[jksander]

May 1, 1947: Fred Sanford (0-1, 4.20 ERA, 15.0 IP, 5 K, 1.33 WHIP) got the start in game one against the Senators, facing Claude Passeau (2-1, 5.40 ERA, 20.0 IP 3 K 1.75 WHIP). Vern Stephens batted us into the lead with a double in the bottom of the first, but Mickey Vernon answered with an RBI double for Washington, tying things up in the top of the third. Arky Vaughn hit back with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to get us back into the lead 3-1, but Sanford gave them a run back in the top of the seventh, George Binks hitting an RBI single right before a 15-minute rain delay, and we had to go to the bullpen, bringing out Ned Garver. With one out and a man on first, he struck out Eddie Yost swinging and got Mickey Vernon to pop out to short, sending us into the stretch still leading 3-2. Harry Walker added some insurance with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning, but Garver walked his first two batters faced in the eighth, and we had to bring in Jack Kramer, who WALKED TWO MORE IN A ROW as we gave back the run immediately! The wheels fell off from there ... Kramer faced his third batter, Buddy Lewis, and gave up a two-run double to flip the game right back to Washington, and Kramer then let George Myatt hit a two-run double into left. Two pitchers, five batters, five runs scored without a damned out. Sam Zoldak came in from there, getting two quick outs (though the runner on second scored from third off a sac-fly by Claude Passeau), and we went into the bottom of the inning trailing 8-4. Absolutely unbelievable. Zoldak got us the rest of the way, but it wasn’t happening ... they held the 8-4 lead to take the win from us in a game we knew we should have won. Each team had eight hits, ours led by Jackie Robinson with two hits and a run scored. Sanford lasted 6.1 innings with six hits, two runs and four strikeouts, and though Garver technically earned a hold, he gave up two runs with three walks and a strikeout, getting just two outs, and Kramer (two hits, two walks, four runs) was a disaster.

May 2, 1947: Tom Seats (3-0, 2.70 ERA, 20.0 IP, 8 K, 1.40 WHIP) took the mound today against Washington’s Ernie White (1-2, 2.79 ERA, 19.1 IP, 7 K, 1.66 WHIP), Washington picking up right where they left off with an RBI triple by Jerry Priddy giving them the lead 1-0 in the top of the first. But we answered big in the bottom of the second, an RBI single by Joe Schultz and a two-run single from Wally Judnich giving us a 3-1 advantage heading into the third inning. And this time we didn’t let up. In the bottom of the third, Jackie Robinson batted in two with an RBI double and Seats himself batted in two more with a line-drive single to put us up by six. The game became a rout in the fifth when Cavarretta hit a solo homer, Joe Schultz scored off an E3 error and Vern Stephens batted in three with a homer out of right to put us ahead 12-1! We’d go on to beat the Senators 13-1, with Seats pitching a complete game, allowing just eight hits with three walks two strikeouts and the one run. We outhit them 13-8, getting a run per hit, including two homers and two doubles. Vaughn led the way with two hits two walks and three runs, while Stephens added a hit, a walk, two runs and three RBIs.

May 3, 1947: Diomedes Olivo (2-1, 1.93 ERA, 32.2 IP, 15 K, 0.92 WHIP) pitched in the rubber match against the Senators, facing Early Wynn (1-1, 2 SV, 5.19 ERA, 8.2 IP, 2 K, 1.04 WHIP) who is starting his first game of the season out of the pen. Washington scored off a Buddy Lewis homer in the top of the first and added an RBI single by Wynn to lead 2-0 midway through the second. But Wally Moses hit an RBI single in the bottom of the second and we tied things in the bottom of the third off a Cavarretta RBI double that scored Harry Walker, sending us into the fourth inning knotted up 2-2. That’s when Olivo got shellacked ... in the top of the fourth Eddie Yost hit an RBI single, Early Wynn batted in two more with a single of his own, and Mickey Vernon brought the pitcher home with yet another single, giving them a 6-2 lead with two runners on and no outs. I had to pull him ... Garver came out to pitch with the two runners on base, getting out of there with just one of them scoring, but this game was getting out of control much as the first of the series had. This time Garver had a solid fifth inning as well, however, and Robinson and Cavarretta scored off a single by Stephens that was aided by an E7 error, pulling us to within three runs as we went into the sixth. Garver set three in a row down in the sixth off soft contact, and he should have been fine in the seventh as well but Artie Wilson managed to bat in a run when an E8 error let Jeff Heath score from first, so we went into the stretch trailing 8-4. Stan Zoldak took over in the eighth, giving up two more runs in the ninth as we got hammered by the Senators 10-4. What a roller-coaster of a series! They outhit us 13-10, our bats led by Cavarretta with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI, and Olivo took the loss after three innings with eight hits, two walks, seven runs (six earned) and two strikeouts. Garver was solid indeed, however, with four innings and just two hits a walk and an unearned run.

We’ve got Boston in town tomorrow for a doubleheader, and then a day off before playing a third game againt them on Tuesday. With the loss, Philadelphia took first place from us as they improved to 12-6 to our 11-7 ... the Yankees have surged of late, improving to 11-7, while our incoming opponent is currently 7-11 and in seventh place, managing to keep ahead of the White Sox because 5-13 Chicago has lost seven in a row while the BoSox have only dropped four straight, while 8-11 Detroit has dropped three in a row.