W L Pct GB
Lewiston .... 16 8 .667 —
Yakima ...... 14 7 .667 ½
Salem ....... 13 8 .619 1½
Edmonton .... 11 11 .500 4
Vancouver .... 8 11 .421 5½
Tri-City ..... 9 13 .406 6
Victoria ..... 6 10 .375 6
Wenatchee .... 7 16 .304 8½
YAKIMA, July 28—Yakima's peristent Bears moved into a perentage tie with Lewiston for the Western International League lead Tuesday night with a double triumph over Vancouver. The wins were Yakima's seventh and eighth in a row.
The Bears edged the Capilanos twice, 5-4 and 3-2, with storybook finishes in both games, both of which were won in the last half of the ninth.
In the second contest, the Bears went scoreless until the eighth and trailed 2-0 when Lou Stringer, who had walked, came home on successive singles by Charlie Mead and Dick Briskey, both ex-Caps.
They won it in the ninth on an error, a single and a passed ball, followed by John Albini’s single.
Vancouver had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Bob Wellman singled in a run, then added another the following inning on Bob Duretto’s single.
Bill Brenner got the loss, his fifth against 14 victories.
John Cordell was debited with the first-game setback after he had taken over from George Nicholas and Bob Roberts.
An umpire’s decision, in which it was ruled that Marv Williams had missed second base on a double play, set up the winning run for Yakima. The whole Vancouver bench protested the call bitterly.
Bill Carmichael won the opener, allowing eight hits, three by Jim Clark, who doubled twice and batted in a pair.
First Game
Vancouver ... 001 210 000—4 8 1
Yakima ........ 002 002 001—5 10 1
Nicholas, Roberts (6), Cordell (9) and Duretto; Carmichael and Albini.
Second Game
Vancouver .... 000 110 000—2 9 1
Yakima ......... 000 000 012—3 6 0
Brenner and Pesut, Duretto (3); Edmunds, Lovrich (9) and Albini.
SALEM, July 27—Lewiston gave up 11 runs in the first inning to drop into a percentage-point tie for the Western International League lead, as Salem handed the Broncs their second straight defeat Tuesday night, by a 15-8 score.
The Broncs still hold a ½ game lead over Yakima, having played three more games than the Bears. Salem's win boosted the Senaors within a game and a half of the lead.
The Senators sent 14 men to bat in the first inning, collected nine hits and ticketed two Lewiston hurlers for the showers.
The Broncs picked up the cue and pushed across five runs themselves in their half of the frame.
The rally was sparked by Bob Williams' three run homer. Williams, incidentally, moved from the outfield to the pitcher's mound in an effort to still Salem's first inning blast. Although he gave up nine hits for five runs, he equalized that in part by collecting three hits and sending in four of Lewiston's tallies.
Salem ........ (11)00 112 000—15 18 2
Lewiston ..... 500 000 020— 8 12 2
Roenspie, Herrera (8) and Ogden, Marshall, Kime (1), Williams (1) and Garay.
VICTORIA [Jim Tang, Colonist, July 28]—A rookie southpaw making the sixth start of his professional baseball career and going more than six innings for the first time, last night ended Victoria Tyees’ losing streak at nine games as he subdued Edmonton Eskimos, 9-2, at Royal Athletic Park.
It was the first win for Phil Page after five setbacks and he looked like a winner all the way, although tiring in the late innings, as he found the corners consistently with a sharp curve.
Page had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning and lost that as relief-pitcher Art Worth opened with a scratch infield hit which he raced out for a matter of inches. Page yielded a solid single in the seventh, when the Eskimos got two men on base in one inning for the first time, and lost his shutout bid in the eighth when Vern Campbell hit one out of the park.
SIX DRAW WALKS
Page walked six but balanced that with six strikeouts, three of them with men on the bags. He faced only 20 Eskimos in the first six innings and although seven got on the bags in the last three innings, he found a double-play pitch twice to get himself out of trouble,
The Tyees gave Page a five-run cushion in the first inning as they chased Ray McNulty with a five-hit barrage, which included successive hits by Neil Sheridan, Don Lundberg, Milt Martin and Eddie Lake after Ron Jackson led off with a double, Don Pries had been hit by a pitched ball, and Dain Clay had bunted the runners along.
Worth stopped it and escaped being scored on until the sixth, when Clay and Sheridan hit back-to-back home runs after Jackson had singled.
PLATE LEADERS
Sheridan, batting in four runs with a double and two singles in addition to his 10th home run, and Jackson, with here singles and a double, led the Tyees at the plate. Lundberg gave the pair some help with three singles.
Pries shook up his line-up for this one. Martin, who has been in the outfield as a substitute for Tom Perez, returned to duty behind the plate while Lundberg moved from catcher to first base to enable Mel Stein to move to the outfield.
It worked with Lundberg looking sure at the gateway and Stein a definite improvement in the gardens with a good catch and a fine try to grab off a short single. The trouble was that most of the spectators who saw the Tyees come up with their improve display were from Duncan. It was “Duncan Night” at the park with 192 Little League and Juvenile baseball players and Lake Cowichan in the crowd. But, as Duncan’s Mayor Wragg noted in a pre-game talk, Duncan’s contingent outnumbered the Victorians in the stands.
Third game of the series will be played tonight.
Edmonton ...... 000 000 010—1 5 1
Victoria ......... 500 003 01x—9 15 0
McNulty, Worth (1) and Partee; Page and Martin.
KENNEWICK [Tri-City Herald, July 28]—Don Robertson, Tri-City'a winningest pitcher who has been beaten in his last three starts, will be on the mound tonight when the Braves play the Wenatchee Chiefs in the third game of the four-game series.
The series now stands at one game apiece following Tri-City's 6-5 loss to Wenatchee Tuesday night.
Tonight will also be another Pop Pays night. Under that arrangement, the father of the family buys one general admission ticket and the wife and children are admitted free.
According to Weiss statistics, Robertson will be seeking his 13th win tonight. But through the use of shrewd mathematics, and to avoid any possible jinx associated with the number "13," it is preferable to think of his present record as 12½-6.
That "½" slips in there as the result of the peculiar tie game at Lewiston which he neither won nor lost. It was the last time Robertson was on the mound and he pitched four innings of shutout ball against the Broncs.
Tri-City will need a victory tonight to stop the downward plunge toward the cellar. Currently, the Braves are a few percentage points ahead of Victoria for seventh-place in the standings.
In the game Tuesday night, a broken-bat blooper single by Jake Helmuth brought in the winning run for Wenatchee in the top of the ninth and Ted Shandor's relief performance kept the Braves from scoring.
The loss was charged to Gordy Brunswick — his first of the season against no wins. Shandor was the winner.
Helmuth's single came after two were away. Brunswick had struck out Shandor but gave up a double to Jerry Green. Tony Rivas walked and Ross McCormack popped out.
Then came the game winning blow. Helmuth caught it on the handle of the bat and the ball flopped out beyond second base just past shortstop Dick Watson who made a desperation grab for the ball.
The events leading up to the Tri-City defeat, however, came in the sixth inning when a combination of six singles, a walk and two errors brought in five runs. All of the base blows came off Herman Besse, who was making his first start at Sanders for the Braves.
Green touched off the rally with a single followed by another by Rivas. McCormack laid down a perfect bunt and beat out the throw and loaded the sacks.
Then Helmuth hit a high pop foul near the screen along the first baseline. Vic Buccola took it in but did not have clearance for a clean throw to home. The speedy Green beat it out to score after the catch.
A single by Laurie Monroe brought in another run and sent McCormack to third. Then Wenatchee pulled an attempted double steal and an error on the play brought in another run.
Tom Munoz and Keith Bowman singled to bring in two more.
The five runs put the Chiefs ahead 5-2 at this point but Bowman could not hold the lead. In the eighth, Buccola walked and Edo Vanni was hit by a pitch. A single by Len Tran scored Buccola and another by Bob Moniz scored Vanni. Tran went to third on the play and scored on Rube Johnson's sacrifice fly.
Tri-City's third inning runs came on a walk, Dick Watson's single, Besse's single and sacrifice flies by Terry Carroll and Vanni.
Wenatchee ..... 000 005 001—6 10 1
Tri-City .......... 002 000 030—5 7 3
Bowman, Shandor (8) and Self; Hesse, Thomason (6), Brunswick (8), and Johnson.
Sports Notes
BY GIL GILMORE
[from Tri-City Herald, July 28, 1954]
Tonight at Sanders Field will be the time the poor guy with but a buck to spend and a big family can get a night's recreation that will fit the budget. It will be another Pop Pays night when the Braves and Chiefs play.
But for the regular fan, who shows up a good number of times a year, Thursday will be the big night. Then Vic Buccola, the only player who has been with the team since it came here, will be honored by the fans.
Knowing the dismal order of finish for Tri-City year after year, the fan frequently questions, how can Vic take it so long? Well, Vic has the true ball players' philosophy.
He figures if he keeps his batting average and fielding average up, and works as a team member on those situations that call for teamwork, then that's one-ninth of the battle.
Recently, though, there is an indication that job is beginning to tell on Vic. The guy is beginning to talk to dummies—and I don't mean his teammates—but a real sure enough dummy.
Sometime ago, the Braves got hold of an over-sized doll which they dub "Fearless" and pack around with them on the road. They keep it in the dugout simply because if a "live ball" should happen to hit it, it might touch off a protest of some kind.
Anyhow, this confounded dummy is dressed in a Tri-City uniform and more than one person at first glance has mistaken it for one of the players.
Here a while back, Vic came into the dugout at the end of an inning and without noticing it, he sat down next to Fearless.
Vic started yakking away about the last play, using his hands to emphasize a point the way he always does, but only half looking to see who he was talking to. After beating his gums for a while, he turned to say something more.
Then to the roars of his teammates, he found he was talking to the dummy.
* * *
Vanni Sees Suspension
Playing manager Edo Vanni wouldn't be surprised to draw a suspension out of the rhubarb with ump Lowell Fulk, which led to his ouster at the game Sunday at Lewiston.
Jack Warren, meanwhile, is still scratching his head wondering why he was booted.
* * *
He Wanted Dale To Get Angry
Lack of confidence, the official reason given for the optioning of Dale Bloom to Boise in the Pioneer league, could better be described as lack of aggressiveness in Vanni's way of thinking.
"If Dale had got mad and call me a ---- , he would still be with the team," Vanni said.
* * *
Sanders Layout Like Best
Steve O'Neill ex-manager of the Philadelphia Phils, as well as ex-manager of several other clubs, rates Briggs Stadium as the No. 1 Big Time park in the majors. He bases his opinion on the quality of the playing field, tidiness, accessibility and parking and clubhouse facilities.
"The background is good for the hitter. It is relatively fair to hitters and pitchers," O'Neill said.
A diagrammed layout of Briggs Stadium shows the playing field is very similar to Sanders Field. It is 340 feet down the leftfield line, just as at Sanders, 325 down the right field line, 15 feet short of Sanders, and 420 feet to dead center, 20 feet more than Sanders.
All of the major league fields are rated good, fair and poor on the other points. On those points, Sanders is hardly major league, but it will stand up to the rest in the WIL.
A WIL “WHERE ARE THEY NOW?”
[from Humboldt Standard, Eureka, Cal., July 28, 1954]
Loaded with former professional performers and good enough to knock over virtually the same foes the Humboldt Crabs have faced this season, the San Jose Falstaffs tangle with the Crabs in a three-game series at Albee Stadium this weekend.
Listed in the starting lineup with play-for-pay pedigrees are:
JIMMY BROWN (.364), six years in the Philadelphia Phillies' organization and with the Spokane Indians of the Western International circuit last year, ss; FRANK VOLPI (.280), formerly with the Oakland Acorns in the Pacific Coast league and Shreveport of the Texas Loop, c.
Incidently, Volpi is also the relief man for the Falstaff pitching corps and has racked up an impressive (4-1) for the season. He is a "control" thrower and will take the mound if his services are needed against the Crabs.
But for the regular fan, who shows up a good number of times a year, Thursday will be the big night. Then Vic Buccola, the only player who has been with the team since it came here, will be honored by the fans.
Knowing the dismal order of finish for Tri-City year after year, the fan frequently questions, how can Vic take it so long? Well, Vic has the true ball players' philosophy.
He figures if he keeps his batting average and fielding average up, and works as a team member on those situations that call for teamwork, then that's one-ninth of the battle.
Recently, though, there is an indication that job is beginning to tell on Vic. The guy is beginning to talk to dummies—and I don't mean his teammates—but a real sure enough dummy.
Sometime ago, the Braves got hold of an over-sized doll which they dub "Fearless" and pack around with them on the road. They keep it in the dugout simply because if a "live ball" should happen to hit it, it might touch off a protest of some kind.
Anyhow, this confounded dummy is dressed in a Tri-City uniform and more than one person at first glance has mistaken it for one of the players.
Here a while back, Vic came into the dugout at the end of an inning and without noticing it, he sat down next to Fearless.
Vic started yakking away about the last play, using his hands to emphasize a point the way he always does, but only half looking to see who he was talking to. After beating his gums for a while, he turned to say something more.
Then to the roars of his teammates, he found he was talking to the dummy.
* * *
Vanni Sees Suspension
Playing manager Edo Vanni wouldn't be surprised to draw a suspension out of the rhubarb with ump Lowell Fulk, which led to his ouster at the game Sunday at Lewiston.
Jack Warren, meanwhile, is still scratching his head wondering why he was booted.
* * *
He Wanted Dale To Get Angry
Lack of confidence, the official reason given for the optioning of Dale Bloom to Boise in the Pioneer league, could better be described as lack of aggressiveness in Vanni's way of thinking.
"If Dale had got mad and call me a ---- , he would still be with the team," Vanni said.
* * *
Sanders Layout Like Best
Steve O'Neill ex-manager of the Philadelphia Phils, as well as ex-manager of several other clubs, rates Briggs Stadium as the No. 1 Big Time park in the majors. He bases his opinion on the quality of the playing field, tidiness, accessibility and parking and clubhouse facilities.
"The background is good for the hitter. It is relatively fair to hitters and pitchers," O'Neill said.
A diagrammed layout of Briggs Stadium shows the playing field is very similar to Sanders Field. It is 340 feet down the leftfield line, just as at Sanders, 325 down the right field line, 15 feet short of Sanders, and 420 feet to dead center, 20 feet more than Sanders.
All of the major league fields are rated good, fair and poor on the other points. On those points, Sanders is hardly major league, but it will stand up to the rest in the WIL.
A WIL “WHERE ARE THEY NOW?”
[from Humboldt Standard, Eureka, Cal., July 28, 1954]
Loaded with former professional performers and good enough to knock over virtually the same foes the Humboldt Crabs have faced this season, the San Jose Falstaffs tangle with the Crabs in a three-game series at Albee Stadium this weekend.
Listed in the starting lineup with play-for-pay pedigrees are:
JIMMY BROWN (.364), six years in the Philadelphia Phillies' organization and with the Spokane Indians of the Western International circuit last year, ss; FRANK VOLPI (.280), formerly with the Oakland Acorns in the Pacific Coast league and Shreveport of the Texas Loop, c.
Incidently, Volpi is also the relief man for the Falstaff pitching corps and has racked up an impressive (4-1) for the season. He is a "control" thrower and will take the mound if his services are needed against the Crabs.
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