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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ....
Pesky and DiMaggio lead the way
in a doubleheader sweep of Philly
August 8, 1946 ... Scoring in devious and unexpected ways, the Sox put two more haymakers on the hapless
Philadelphia Athletics today, 4 to 3 behind Joe Dobson, and 10-6 with Bob Klinger making the save from the bullpen. Johnny Pesky almost personally engineered the first win, and Dom DiMaggio hung his fifth homer over the wall in left for the second win.
Ted the Kid played in the first game and when hitless, but sat out the second game, still recovering from the flu bug. Outhit in both games, the Sox scrambled past Phil Marchildon in the opener chiefly on Pesky's rapid transit double and a two run homer, as well as a four base blast over the
left field wall by Glenn Russell.
Pesky surprised the A's when he smacked a long ball into the wind and out toward the visiting bullpen in the first inning. Tuck Stainback gave chase an attempted to back hand it, but the ball hit his wrist and fell behind him. Pesky shot around second as the ball came back to Oscar Grimes at
second base, who fired into the Philadelphia dugout trying to get Pesky at third, and allowing Johnny to score the first run.
Philly tied it up in the second inning but Glenn Russell got the lead back in the Sox half, on Machildon's first pitch that he sent into the nets over the left field wall. In the seventh inning, Pesky summoned his power and from the tips of his toes buried the ball into the right field
stands just inside the foul pole. Roy Partee, who caught both games was aboard with a single as Pesky jogged home to the welcoming paws of his buddy Ted Williams.
That accounted for the four Red Sox runs and they were happy to get past Marchildon on six hits, none of which came from the power of the lineup, Williams, Doerr and York. Joe Dobson notched his 12th win, giving up 11 hits but leaving 10 Philly base runners stranded.
In game number two, Dom DiMaggio accounted for four runs with a two run homer and a two-run double off the wall in left-center in a tough game where the Red Sox had to pull off five doubleplays in order to get away with the 10-6 win. Tom McBride, playing in left field for Ted, actually won
the game. Down 1-0, in the third inning he hit Bob Savage on the pitching arm with a hotshot that put him out of commission. With Partee and Pesky on base, McBride's hit unleashed a flood. Everett Fagan came in to take over for Savage. A balk with Pesky on third, a dropped pop-up by George
McQuinn, and a walk to Bobby Doerr with the bases loaded accounted for four runs.
Bill Zuber started for the Red Sox but was taken out when he issued two passes in the fourth inning. Broadway Charley Wagner came in and then went to the showers when the A's jumped on him for four consecutive singles in the sixth. Bob Klinger took over and shutout Philly for the rest of the
game, giving the Sox their 10-6 win. |
