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CHUCK STOBBS |
THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 4
FALLING SHORT AT THE END AGAIN
...
Stobbs gets
out of trouble and wins
September 4, 1949 ... Chuck
Stobbs pitched himself out of trouble several times at Fenway Park,
as the Red Sox beat the Athletics, 4 to 2, to climb only a game and a
half behind the New York Yankees. The win gave the Sox a sweep of
their 11 home games against Philadelphia for the season. The A's
took a one run lead in the second inning. Stobbs had walked leadoff batter Sam
Chapman, who went to second on Pete Suder's base hit. Mike Guerra sacrificed
them along and Chapman just was able to score after Dom DiMaggio caught Tommy
Davis' long fly ball in center field.
In the Red Sox second inning, a young secondbaseman named Nellie Fox, fumbled
Billy Goodman's soft grounder. Goodman scored all the way from first when Birdie
Tebbetts lined a double into the slot in right-center field, that carried all
the way out to the 420 foot mark. Stobbs rolled a grounder down to Ferris Fain
which the Athletics' firstbaseman grabbed and threw to third to get Tebbetts,
who was tagged out in a rundown. Stobbs went to second on a wild pitch and
scored when Fox allowed DiMaggio's easy roller to trickle through his legs.
The Sox run in the fourth was legitimate. DiMaggio hit a clean double to left
and scored when Ted Williams singled to right, to make it 3 to 1. The Athletics
got their second run in the fifth inning on a walk and two singles.
A walk to Al Zarilla in the fifth inning opened the way for the Red Sox last
run. Ahead 3 to 2, Goodman followed Zarilla with a base hit to right. After
Tebbetts popped out to short left field, Stobbs bounced a single off a pebble in
front of Fain and it went over his head for a clean base hit that scored
Zarilla.
After that, with his team up 4 to 2, Stobbs pitched himself out of a
bases-loaded trouble in the sixth before retiring the Athletics in order in both
the seventh and eighth innings. However in the ninth after Augie Galan singled
and Don White doubled down the right-field line, Stobbs walked Elmer Valo to
load the bases. He was rescued, however, when Johnny Pesky turned a line drive
from Fain, into a game ending double play. |
