May 15, 1915
Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Athletics @ St. Louis Browns
Near the Artois region of France, the Battle of Festubert
began today. The fight was a small part
of the larger Second Battle of Artois. For
the past 60 hours the Allies bombarded the German barbed wire and machine gun
posts with over 100,000 shells from 433 artillery pieces. At around 11 pm, the guns begin to slow down
and the first wave of British platoons surge forward into No Man’s Land. The advance was slowed by 12:45 am, but the
bombardment started up again to loosen the stalemate. All through the night bombs burst overhead,
machine guns rat-tat-tated in the distance, and chaos ensued. By 10 am the next morning the adversaries pull
back to regroup and closed the gaps in their lines. The battle continued for 10 more days like
this and in the end Allied forces succeeded in taking less than 2 miles of
ground. Over 16,000 British casualties
were spent for those 2 miles.[1]
Meanwhile, safely across the Atlantic Ocean, the Phillies
got some bad news today. It seemed that
Possum Whitted was more than clumsy when he tripped rounding third base in
yesterday’s game; he was actually injured with broken bones in his right ankle
and would have to sit out for the foreseeable future. So far this season catcher Bill Killefer,
first baseman Fred Luderus, and second baseman Bert Niehoff had all missed
multiple games due to injury, now Whitted might be out longer than all of
them. Dode Paskert would have to move to
first base until Luderus healed and Bud Weiser would get his chance to man
center.[2]
So how did the Phillies do down their five and six hitters
in the lineup? Well they set a season
record by banging out 11 runs, is all.
Grover Cleveland Alexander started the game for the Phillies by giving
up a run in the first. But the Phillies
hitters were not dismayed. The
Cardinals’ Bill Doak, who was the team’s phenom coming off his 1914
performance, only made it through one full inning before manager Miller Huggins
decided he had had enough. He was
knocked around for four runs in the inning.
Alexander had his lead and was able to cruise for the rest of the
contest. As Alex was busy striking out
12 Cardinals throughout the day, the Phillies were getting hit after hit after
hit. Paskert, in his new role as first
baseman, launched his first home run of the year. Cravath continued in extra base hit streak
when the tripled. Hell, even Alexander
had a double in today’s match. It was a
dominating performance in all aspects of the game for the Phillies.
Well it certainly looked like the hitting slump was
over! In the past 12 innings the
Phillies had scored 16 runs and only allowed two. They were playing like the team that opened
the season with such resounding success.
It never hurts to show off for the hometown fans, especially on a
Saturday when 12,000 of them showed up to the park. They probably came to watch Alexander pitch,
but were treated to a bombardment from the team without two of its biggest
sluggers. Semi-ironically, the Phillies
helped and were helped out by the Giants because the Cubs were getting the
harsh treatment in New York City. The
Giants put up 10 runs on Zip Zapel and George Pierce and managed to hold the
potent Chicago lineup to only four hits.
The win for New York meant the Phillies had gained a game on the Cubs,
pushing their lead to two games, but also that the Giants escaped the basement
by leaping over the Cardinals. It was a
little “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” situation between the two
rivals at opposite ends of the standings.
[1]
“The Battle of Festubert,” The Long, Long
Trail, accessed May 14, 2015, http://www.1914-1918.net/bat11A.html.
[2]
“Leaders Tighten Gripe,” The Sun, May
16, 1915, accessed May 14, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1IA92Mq.
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