May 20, 1915
Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds
Today saw pro-Italy demonstrations in Zara, the capital of
Dalmatia, a territory occupied by the Austrians that sat across the Adriatic
Sea from Italy. The build up of tension
due to the Italians’ preparation for war might have caused the Austrian troops
stationed in the city to get a bit trigger happy because they fired into the
crowd, killing several people. The
obviously enraged Italians, already champing at the bit for war, moved their
battleships into position to bombard the port city of Cattaro, though at the
time of publication there was no word as to the city’s being under siege. Ambassadors from both Germany and Austria
were forced to leave Rome after the news broke, effectively severing the last
chance to negotiate for peace. The news
shocked the Ottomans, as well, who were now staring at the very real threat
that Bulgaria and Romania would join the Italians on the Allies side, making
their already fragile hold of the region almost unattainable. They were already planning on renouncing
their German-Austro alliance and giving the Allies full access to the
Dardanelles if their fears were confirmed.
The death and destruction in Europe was about to be extended.[1]
In Philadelphia, “rain, not war, was the portent of the sun
rings.” An odd meteorological phenomenon
occurred today that made it look as though rings were surrounding the sun. Apparently people took this as a bad omen,
possibly meaning that the United States was about to join the Great War, but the
Evening Ledger wanted readers to know
that it was a natural phenomenon and had nothing to do with the nation’s willingness
to send troops to Europe. It did,
however, mean that rain was in the forecast for the next couple of days, which
would cause most of the Phillies’ series against the Reds to be cancelled. That was all in the future, though, and, as
for today, the clubs played under the ominous sun rings.
Red’s manager Charlie Herzog probably hated to see those sun
rings overhead when he showed up the Baker Bowl as he was already convinced his
team was jinxed. His club was in last
place, but old Charlie thought his team had more talent than they had showed
through the first month of the season.
Bad breaks and bad calls had cost his club many games and he thought a
new edition to the pitching staff might break the team from the dredges. Unfortunately, Herzog was in line to get Dan
Griner from the Cardinals up until the moment he dominated the Phillies
yesterday afternoon. Frustrated and
possibly cursed, Herzog was forced to take on the first place Phillies without
an improvement.
Maybe the sun rings were a good sign for the Reds because
they played inspired ball. All day long
they were making good contact on pitches and driving them all over the yard. The top six hitters in Cincinnati’s lineup
combined to go 10 for 22 with two doubles, a triple, and five runs scored; and all
of this was off Grover Cleveland Alexander, no less. It was the worst game Alexander had pitched
since the Braves hung 13 hits and four runs on him in September of 1914. It was a terrible showing for the ace when
the club really needed a typically great Alexander game, but, to continue a theme, to give him full blame for the loss would be faulty. Alex did not have his best stuff on the mound
today but the rest of the team barely even showed up to play. The Phillies committed three more errors
today, making it 12 in the past three games while their opponents
committed zero. Twelve errors! Sadly, and unbelievably, the pitching and
defense wasn’t even the worst part of their performance today. The entire team managed only four hits. Beals Becker and Gavvy Cravath continued
their home run race when they both went deep in the fourth, but that only made
the game look closer than it actually was and hid the fact that the other Phillies’ batters futilely flailed at bad pitches and caused almost no trouble for the Reds’ fielders.
The game ended as a loss for the Phils by a score of 6-2.[2]
The importance of Fred Luderus and Possum Whitted’s bats in
the lineup showed itself every day, but it would be weeks before the
sluggers' names were put on the lineup card.
Some fans and members of the media thought maybe the Phillies had become
home run happy, constantly swinging with an uppercut, possibly in the hopes to
make up for the losses of Luderus and Whitted.
There was clamor from the crowd that Pat Moran needed to tell his club
to stop swinging for the fences and just make nice contact like the Reds had
done in their dissection of Alexander today.
Something sure needed to change because the lineup’s awful hitting had
gone on longer than its hot streak to start the season. Unbeknownst to those in 1915, the rest of the
series with the Reds would be rained out.
Maybe the four days the Phillies would have off would allow them to
clear their heads and get them ready to play the kind of winning baseball they
had already proven themselves capable of.
After all, there were no more games before the Chicago Cubs came to town
for the battle for first place, so it was up to the Phillies to show they could
compete with the best in league even after this terrible stretch of games. As it turned out, the rain allowed for
Alexander’s spot in the rotation to come up on the first game against the Cubs,
giving him a quick chance at redemption.
[1]
“Italians Shot By Austrian Troops In Dalmatia Capital,” Evening Ledger, May 21, 1915, accessed May 18, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1Fk5eec.
[2]
“Cincinnati, Strong Ball Club, Gets Only Miss Fortune’s Frown,” Evening Ledger, May 21, 1915, accessed
May 18, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1PucLz2.
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