view raw text
Injuries Upset Early Pennant Dope Yankees Dodgers Find Going Tough ToughStengel Stengel and Alston Forced To Shuffle LineUps Daily As Veterans Are Sidelined SidelinedBy By STEVE SNIDER SNIDERUnited United Press Sports Writer WriterNEW NEW YORK N Y May 4 First the Yankees and now the Dodgers are showing signs that 1954 may be far tougher than the experts predicted predictedThe The Dodgers are in better shape than the Yankees but Roy Campanellas wrist injury injects a new note of hope among National League rivals who dreaded Brook ¬ lyns awesome power powerRolypoly Rolypoly Roy is the key man on the club as attested by his two most valuable player awards in the last three years It never has been measured accurately whether Roys booming bat or cagey catch ¬ ing is the more potent factor and both will be sorely missed if Campy is sidelined for long longSince Since bad news for New York clubs usually is greeted with cheers elsewhere there must be plenty of whooping around the majors at the moment for both solid pennant favorites are having their troubles troublesTime Time and ill fortune are catching up with them both bothIn In addition to Campy Jackie Robinson has been missing with a bruised heel which has nothing to do with his primary con ¬ cern a trick knee First baseman Gil Hodges is below par physically shortstop Pee Wee Reese slumped way put of his number two spot in the batting order and switches with leadoff man Jim Gilliam Preacher Roe is far from sharp and Don Newcombe is worried about his pitching arm armCox Cox Sidelined SidelinedBilly Billy Cox slick fielding but not exactly sturdy at third base has been sidelined while manager Walt Alston sees for hin self whether rookie Don Hoak is good enough to count on in the clutch clutchThats Thats quite a switch from early spring when the Dodgers were rated an oddson choice to sweep to their third straight pen ¬ nant There is no panic in Flatbush but with the rest of the league stronger than last year there are plenty of early signs that Brooklyns troubles could produce a tighter pennant race than figured figuredThe The Yankees didnt wait long before showing signs of cracking under the weight of five straight world championships but even with a miserable exhigition record they went into the campaign as solid favor ¬ ites because no challenger looked good enough to beat them themSo So far they havent looked like world champs There have been reports that Mickey Mantles gimpy knee may not be right for a full year the loss of Billy Martin to the Army was quite a blow and the pitching lost prestige with the sale of Vic Raschi to the Cardinals CardinalsIf If Martin still were available at second base manager Casey Stengel could rest shortstop Phil Rizzuto when needed and still have a proven infield with Gil Mc Dougald at third Gerry Coleman at short and Martin at second Now however Casey will have to use Andy Carey at third with McDougald on second and that may or j may not be a workable unit unitLike Like the Dodgers the Yankees have a habit of straightening out over the long haul But you cant blame their rivals if theyre whooping it up over bad news thats hit the Big Towns two top clubs i
