Word: caseys
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Always a Surprise. Running the Yanks this hectic season, Casey was caught in a pennant race as wild and uncertain as his 1923 inside-the-park homer. He got started slowly; not until May 21 did the Yanks pick up the lead. July 1 saw them 6½ games in front. Then they stumbled. By the end of August, Cleveland and Chicago were fighting for first. But in September the Yanks made Casey look like a prophet. He said that the team that won eight straight in the stretch would wind up in the World Series against the Dodgers...
...roughest melee the American League had seen in years. And Casey came home with a team full of trouble. Few teams win a pennant without a first-class shortstop to tighten up their infield, and veteran Phil Rizzuto was five years past his prime, a step too slow in the field, a little too tired to play regularly. Jerry Coleman, who could have filled in, broke his collarbone April 22 and was out for three months. No sooner was he back when he was beaned and bench-ridden again. Often, Casey's pitching was pitiful...
...plate. Big Moose Skowron might have added power to the batting order; he played a month and pulled a leg muscle. Just when the Yankees straightened out for the run to the wire, Mickey Mantle hobbled himself beating out a bunt. Then Rizzuto was skulled. Time was when Casey clobbered the opposition with two platoons. Now he was hard put to field a team...
...Casey switched and shuffled, wheedled and roared. His line-up was seldom the same two days running. His batting order was always a surprise. His choice of pitchers broke every baseball rule but one -the categorical imperative...
Even last week, on that day in Boston when the pennant was grabbed for good, Casey defied convention. Fenway Park, with its short leftfield foul line, has always been tough for left-hand pitchers. In the afternoon, Casey started Lefty Tommy Byrne-and lost. In the nightcap, when Righty Don Larsen was shelled from the mound, Casey turned stubbornly to another southpaw, stocky Whitey Ford, who is not only a left-hander but also a valuable starter, too important to tire in relief. It turned out to be the right move...