[jksander]

March 10, 1947 (cont’d): Our spring gameplan is to play our first seven games and then start making cuts on offense (particularly in the outfield where we have a glut of players competing for limited spots) ... and by the end of April I want to have us pretty close to our final 25-man roster, so by that point we’re able to get our starters ready for full games. We have ten pitchers competing for what will likely be seven spots ... four starters, a spot starter, a long reliever and a middle reliever ... but that will allow us to spread out innings during these spring games, with the aim to start making pitching cuts later in April. We only have to cut down from 35 to 25, so unlike a lot of teams with more players competing for fewer spots in the roster, we don’t have to make any particularly dramatic reductions. So I see this as a month to get to know my team and really figure out what we have ... are there real holes in our roster that can be filled by trades? I’d rather find out now than later.

In our first spring training game, Diomedes Olivo looked great throwing, striking out the side in the bottom of the second, and our first run of the spring was scored by Jackie Robinson, who tripled in the top of the third and then came home off a sac-fly by Harry Walker to give us a 1-0 lead over the Washington Senators. The Senators got a couple runs off him in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead, but he looked good in those five innings, with just four hits and two walks for two earned runs, striking out seven on 77 pitches. We tied the score in the top of the eighth (don’t tell these guys the games don’t matter, they came out ready to fight) thanks to an RBI single by Joe Grace, and reliever Sam Zoldak got the final out in the bottom of the ninth and then singled to start the top of the 10th inning, taking third off a single by Johnny Lucadello. Zoldak would score the go-ahead run when Bob Dillinger hit into a 3-6 fielder’s choice, and he won it on a double play in the bottom of the inning as we took the victory 3-2. We played 25 players in the game, and 21 of them at least had an at-bat -- as a team we outhit them 8-7, led by Dillinger with a hit, a run and an RBI, and by Robinson who had a hit and a run. Our four relievers got through five innings without a run scoring, so I was very happy with what I saw in the early going.

March 11, 1947: We played the Yankees this afternoon, with Dutch Leonard facing off against Red Munger, who last year played for the Cardinals and put up a 16-10 record and 3.12 ERA through 224.2 innings before being traded to the Yanks in November. New York took the lead in the bottom of the first off an E3 error, Tommy Henrich scoring for the Bronx Bombers. They added on in the fourth with an RBI single by Marvin Williams, but in the top of the fifth Al Zarilla reached on an error and, replaced by Bob Dillinger as a pinch runner, we scored after Dillinger stole third and came home off a double by Joe Schultz -- way to manufacture a run! Jackie Robinson doubled in Schultz to tie the game up 2-2, and just like that we had ourselves a ballgame. Jerry Witte came in as a pinch-hitter with runners on second and third in the top of the sixth, hitting a three-run homer out of right to put us squarely in control. We held tough from there and won our second exhibition game in a row, this time by a 5-2 margin. Leonard looked great, lasting five innings with two hits, two walks, two runs and a strikeout as he got the win, and our three bullpen arms (Zoldak, Ferens and Garver) kept our bullpen perfect through the remining four innings. We outhit them 8-4, led by Jerry Witte with his three-run homer, and by Jackie Robinson, who had two hits in three at-bats, batting in a run.

March 12, 1947: Today we hosted the Red Sox for a spring game, our two teams both undefeated during the exhibition season so far. Jack Kramer started for us, and Harry Walker gave us a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third off a two-run homer, his first of the spring. Dom Dimaggio scored a run for the Red Sox off a sac-fly by Jim Tabor in the top of the fourth, and in the top of the seventh our bullpen’s perfect streak ended when Al Jurisich gave up a solo homer to Johnny Lazor to tie the score at 2-2. Moments later he gave them the lead, when Gene Benson hit an RBI single, so we went into the stretch trailing 3-2. They added on two more in the top of the ninth off a homer by Jack Albright, and we lost by a 5-2 margin, Boston outhitting us 12-8. Jack Kramer had five innings with five hits, a run and a strikeout, but Jarisich gave up four hits and two runs (with two K’s) as the game slipped away. Harry Walker had two RBIs off his homer, pretty much providing all our offense.

March 13, 1947: Today’s game featured us versus Cleveland, and Bob Moncrief took the mound for us, and his day went poorly from the start. He gave up a staggering seven hits and five earned runs in the first inning as the game became a wash before it began. We got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI triple by Jerry Witte, and a double by Joe Schultz got us a second run. Long reliever Ned Garver took over for our beleagured starter in the bottom of the second, giving up a run to get Cleveland back toa 6-2 lead. But this game was clearly going to be all hitting, and we got the run back with the bases loaded, Wally Judnich singling in Robinson to cut it back to three. With two outs, Witte hit himself a double, clearing the bags and just like that we were tied 6-6! Boston answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning including a Les Fleming three-run homer as our pitching showed real cracks. We’d go on to lose 11-6. There were two bright spots -- though we were outhit 18-8, backup center fielder Jerry Witte hit twice in four at-bats, with a run and four RBIs thanks to a double and a triple, his seven RBIs leading the team so far this spring. And long reliever Sam Zoldak came out, trailing 10-6, and got us through three innings with five hits and three K’s, keeping the game from becoming worse than it was. Zoldak remains our only perfect reliever thus far, with an 0.00 ERA through 6.1 innings.

Harry Walker may have himself a fight for the starting CF spot ... right now he’s hit twice in six tries, with one homer, giving him three RBIs, while Jerry Witte has hit three times in eight tries, including a double, a triple and a homer for seven RBIs (still no singles, but he’s slugging 1.125, which is amazing, small sample or not!)