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"WINDY" McCALL |
BOSTON RED SOX
...
THE
CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
Windy McCall gets slammed by the Yanks
April 25, 1948 ... If
John "Windy" McCall had a doubt that he was in the big leagues, it
was quickly removed for him today at Yankee Stadium by Joe DiMaggio.
Joe D. drilled a fat McCall pitch into the left-field stands at jet
plane speed, with two of his teammates aboard in the first inning,
providing three runs as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5 to 4. Lefty
Joe Page then slammed the door shut after a four-run ninth inning
eruption, that startled the near capacity thronged at the Stadium.
So all this means is that Sox manager Joe McCarthy is still looking for a
pitcher who can go the route. And the Sox hitters additionally have been pretty
helpless against lefty pitching. Eddie Lopat baffled the Boston batters through
eight innings and weakened in the ninth, so manager Bucky Harris called on Page.
Johnny Pesky, who would made a disastrous error in the field, came up in the
ninth with the tying run on base, but Page struck him out after previously
retiring pinch hitter Jake Jones on strikes.
Down 5 to 0, Lopat had put himself in trouble in the ninth inning, walking
first Stephens after Stan Spence had flied out. Bobby Doerr tripled mightily to
the 407 foot mark in right-center field to score Stephens with the first Red Sox
run. Sam Mele singled over second to score Doerr with the second run and Birdie
Tebbetts homered into the lower right field stands, to cut the Yankees margin to
5 to 4. Page then came in and faced Jones and struck him out. Dominic DiMaggio
reached on Billy Johnson's error to keep the Sox alive. But Page proved too much
for Pesky, who struck out to end the game.
Errors by Pesky and Doerr gave the Yankees two unearned runs in the fourth
against Harry Dorish, who pitched good relief ball. McCall was extremely wild.
He threw 42 pitches over his one in one third inning tenure and was warn down a
bit by Johnny Lindell, who hit seven foul balls and then singled for the Yankees
second hit. Four straight balls to Frank Crosetti in the second, followed by
Tommy Heinrich single, spelled the end for McCall. |
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