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Opening Day 1948 Season and week 1
Opening Day is finally here and the Kings are crosstown in New York City to face the New York Stars. Last year these two clubs finished 3rd and 4th in the hotly contested CA that was won by the Philadelphia Sailors. This season the Stars look to climb back to the top of the mountain and the Kings are hoping to continue to build on last seasons surprising finish and be patient while some of their younger players develop.
Game 1 Brooklyn Kings @ New York Stars Loss 5-1
Unfortunately for the Kings, they ran into Stars ace pitcher Eli Panneton on a day when he was on. He only gave up 5 hits but did walk 7. But Panneton was up to the task of keeping the top runs scoring offense of a season ago to just 1 run. Bob Arman took the loss in his Kings debut giving up just 3 earned runs but also walked 7 and gave up 6 hits.
Game 2 Brooklyn Kings @ New York Stars Win 9-1
It took a game for the offense to get going, but it did in a big way yesterday. 3B Hank Barnett hit the Kings first home run of the season in support of 1946 ROTY SP Leo Hayden who pitched a complete game 4 hitter.
Game 3 - Brooklyn Kings @ New York Stars Win 8-4 (12 innings)
Both teams wanted to win the opening series of the season and this one went 12 innings. The Kings scored 4 runs in the top of the 12th inning on a 2-run single by CF John Moss (his only hit in 7 at bats). Reigning ROTY and Whitney award winner Ralph Johnson hit his first home run of the season as did rookie LF Pat Perry. The run explosion in the 12th made a winner out of RP Bob Crowley who pitched 3 innings without giving up a hit (he did walk 4). Clarence Barton pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 12th to secure the win.
Game 4 - Montreal Saints vs Brooklyn Kings Win 3-1
An Opening Day crowd of 31,835 fans saw veteran SP Harry Carter pitch a 7 hit gem as the Kings won their 3rd straight game. 2B Charlie Woodbury overcame his 3rd error of the season when he hit a 2-run single in the bottom of the 3rd inning to give the Kings all the offense they would need on this day.
Game 5 - Montreal Saints vs Brooklyn Kings Win 4-3
SP Rusty Petrick overcame a shaky early start as the Kings found themselves down 3-0. Rookie LF Pat Perry hit a game winning 2-run home run in the bottom of the 5th to give the win to the Kings. Manager Tom Barrell described Petrick as a "Gutsy competitor who didn't have his best stuff today. But he grinded out there and helped this club win today."
The Kings have won 4 straight after dropping the season opener as they head into a Sunday double header with the Saints.
Game 6 - Montreal Saints vs Brooklyn Kings Loss 4-1
Game 7 - Montreal Saints vs Brooklyn Kings Loss 9-2
All the good that was built up in the last 4 games quickly went out the window and the Saints swept a double header from the Kings. SP Bob Arman took his 2nd loss of the season but is not getting much run or fielding support so far. In the nightcap, SP Leo Hayden returned to his Jeykl and Hyde performance of last season and was hammered in 4.1 IP giving up 9 earned runs.
Weekly Record 4-3 Runs for 28 Runs against 27
Season Record 4-3 3rd place 2.5 games behind the Sailors (7-1)
Impressions of the 1st week
Rookie LF Pat Perry got off to a nice start hitting 320 with 1 home run and 5 RBI's.
2B Charlie Woodbury is hitting 370 in the early going but has committed 5 errors to start the season. Woodbury has been a fairly solid if not spectacular fielder in his career so the early miscues are a bit alarming. With the issues in the field the Kings have decided to hang onto 2B Gil London....for now.
Tough luck SP Bob Arman is 0-2 with a 2.81 ERA so far. The Kings have only given him 2 runs of support in his 2 outings.
Following up his 1946 season ROTY award (19-12) 2.95 ERA, SP Leo Hayden got out of the blocks slow with an injury last spring and just never truly got going. He had an up and down campaign going 12-13 with a 4.47 ERA. This season looks to be no different in 2 starts. Hayden was brilliant in a win over the Stars and then was downright dreadful Sunday getting pounded by the Saints. Which version of Hayden will we see this year, the Kings are hoping for the 1946 version!
Kings Player of the Week LF Pat Perry hitting 320/433/1033 2 home runs, 5 RBI's 6 runs scored.
Kings Pitcher of the Week SP Harry Carter 9IP 7H 1R 1ER 3BB 1K 1.00 ERA
Next Week the Kings will host the perennial pre-season favorite Chicago Cougars for 2 games and then see the Stars come in for 2 games. Then they will head north of the border for a series starting Friday in Montreal.
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