2010-11 Holiday Festivus Tourny

Dem Bums struck first with 2 runs in the bottom of the 2nd off of O'Toole.  Spider Jorgensen led off with a double and with 1 out "The Reading Rifle", Carl Furillo tripled him home.  "Pistol" Pete Reiser's single easily scored Furillo to give Branca a 2-0 lead.  Cincy positioned themselves for a big inning when O'Toole led off the 6th with a single, then went all the way to third on Vada Pinson's safety.  Wally Post grounded to third, but Jorgensen decided to try to nail O'Toole at the plate, which did not work out so well for Brooklyn.  That left runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out and the score 2-1 Brooks.  Branca was able to work his own brand of magic by getting the heart of the Red lineup (Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman & Gene Freese) to all fly to Furillo in center without another run scoring.  All looked good for Branca until Frank Robinson hit a bomb into the left field pavilion to tie it a 2-2.  Heading to the bottom of the 9th the game remained tied.  With one out Jorgensen doubled off the scoreboard narrowly missing the Abe Stark sign.  Catcher Bruce Edwards singled to put runners on the corners to set the stage for second year sensation Furillo to single home the winning run to put the Dodgers out in front in the series.

Once again the Brooks had a 2-0 lead that they just couldn't hold late in the game thanks to some clutch hitting by Cincy.  The game went deep into extra innings before the Dodgers finally prevailed by an identical score to game 1.  After Gene Hermanski walked and stole second in the bottom of the second Eddie Stanky hit a hard hop to third that Gene Freese bobbled then airmailed the throw into the stands, which allowed Hermanski to score easily.  Brooklyn made it 2-0 in the bottom of the 5th when the captain, Pee Wee Reese, singled home Stanky who singled with one out and moved to second on a Hatten sac bunt.  That 2-0 lead that Dem Bums worked hard to build evaporated with one swing of Vada Pinson's bat.  With Andy Kasko on second Leo Cardenas was called on to pinch hit for Jay.  Leo was given and intentional pass, so Hatten could have the coveted lefty/lefty matchup vs Pinson, who took insult and slammed a 2-0 pitch off the chain link fence in right center to clear the bases and tie the game at 2-2.  Cincy used 4 relievers to get to the 15th inning, while the Dodgers used 2.  Jim Maloney who battled his way out of trouble with his blazing fastball in the 14th was not so lucky in the 15th.  Stanky led off the frame with a clean single to right center.  Pinch hitter Eddie Miksis attempted to bunt him over to second, but instead forced Stanky at second for the 1st out of the inning.  Reese connected and sliced a ball down the right field line just inside the chalk to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.  Pete Reiser hit a bullet up the middle that Eddie Kasco had to dive for.  Kasko made a great play just to get his leather on the ball, but by the time he bounced back up he had no play at Miksis who could have walked home with the winning run.

For the third game in a row the Dodgers had themselves an early 2-0 lead.  Back to back RBI singles by Dixie Walker and Carl Furillo gave Vic Lombardi an nice cushion to start with.  Lombardi did not allow a hit until Jerry Zimmerman legged out an infield single with 2 outs in the bottom of the 5th.  Back to back doubles by Jorgensen and Walker accounted for two more run to increase Lombardi's lead to 4-0.  By the bottom of the 8th Lombardi began to tire and Cincy finally got on the board when Wally Post scored on a Gordy Coleman sac fly to left.  Hugh Casey was summoned from the pen to get the final two outs of the inning and he did so in stlye by popping up Gene Freese and fanning Eddie Kasco.  Brooklyn would add an insurance run in the top of the 9th to make it 5-1.  At the time nobody knew just how important that run would be.  After Cincy scored 3 runs off of Casey in the bottom of the 9th everyone knew how important that insurance run from the top half of the inning was.  Jerry Lynch, who was sent up to pinch hit for Purkey Doubled home Blassingame with nobody out.  Wally Post singled home 2 to make it a 1 run game with superstar Frank Robinson coming to bat.  Casey vs Robinson.  Heat vs Power.  Everyone in the house was on the edge of their seat.  Robinson ripped Casey's 97mph fastball on a hop to Reese at short, who flipped it to Stanky at second, who pivoted and beat Robinson at first by 2 strides to end the game and clinch the series.