July 14, 1915
Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Athletics @ Chicago White Sox
There were two famous birthdays celebrated today in
1915. First, Woody Guthrie turned three
years old today. Eventually he would
become one of the most famous and popular folk singers in American history,
acutely writing about his experiences living on the plains during the Great
Depression and Dust Bowl, but today 100 years ago he was toddling around his
parent’s farm in Oklahoma. Another happy
birthday goes out to Gerald Ford; the future president turned two today. But he
was not Gerald Ford yet! I didn’t know
this, maybe because I was born a decade after he became president, but a quick
scan of his Wikipedia page informs me that he was actually born Leslie Lynch
King, Jr. His mother received a divorce
shortly after Ford’s birth because of his father’s domestic violence and
continued threats to murder the entire family.
On February 1, 1916 she married Gerald Rudolff Ford, which is where
young Leslie got his new name, though he was never legally adopted. And just like that America was robbed of
President Leslie King.
The Phillies took the field today buoyed by their recent
return to first place, though the promise of holding the title after today
looked grim. The Phillies had a tough
matchup in the third-place St. Louis Cardinals, who were merely 1.5 games
behind Philadelphia and Chicago for the lead in the National League. The Cubs, on the other hand, had a
doubleheader against the atrocious New York Giants. Anyway you sliced it, if the Cubs beat the
Giants in both games they would retake first place. Well, as they say, all the Phillies could do
is take care of their own business and hope for the best results up in the Polo
Grounds.
The tide had turned for Philadelphia starter Al
Demaree. After a poor showing for the
first three months of the season, Demaree was 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his three
appearances in July. A win today would
cement Demaree’s turnaround and give manager Pat Moran confidence to send him
out there when his name came up in the rotation. But the young Philadelphian twirler had his
work cut out for him because St. Louis, winners in 5 or their last 8, was one
of the hottest teams in the circuit.
Their starter was 20-year-old Lee Meadows. You may remember him from the last time he
faced the Phillies. Remember? He wore glasses so his teammates nicknamed
him “Specs”? There you go. He faced Philadelphia twice this season, once
in a relief effort in which he came in to mop up an early offensive explosion
by the Phillies but couldn’t slow the onslaught. He went seven innings and gave up 10 hits and
seven runs. His second appearance was
better, though his seven hits and two earned runs surrendered still saddled his
club with the loss. But since June
Meadows found his groove and, despite a 5-4 record, pitched admirably to a 2.77
ERA and 1.22 WHIP.
The game started with two shutout innings for both pitchers,
but it was only the calm before the storm.
Demaree started to shake in the top of the third when Bruno Betzel
singled before Frank Snyder’s home run over the right field fence. The 2-0 lead wasn’t exactly what the doctor
prescribed because the Phillies had yet to gain their form off of Meadows. But at the time, anyway, Snyder’s shot was a
mere momentary hiccup. Something clicked
in the bottoms of the fourth and fifth as Dave Bancroft and Gavvy Cravath both
deposited balls over the notoriously short right field wall of the Baker Bowl,
mimicking the way St. Louis took the lead.
Demaree faltered again in the top of the sixth, right at the time when
his teammates needed him to be at his best, and St. Louis retook the lead when
Bob Bescher strolled across the plate.
The key to Demaree’s recent success was his ability to have
a short memory. Earlier in the year if
he let up a lot of hits or a few runs the wheels would come off of his
effort. However, after surrendering the
lead for a second time today, Demaree was not dismayed; he determinedly
refocused his attention to the matter at hand and pitched some of his best ball
of the year. His Phillies teammates
certainly appreciated his resolution because just at that moment Meadows began
to lose his. Cravath scored Bancroft in
the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at three. Both players probably wondered what exactly
it was about Meadows that was fooling their teammates. The two combined for three hits, two walks,
and three runs scored. Why couldn’t
anyone else put together a rally? The
question was answered in the bottom of the eighth. Bert Niehoff laced a double, causing
Cardinals’ manager Miller Huggins to relieve the obviously worn out
Meadows. Hub Perdue sauntered in from
the bullpen and promptly walked Possum Whitted.
With a move that would have made Tony La Russa proud, yet was, at the
time, a strange occurrence, Huggins pulled Perdue for Marshall Mathers
Slim Sallee after just one batter.
Sallee lost himself in the moment and surrendered three singles in a row
to Fred Luderus, Ed Burns, and Al Demaree, giving the Phillies the 6-3 lead
that held for the remainder of the contest.[1]
[2]
Despite blowing two leads in the game, Al Demaree pitched
relatively well. His 1.93 ERA in his
last three starts (all wins) was a dramatic improvement from the 3.76 ERA he
gave up to start the season. More
importantly, though, the Phillies lineup bailed out the pitching. For the first two months of the season this
almost never happened. The game was
almost always conceded as soon as a Phillies opponent took the lead. But it was a good sign that Philadelphia was
finally getting contributions from all aspects of the team. In the nine games to start July the Phillies
scored 19 runs for an average of 2.1 runs per game. In their last six games the Phillies more
doubled their runs per game to 4.6.
That’s real progress! The
cohesion couldn’t come at a better time because the Cubs began to slide. They split their doubleheader today in New
York and fell 0.5 games behind the Phillies.
After tomorrow afternoon’s series finale with St. Louis, the Phillies
welcome the wounded Cubs to Philadelphia, no doubt relishing in the fact that
they could administer a significant blow to Chicago’s pennant hopes.
[1]
“Killefer And Snyder Premier Catchers Of National League,” Evening Ledger, July 15, 1915, accessed July 14, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1Gjz4fV.
[2]
“Phillies Pound Out A Victory,” New York
Tribune, July 15, 1915, accessed July 14, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1Jfzc24.
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