Push for a Comeback
Browns at Tigers, April 28, 1949
Bad News for Detroit
The April 29, 1949 Detroit Free Press contained this piece of bad news on the front page:
There was more bad news for the Motor City faithful deeper in the sports section:
Was the news any better in the Diamond Mind Baseball version?
The Comeback
St. Louis got out to an early 3-0 lead in this game. Detroit slowly mounted a comeback, however.
Hoot Evers led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a big triple. Catcher Aaron Robinson came up next, and managed to get aboard on an error by Jerry Priddy at second. That scored Evers, making the score 3-1.
First baseman Paul Campbell then walked, and that was all she wrote for Browns starter Joe Ostrowski. I thought it was a little bit harsh for the computer to take him out at this juncture, having only given up 2 hits on 86 pitches. That was Ostrowski’s 4th base on balls allowed, however, and I guess the computer manager thought he had lost his touch.
Johnny Lipon came up next with runners on first and second and nobody out. He hit a ground ball that forced Robinson at third.
Up now was second baseman Neil Berry in a crucial spot:
I wanted to bunt with Berry, who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. I never thought that the Browns infield would botch the play this badly, though.
Pitcher Hal Newhouser’s spot was up next, and I decided to pinch hit for him, sticking the well-named Jimmy Outlaw up there:
George Kell then spoiled the fun by popping out to end the inning. The Tigers were only down by one, though: 3-2 Browns.
9th Inning
Campbell led things off the right way for the Tigers in the bottom of the 9th:
That was another poor fielding play by Priddy, who was having a game to forget.
Up came Lipon once again, and I guess my 1908 instincts took over:
It’s plays like this that make me fall in love with Diamond Mind Baseball. I thought for a second that it was a sure base hit for Lipon, who has a hard time getting on no matter what he tries to do at the plate. It wound up just being an average bunt in the boxscore. It was anything but routine in reality, though.
Up came Berry again:
And that brought up the pitcher’s spot.
I had no real choice here. There was a runner on 3rd with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, and we were down by one. All we could do was stick in a hitter and hope for the best.
I chose Pat Mullin:
Well, you can’t win them all.
St. Louis won despite leaving 10 men on base. Amazingly, no Tiger hitters struck out — and yet we still only managed 5 hits.
It was close, but maybe it wasn’t really all that close.