Dodgers at Phillies
As we move to April 22, 1949, the big story so far this season is how poorly the Dodgers have been playing. Brooklyn was swept at home by the hated New York Giants, and finds itself on the road in Philadelphia now, searching desperately for answers.
Well, they weren’t going to find many of them in this one.
Baserunning Error
It’s not every day that you see Jackie Robinson make a play like this:
It’s not entirely clear from the play by play, but Robinson was on third with Hermanski at first at the time, with nobody out.
Robinson is undoubtedly Brooklyn’s best runner, and is arguably the best runner in the National League. This was a completely ridiculous play by him, and came at a crucial early juncture in this game. The game was tied 1-1 at this juncture, and you had a feeling that Brooklyn would end up regretting that mistake.
This took a golden scoring opportunity and simply wasted it.
Lack of Effort
It only got worse from there.
The Dodgers basically handed the Phillies a run in the 4th.
Putsy Caballero (what a name!) came up with runners on first and third with nobody out. Instead of lining into a double play, he did this:
I know it was only the bottom of the 4th inning, but Brooklyn really should have tried for the out at home given the way they’ve been hitting. It turned out that this run was actually really important, and yet the Dodgers simply let it score without giving it any second thought.
It also doesn’t help when Rex Barney walks the pitcher, Ken Heintzelman, who was up after Caballero:
That’s right — the computer manager decided to take Barney out at this point. Rex went 3 1/3 innings, throwing only 69 pitches, walking 3 and giving up 6 hits. This is not an auspicious sign for these Dodgers.
Late Inning Drama
Brooklyn got out of that 4th inning without any more damage, and was able to piece together a run to tie it in the top of the 6th. However, the bottom of the 6th was more of the same.
Heintzelman helped the Phillies piece together another run with this one out sacrifice fly:
The score was now 3-2 with two out in the bottom of the 6th. However, the Phillies weren’t done yet.
Up came Richie Ashburn:
It’s plays like this that make me wonder if there isn’t a special “Brooklyn” setting hidden somewhere in the code. This was an absolutely ridiculous base hit to give up with two outs.
And the Phillies didn’t let the Dodgers off the hook.
We know about the 1950 Whiz Kids and their surprising run to the top. However, the truth is that the 1949 Phillies were a pretty good team in their own right.
As for the 1949 Dodgers… they’re supposed to be one of the best offensive teams in National League history, actually. But not in the early stages of this replay.
This 7th inning error by Dodger relief pitcher Paul Minner shows just how bad things have gotten:
Brooklyn did manage to score one in the top of the 8th, but got no closer than 5-3. And that’s all she wrote.
Brooklyn is now 0-4, despite clearly having the best lineup in the National League. Those batting average totals say it all.