[jksander]

June 20, 1947: Our latest stop is Washington, D.C. to face the Senators, who currently are 29-35, a game and a half behind us at 28-31. Tom Seats (8-4, 3.31 ERA, 92.1 IP, 28 K, 1.43 WHIP) pitched against Leon Day (4-6, 3.50 ERA, 100.1 IP, 58 K, 1.48 WHIP), and though Washington took the lead in the bottom of the second off an Eddie Yost RBI double, we tied it in the top of the third with an RBI triple by Harry Walker, taking the lead moments later off a Cavarretta sac-fly. Wally Judnich hit a homer in the top of the fourth, his ninth of the year, to extend our lead to 3-1 midway through the fourth, but Washington kept it close with an RBI double by Buddy Lewis in the bottom of the fifth to keep our lead at 3-2. Arky Vaughan scored off a single by Ashburn in the top of the eighth to give us a little more breathing room, and Seats held it through the eighth inning though by the end of the frame he was running on fumes after 146 pitches. When our bats couldn’t buy any more insurance, we brought out Amos Watson with a two run lead to protect, and he shut them down one, two, three to complete the game as a 4-2 victory! Seats was phenomenal through eight innings, allowing seven hits with five walks, two rusn and a strikeout. Watson came out of the pen for just 10 pitches to get the outs we needed, earning his seventh save of the year, and we outhit the Senators 11-7, led by Phil Cavarretta with three hits and an RBI.

June 21, 1947: Diomedes Olivo (6-7, 3.41 ERA, 103.0 IP, 50 K, 1.05 WHIP) started our second game against the Senators, facing Ken Heintzelman (1-2, 1 SV, 6.48 ERA, 50.0 IP, 15 K, 1.82 WHIP) on a rainy afternoon. The Senators hit us hard in the bottom of the third, scoring off a Buddy Lewis RBI single and getting two more off a double by Jeff Heath. Olivo couldn’t get a drop of run support, but he was saved from having to finish this one when the game was called in the eighth inning due to water pooling in the outfield from heavy rain ... we lost 4-0, putting up pretty much no fight offensively at all. Olivo took the loss, pitching seven innings with eight hits, two walks, five strikeouts and four earned runs, and they outhit us 8-2, only Cavarretta (with a walk and a hit) looking like he gave much of a damn at all.

So far we’re 3-4 on this road trip, and we’ve got two more games against the Senators tomorrow if the weather will permit. Hopefully we put up more fight than we did today, or we might as well pack it up and head back to St. Louis.
 
June 22, 1947: We have two days off this week on Monday and Thursday, so we’re sticking with our rotation for this doubleheader day. In game one, Dutch Leonard (6-6, 3.24 ERA, 114.0 IP, 38 K, 1.22 WHIP) pitched against Washington’s Claude Passeau (7-5, 3.15 ERA, 111.1 IP, 31 K, 1.28 WHIP), and we took the lead just minutes in, when Vern Stephens hit a two-run homer out of left! We then blew it open, scoring five more runs in the top of the third including a bases-clearing three-run triple for Richie Ashburn, to hold a 7-0 lead midway through the inning. By the time Washington scored a run in the bottom of the fifth we’d already racked up nine, and Leonard pitched the rest of the way as we vetoed the Senators 13-2! Leonard allowed five hits and two walks with two strikeouts in the game, handing them just two runs (one earned) as he got his ERA to 3.07. We outhit them just 10-5, which made our outright dominance all the more satisfying ... six runs came off of three homers, with Stephens leading the way with two of them -- he led our offense with three hits, a walk, three runs scored and four batted in. But Ashburn made his presence felt as well, with his four runs batted in off a hit and a walk, giving him 18 RBIs so far this year after just 18 major league appearances.

Amos Watson (1-1, 7 SV, 0.57 ERA, 31.1 IP, 13 K, 0.86 WHIP) has been red hot this year, and he got his third start of the season today, facing Leon Day (4-7, 3.59 ERA, 107.2 IP, 65 K, 1.49 WHIP) in the second game of the afternoon. We took the lead in the top of the fourth with a two-run double by Les Moss, but they got on the board with an RBI triple in the bottom of the fifth and Watson was gassed ... it was only his first hit of the game after surrendering two walks in the innings prior. So Fred Sanford took over, no outs, man on third, and Watson would get credit just for four (very solid) innings. With runners on the corners and one out, Sanford gave up the tying run when Mickey Vernon hit into a fielder’s choice and we failed to get the out at home ... and then the Senators took control, Stan Spence hitting a two-run flyball double to put them up 4-2. Sanford struggled to get the last two outs, but eventually got us into the fifth trailing 5-2. Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the fifth and did well for two innings, but he got rocked in the eighth as five more runs were surrendered -- Zoldak came out to get the last out, and then insanity reigned. We were down 10-2 heading into what was expected to be a one-two-three ninth, but our bats had other plans. Robinson took a leadoff walk, and after Harry Walker struck out swinging, Phil Cavarretta singled Robinson to second. Vern Stephens hit an RBI double to score Robinson, Wally Judnich walked, and Arky Vaughan hit an RBI single that scored Cavarretta, driving Stephens and Judnich into scoring position. Stephens scored off a single by Les Moss, cutting their lead to five! Ashburn struck out looking for our second out, but Sam Zoldak singled in Judnich, Jackie Robinson singled in Vaughan, and Harry Walker singled in Moss as the Senators’ lead was down to TWO RUNS! Alas, Cavarretta -- in his second at-bat of the inning -- popped out on a line drive to left and the game ended as a 10-8 loss. Fred Sanford (2-6, 5.08 ERA) was credited with the loss, allowing two hits, two walks and three earned runs in his inning. Watson had a great start through four innings, with just one hit, three walks, three strikeouts and two earned runs, “exploding” his ERA to 1.02. What’s frustrating is we outhit them 17-7 ... but seven of those came in our ninth inning rally. Cavarretta led us with four hits and a run, and Moss added two hits, a walk, a run and three batted in. Too bad Cavarretta didn’t have a fifth hit in him, he had two in scoring position, and a well-placed double could have sent this insane game into extras.

We’re off tomorrow and then will take our 30-33 record to Philly to face the Athletics, who are 36-34 after splitting a doubleheader today with the White Sox. We’ll have two games against them, and then will finish this road trip with four games against Detroit (37-31) including a Sunday doubleheader.