Evening star., 1941-10-02
Pitchers Higbe,
Wyatt Of Type
Yanks Fancy
Failure of WusdeII
To Bunt Hundicups
Brooks in Opener
BY BURTON HAWKINS,
G+ar Etaff Cnrrernnndenf

M" fofIh- oCI. L. LIE dIlIlOS-
ing predicament of being forced to
play into the Yankees powerful
paws was confronting the Dodgers
today as they prepared to square of
in the second game of the World
Series. With the 80 loss of that
first game yesterday, Brooklyn now
is surrounded by trouble.
Manager Leo Durocher of the
Dodgers virtually is compelled TO
lead with his aces, Whitlow Wyatt
and Kirby Higbe, in the second and
third games and it is up to those
gentlemen to halt the 10game series
winning streak of the Yankees. New
York couldn't have patterned q more
encouraging battle blue print, but
Durocher seems to. have fashioned
it for them.
In Wyatt and Higbe the Yankees
will be meeting pitchers who are
supposed 10 succumb to New York S
impressive left-hand batting array.
Right-hand fast ball pitchers, Wyatt
and Higbe will be throwing to fell
lows who mauled such pitching In
the American League.
Raises Fourth Game Problem.
Should Wyatt and Higbe both win
and stake the Dodgers to 2-1 game
lead, Durocher still would be faced
with a ticklish task of selecting a
fourth game starting pitcher. 1t
isn't likely he'll send Curt Davis
back as a starter, so he probably
would be forced to gamble on plump,
Ancient, Freddy FitZsimmons.
Durocher may have staked more
than one game on Davis. If Curt
had won, the Dodgers would have
reason for a more optimistic outlook
Davis, though. wasn't very impress
sive and the situation has simmered
to point where Wyatt and Higbe
must rescue the Dodgers, or at least
prolong the series.
More heartening Is the scenery
scanned by Manager Joe Mccarthy
of the Yankees. Red Rufhng will be
ready to come back in the fifth
game, if necessary, and in the mean
time Mccarthy has such highly re-
garded hurlers as Spud Chandler
Marvin Breuer and Marius Russo tc
send into action. Also around i:
Lefty Gomez, but despite his 'sii
WQh6aG~g1eWzfIiumphs IN AS NAM
stsG nst likely to. start.IIll
less Mccarthy becomes desperate.
Hitters Fail to Hit.
Brooklyn at least may be encour-
aged in negative sense. The first
six members of the Dodgers line-uL
failed to contribute more than one
hit In the opener and that happened
to be a cheap affair by Ducky Med
wick in the ninth inning. Brooklyn
batters aren't that bad. Among
such specimens as Dixie Walker
Billy Herman, Pete Reiser. Dolpf
Camilh, Medwick and Cookie Lava
getto, the Dodgers figure to muster
a few hits.
Distressing to the Dodgers. though
is the fact they silenced the Yankees
big guns-Tommy Heinrich, Joe D
Maggie and Charley Keller-anc
still lost They lost because Bill
Dickey and Joe Gordon, sixth anc
seventh place hitters, respectively
were inserting damaging blows. They
lost. too, because they deserved it.
With men on first and second
bases in the seventh inning, the
Dodgers trailing by run, Jimmy
Wasden. pinch-hit for Relief Pitcher
Hugh Casey. BY all standards o1
baseball, Wasdell should have sac
riflced to place the tying run or
third base and the winning run or
second, but he fouled to Third Base
man Rex Rolfe, who promptly threw
to Shortstop Phil Rizzuto,. covering
third, to retire Peewee Reese.
Reese amazed the $3.50 spec
tators, the largest crowd ever to
view a world series game, by break
ing for third after Rolfe's catch in
front of the Yankee dugout. He
was an easy out and removed the
firing Ruffing from an irritating
situation.
Wasdell Takes Blame.
Wasdells failure to bunt. how
ever, may have cost Brooklyn the
game. Jimmy says he missed the
bunt sign, taking the blame, but
here probably was no bunt sign
If there had been, Wasdel1 could have
been corrected after swinging Justify
and missing Rulings first pitch
Somebody should have stepped in al
that point and volunteered to dc
Jimmy's thinking for him, but no.
body did and on the next pitch he
may have fouled the first game into
Rolfe's glove.
Gordon sent the Yankees into q
10 lead in the second inning when
he belted home run far into the
lower left field stands and New
York boosted that margin to 20 in
the fourth when Keller walked with
two out and Dickey drilled him
(See HAWKINS, Page DAD