[jksander]

May 15, 1947: Fred Sanford (2-1, 3.31 ERA, 35.1 IP, 15 K, 1.33 WHIP) pitched against Mickey Harris (0-4, 5.83 ERA, 29.1 IP, 22 K, 1.84 WHIP) in game one against the struggling Red Sox, but at Fenway, we all know anything can happen when the Monster gets involved. We took the lead in the top of the second off a Bob Dillinger RBI double, but Boston answered with a Hal Wagner RBI triple in the fourth to tie us up. Joe Schultz hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth to get us back into the lead 2-1, but Dom Dimaggio hit a solo homer leading off in the bottom of the inning to tie it again ... in the top of the seventh we again managed to retake the lead, this time off a Phil Cavarretta RBI single, and Ned Garver took the ball after the seventh inning stretch with a 3-2 lead to protect. He was great in the seventh but got absolutely destroyed in the eighth -- Catfish Metkovich hit a two-run double to give Boston back the lead, Metkovich scored off a Bobby Doerr bases-loaded walk, and a wild pitch let Johnny Pesky score. With the Boston lead at 6-3, runners on second and third, Jack Kramer took over to get us our final out, but the damage was done. We put up no fight in the ninth and lost this one 6-3, dropping our fourth straight as we’re getting a rude awakening on the road so far this stretch. Garver blew the save and took the loss, pitching 1.2 innings with four hits and three walks, but three of the four runs were unearned. More frustrating was the fact that we outhit them 11-7 and still came up on the short end. Dillinger led with three hits and an RBI, while Cavarretta had two hits, a walk and an RBI.
 
May 16, 1947: Tom Seats (4-2, 4.20 ERA, 40.2 IP, 13 K, 1.52 WHIP) pitched against Clem Dreisewerd (1-0, 2.63 ERA, 13.2 IP, 1 K, 1.17 WHIP) as we tried to dig out of this recent slump. They scored first off a groundout by Bobby Doerr in the bottom of the first, but we had an answer in the top of the third when Harry Walker singled in Dillinger to tie the score. They responded with an RBI single by Jim Tabor in the bottom of the fifth that, coupled with an E8 error, drove home Dom Dimaggio to put them back on top 2-1. But again we found an answer, tying the score in the top of the seventh off another single by Walker, before Boston unleashed again in the bottom of the seventh with a three-run volley to put us away. We wound up losing this one 5-3 as our slump deepens ... we desperately need a win in game three to salvage at least a tiny amount of momentum. Tom Seats took the loss, falling to 4-3 with a 4.53 ERA after allowing six hits and five runs with six walks and three strikeouts through seven innings, an uncharacteristically wild pitching night for him. And once again we outhit them 12-7 but came up on the short end ... that just cannot keep happening! Dillinger was dominant ... hitting five times in five tries with two runs scored off his five singles, bringing his average up to .439 through 13 games as a utility player, but beyond him and Walker (who hit three times with two RBIs) everyone else took a nap out there.

May 17, 1947: Diomedes Olivo (2-4, 3.38 ERA, 50.2 IP, 23 K, 1.07 WHIP) pitched against Nick Strincevich (3-1, 5.40 ERA, 33.1 IP, 8 K, 1.60 WHIP) in game three against the Red Sox, and Boston took the lead first in the bottom of the third with an RBI single by Johnny Pesky. We answered with an RBI single by Harry Walker that scored Olivo in the top of the fifth, but Boston pounded us for three runs in the bottom of the inning and it looked like much of the same as we’d seen the last two days. Olivo loaded the bags in the sixth and got one out, Zoldak taking the ball from him as soon as he could get warmed up for the high leverage situation ... butit didn’t matter, as Pesky immediately hit a three-run double to clear the bases and turn this into a rout I’d rather forget. We couldn’t buy an out, Pesky scoring off a single by Doerr, and loaded bases led to two more runs scoring before we could escape the inning trailing 10-1. Kramer again mopped it up with two clean innings, but the damage was already complete. We got two runs back in the top of the ninth off a Robinson sac-fly and a Harry Walker line drive single, but we lost badly 10-3 and have now lost six straight. This team’s holes are now showing, big time, and our pitching is taking the brunt of it. Olivo is now 2-5 with a 4.18 ERA, having surrendered SEVEN RUNS on eight hits, with three walks and three strikeouts through 5.1 innings. Kramer, meanwhile, has been a solid mop-up guy, pitching in our last three games for a combined 3.1 innings with just two hits and a strikeout, no earned runs. This time the Red Sox did outhit us 14-11, Walker leading the way for our offense with three hits and two RBIs.

We have a doubleheader tomorrow against the Athletics (19-13) who now trail the Yankees (20-12) by a game. Despite our five straight losses dropping us to 16-15, we’re only 3.5 games out of first while sitting in fourth place, two games up on Boston who are now leading the bottom half of the league. The American League looks to be chaotic this season, and with 121 games yet to play for us, anything can happen if we can find a way to snap this downward slide.

May 18, 1947: Dutch Leonard (4-2, 2.10 ERA, 60.0 IP, 23 K, 1.08 WHIP) pitched against Murry Dickson (3-1, 2.45 ERA, 36.2 IP, 9 K, 1.34 WHIP) in a battle of two pitchers who have been red hot lately. We scored with a homer by Judnich in the second to go up by a run, and Joe Schultz hit one in the third to make it a 2-0 lead before the Athletics answered back with an RBI groundout by George Kell and an RBI single from Al Smith to tie the score 2-2 after three. They took the lead in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double by Dickson, and though we traded runs from there, we went into the top of the ninth down 4-3 and needing a miracle. They walked Schultz to bring up Leonard, and we decided to sub him out for pinch-hitter Bob Dillinger ... who has been red hot lately, but he popped out to short for our first out. They walked Robinson, pushing Schultz into scoring position with just the one out, and with the count 3-0 we gave Walker the red light ... but he popped out to first, though the runners both advanced. Cavarretta got a full count but grounded harmlessly out to first ... the streak of losing continues as we fell 4-3 in the day’s first game. Leonard pitched eight innings with seven hits but he walked six more with only three strikeouts, contributing to all four earned runs. We matched them both hits AND walks, so the game was incredibly evenly matched. Judnich led the way with his homer and two walks, but we just couldn’t get over that hump against a Philly team that is looking better every day.
 
Amos Watson (0-1, 2 SV, 2.25 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 K, 1.62 WHIP) got the start in game two, to keep our starters on their usual four-day rotation schedule. He faced A’s pitcher Spoon Carter (3-1, 2.89 ERA, 56.0 IP, 9 K, 1.45 WHIP) who has been still spry as ever at age 44. We took the lead in the top of the first off a sac-fly by Walker that scored Robinson who had led off with a triple. We added another run in the second with a sac-fly by Watson, who allowed Wally Moses to score, putting us up 2-0. Watson, meanwhile, got us through the fourth inning without a hit or a baserunner, and Cavarretta hit an RBI single in the top of the fifth to extend our lead to three runs. Incredibly, Watson’s streak continued through the fifth, though at 72 pitches he was starting to show signs of tiring ... though on a heater like that you don’t change horses! Though nobody mentioned it, the entire team was focused on keeping the lead big to let him have plenty of rope -- Harry Walker scored off a single by Judnich to extend our lead to 4-0 heading into the stretch. But in the bottom of the inning, perfection slipped away with a hit into center right by George Kell, the double spoiling the no hitter and perfect game in one brutally tough swing of the bat. Ned Garver took the ball from Watson, the 21-year-old getting a rousing curtain call by the ROAD TEAM after what all agreed had been a stellar performance. Garver got us out of the inning with the shutout still intact, and in the top of the ninth Harry Walker hit a homer, his second of the year, to pile on. Garver finished the game from there and we won solidly 5-0! Watson finished with one hit and three strikeouts through six innings (failing to get an out in the seventh), throwing 81 pitches in the process as he improved to 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA through his first 14 major league innings. Garver earned the three-inning save with a hit and two walks as he protected the shutout, his ERA now at 2.04 through 17.2 innings. We picked up 11 hits against their two, led by Harry Walker who had two hits, two runs and two RBIs.

We’re off tomorrow and then will play our third game against the A’s with a chance to win the series.

May 20, 1947: Fred Sanford (2-1, 3.27 ERA, 41.1 IP, 15 K, 1.33 WHIP) got the ball in the rubber match against the A’s, facing Russ Christopher (2-4, 2.53 ERA, 53.1 IP, 27 K, 1.24 WHIP). We took the lead in the first off a Cavarretta double, re-took it in the second with a single from Joe Schultz, and then added runs in the third and fourth to lead 5-2 after four innings’ work. We managed to expand that lead to four runs in the top of the sixth with a solo homer by Robinson (his fourth of the season), but Philly came roaring back in the bottom of the inning, scoring off a line drive single by Hal Peck and then getting two more runs off a single by George Kell to cut the lead to 6-5 heading into the top of the seventh inning. Sam Zoldak took over in the bottom of the seventh with the lead unchanged, and he got through the seventh and eighth without incident -- but in the bottom of the ninth Al Smith hit a solo homer out of right to tie the score at 6-6, forcing us to bring out Ned Garver to try and get us into extras. Willard Brown took a walk to first, advancing to third on a double by Ferris Fain, and with the game on the line Russ Derry came to the plate ... with one out, he popped out to shallow left, close enough for us to hold the runners, bringing up Hal Peck, who walked the bases loaded. Buddy Rosar then hit one right up the line in right field and this one ended as a 7-6 loss. What a crushing way to go, having blown a 6-2 lead to get there. Zoldak blew his second save and Garver took the loss, falling to 1-2 with a 2.50 ERA, allowing two hits, two walks and a run. Sanford had done all he could, pitching six innings with eight hits, but he walked four and gave up five runs in the process, throwing 113 pitches. We outhit them 12-11, led by Robinson, with three hits two runs and an RBI, and by Schultz, who added three hits and two runs batted in.

We have a single game against Washington (20-16) tomorrow, then after a day off will play Cleveland (15-17) for a game, followed by another day off and a Sunday doubleheader. With five days off over the next 11 days, our pitching rotation and our bullpen will get some much needed rest, which we’ll need if we’re going to get our currently 17-17 team back above .500 by any significant margin. We remain within 3.5 games of the Athletics (21-14) and Yankees (21-14) in first, but every team in our league is within 7.5 games, and nobody has gained much separation.