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JOE McCARTHY &
JOE
CRONIN |
BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE
CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
Sloppy play
sets off Sox manager,
Joe McCarthy, in a doubleheader loss
August
1, 1948
... The Red Sox fell from first place to
fourth place after getting smash by the Cleveland Indians, in both
games of a doubleheader today, at Municipal Stadium before 70,000
Indians fans. The Sox looked like anything but pennant contenders, as
the Indians scalped them, 12 to 2 and 6 to 1. The sweep gave them
three straight over the Sox, who had previously beat them nine times
in a row. The double defeat combined with two wins by the Indians and
Yankees and the Athletics over Detroit, dropped the Sox into a three
way second-place tie with Cleveland and New York. But in percentage
points, they wind up in fourth, three points behind Cleveland and one
behind New York. The Sox were terrible in the opener and enabled
Bob Lemon to bring up his 14th victory very easily. They then folded up in the
nightcap when lefty Sam Zoldak mowing them down without too much difficulty.
Home runs deprived both Cleveland pitchers from shutouts. Stan Spence hit his
18th in the sixth inning and Vern Stephens 24th in the eighth, proved to be the
only Red Sox runs off Lemon. Ted Williams' 17th homer in the ninth inning of the
second game, ruined Sam Zoldak's shutout.
In the opening game, Sox pitcher Ellis Kinder, didn't fool the Indians very
much in his brief 1 2/3 innings of pitching. Yet he would have escaped with only
three runs against him instead of the five, that were allowed in the opening
inning, if his infield had not let a routine pop fly drop in among them to the
right of the pitchers mound.
In the second inning with the Indians up 5 to 0, Dom DiMaggio, playing deep
in center field, raced in and attempted a shoestring catch of a line drive from
Larry Doby. He missed it and the ball got by him starting more trouble. Kinder
walked Keltner and allowed back-to-back doubles to Boudreau and Robinson,
allowing three more runs and an 8 to 0 lead.
Another infield mix up gave Cleveland another run in the third, and then in
the seventh after Lemon, who aided his own cause with three hits and three RBIs,
hit his fifth home run of the year. Then Ted Williams and DiMaggio let a fly
ball drop between them as they looked at each other, sending in the final two
Indians runs
Manager Joe McCarthy had his temper at the boiling point because of his
team's sloppy exhibition. He exploded after Lou Boudreau's stole home in the
second inning of the second game. Two were out at the time with the Cleveland
manager on third and Eddie Robinson on first. Sox pitcher Mickey Harris took an
unusually long time standing on the rubber and failed to watch Boudreau. Lou
took off for home and Mickey finally threw the ball high to catcher Matt Batts,
allowing Boudreau to slide safely under the tag. Batts thought he had caught
Boudreau and pounded the ball into the dirt, forgetting that Robinson was racing
for second. McCarthy stormed out of the dugout and proceeded to bail out Batts
for not watching the runner on first, nor calling time before arguing with the
umpire. The manager then took off after Mickey Harris before turning around and
heading back for the dugout.
For 5 1/2 innings that run was the difference in the game. Zoldak had the Sox
bats silenced, while Harris had only allowed the Indians three scattered hits
and only that run. But in the sixth, Joe Gordon took a three two pitch into the
left-field stands, with Ken Keltner on base, to give the Indians a 3 to 0 lead.
Dom DiMaggio had hit safely in 10 straight games before he was stopped in the
second game. It took a great leaping catch by Joe Gordon, in the eighth inning,
to break the streak. Ted Williams' home run was his first since June 27th. |
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