Cy Young<\/strong> of the Spiders will take on Andy Pettitte<\/strong> of the Black Yankees in the opening game of the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnny Bates<\/strong> greeted Pettitte’s 2nd pitch with a drive into the left field bleachers for a 1-0 lead for Cleveland. An RBI double from John Ellis<\/strong> in the 2nd doubled the lead, and a sacrifice fly from Chuck Knoblauch<\/strong> made it 3-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it’s hard to get separation from New York: a homerun from Lou Gehrig<\/strong> put the Black Yankees on the board, and then Mike Schmidt<\/strong> doubled, Rogers Hornsby<\/strong> singled, and Thurman Munson<\/strong> walked to load the bases. Singles from Don Mattingly<\/strong>, HR Johnson<\/strong>, and Eric Davis<\/strong> put New York on top, 4-3, with the bases still loaded and nobody out. Young proceeded to walk Mickey Mantle<\/strong> and Babe Ruth<\/strong> before being lifted from the game with the score 6-3. Whit Wyatt<\/strong> allowed a 2 run single to Schmidt, and by the time the inning was over, the Black Yankees led 8-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ruth hit a 3 run shot in the 6th, making it 11-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having the lead seemed to settle Pettitte down, with the lefty twirling 4 scoreless before Evan Longoria<\/strong> took him out of the park in the 7th. Larry Doby<\/strong> followed with a longball of his own, chasing Pettitte. Cleveland roughed up Herm Wehmeier<\/strong> and Rheal Cormier<\/strong> and by the time the inning was over, they had batted around, scoring 4 times and closing the gap to 11-7. Bates and Lance Berkman<\/strong> drove in runs and Ron Blomberg<\/strong> was walked with the bases loaded for the final tally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnson reinstated New York’s cushion with a 2 run shot in the 7th, and the Black Yankees took the 13-7 lead into the top of the 9th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arky Vaughn<\/strong> walked and Tris Speaker<\/strong> singled, which brought Goose Gossage<\/strong> in from New York’s bullpen. The Goose was good, and New York rode that big inning early in the game to a victory and a 1-0 series lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schmidt and Johnson had 3 hits each for New York; Doby had 3 for Cleveland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CLE 7 <\/em><\/strong>(Young 0-1) <\/em>@ NYY 13 <\/em><\/strong>(Pettitte 1-0)<\/em> Cleveland will turn to young Bob Feller<\/strong>, coming off a 13-3 season, to try to even the series. Feller will be opposed by the Black Yankees’ stalwart, Ron Guidry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cleveland’s John Ellis<\/strong> has had a bit of a disappointing season, but he can atone for that with a strong postseason performance. Today, that meant a 2 run shot off Guidry in the 2nd. Lance Berkman<\/strong> added an RBI single in the 3rd, but in the bottom of the frame, Eric Davis<\/strong> took Feller deep, making the score 3-1. Chuck Knoblauch<\/strong> would regain the 3 run advantage for Cleveland in the 4th with a shot to right that barely cleared the wall, but they all count the same. 4-1, Spiders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guidry fanned 10 in 6 innings of work, but the 4 runs loomed larger. The Black Yankees turned to Red Ruffing<\/strong>–an all-star last year, but pretty rough this–and it did not go well: Ruffing walked the first 2 batters he faced, and then gave up a 2-run double to Arky Vaughan<\/strong>. Dave Righetti<\/strong> relieved Ruffing, and got out of the inning without further damage, leaving the score 6-1 in favor of Cleveland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feller was gassed at this point, but he was also overpowering the impressive Black Yankees lineup. He was left in the game until Grant Johnson<\/strong>‘s 2 out single in the bottom of the 7th. Feller left with 11 strikeouts, having allowed only 5 hits and the single run. His relief, Yordano Ventura<\/strong>, walked Eric Davis<\/strong> and gave up an RBI single to Mickey Mantle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That brought in Al Smith<\/strong> to face Babe Ruth, lefty on lefty. Smith got the Babe to pop out to left, leaving the score 6-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry Adams<\/strong> came in to close it out for Cleveland, but gave up Davis’ 2nd homer of the game, a 2 run shot to left. Then, with 2 outs, Ruth singled, bringing up Gehrig as the tying run. But Adams induced a weak groundout to second, ending the game and tying up the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Davis had 3 hits for New York, but didn’t get enough support, with Ruth and Thurman Munson<\/strong> leaving 4 on base each. Vaughan and Knoblauch each had 2 hits for the Spiders, but this was really Feller’s game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CLE 6 <\/em><\/strong>(Feller 1-0; Smith 1 H) <\/em>@ NYY 4 <\/em><\/strong>(Guidry 0-1)<\/em> With the series tied at 1, the Black Yankees would call on the unproven Tony Brizzolara<\/strong>, certainly impressive, but only over 50 innings of work. Detroit would counter with Bill Steen<\/strong>, 13-10 on the year with solid supporting numbers to go along with a 4.71 ERA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both teams generated some traffic, but nobody could push a run across the plate. In the bottom of the third, Johnny Bates<\/strong> led off with a triple, and then the skies opened up, creating a rain delay of over an hour. That would mark the end of the day for both starters, with Pascual P\u00e9rez<\/strong> coming in for New York. P\u00e9rez stranded Bates at third, keeping the game scoreless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cleveland turned it over to Pat Malone<\/strong> to start the 4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both P\u00e9rez and Malone were fantastic, and we remained scoreless into the 7th, when a single by Evan Longoria<\/strong> chased P\u00e9rez. Larry Doby<\/strong> greeted Rheal Cormier<\/strong> with a homerun to right, putting the Spders on top, 2-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that’s how it ended, with 4 Spiders hurlers combining on the 4-hit shutout. Malone got the deserved win, but Al Smith<\/strong> and Terry Adams<\/strong> deserve credit for a hitless inning each. You can’t really fault P\u00e9rez: he only gave up 1 hit in his four plus innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Black Yankees now trail in the series, 2-1, and desperately need Babe Ruth<\/strong> and Lou Gehrig<\/strong> to wake up (Ruth is hitting .167 in the series so far, Gehrig .083).<\/p>\n\n\n\n NYY 0 <\/em><\/strong>(P\u00e9rez 0-1) <\/em>@ CLE 2 <\/em><\/strong>(Malone 1-0; Adams 1 Sv; Smith 2 H)<\/em> This may not technically be a must win for New York, but, you know, it’s a must win for New York, who really need their superstars to step up. More importantly, the prior games dug into the Black Yankees bullpen, leaving them with a choice of Herm Wehmeier<\/strong>–decent this year, but having faded a bit down the stretch–or Red Ruffing<\/strong>, who was stellar last season and horrid this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They opted for Ruffing, with Cleveland bringing back Cy Young<\/strong> after his ugly Game 1 start. The Spiders will also give Willie McCovey<\/strong> the start at DH in place of the struggling Ron Blomberg<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ruffing gave up a homerun to Arky Vaughan<\/strong> in the first and third and Larry Doby<\/strong> in the second, making it 3-0 after 3 innings. Not insurmountable, but not what the Black Yankees needed. A single by Johnny Bates<\/strong> chased Ruffing in the bottom of the 5th, bringing in Hoyt Wilhelm<\/strong>, who gave up a 3-run shot to Lance Berkman<\/strong> in the 5th and an RBI single to Bates in the 7th, increasing the lead to 7-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lou Gehrig<\/strong> had gotten one back in the top of the 4th, but Young was (finally, from the Spiders’ perspective) pitching well, lasting 6 innings and even getting Gehrig ejected for arguing a strike call. Hank Gastright<\/strong> and Firpo Marberry<\/strong> finished it off for Cleveland, giving the Spiders a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offensively, Vaughan had 3 hits and Bates and Berkman added 2 each for Cleveland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, their pitching could have been better, but only Eric Davis<\/strong>, Mike Schmidt<\/strong>, and Grant Johnson<\/strong> have batting averages above .200 so far in the series for New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HRs<\/strong>: CLE – Bates (1), Longoria (1), Doby (1); NYY – Gehrig (1), Ruth (1), Johnson (1).
Box Score<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n#Game 2, Fri Oct 5<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
HRs<\/strong>: CLE – Ellis (1), Knoblauch (1); NYY – Davis 2 (2).
Box Score<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n#Game 3, Sun Oct 7<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
HRs<\/strong>: NYY – none; CLE – Doby (2).
Box Score<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n#Game 3, Mon Oct 8<\/h2>\n\n\n\n