BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
The A's slam four Sox pitchers

September 12, 1948 ... The Philadelphia Athletics closed out their season of games against the Red Sox, using four pitchers, to win a 10 to 4 verdict at Fenway Park.

A disastrous ninth inning, after Red Sox had kept the game close with great fielding, saw the Athletics spraying the field with six runs against the impotent pitching of Dave Ferriss, Earl Johnson and Tex Hughson. But it was obvious right from the start that it would be an uphill climb for the Red Sox.

The Athletics got to Dobson after two were out in the first inning. Ferris Fain walked and scored on Heinie Majeski's pop double down the right-field line. Wally Moses tried to head off Majeski at second without success and Fain took advantage of the play, by scoring on the throw.

The bases were loaded in the first inning, with nobody out and Vern Stephens at bat. However the slugging shortstop lined into a doubleplay and then Scheib got out of the inning by getting Moses on a fly ball. The Sox lost another opportunity in the third after Dom DiMaggio had walked and Johnny Pesky singled to open the inning. Williams filed out and Stephens hit an easy grounder to Majeski who forced Dom at third. Moses ended that threat by lining out to Sam Chapman in center field.

Billy Hitchcock, who is been filling in very well for Bobby Doerr, finally tied it up for the Sox in the fourth inning. Billy Goodman walked and went to second on Birdie Tebbetts' high hopper down to Eddie Joost. Hitchcock then lined a single to right that scored Goodman to tie up the game. After being sacrificed along by Dobson, Hitchcock raced home on DiMaggio's single to left, putting the Sox up 2 to 1.

In the sixth inning, Tebbetts singled and Dobson unsuccessfully tried to sacrifice him along. But he bunted too hard back to the pitcher and Scheib easily erased Tebbetts at third, while the return throw doubled up Dobson at first. DiMaggio walked and Hitchcock made the score 3 to 1 when Elmer Valo let Pesky's line drive get by him. Williams walked for the second time, but Stephens again left the bases loaded after striking out.

Starting pitcher Joe Dobson managed to stay in the game for eight innings and trailed 4 to 3 when lifted for a pinch-hitter. Yet his pitches were hit hard all over the ballpark. Two times, fine catches by Ted Williams saved him, and on another occasion a catch after a long run by Moses, pulled him out of the jam.

Dobson's charmed life backfired on him in the seventh. Valo walked with one out and Buddy Rosar doubled to left. Suder lined a single to left that scored Valo and sent Rosar over to third. Joost doubled to right, but Suder was nailed at the plate after two runs had scored to tie up the game. The A's got another run in the eighth which put them out in the lead when Chapman doubled off the centerfield wall, scoring Majeski from first base. That gave Philly a 4 to 3 lead.

But there wasn't any stopping Philly once they faced Dave Ferriss in the ninth-inning. He lasted long enough to allow three singles and a run, with only one out. Earl Johnson came in and was promptly greeted by two more singles and another run. That brought in Tex Hughson and even more fury was leashed on him, until the inning finally ended after Suder, who had started the trouble, lifted a fly ball out to Williams. When the dust settled, the A's were up 10 to 3.

Billy Goodman's hitting streak came to an end at 15 games. His best bid for a base hit was a liner to left-center in the second, that Barney McCoskey caught on the run.

The Red Sox defeat narrowed their lead to two games over the Yankees, with the Indians one half step behind New York, after Cleveland beat the Browns, 6 to 4. However, the second game of the doubleheader ended in a 3 to 3 tie when the contest was called because of darkness at the end of 12 innings.

In Washington, the Yankees beat the Senators 10 to 5. Washington had battered Bob Porterfield for three runs in the first, but the Yankees bounced back with four in the second as Charlie Keller delivered his fifth home run of the year, batting for Porterfield. Tommy Byrne did a brilliant job in relief, to hold down the Senators.