July 10, 1915
Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Athletics @ St. Louis Browns
Remember the near panic caused yesterday when the German
government declared that it would basically ignore President Woodrow Wilson’s
appeal to restrict their submarine use against freight ships? Remember how the papers were awaiting
Wilson’s response and there was actual fear that this could be the beginning of
the United States’ involvement in World War I?
Well, it turns out the media in the US received wrong information. The actual press release from the German’s
declared their respect for the United States (“Since the time when Frederick
the Great negotiated with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson
the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce of September 9, 1785, between Prussia and
the Republic of the West, German and American statesmen have, in fact, always
stood together in the struggle for the freedom of the seas and for the
protection of peaceable trade”). They
reiterated that submarine warfare was necessary because Britain had declared
the North Sea a warzone and established a blockade that prevented any sea trade
with Germany, an act that not only harms the armed forces but, more
importantly, the German citizens. Subs
to the Germans are not just a weapon of war; they are needed for survival. But the needs of safe passage of American
freight ships was recognized as necessary as well, so Germany proposed that
they would allow American passenger ships with an identifiable marking to pass
unharmed so long as the US government announced the ships course beforehand and
promised to not store war contraband on those ships. Now that seems reasonable. It’s funny to see that it took the German
government almost two months to response to the United States. Obviously international communication
techniques weren’t even close to what we have today, but two months of
wondering about a war is a long time to let imaginations run wild with anxiety.[1]
A nice sized Saturday crowd of 12,000 filled the Baker Bowl
to watch Al Demarre battle Babe Adams in the third game of the series between
the Phillies and Pirates. Adams appeared
in two previous games against Philadelphia with mixed results. His first appearance was a disaster, three
runs on five hits that cost his team the game on May 14. Adams got the start in the second game and
went 10 innings while only letting up 2 runs, but he was pinch-hit for before
his team could win the game in the 13th inning. While acting mostly in a swingman position,
Adams wasn’t known for having a large amount of stamina. In an era where good starting pitchers were
expected to finish their games, Adams only finished about half of his. Meanwhile, Demaree was coming off of his
10-inning shutout performance against New York just three days ago. He was still pitching for his major league
life, and while beating the Giants will go a long way, one good game does not a
career make. So, both pitchers had a
little something to prove in today’s game.
As these things tend to work out, the game was not a
pitching clinic in any stretch of the imagination, but there were moments of
top-notch twirling. It was actually a
bit more on the offensive than the previous two games had been. Still, this is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
we’re talking about, so an offensive explosion at this point in the season was
relatively mild. Philadelphia scratched
out the first run of the game in the second inning, but the Pirates battled
back in their next turn at the plate, scoring two runs and taking the
lead. From here there was a four-inning
lull in the offense that was the result of both pitchers finding their groove. Going into the bottom of the seventh,
Pittsburgh held a 3-2 lead.
The heart of the Phillies lineup was coming up needing to
deliver in what could be their last turn of the day. A quick side note, Gavvy Cravath’s past week
has been so great that his batting average went up 11 points and now hovered
just below .300, which was fantastic news for Philadelphia because if this
offense was ever going to get on track it had to center around a strong
Cravath. Case in point: the seventh
inning of today’s game. Cactus Cravath
lead off with a double, giving his teammate three outs to get a paltry hit to
drive him in and tie the game. After
Bert Niehoff made an out, our boy Possum Whitted shocked the defense by
dropping a bunt down and then safely beat the throw to first. Now we’re in business! Runners at the corners with one out and Fred
Luderus coming up. Luderus recently
dropped to third in on the batting average leaderboard in the National League,
but he didn’t let his small slump faze him in this plate appearance. Babe Adams, who was probably tiring at this
point, served the Phillies captain a giant meatball that was hit way over the
outfield wall for a home run. That’s
what captains do! They come through in
the clutch! The home run put the Phillies
ahead for good, but just to be safe they tacked on another run in the eighth
and won the game 6-3.[2]
Al Demaree deserves a lot of credit for exhibiting heart and
confidence in his stuff today. He blew
two leads in the game but buckled down when he needed to and went home with his
second win in a row. It took awhile but
Demaree was rounding into form and becoming another asset to the Phillies
rotation. Poor Pat Moran had too many
great pitchers! Grover Cleveland
Alexander and Erskine Mayer were leading the pack and were more aces than any
team could ask for; but then there was George Chalmers, Eppa Rixey and now Al
Demaree all coming into their own. Five
quality starters was a luxury at a time when clubs had maybe three good
starters and a slew of swingmen. The
Phillies pitching was supposed to be a weakness coming into the season but now
it set them apart from other teams in the league. In the past game and a half the offense,
which was what the experts thought would carry this team, started to heat up
after their prolonged slump. And, hey,
don’t look now, but Brooklyn beat the Cubs twice
today. That’s a 1.5 game swing in the
standing and, well look at that, the Phillies were now only half a game out of
first place. Put Chicago on alert! Philadelphia is coming for them.
[1]
“Germany Pledges Safety to U.S. Passenger Ships If Clearly Marked And Sailings
Announced In Advance; Would Let US Take Over Four Enemy Boats; Undersea War To
Go On,” The Sun, July 10, 1915,
access July 10, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1D55bQD.
[2]
“Phillies By A Rally Win,” The Sun,
July 11, 1915, accessed July 10, 1915, http://1.usa.gov/1NYjjkR.
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