Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 53

of the substantive Flatbush faithful seated in enemy territory. Though Newcombe was exhausted, Dressen sensed he had enough left with a 4-1 lead to let him go the distance. But Alvin Dark singled to open the Giants ninth and, inexplicably, was held on at first by Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges, even though Dark represented a meaningless run that would neither tie nor win the game. Exploiting the risk on cue, Don Mueller next sent a grounder through the enlarged infield hole near Hodges for another base hit. Monte Irvin then popped up for the first out, though it might have been the third had Hodges played off the bag for Mueller, collected his grounder, and started a potential double play.

Dark scored to make it 4-2 on a double by the next batter, Whitey Lockman, who became the tying run in scoring position. Mueller badly hurt his ankle sliding into third base on the play,

and the game was stopped for over 10 minutes as he was taken off the field. With Thomson emerging to the plate, Dressen brought in Branca, loser of six of his last seven decisions on the mound, not to mention that Thomson had homered off Branca in Game 1. Thomson’s day was not going well. Though he had knocked in the first Giants run on a sacrifice, he had committed a base running gaffe and was enduring a tough defensive day at third base.