Back and Forth in the Motor City

Plus game summaries from May 1, 1949

Back and Forth in the Motor City

Every once in a while you’ll get a great seesaw battle in your replay. And, trust me, this was one to remember.

Early Fireworks

This one started with a bang. Detroit took advantage of 3 walks by Cleveland starter Bob Lemon in the bottom of the 1st inning to build a strong 3 run advantage.

I thought this game was going to be over in a jiffy. Boy, was I wrong.

Cleveland then came back in the top of the 2nd inning, relying on 2 walks and some timely hitting by the bottom of the roder to tie the game at 3. Lemon, incidentally, drove in that tying run.

And that set us up for what was to come.

5th Inning

Lemon started things off for the defending World Champions with another base hit. That brought up Lou Boudreau, hitting leadoff:

I certainly wasn’t expecting the computer to bunt with the leadoff hitter. This set up Cleveland with runners on first and second, and made this inning suddenly exciting.

Up came Larry Doby:

The pitchers for both teams had a hard time with their control in this one.

Next was Hal Peck:

Now, with one out and the score still tied at 3, up came Dale Mitchell:

That made it 4-3. Joe Gordon flew out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

But was it enough?

Johnny Groth started off the bottom of the fifth very loudly:

That brought up Vic Wertz:

And now we had a brand new ballgame.

After a Hoot Evers single, Aaron Robinson came up, still int he bottom of the 5th:

Now it was 6-4 Tigers, and this one was getting wild.

6th Inning

Bob Kennedy came up for the Indians in the top of the 6th with Jim Hegan on first:

And that set things up, once again, for Lemon:

That’s a bad play by the Tigers, and the game was now 6-5. Bob Lemon was coming through in the clutch left and right in this one.

Up came Boudreau again:

And the score was now 6-6.

Next came Doby:

And now we had a 7-6 ballgame, the Indians in the lead.

But, of course, that wasn’t enough.

Groth walked in the bottom of the 6th with one out, setting things up for Wertz:

Mike Garcia, who I briefly considered starting, came in to pitch. He managed to strike out Evers for the second out, but then had to face Robinson:

And now we were tied at 7.

Paul Campbell, the next Tigers hitter, kept the inning alive:

And that brought up Johnny Lipon with the bases loaded and two out:

Game Winner

And, well, that’s how it went, through 9 innings and into extras.

Both teams had chances to go ahead, though none were convincing.

It wasn’t really until the bottom of the 10th that the Tigers had a real strong scoring chance.

With Steve Gromek on to pitch in relief for Cleveland, up came Groth:

Up came Wertz:

Next came Evers, now with a runner in scoring position:

That was an interesting choice. I’m not certain that I would have done the same thing. Evers didn’t have a great game, and yet the AI decided to walk Evers intentionally to get to Robinson, who had already burned the Indians.

And, well…

And that’s how this one ended.

The Indians are good, but they need to figure out how to pitch. 11 walks is not acceptable.

Other Action

This was an unusal replay day: quite a few games, yet very few that were close or exciting.

Yankees 7, Red Sox 0: At New York, the Yankees obliterated the Red Sox. Watch the game here.

Browns 7, White Sox 3 (Game 1): At St. Louis, Ned Garver threw a complete game despite walking 5 for the Browns.

White Sox 10, Browns 6 (Game 2): At St. Louis, the Browns turned 4 double plays in a losing effort. This is somewhat concerning considering how poorly rated their infielders are.

Tigers 8, Indians 7 (10): See above.

Athletics 12, Senators 6 (Game 1): At Philadelphia, the Athletics scored 7 in the bottom of the 5th after ripping apart the Senators’ relief pitching.

Athletics 9, Senators 2 (Game 2): At Philadelphia, Bobby Shantz throws a 3-hit complete game for Philadelphia, despite walking 7.

Dodgers 8, Phillies 7: At Brooklyn. This was my mistake: I should have taken more screenshots of this one for a blog writeup. The Phillies had an early 6-2 lead, but the Dodgers struck back with a number of solo home runs. And it ended with Duke Snider in the bottom of the 9th:

I’ll work on doing better in future games.

Giants 17, Braves 4 (Game 1): At Boston, the Giants completely destroyed the Braves. Watch the game here.

Braves 12, Giants 6 (Game 2): At Boston, the Braves returned the favor with a huge win. Watch the game here.

Cardinals 3, Cubs 1: At Chicago, the Cardinals overcame the wind blowing in to defeat the hapless Cubs.

Pirates 8, Reds 1 (Game 1): At Cincinnati, Murry Dickson struck out 7 as he tamed the Reds. Watch the game here.

Pirates 10, Reds 2 (Game 2): At Cincinnati, Tiny Bonham struck out 9 in a masterful win. Watch the game here.

Standings

It’s looking more and more like a two horse race in the National League.

Meanwhile, the American League is completely wide open.

The next few in-game days should be fun, with Pittsburgh traveling to the Polo Grounds for a series.