High Scoring Drama

Reds at Phillies, May 8, 1949 Game 1

High Scoring Drama

We’ve got more drama here than South Korean television. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

We’ll start this one out in the top of the 8th inning. Cincinnati came up to bat down by a single run.

Virgil Stallcup started off the inning by lining a single into left field. The computer manager replaced Stallcup with pinch runner Bobby Adams, and we were off to the races.

Up came Johnny Wyrostek:

That tied the ballgame at 3, and there were still no outs.

Catcher Ray Mueller ground out weakly to third, preventing Wyrostek from scoring. Up next came Lloyd Merriman:

Just like that, the score was 4-3 Cincinnati.

The Phillies came back quickly, though. Bill Nicholson came up to lead things off in the bottom of the 8th:

I guess you’ve got to blame Reds pitcher Howie Fox for trying to field that.

Andy Seminick was up next, but I thought it would be nice to try to force the issue a little bit with Nicholson:

And, of course, Andy was still up there:

That brought up Dick Sisler, who is always a threat:

Yes, that was indeed a big out for Fox.

Up next was Granny Hamner:

There were two men out and the tying run was on third base. Up came Del Ennis:

Now, this walk makes sense. Cincinnati wanted to pitch to second baseman Eddie Miller instead of dealing with Ennis. I took out the weak hitting Miller in favor of Putsy Caballero:

And so we were tied, 4-4.

The Bizarre 10th

We’ll skip forward to the 10th inning now, as both teams went down quietly in the 9th.

The Reds didn’t make much noise in their half of the 10th.

Seminick started things off for the Phillies in the bottom half of the inning:

That set things up for Sisler — in theory, at least:

It looks like that really was a great play by Jimmy Bloodworth. There was now one out with a runner on second, and up came Hamner:

Okay, this is where things started to feel strange.

The Reds decided to walk Ennis in the bottom of the 8th to pitch to whoever was hitting behind him. Here, in an almost identical situation in the bottom of the 10th, they decide to walk Hamner in order to get to… Ennis? I don’t get it.

Whatever. Up came Ennis with runners on first and second:

And so we went to the 11th.

11th Inning Drama

The craziness doesn’t end here, of course.

Philadelphia reliever Jocko Thompson struck out the first two Reds in the top of the 11th. Up came Hank Sauer with two out:

That brought up Bloodworth:

Dick, you should have played it. Letting it roll like that is always a big gamble, but with two out in the top of the 11th you shouldn’t leave anything up to chance.

Next came Danny Litwhiler:

Yeah, I’d say that misplay by Sisler loomed pretty large by this point. Cincinnati now held a 7-4 lead as we went into the bottom of the 11th.

Caballero started things off for the Phillies, who were in desperate search of some kind of miracle:

One single isn’t going to be enough, of course, but at least it’s a start.

Up next came Willie Jones:

I’ve played enough Diamond Mind Baseball to know better than to take a risk in this situation.

Buddy Blattner came up next as a pinch hitter for Thompson:

This one almost caused me to fall over.

We didn’t just have one dramatic three run homer in extra innings. No — we had two. The game now was suddenly tied after Blattner’s surprise blast, and the fans that remained in Philadelphia were going absolutely wild.

Up came Nicholson again, this time with the score tied at 7, and still with nobody out:

What an awful error by new Reds pitcher Buddy Lively — and on the first pitch he threw, too.

Up came Seminick, and the outcome was almost certain:

And there’s your ballgame.

I’d have to say that Seminick was the real hero of this one, going 4 for 6 with 3 RBIs and 3 extra base hit.

Sisler’s got to be the big disappointment for the Phillies, especially after that mistake in the top of the 11th.