Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 184

balls, but it was my fast ball that won for me." It was his only start of the series, which New York won four games to none.

In 1951, Raschi made the first of three straight Opening Day starts for the Yankees. "The excitement before an opening game is as great, I think, as the World Series," he later recalled, emphasizing the importance of getting the season started well. He started the season with a six hit shutout of the Red Sox. In May, he won six straight starts. Included in the streak were a 10 strikeout performance against the Indians on May 16 and a five hit shutout of the Browns on May 21. On June 8, Raschi held

the Chicago White Sox to seven hits in a 4–2 victory, ending their six game win streak in a game that set a Comiskey Park attendance record at the time with 53,490 spectators. Exactly a week later, he held the Tigers to three hits in a 2–0 shutout. He limited the Red Sox to three hits on June 29 in a 2–1 triumph.

Despite a 12–6 record at the All-Star break, Raschi was not selected to the All-Star Game, partly because the AL owners decreed that only one pitcher could be selected from each team, and Eddie Lopat, off to his best year at 21-9 with a 2.91 ERA was selected. In the first game of a doubleheader on July 29, he struck out 12 White Sox and pitched into the ninth inning, earning the win in an 8–3 victory. Facing the Senators in the second game of a September 9 doubleheader, he pitched a one hit