Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 99
But Antonelli quickly returned smiles to their faces, winning his first 12 games at the Polo Grounds on his way to an overall 21-7 record with a league leading 2.30 ERA and six shutouts.
The other piece of the pennant winning puzzle spent most of his time on the bench. Left handed slugger Dusty Rhodes was often called upon to pinch hit and save the day when the rest of the team couldn’t do it. Often, Rhodes successfully answered the call, batting .341 with 15 homers and 50 RBIs, in just 164 at-bats.
Five games behind the Giants, the two time defending NL champion Brooklyn Dodgers continued to muscle the ball impressively, but not even the return of Don Newcombe from the military could save a pitching staff that collapsed.
The Giants’ 97 regular season victories paled next to
Cleveland’s numerically awesome 111-43 mark, and thus they were instantly branded as big-time World Series underdogs. And when Vic Wertz tripled in two runs to start off Game One at the Polo Grounds, everything seemed to be in order for the anticipated Cleveland rout. But the Giants rallied to tie the game in the third inning, and a pitcher’s duel settled in as Bob Lemon and Sal Maglie traded zeroes on the scoreboard.