[jksander]

March 14, 1947: Today’s pitching matchup was our Fred Sanford against Detroit’s Ari Houtteman, their 19-year-old top 30 pitching prospect who is hoping to start after two years in the bullpen. The Tigers pounced quickly, Barney McCoskey hitting a double and then scoring on a sac-fly by Roy Cullenbine early in the bottom of the first. But despite putting two more runners on base, Sanford handled business and kept it to the one run ... and in the top of the second, he hit a line-drive single that drove in two runs to give us the lead on two outs! Arky Vaughn drove home Cavarretta in the third to add on, doubling in the run, Harry Walker hit a solo homer in the fourth, But Sanford got into a jam in the fifth and couldn’t get the second out to save his life ... a Lennie Pearson single drove in a run, and moments later Roy Cullenbine hit a two-run double to tie us at 4-4. He got the final out as the bullpen warmed, but we’d lost our advantage. In the bottom of the seventh, Ned Garver gave up a homer to Pat Mullin as his first batter faced, continuing to blow up his ERA early in this spring, But we stunned them in the top of the ninth, when, with runners on second and third and two outs against us, backup shortstop Ellis Clary picked up a hit into center, driving in two to put us into the lead! We brought Muncrief out to pitch an inning and rest the remainder of our bullpen, giving him a chance to make up for his miserable first start attempt, and he got three quick outs to seal the 6-5 win for us. Sam Zoldak got the win, and is now 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA so far this spring, and we outhit the Tigers 11-9 ... Phil Cavarretta hit three times in three at-bats, driving in a run, and Clary’s two-run single came through in the clutch as well.

March 15, 1947: Tom Seats pitched for us today against the Philly Athletics, and the 36-year-old control-minded pitcher really hoped to have a good start .. we signed him on a minor league contract, and he’s among the pitchers who will be truly fighting for his spot on the 25-man roster. Unfortunately, his flyball focus got him in trouble in the top of the first, and Clyde Vollmer hit a three-run dinger off him, getting us off to a poor start quite quickly. But we answered well ... Jackie Robinson scored off a single by Cavarretta, Arky Vaughn batted home Tommy Glaviano with another single, and with two outs we had the bases loaded for catcher Joe Schultz, who popped out to end the inning with us trailing 3-2. Robinson hit a double in the bottom of the second, his second of the game, scoring two batters later when Cavarretta reached first on an error, tying the score. Seats settled down nicely, and we walked in a run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth to give him a chance to play for the win! Al Jurisich took over with a 4-3 lead to start the top of the sixth, He got into a jam with runners on the corners in the top of the seventh, leting the tying run through on a fielder’s choice, but Muncrief came in and got the final out to keep us from giving them a lead. Arky Vaughn hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to get us the lead back, and Muncrief stayed out into the ninth, but blew the lead with two outs when Kenneth Humphrey hit an RBI groundball single to tie the score at 5-5. Moments later he let Pete Suder hit one into center to give them the lead, our batters trailing by a run as we came up to hit in the bottom of the inning. But Harry Walker came out to pinch hit for Muncrief with runners on second and third, one out, and his sac-fly got us the tying run in. Sam Zoldak came out to pitch in the top of the 10th, and he pitched around two baserunners, getting two strikeouts and a groundout to keep our chances alive ... and in the bottom of the inning, backup first baseman Joe Grace walked it off with a single, Bob Dillinger scoring from second to win the game for us 7-6! Zoldak remained perfect and got his third win out of the pen, with a hit, a walk and two K’s for his trouble. We outhit them 14-10, led by Robinson (two hits, two runs) and Arky Vaughn (two hits, two RBIs).

Looking at our pitching through our first six spring games, our top three starters -- Olivo, Leonard and Kramer -- all look solid. But the fourth starter spot is completely up for grabs. The bullpen, including Zoldak (8.1 innings with no earned runs, six strikeouts and just two walks), Stan Ferens (7.0 innings with a 3.86 ERA, three strikeouts, two walks and a .150 BAPIP) and Al Jarisich (5.2 innings with a 4.76 ERA, seven K’s against one walk, and just seven hits against him) has been solid ... I think Zoldak has guaranteed himself a middle relief spot, and it’s now looking like Jarisich vs. Ferens for a long relief spot, though we may keep them both. At this point Ned Garver is playing for his life, however ... through 4.2 innings he’s given up six runs and has an 11.57 ERA, with three walks and no strikeouts. The 21-year-old is most likely going to be playing in the minors this spring, but we’ll keep him up for additional experience against major league pitching.

We’ve decided on our biggest batch of cuts to our offense for the season ... catcher Frank Mancuso, second basemen Johnny Lucadello and Ben Steiner, and left fielders Don Lenhardt, Glen McQuillen and Mayo Smith will be headed back to the minors, though Lucadello will have to pass through waivers first. We’ll spend the rest of April letting the outfield battle shape up ... of Paul Lehner, Dick Whitman (R5), Tommy Glaviano, Jerry Witte and Al Zarillo, it’s very likely two of those will not make the final roster. I’m still deciding if we’re going with a four man or five man rotation, and that’s going to make a big difference.