June 2, 1915
Phillies @ Brooklyn Dodgers
Phillies @ Brooklyn Dodgers
The last series in which these two clubs clashed, it was the
Dodgers that took two of three games to pull them up to sixth place in the
National League. Since then they went
9-6, doubling their wins for the year and pulling to within three and a half
games of first place. Once thought
destined for the second division, the Dodgers were proving they belonged in the
pennant race conversation. Their hitting
was nothing to write home about, but somehow they always seemed to get the job
done. Only two regulars had an OPS+ over
100; Jake Daubert’s was 124 and Zack Wheat came in at 106. Casey Stengal played right field for this
team, but a .237/.294/.353 slash line indicated that he was in the midst of his
worst professional season to date. It
wasn’t necessarily even the pitching staff that made Brooklyn a venerable club;
they finished fourth in the NL in ERA, sixth in WHIP, and averaged more runs
against per game than runs scored per game.
Their Pythagorean Record was seven games worse than their actual record,
meaning this club play like a 73 win team but actually won 80 games. It looks like the Dodgers of 1915 were competitive
due to just dumb luck, getting the breaks, and not regressing to the mean.
One of the breaks the Dodgers got in today’s doubleheader
was that Jack Coombs was on the mound and Jack Coombs loved to pitch against
the Phillies. He was 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA
so far against Philadelphia this year, though he had pitched a little
erratically at times. In the second
inning his wildness finally bit him. A
walk to Gavvy Cravath, followed by a double from Bert Niehoff, and a walk to
Fred Luderus set the Phillies up for two runs in the inning. Coombs looked shaky and should have given up
at least one more run if Luderus wasn’t thrown out at home trying to tag up on
a pop fly. But if the Phillies are good
for one thing it’s scoring in one inning and then letting the opposing pitcher
dictate the flow for the rest of the game.
In this case it meant Coombs held the Phillies to only two more hits in
the rest of his complete game effort.
The Dodgers bats came alive, scoring seven runs between the third and
sixth innings. Eppa Rixey was mostly to
blame for this outburst of scoring; of the 11 base runners he allowed through
five innings, six of them scored. It was
just another poor performance all around for the Phillies.[1]
At least in the second game they would get to face
Brooklyn’s worst starting pitcher, Sherry Smith. The temperatures dropped significantly before
the start of game two, but that could have been a result of the Phillies bats
chilling out yet again. In the first
they did score two runs, but both were unearned as the Dodgers should have been
out of the inning with a double play if only shortstop Ollie O’Mara didn’t sail
the throw over Jake Daubert’s head. The
lead was a nice treat for the 20-year old Stan Buamgartner, who was making his
first and only start for the Phillies this season. The young southpaw didn’t pitch too poorly
for his first time out and with a little help from his defense and lineup he
might have received a better result. The
Dodgers cut the lead to one in the bottom of the first when Bert Niehoff booted
a sure out, making his 15th error on the year. In the third and fourth Buamgartner gave up
two runs of his own doing to let the Dodgers take the lead. Dave Bancroft made his 19th error
of the season in the sixth that gave Brooklyn what would turn out to be a much-needed
insurance run when Casey Stengal dropped a pop fly from Cravath that would have
been the tying run. There were no earned
runs for the Phillies today, just gifts from Brooklyn that kept them close but
never enough to retake the lead. The
final score was Brooklyn 4 and Philadelphia 3.[2]
Wow. The Phillies
were swept in a doubleheader for the second time in less than a week. They were now 1-8 on the road trip and 3-10
in their last 13 games. Over their last
30 games they played like a team on pace for 67 wins, which was bad enough for
last place. Let me repeat that. This
club that will go on to win the National League by seven games had played the
last month and a half like a last place team.
They allowed Chicago to catch and pass them for first place and now, as
of the results of the doubleheader, the Dodgers and Braves were both tied with
them for second place. Stuck in the
middle of the pack, where they were used to residing. But this club was different that the past
version of the Phillies. Starting
tomorrow they hit a stretch where they will play about .500 ball, not great and
surely nothing to inspire tales of heroism.
This is the turn around, though; over the next three weeks this club
will be in their Luke-Skywalker-Training-With-Yoda-On-Dagobah portion of their
season. By late June or early July they
will emerge like Luke confronting Jabba: in total control of their talents and
just dominating everything around them.
So hang in there, the goods times are about to start.
[1]
“Coombs Defeats Phillies For Third Time This Year,” Evening Ledger, June 2, 1915, accessed June 2, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1RH3Doy.
[2]
“Dodgers In Triple Tie For Runnerup,” The
Sun, June 3, 1915, accessed June 2, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1dJ2oqi.
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