Lou Gehrig's 1st-inning homer with Red Rolfe aboard shot the heavily-favored Yankees into the lead, but the Giants hit back with force in the 3rd. With one out and a man aboard, Jo-Jo Moore and Dick Bartell singled, Mel Ott lofted a sac fly an Hank Leiber doubled to give the Senior Circuit men a 3-2 lead. The Yankee Stadium crowd could have been forgiven for a touch of nerves now facing a deficit against the imposing Hubbell, but those were calmed quickly in the home half of the frame. With one out, Rolfe, Joe DiMaggio, and Gehrig singled in succession to score a run; Dickey drew a walk to load the bases and, after Myril Hoag fouled out, George Selkirk ripped a game-altering three-base hit into the RCF gap to put the home team up by three runs. DiMaggio's triple, Gehrig's sac fly and Selkirk's RBU double plated two more to end Hubbell's day in the 5th and Gomez nursed the lead home despite getting touched for tallies in both the 6th and 8th. Laruppin' Lou and Twinkletoes accounted for all nine Yankee runs driven in on the day. New York (A) 9-12-0, New York (N) 6-11-0. [scoresheet]
This time it's the Giants off first at the gun, as Ott doubles with two out and trots home on Jimmy Ripple's base hit, but again the Yanks have an immediate response. Frankie Crosetti leads off the home 1st with a two-base hit, scores on DiMaggio's triple, and Joe follows him home when Gehrig grounds out. A little bit of two-out lightning in the 3rd pushes a pair across for the visitors, but the Bronx boys tie it up in the 4th when Hoag and Tony Lazzeri whack doubles. It was looking like another slugging fest, but the pitchers stiffened and zeros finally began to appear on the scoreboard . . . Moore doubled to start the 8th, but Ruffing stranded him there by fanning Ott and Ripple for the final two outs. DiMaggio tripled (again) in the bottom half, but Gehrig popped out on the infield for the second out, leaving it up to Dickey who doubled down the line to score Joe D and then scored himself when Hoag (3-for-4, two doubles) singled behind him. An uncharacteristic muffed fly ball by DiMaggio put Ruffing under some pressure in the 9th but he enticed PH Sam Leslie to give Joe another (this time, routine) chance fr the final out with the tying runs on the bags. New York (A) 5-9-1, New York (N) 3-10-1. [scoresheet]
Would the move to the Bluff offer the Giants any chance of evening the score? DiMaggio's double in the 4th put the Yankees on top, and Selkirk's solo homer in the next inning doubled the deficit before the home team could get one back with the help of Crosetti's fumble and a Dickey passed ball. But the middle of the NYA order continued to dominate Giant pitching as Gehrig tripled in the 6th and was plated by Dickey's fly ball to left. own two runs, with four trips to the plate remaining, Giant bats went silent against Pearson, who retired eleven of twelve through the 8th before the home team got back within one after Rolfe's throw into the dugout on a Burgess Whitehead grounder resulted in a run. When Ott and Ripple began the bottom of the 9th with singles, the Polo Grounds crowd went to its feet and the Yankee fans began glancing nervously at the dugout for relief for Pearson, but Joe McCarthy decided to keep "Hoot" in the heat, and the righty got Johnny McCarthy to pop up, forced a runner at home with a sharp fielding play and got Whitehead to bounce to Lazzeri for the last out with the bases juiced. New York (A) 3-7-3, New York (N) 2-6-2. [scoresheet]
If they had been reduced by a three-game Series deficit to playing for professional pride, the Giants made sure that message was heard loud and clear. After the Yanks had put a brace on the board in the top of the 1st behind Gehrig's two-run two-bagger, the National Leaguers scored two of their own in the bottom half when Ripple did the same. Two more runs followed in the 3rd when Ripple (five hits for seven RBI) homered behind Ott's single, and two more in the 4th when Ott did the same with a man on base. The game was still up from grabs at 6-3 given how the Yankees had been pummeling Giant deliveries, but the NL club put it out of reach in the 6ht. They sent twelve men to the plate, collecting seven hits (including two doubles and a three-run Whitehead homer) on their way to running up the score; the hits and runs continued to come in the late innings, and the relief was palpable but would they regret using up the good bats? New York (N) 18-19-1, New York (A) 8-8-2. [scoresheet]
Selkirk and Gehrig were at it again as the fifth game got underway, pushing the Yankees to a 2-0 lead after they had batter but twice, but the Giants scratched out one in the 3rd and then another in the 5th on Moore's two-out RBI double to pull even. Melton was holding the fort, but so was Gomez (fanning six through six) and, eventually, something had to give. Lazzeri coaxed a walk to lead off the top of the 7th, and scored one out later when Crosetti doubled; with two outs, the great DiMaggio belted one into the seats for two more runs that would prove insurmountable for the defeated Giants. They could manage only a single base hit over the final four innings as Gomez dropped the hammer to the finish, finishing with a flourish as he got Harry Danning to chase a third strike for the final out of the game and a Yankee title. New York (A) 6-7-0, New York (N) 2-6-2. [scoresheet]
The eighteen-run Game Four explosion aside, the Giants just never seemed to have enough pitching or firepower to keep pace with the Yankees. Every time they would score, the Yanks would score more. every time the Giants would force a pitching standoff the Yankee hurlers would outlast them. The single biggest difference in the Series was pure, unadultered power - a staggering twenty-six on NYA's forty-three hits went for extra bases for a team slugging average over .500 and DiMaggio and Gehrig combined has nearly as many XBH as the entire Giants roster. [Series stats]
Lou Gerhig was, well, Lou Gehrig but the shining star of the Series was the 22-year-old Yankees prodigy CF Joe DiMaggio. A .500 batting average, four triples, nine runs scored and an 1.150 slugging percentage were just temporary signposts for a young man destined to become one of the game's all-time greatest stars, showing the World what he could do on the game's biggest stage.
0 comments:
Post a Comment