vs. 
1928 World Series
vs.
The 1928 Evolution world series featured a matchup between the two
rivals who have battled each other for supremacy for of the league
the past two years. In 1927 the Expos led the league with ___ wins
only to lose in the divisional playoffs while the wildcard Red Sox
went on to win the world series against the then named New York
Highlanders. This season the Expos looked to make it two seasons
running for a wildcard team to emerge as the world series champion
as the Red Sox parlayed a 16-7 September, and victories in their
final 7 games to tie the Expos on the final day of the season. They
then secured homefield advantage and their first division title with
a victory in the one game playoff.
Entering the finals there was no clear favourite. On the one hand
the Red Sox won the season series 12-9 and won the division, however
the Expos enjoyed an unbelievable 317 run differential and had
dominated the league for the majority of the season until a lukewarm
September cost them the season. Either way you cut it was a contest
of two superior teams without many weaknesses.
It also featured an intriguing contest in styles. Characteristic of
general manager Gaelan Murphy's preference for balance and heavy
platooning the Expos featured a strong lineup all the way through
that was capable of putting 7 left handed hitters against right
handed pitching. However this advantage could be somewhat nullified
by a Red Sox pitching staff that featured three left handed
starters. The difficulty for manager Andrew Bywaters was that going
with all lefties meant leaving Cy Young runner up Dolly Gray (23-8,
2.69) on the bench. In two starts against the Expos in the regular
season Gray allowed batters to hit for a .400 BA. On offense the
Red Sox, as always, are led by the titanic duo of Lou Gehrig and
Babe Ruth. The key for the Expos pitching staff is to keep them off
the board.
Game One
Fresh off a tough seven game series against a surprising
Knickerbocker team the Red Sox were forced to go with fourth starter
Joe Shaute (14-5, 3.72). Nine innings of shutout pitching later the
Red Sox were up 1-0 in the series with a 9-0 victory in a game that
was never in doubt. For one game, anyway, the all lefty pitching
strategy was working brilliantly. Ownie Carroll (19-6, 3.14), who
finished third in the Cy Young balloting struggled for the Expos and
took the loss.
Box Score
Game Two
Game two of the series was a dramatic, gut wrenching affair. The
Expos went with their one lefty Clarence Mitchell (14-6, 3.07) while
the Red Sox countered with Bill Sherdel (14-9, 3.73) acquired in the
mid season deal with the Knicks that also netted Gehrig. Things
started badly for the Expos as the Knicks jumped to an early 5-0
lead on the back of two Pinky Hargreaves home runs. The Expos
struck back in the top of the fourth with three runs to make it 5-
3. This is how the score stayed until the top of the seventh when
Jim Bottomley swatted a three run HR off of Sherdel to give the
Expos the lead. This lead was shortlived, however, as Hargreaves
drove in another run in the bottom of the inning with a double to
left center off of relief pitcher Red Lucas. The back and forth
action continued in the eighth as both teams scored a single run.
It could have been much worse for the Expos as Ruth, in what was a
sign of things to come, grounded out with the bases loaded to end
the inning. The score remained tied through the ninth, tenth,
eleventh and twelth innings though the Red Sox threatened often
leaving men in scoring position in the 10th, 11th, and 12th, with
Flagstead, Gehrigh, Tavener and Crouse all making critical outs.
Then in the top of the 13th the Expos bats came alive when singles
by Bluege, Bartell and Bishop netted two runs and it looked like the
Expos might be able to steal one and salvage a split in Boston.
Unfortunately the Expos depleted bullpen forced the manager to turn
to inconsistent Grady Adkins to finish the job. As they had the
previous innings the Red Sox immediately rallied with back to back
doubles by Les Bell and pinch hitter Bobby Reeves. Tavener walked
and Beauty McGowan doubled to tie the game. With the winning run at
third base Ira Flagstead came to the plate with his second chance to
win the game but he grounded to short and Tavener was thrown out at
the plate. With runners on first and third rookie Bernie Friberg
came to the plate with the Expos a double play away from surviving.
But Adkins chose this time to freeze up walking Friberg on five
pitches to load the bases and bring up Lou Gehrig. Gehrig promptly
singled and the Red Sox won 10-9 and took a two games to zero lead
in the series. For the game the Red Sox left 19 men on base.
Adkins took the loss and Fred Heimach garnered the win with five
excellent innings in relief.
Game 3
The series went to Washington with the Expos in dire need of a win.
Alvin "General" Crowder (19-7, 2.98) went to the hill for the Expos
against yet another lefty Garland Braxton (15-8, 3.20) for the Red
Sox. This was a pitching duel the whole way as Crowder dominated
the Red Sox bats on the way to a two hit shutout. The Expos only
run came from a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Box Score
Game 4
This was a rematch of the starters from game one as Ownie Carroll
faced off against Joe Shaute. Carroll struggled again and was
pulled after five innings with the scored tied at three. Shaute was
solid once again and entered the bottom of the eighth with the score
still tied at three. But Alex Metzler led off the inning with a
triple and Bottomley walked to start the inning and Shaute was sent
to the showers. Ted Lyons entered in relief to matchup against
righty Wally Roetgger. The Expos countered with pinch-hitter Art
Shires. The Red Sox brought the infield in and Shires grounded out
to Taverner who gunned down the speedy Metzler at the plate. The
Red Sox brought in Heimach to face Earle Combs with runners on first
and second. Combs responded with a single to shallow center just in
front of Flagstead but with only one out and fearing Flagstead's arm
the third base coach held Bottomley at third. The bases were now
loaded with all-star catcher Mickey Cochrane coming to the plate
needing only a flyball to take the lead. He could not even manage
that as he popped up on the first pitch. With two outs and on the
verge of dodging a major bullet the Red Sox made their third
pitching change of the inning bringing in righty Joe Dawson to face
Ossie Bluege. This time, however, playing the percentages backfired
as Dawson walked Bluege to force in the go ahead run. This was
followed by another walk to Sewell before the side was retired and
the Expos headed to the ninth inning with a two run lead. The Expos
brought in lefty John Milligan to face the lefty section of the Red
Sox lineup who went down in order culminating in a strikeout of
Gehrig to end the game. The series was now tied at two.
Game 5
The seesaw affair continued in game five as Bill Sherdel matched up
against Clarence Mitchell. In contrast to their high scoring
matchup in game two this was a very close pitching duel. Mitchell
only allowed two unearned runs but that was two runs two many as
Sherdel scattered eight hits and three walks over eight and two
thirds innings before Dolly Gray came in to shut the door with
runners on first and third to save a 2-0 victory. Heading back to
Boston the Red Sox were only one game short of back to back world
series titles.
Game 6
The Expos hoped to stave off elimination with game three hero
General Crowder, the Red Sox countered with arguably their best
pitcher Garland Braxton. For six innings it was everything game
three was with excellent pitching on both sides with the Expos
holding a slim 2-1 lead. This all changed in the top of the seventh
when the Expos bats awoke from their slumber to mash Red Sox
pitching for eight runs on eight hits. If not for a sacrifice bunt
and an out on base the Expos might still be batting. Leading 10-2
the Expos cruised to victory as Crowder collected his second victory
of the series.
Box Score
Game 7
The climactic game seven featured the third meeting of the series
between Carroll and Shaute. This time, however, wasn't as close as
the previous meetings as the Expos scored five in the top of the
third and Carroll did just enough to lead the Expos to a 9-3 victory
and their first world series title.
Box Score
On the whole it was an excellent series with most of the games being
decided in the late innings. For the series the Expos batted
319/373/445 to the Red Sox 242/353/369 while outscoring them 34 to
30. For the Red Sox, Gehrig held up his side of the bargain, albeit
with limited power, with a 357/500/464 line but Ruth wasn't able to
do anything but walk (217/471/391) and with numerous outs in key
situations (only 2RBI). Without their regular offensive production
there wasn't anybody to pick up the slack. Hargreaves hit two HR
and two 2B but they were his only hits in the series and they came
in only one game. Harper managed to get on base but, like his
teammates, couldn't muster the power numbers to bring the title
home. As expected if the Red Sox went as far as Gehrig and Ruth
could take them. Conversely the Expos got excellent series from a
number of players such as Max Bishop (393/485/643) and Ossie Bluege,
who flourished with a steady diet of lefties to the tune of
440/533/560. But in a short series its not so much as what you do
as when you do it. By this token the real star was Jim Bottomley
who turned a 310/333/621 line into 7 runs and 9 RBI to led the team
to victory.
On the pitching side, despite taking the loss in game seven, Joe
Shaute rewarded his manager's confidence with 21 innings of sub 4.00
ERA best among the starters. It was Sherdel and Braxton who were
unable to hold up their end of the bargain. For the Expos the
unquestioned pitching star was Crowder who logged 16.2 innings while
only giving up two runs, winning two games and holding opposing
batters to a .175 batting average.
Co-MVP's: General Crowder and Jim Bottomley