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DAVE FERRISS |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ....
Dave Ferriss' knocks out the Yankees
August 17, 1946 ... The Red Sox made it two straight in their current set with the New York Yankees at Fenway Park with a 7 to 4 triumph, going two up in their series for the season. Two run
homers by Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr helped Dave Ferriss widen the Sox pennant lead to 14 full games, the longest it's been all season.
Until the ninth inning, the Yankees had only three hits and one unearned run off Dave, who held off a last inning threat, to win his 21st game of the season against only four setbacks. The win was his ninth in a row and his 14th straight complete game.
Yankees threw the best they had at the Red Sox, and Joe DiMaggio who many thought might not play because of his sore arm, was back in action. He played left-field to give him shorter throws. A double off the left-field wall during the ninth inning uprising, represented the total contribution
off Joe's big bat. The Yankees latest big hitter, Aaron Robinson was missing, nursing a sore throwing hand, from a foul ball off the bat of Dom DiMaggio on Friday.
The Sox lost no time continuing their blast of the visitors from New York. In the very first inning after Wally Moses and Johnny Pesky made outs, Ted drew his 135th walk and Bobby Doerr punched a homer into the left field screen. It was Bobby's 16th round tripper and boosted his RBI total to
97.
York bobbled Charlie Keller's easy ground ball with one away in the Yankees second inning that led to a run. But the Red Sox came back for two more runs in the third inning on Phil Rizzuto's wild throw of Johnny Pesky's ground ball, followed by Ted Williams home run, on a 3-0 pitch, that
came to rest somewhere between six and twelve rows up in the right field bleachers behind the Yankee bullpen. It was the Kid's 32nd circuit clout of the year and elevated his RBI total to 106.
With a 4 to 1 lead going into the sixth inning, the Red Sox added two more. Rudy York led off with a double, high off-the-wall, followed by Dom DiMaggio's walk and Glenn Russell's sacrifice bunt. With runners on second and third, Hal Wagner hit a towering fly ball to right-center field that
Johnny Lindell made an impressive running catch on. But it allowed York to trot home. DiMaggio scooted across a second later when Ferriss pushed a single just past the reach of Rizzuto, running to his right. That made the score 6 to 1.
Tiny Bonham, Yankee starter was removed for a pinch-hitter in the eighth-inning, and Mel Queen was nicked for the last Red Sox run in the bottom of the inning. Dom opened the home half with a single and Russell followed with another sacrifice bunt. Ferriss did it again with a single between
short and third, that counted in Dominic for the seventh Red Sox run.
In the ninth-inning the Yankees tried to mount a comeback. Billy Johnson started the Yankee stir with a line single to left. Joe D. and Keller lofted two baggers off the left-field wall and Rizzuto had a clean base hit to account for three runs. Joe Gordon ended it with a hopper down to
Russell at third base.
Ferriss joined Bob Feller and Hal Newhowser as 21 game winners in the major leagues. He didn't walk a man, making it his fourth game this year where he has displayed perfect control. |
