Seesaw
Athletics at Red Sox, Game 2: 4/20/1908
Patriot’s Day
We tend to forget about this, but the Red Sox traditionally would play a doubleheader on Patriot’s Day.
From what I can tell, the tradition began in 1902, when the National League team played a doubleheader on April 19:
The American League team’s game that day was particularly special because it came so much earlier than the rest of the American League schedule. I’m really not quite sure how this worked, but the Boston American League team somehow managed to sneak its first game of the season in to compete directly with the National League team, who had a doubleheader scheduled for the holiday.
The rest of the American League teams didn’t open until April 23, 1902 — 4 days later. And, of course, this wasn’t a game in Japan like we experienced back in 2007 and 2008.
I don’t fully understand what happened in 1902; that might be material for a later post. I do know, though, that the home doubleheader was an established tradition by 1908.
Now, we know that the Red Sox have been great so far. They come into this game at 6-0, while the Mackmen are a lackluster 0-6. But can the Red Sox keep it up in the second game of the doubleheader?
Let’s find out.
Early Lead
The Athletics came out to an early lead in this one.
Catcher Ossee Schrecongost started off the top of the 3rd with a walk. Pitcher Jimmy Dygert then moved Schrecongost over to second base with a bunt. And that brought up Topsy Hartsel:
Hartsel’s single scored Schrecongost, making the score 1-0 with only one out. After Harry Davis flew out to right, Eddie Collins walked, setting things up for Danny Murphy:
Just like that, the score was 2-0 Athletics.
Seesaw
Normally I’d think that a 2-0 lead could hold up in 1908. However, runs were scored that season, even if there weren’t always as many base hits as you might expect.
Boston and Philadelphia traded blows in the middle innings. Boston came up with one in the 4th; Philadelphia tacked on 2 more in the 5th; Boston then came back with one in its half of the 5th.
It was 4-2 Philadelphia in the bottom of the 6th when Denny Sullivan came up for the Red Sox with Heinie Wagner perched on first base and two out:
It took me a little while to realize that Wagner had the “F” rating needed to help him score on that single. The score was now 4-3, and Boston wasn’t done quite yet. Up came catcher Bill Carrigan:
Carrigan’s double tied things at 4, and made this into another tense game.
Wasted Chance
Philadelphia came right back in the top of the 7th.
Davis walked with one out, bringing up Eddie Collins again:
My somewhat aggressive hit and run call resulted in a double column “11,” putting runners on second and third with only one out. Up came Murphy again:
That was an absolutely huge strikeout for Red Sox starter Cy Morgan. Now the bunt wasn’t an option at all, and the Sox were only one out from getting out of the inning. Perhaps I should have bunted with Murphy — though the 13 with the sacrifice on would have meant Davis would have been caught trying to steal home.
Up came Rube Oldring, still with a chance:
And there went that chance.
Wild 8th
Jimmie Collins walked to lead off the 8th for the Athletics, and was promptly sacrificed to second base by Simon Nicholls. As you can see, I’m not exactly scared of bunting with a runner on first base — especially in 1908.
Schrecongost then hit a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to advance Jimmie to third base. And that brought up Dygert:
I’ve talked before about the little “jokes” that Bill Staffa seems to insert into these cards from time to time. This one was pretty wild. A 36 is a horrible result for a 15 roll — but it was just what the doctor ordered here. Morgan balked, allowing Collins to score.
With the score now 5-4, Boston looked to come back in the bottom of the 8th. Bob Unglaub came up first:
Sadly, though, Unglaub had a mishap on the bases:
Again, who has a 39 result on a 35? Another one of the Skeetersoft jokes resulted in the Boston attack coming up short.
The Pivotal 9th
There was no power in 1908, eh? The games were all boring, you say? Just wait.
Hartsel started things off with a single and a stolen base. After Davis popped out to second base, Eddie Collins was hit by a pitch.
That brought up Murphy. The best he could do, unfortunately, was a little fly ball out to left field: one so shallow that the runners couldn’t move at all.
Now there were two out, and up came Oldring:
If you’re not familiar with NPIII, you might wonder what happened here. Oldring rolled an 11, which resulted in a 0 and a second roll for the second column. His second roll was a 23, which resulted in a 6.
However, Morgan has an “N” home run rating, which means that doubles can turn into home runs for him. Oldring had to roll once to see if it could turn into a home run, and somehow got in the range of the roll (I think he had 2 chances in 36 to make it). There was then one more roll for the sake of the era, and that roll got through as well.
Thus, the double turned into a home run - and the Athletics were now up 8-4.
Boston did come back, though.
I put Frank LaPorte in there to pinch hit for Morgan with one out in the bottom of the 9th:
That double column hit resulted in a clean triple, setting things up for Doc Gessler:
Now I started to wonder if Dygert still had it in him. Up came Amby McConnell:
One run scored on that single. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, though, Gessler has an “S” rating, which caused him to be thrown out at third.
Now there were two outs, and it was all up to Gavvy Cravath:
And that’s how this thriller ended.
Boston lost despite outhitting the Athletics, 13-10. There were 5 stolen bases and 2 caught stealing in this one, as well as a whopping 6 sacrifice hits. Nicholls will likely lead the league in bunts at this rate.
This game had a little bit of everything. I almost ignored the fact that Dygert struck out 8 in the process — and that he walked 0, despite having a “W” control rating. That goes to show that you never quite know what is going to happen!