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MAY 6, 1953 . . . New York homered to drive in two runs in the bottom of the second, but Bob Rush hit a single to right in the top of the fourth which drove in two runs and tied it all up. Rush got into a jam in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases but only giving up one additional run. Eddie Miksis hit a line drive to center, driving in Jackson in the top of the sixth to tie it 3-3, And it stayed that way into extra innings! In the top of the tenth, Jackson hit a double that drove in two runs to put us up 5-3, and we scored one more with two outs to make it a three-run lead heading into the bottom of the tenth. And Bob Rush closed it out perfectly, allowing us to preserve the 6-3 victory, improving him to 4-2 overall with a 3.40 ERA! He pitched ten innnings and gave up nine hits and three earned runs, while striking out three and walking five.
Toby Atwell had three hits in five at-bats, scoring a run and bringing his average up to .250, while Randy Jackson had a stellar game as well with one hit and two walks, scoring three runs and driving in two! Aside from having a great night on the mound, Bob Rush also had two hits in five at-bats, batting in his first two runs of the year and bringing his average up to .125 on the year.
MAY 7, 1953 . . . Tonight we had a less than stellar lineup going for us on offense, as Banks, Mays and Jackson were out for a needed rest day. Still, Fondy hit a triple right out of the gate, and Cavarretta hit a single to center that drove him home, putting us on the board with no outs in the top of the first. That was all the damage we could do, leaving two runners stranded at the end of the frame. And the lead didn’t last, as Johnny Klippstein surrendered a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning, and the hometown fans in the crowd loved it. Backup third-baseman Bob Ramazzoti reached first on a fielding error in the top of the fourth to drive Tommy Brown home to make it a 2-3 ballgame, but Klippstein surrendered three runs in the bottom of the fourth, digging our hole to four runs down and leading me to start warming up Newcombe to take over in the fifth. But this just wasn’t our night -- Newcombe gave up TWO three-run homers in the bottom of the fifth and there was no way we were coming back from that with this lineup. We kept fighting, adding a run in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to nine runs, but their bats were just insanely effective today -- Fred Baczewski came in and gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth, and by then the wheels were off. We lost this one in humiliating fashion, 3-16, falling to 16-6.
They out-hit us 21-8, roughing up all three of our pitchers -- Klippstein, who took the loss and fell to 2-1 with a 5.19 ERA, gave up 10 hits for six earned runs, including three homers. All told, the Giants hammered us with six home runs today, an absolutely lights-out performance. Baczewski stayed in for three innings because eventually someone just had to take one for the team. None of our batters had particularly impressive nights, though Fondy, Baumholtz and Brown did at least manage to score.
We don’t have any time to lick our wounds -- we finish this brutal road trip with a four game stretch at Milwaukee tomorrow through Sunday, including a double-header on Sunday. Then we return to Chicago for two much needed weeks of Wrigley Field ball. But with the Braves currently only two games back with a 15-9 record, they smell blood and we’re starting to feel beat up as a unit. Can we find that extra level of grit needed to win this series?
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