So Close, Yet So Far

Another Close One

Browns at White Sox

It feels like I’m writing about one of these two teams every few days. Neither the Browns nor the White Sox were particularly good in the real 1949, but they’ve been a lot of fun to play with so far in this replay.

And we’ve got another wild one for you today.

Here Come The Browns

Chicago manufactured an early run in the bottom of the 2nd, and went into the top of the 4th leading 1-0. And that’s when Dick Kokos came up for the Browns:

Jerry Priddy doubled right after that home run, and looked sure to score when Whitey Platt hit a single:

Well, that’s the way it goes sometimes, I suppose. The mental image of Priddy falling down on his face is actually pretty funny.

Settling Down

If you’ve been paying attention, you know by now that just about all of these games have been low scoring affairs. This was certainly no exception, and I found myself having to manage accordingly.

White Sox pitcher Bob Kuzava was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Luke Appling then got his third hit in as many plate appearances to put runners onfirst and second with one out. And that brought up Cass Michaels, who you surely remember from this post.

I decided to bunt with Michaels. It was a little bit early for that, I guess, but this was a 1-1 game without much offense.

Anyway, the bunt was successful, and the White Sox were in prime position to score with two outs. Floyd Baker grounded out, though, and that was that.

More Browns

You know what? The computer manager used the same strategy in the top of the sixth.

Roy Sievers hit a bloop single to lead it off. Kokos, who homered earlier, wound up bunting him to second. That’s what happens with tense 1-1 games in this era: you do whatever you can to get a chance to score.

Kuzava walked Priddy to set up the double play, but then gave up an infield single to Platt:

That was the double play ball we were looking for, and now we had a problem: bases loaded with one out.

And that problem was made only worse when Jack Graham lined a double to right center, scoring two and sending Priddy to third.

As painful as it was, I decided to walk the next hitter, Les Moss, intentionally, and opted to take my chances with Eddie Pellagrini instead.

Yet another spoiled double play opportunity, yet another run scored, and it was now 4-1 St. Louis.

Adventures in Baserunning

Chicago had a golen chance in the bottom of the 6th with two outs. Gordon Goldsberry hit a two out infield single, and that brought up Joe Tipton:

I felt that I had to take the chance, since we were down by 3. If I had to do it over again, I’d do the exact same thing. But it still hurts.

We had more fun in the bottom of the 8th when Michaels did this:

Up next came Baker:

That’s certainly one way to make up for his failure to hit in the 5th!

Herb Adams followed with this:

Now it was 4-2, and now we had a new pitcher to face, with 2 on and nobody out. Things were looking pretty good.

Philley came up next, and, well…

Nothing will kill a rally quite like one of those double plays.

Goldsberry came up next with a runner on third, and there was still a glimmer of hope: Gordon grounded out to third, though, and that was that.

Ninth Inning Magic?

We had one more chance with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Gus Zernial pinch hit for the pitcher:

Up came Appling, who was 3 for 4 so far on the day:

That’s about as close as you can come without making it, I’m afraid.

You’re not going to win many games when you leave 8 on base like that.