Rumble in the Bronx

The Red Sox meet the Yankees in a game for the ages.

Rumble in the Bronx

I’ll warn you: this one was a doozy.

Early Scoring

Boston drew first blood in the top of the first, when Johnny Pesky came up with runners on first and third and two out:

I thought that Boston was going to run away with this one early, but Birdie Tebbetts then grounded out, ending the rally.

And then the Yankees exploded.

Red Sox starter Chuck Stobbs lost his control in the bottom of the second inning. After a one-out single, Stobbs walked two straight, bringing up New York starting pitcher Allie Reynolds:

Who said that pitchers were automatic outs?

Up came Phil Rizzuto, and I think you have an idea where this one was going:

Up next was Tommy Henrich:

Just like that, the score was now 6-1 Yankees. It wasn’t long before it was 8-1 Yankees, and I figured this one was going to be a blowout.

Comeback

I figured wrong.

The Red Sox came back with 2 in the top of the 4th to make it an 8-3 ballgame. And then came the top of the 5th.

Dom DiMaggio singled with two on to make the score 8-4. That paved the way for Pesky in another clutch situation:

That was the first crazy play in a game that would wind up full of them. Hank Bauer’s clumsy feet and Pesky’s triple made the score 8-6, still with only one out.

Up came Tebbetts:

I decided to throw to first instead of going home, given the fact that the Red Sox were already deep into their bullpen. That’s a decision that is easy to second guess, however.

Weak hitting Tommy O’Brien was the next man up for Boston:

Scooter is an excellent shortstop. I knew here that this game was going to be anything but ordinary.

Finally, Boston set Ellis Kinder up there. Kinder was pitching in relief, and I was actually somewhat surprised to see him hitting for himself in this position.

Fortunately, Twinkletoes out there in right field actually caught it this time around.

Plugging Away

That 8-7 lead didn’t last long.

Dom DiMaggio came up again in the top of the 6th with a runner on second and two out:

That blast tied the score at 8, and set us on the way for a wild ride.

Boston rallied again in the top of the 7th inning. After Tebbetts singled to lead things off, O’Brien came back up there:

Billy Hitchcock, another weak hitter, was next:

That was another poor defensive play by the Yankees — very uncharacteristic. And up came Kinder again:

For the first time in this replay, we’ve seen a catcher’s interference call! Charge it to Ralph Houk, starting today in place of the fatigued Yogi Berra.

Now, you don’t want to make little mistakes like that against the Red Sox. Up came Ted Williams with the bases loaded and one out in an 8-8 ballgame:

8th Inning

This is where the drama really starts.

Vern Stephens led off the top of the 8th for Boston, as Joe Page came on in relief for the Yankees:

Up next was Bobby Doerr:

Now the Red Sox were at the dangerous part of the order. First came DiMaggio yet again:

Page was fortunate to get the clutch strikeout here. However, he still had to deal with Pesky:

Just like that, the Red Sox were ahead, 9-8, in what was already one of the wildest games of the whole season.

The Yankees came back, however.

Cliff Mapes, a hero of this blog, led things off in the bottom of the 8th:

Gene Woodling was next, and I decided to hit and run:

Woodling got some of it, but not quite enough to do any damage.

With Jerry Coleman at the plate, I thought I’d do a little bit more running:

That meant a runner at second base with one out, despite the Yankees having no hits so far in the inning. Coleman was still up there:

I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s crucial that players learn how to advance those runners. This was a wasted at bat, and I was worried it would cost us the ballgame.

And up came Houk, whose poor catching had almost been disastrous:

And now we were tied, 9-9.

9th Inning

Hitchcock came back up for the Red Sox with one out in the top of the 9th, looking to make something happen:

Up next was Matt Batts, another blog hero.

This time it was the computer manager who was guilty of being a bit too aggressive on the basepaths.

The Yankees didn’t do anything in their half of the 9th, leading us to an extremely dramatic 10th inning.

10th Inning

Williams started things off for the Red Sox, batting against new Yankee reliever Spec Shea:

Man, I think I’m going to have nightmares about Williams batting leadoff in extra innings.

Next came Stephens:

And next came Doerr:

That was enough of Shea for my tastes. I put in Frank Hiller and prayed that something good would happen.

Frank’s first problem was trying to figure out what to do with DiMaggio, with runners on first and second and nobody out:

Hiller calmed down after this, but the damage had been done. We went to the bottom of the 10th, Boston leading it 11-9.

Earl Johnson came in to pitch for the Red Sox. Henrich was the Yankees’ first hitter:

That brought up Mapes again, who showed that the Yankees lineup was also a force to be reckoned with:

Up next was Woodling:

The score was now 11-10 with nobody out. I decided to play it safe with Mapes, figuring that something good might happen.

Coleman came up next, and I was hoping that he’d redeem himself. Coleman hadn’t managed to hit anything at all to this point.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox brought in Jack Kramer to try to stop the bleeding.

Coleman had his first base hit of the game, and the score was now tied at 11 in what had been an absolutely unbelievable game.

Up next came Houk, once again:

Ralph missed a game winning home run by inches. We played it safe again, largely because Bauer was on deck:

And that’s how this incredible game ended: Yankees 12, Red Sox 11.

23 runs and 35 hits combined sounds like something from 1930, not 1949. Nobody pitched well; in fact, we had 14 walks combined, against only 9 combined strikeouts.

I’m not sure who’s going to pitch tomorrow.