Poor Pellagrini

Yankees at Browns, May 3, 1949

Poor Pellagrini

Veteran journeyman Eddie Pellagrini had an interesting game in this one. After committing a first inning error that almost led to a Yankees score, the weak hitting shortstop came up in the bottom of the second with one out and a runner on third:

These are the Yankees, though, which means that nothing would come easy. Bobby Brown, an even weaker New York hitter, came up in the top of the 4th with nobody on:

That made this a 1-1 game, and quieted things down considerably.

Two Good Chances

The Yankees couldn’t figure the Browns pitching out in this one.

St. Louis, meanwhile, had a few good chances.

After Pellagrini flied out to start the bottom of the 7th, Dick Kokos came to bat:

That brought up pitcher Joe Ostrowski. Joe was pitching very well, and so I did what I had to do: I told him to bunt.

Somebody should tell Joe that he needs to run.

Anyway, that brought up Jerry Priddy, with a runner in scoring position and two out:

I’ve got to wonder what might have happened if only Pellagrini had led off with a hit.

Les Moss singled with two outs in the bottom of the 8th, and there was another chance. Up came Whitey Platt for the Browns:

I thought that St. Louis was sure to score here, even though there were two out. Up came Roy Sievers, a good young hitter:

So much for that thought.

Crunch Time

Yogi Berra came up with a runner on first base in the top of the 9th for the Yankees:

The computer manager made two interesting decisions here. First, it decided to have Billy Johnson pinch hit for Brown, despite Brown’s earlier home run:

Well, that one seems to have worked.

Next, it decided to leave pitcher Vic Raschi in to hit for himself, despite the two big opportunities the Browns had just enjoyed (and squandered):

I’ve got a feeling that Raschi was actually running on this one.

The Browns got out of that inning without any further damage.

In the bottom of the 9th, leadoff hitter Pellagrini promptly bounced a single up the middle, and I started wondering about that decision to leave Raschi in.

Next came Kokos again:

Pellagrini stood perched on second base, representing one of two potentially important runs. Up came pinch hitter Paul Lehner:

Poor Pellagrini. He finished the game 2 for 3, but with an error, a missed opportunity in the 7th, and now the indignity of being on the front end of this double play.

Priddy was up next:

That scored one, making this a 3-2 ballgame. Bob Dillinger was up next, representing the last gasp for the Browns:

I guess you can’t win them all.

Both teams pitched well, and both teams played fairly well on offense. St. Louis has a number of players who have been hitting well lately, which is certainly why they are at 7-7 at this early point in the season.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are now in first place.