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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ...
Harris gets the Sox back on the winning track
May 12, 1946 ... Before 69,000 fans that filled Yankee Stadium, Mickey Harris pitched the Red Sox to a 3 to 1 victory over the Yankees. The win gave the Red Sox two of the three games
played and expanded their first Place lead 5 1/2 games as they head West.
Harris took the measure of Spud Chandler, the Yankee ace, to win his sixth straight game and establish himself as the American League's leading pitcher. They each allowed only three hits, but the Sox lefty gave only two walks up as compared to the seven by Chandler. He did not allow a hit
until the fifth inning and the only run scored off him was in the sixth. The defense behind Harris was much better than the support Yankees gave Chandler. Johnny Pesky stole a hit from Stuffy Stirnweiss with a one-handed play behind second in the first inning. Bobby Doerr leapt to his
maximum altitude for Tommy Henrich's liner in the fourth. And Dominic DiMaggio sped into short left center for Hank Majeski's low drive in the eighth.
Hurling for the first time with only a three days rest Chandler was wild in the first inning. He passed George Metkovich and Johnny Pesky to start the game. Ted Williams, who went hitless in his third straight game, although he walked twice, hit a grounder which sped through Phil Rizzuto's
legs into center field. Metkovich scored and when Joe DiMaggio fumbled the ball, Johnny Pesky came in but was thrown out by Joe D. after he recovered. Rizzuto then fumbled Doerr's grounder to keep the inning alive but the Sox could not score again as Rudy York and Hal Wagner struck out, but
the Sox led 1-0.
The Yankees were more generous in the fifth, when they allowed the Sox to score twice. George Metkovich walked to start the inning and went to third on a wild pitch. Bobby Doerr bounced a high chopper that allowed Metkovich to scamper home. Ted Williams, who was also on base, made it
to third and scored on Dominic's bounder down the third base line that trickled by Majeski. That made it 3-0.
The hardest ball hit by the Red Sox all afternoon was when Dominic DiMaggio lined one into the stands that hit a lady near the New York dugout. Ted Williams did not hit safely here in three games, making a trips to the plate and scoring one run. Joe DiMaggio batted 11 times in the series and
made three hits, scored one run, and drove in four RBI with his grand slam homer. |
