to fill the bases for Billy Hitchcock.
Hitchcock welcomed the opportunity and hit a high bounding ball far over Hank
Majeski's head at third for a two run base hit. Now the Sox were winning 5 to 0.
A double by Pesky and a single by Williams, boosted the score up to 6 to 0 in
the fourth. The Sox added another run in the fifth when Hitchcock beat out an
infield hit, but was forced at second by Galehouse. DiMaggio laid down a nice
bunt but was thrown out at first, as Galehouse moved over to second on the
sacrifice and scored on Pesky's right-field single.
The A's had wasted seven hits during the first six innings and finally ruined
the shutout in the seventh. Two singles and a pass loaded the bases and Suder
flied out to Ted Williams for sacrifice a fly with Sam Chapman scoring.
The Red Sox completed their scoring in the eighth-inning when Alex Kellner
allowed a single to left by Stephens and then walked Wally Moses. Goodman
sacrificed them over and Tebbetts singled to left to score the two runners and
make it 9 to 1.
Eddie Joost had an embarrassing moment in the fourth inning when a Billy
Goodman's roller took a funny bounce, hit him on the wrist, rolled up his arm
and then disappeared into his shirt. Ted Williams had been on second and went to
third on the play but held. Joost didn't know where the ball was and kept
walking toward third, waiting for Ted to head for home. He finally felt the ball
resting against his back and called for a time out.
Billy Goodman kept his hitting streak alive when he doubled down the
left-field line, during the four-run third. It was his 14th straight game with a
base hit. Billy Hitchcock is batting .455 in the 11 games he's played, following
Bobby Doerr's injury.
The Sox increased their American pennant race lead, with the two wins over
the Yankees, to three games and stay 3 1/2 games up on Cleveland. The Yankees
beat the Washington Senators by a 6 to 3 score as Joe DiMaggio hit his 35th home
run of the year to increase his league-leading RBI total to 135 in 135 games.
Allie Reynolds went the distance for his 16th victory, allowing eight hits.
Cleveland took both ends of the doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns by
scores of 4 to 1 and 9 to 1, to run their victory string to six games in a row.
Bob Lemon's six hitter, in the second game, made him the first 20 game winner in
the majors. Steve Gromek's 4 to 1 triumph in the opener was a four hitter. He
did not given a hit until Paul Lehner singled in the fifth inning. |
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