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THE POLO GROUNDS |
BOSTON BRAVES
...
SPAHN & SAIN and PRAY FOR RAIN ...
The Braves
lead is slipping away in New York
August 18, 1948 ... The
Braves lead atop the National League is dwindling away. They lost to
the Giants at the Polo Grounds, 8 to 2, and are only holding a
one-game lead over the Dodgers, who edged the Phillies in
Philadelphia. Johnny Mize and Sid Gordon both homered to give
Sheldon Jones his 12th win. The big firstbaseman lofted his 29th home run into
the right-field stands in the second inning. Gordon went into the left-field
stands with a man aboard, in the third inning.
Jones breezed through the first inning easily, but ran into a streak of
wildness in the second inning. He passed Jeff Heath and Bill Salkeld and Clint
Conaster doubled to left to score Heath. Another bright chance happened in the
third when Alvin Dark singled to center and Earl Torgeson dumped a double down
the third-base line. Dark held up at third and after Elliott popped out, Heath
was walked to load the bases. Dark scored on a sacrifice fly by Bill Salkeld and
Conaster got another walk to reload the bases, but Sibbi Sisti grounded out to
kill off the rally.
Trailing 4 to 2, going into sixth inning after Red Barrett had taken over for
Vern Bickford, the Braves lost another chance to get back into the game. Sisti
opened with a single and Barrett tried twice to sacrifice him over, but was
finally called out on strikes. Holmes hit a grounder that forced Sisti at second
and Dark singled down the left-field line, but when he tried to stretch his hit
into a double, Don Mueller cut him down.
The Giants got only two hits in the eighth but scored four runs against Bobby
Hogue and Ernie White. The score would hardly indicate that the Braves were in
the game in any time.
X-rays were taken on Nelson Potter's back in they turned up negative. Trainer
Charlie Lacks believes Potter is suffering from a strained ligament. Billy
Southworth hasn't heard anything about Jim Russell being hospitalized. It has
become apparent that Russell will be out for the rest of the year and someone
will have to come up and replace him on the roster. |
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