Swindler and Junkman
would have to win two against the Red Sox. They did.
Nineteen forty nine was the only year in which each league's pennant winner was determined on the last day of the season. The Yankees beat Boston while the Dodgers beat the Phillies to maintain their one game lead over the Cardinals to win the title. The Yankees would face their fiercest rival, the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series.
It was really Allie Reynolds' series as he pitched a shutout in beating Dodgers rookie Don Newcombe 1-0 in Game 1 and then saved Game 4 for Lopat. The Dodgers won Game 2 behind Preacher Roe, 1-0, but the Yankees won Game 3 and Lopat went to the mound for Game 4 at Ebbets Field, which was not a friendly park for left handed pitchers.
The Yankees got Lopat a 6-0 lead going to the Dodgers' half of the sixth inning. With two outs and PeeWee Reese on third, the Dodgers launched a barrage of five straight singles to chase Lopat and make the score 6-4. Yankees' manager Casey Stengel brought in Reynolds, who shut the Dodgers down without a hit for the final 3 1/3 innings. The next day, the Yankees won Game 5 to end the series.
Lopat won 18 games and lost only 8 in 1950. The Yankees faced the Phillies in the World Series and swept them. Lopat started Game 3, allowed 2 runs in 8 innings, and left trailing 2-1. The Yankees tied the game with a run in the eighth inning and Tom Ferrick retired the Phillies in the top of the ninth to preserve the tie. With two outs and no one on base, consecutive singles by Woodling, Rizzuto and Coleman off Russ Meyer resulted in a 3-2 Yankees win.
In 1951 Lopat demonstrated his value. He won 21 while losing only 9 with a 2.91 ERA. The Yankees won the pennant by a slim margin over the Indians but it was Lopat who was the difference in the World Series against the miracle Giants, who overcame a 13 ½ game deficit to tie the Dodgers for the pennant and then overcame a 4-1 Dodgers lead when Bobby Thomson hit a home run off Ralph Branca in the final playoff game.
Giants little left hander Dave Koslo beat Allie Reynolds in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium. The Giants looked unstoppable but Lopat beat Larry Jansen 3-1 in crucial Game 2,
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