Word: batterics
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Silent Bats. It went on like that for four days: good pitching and terrible hitting. Cleveland's brilliant southpaw Rookie Gene Bearden, shutting out the Braves (2-0), only twice let the count go to three balls on any Boston batter. Knuckle-bailer Steve Gromek, who out-pitched Sain in the fourth game (2-1), gave only one base on balls. The 1948 World Series was in danger of being remembered only for precision pitching. Grantland Rice called it the Series of silent bats. Disgusted fans and sportwriters complained that it was the dullest World Series in memory. What...
...Braves like their methodical manager. They like the way he memorizes the stances of each batter so that he can figure out what has gone wrong when somebody slumps, and they don't even mind when he drills them on sandlot fundamentals. The Southworth approach has kept the Braves on an even, unspectacular keel: they have put together no winning streak longer than seven games, no losing streak longer than four. Billy admits that the Braves may not be the best club in the league, but he expects to win-because the boys have the "will to win." Says...
...sixth, the rain started again. In the ninth, the ball was slippery, and Barney was pressing. With the count three-and-two, the first batter swung at a pitch up around his neck. The second Giant popped a mile-high fly to First Baseman Gil Hodges, who wiped the rain from his face and caught it. Then Whitey Lockman, who had hit three home runs off Barney earlier in the season, stepped up. He got a piece of the ball, but it fouled off near the Dodger dugout. Looking up into the lights, Catcher Bruce Edwards thought he was "seeing...
...pitcher, then yanked him with the count only three-and-one. At the time, nobody objected. But in the clubhouse after the game, an ex-sportwriter advised Pittsburgh's Manager Billy Meyer to protest: the Dodgers had violated Rule 17 (a relief pitcher must handle at least one batter). Confessed Manager Meyer: "I pulled a real rock." Said Manager Shotton: "We pulled a rock." Agreed Umpire Jocko Conlan: "Everyone pulled a rock." The game will be replayed later this month, beginning with the three-and-one count in the ninth...
...also taken a while for McCarthy's highly touted boys to realize that they had to run to catch fly balls, take a healthy swing to knock a ball out of the infield, hustle to throw an opposing batter out at first...