[jksander]

MAY 12, 1953 . . . Klippstein took the mound today under a bright Chicago sun, and less than ten minutes into the game Jackie Robinson scored, having made it to first on an infield single, stolen second, and then got driven home by a single by Roy Campanella that came with two outs. But he got out of the jam without surrendering any runs. In the bottom of the third, Klippstein got on base with a single and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. He advanced to third when Fondy batted to deep center for an out, and Cavarretta drove him home with a single to left to tie it 1-1! Willie Mays doubled to send Cavarretta home for the go-ahead run, getting us out of the third with a 2-1 lead on the Dodgers. But Klippstein gave up a solo homer to Campanella, tying the score in the top of the fourth, so this one was destined to stay interesting. Banks, Jackson and McCullough all singled to load the bases in the bottom of the fourth with no outs, Klippstein then singled through the gap in the middle, driving Banks and Jackson home to give us a two-run lead.

Campanella scored another run in the top of the sixth, and pitcher Russ Meyer batted in the tying run, and then **** got f---ed fast -- reliever Bob Kelly gave up a grand slam to Gil Hodges, and suddenly we were down 4-8 in the blink of an eye and the fans were aghast! Kelly finally got the strikeout to end the inning but the damage was already done. He gave up another run in the seventh before I finally brought Gumpert in to hopefully close the game out without further damage. But we completely melted down defensively and this one got ugly fast as the bleachers emptied. Gumpert gave up three runs in the top of the eighth, and we suddenly had just two chances left to make up an eight-run deficit. Gumpert gave up two more runs in the top of the ninth before Baczewski came in and got two quick outs to bring up the bottom of the ninth with us down ten and ready to just get out of here with as few beers thrown at us as possible. Eddie Miksis hit a solo homer to bring us within nine, but that was all she wrote. We lost our sixth game in a row, dropping this one against the Dodgers by an abysmal 5-14 margin.

Klippstein only lasted 5.1 innings, giving up six hits and four earned runs to drop his ERA to 5.46. Kelly came in and took the loss and the blowon save, falling to 0-1 with a dismal 6.75 ERA, having given up five hits and five earned runs in 1.1 innings. Gumpert lasted 1.2 innings but gave up six hits and four earned runs, crashing his ERA to 7.71. Baczewski threw seven pitches to get the last two outs, with a strikeout and no hits. Klippstein got two hits in two at-bats, scoring once and batting in two. While Mays, Cavarretta and Miksis each batted in runs of their own. But our poor pitching, and the Chicago wind, doomed us in the end.
 
MAY 13, 1953 . . . Atwell started today at catcher to give McCullough a bit of a spell, though he’ll be available as a pinch hitter if we need him. Otherwise we started today with our usual lineup of Fondy / Cavarretta / Mays / Sauer / Banks / Jackson and Miksis, with Atwell batting just ahead of our pitcher spot. And with Warren Hacker (4-2, 2.49 ERA, 47 IP) coming in for his seventh start, we had hopes that this would be a game that could help us snap the six-game skid and get back to winning ways.

Hacker let Campanella on base in the top of the fourth, and he quickly reached second on a failed pickoff attempt and then scored on a single to right by Pee Wee Reese, putting us in an 0-1 hole with just one out, but he secured the next two outs easily enough and the game remained a one-run affair heading into the bottom of the inning, at which point Randy Jackson hit a solo homer to left that tied it up again. With the game still tied heading into the top of the ninth, Warren Hacker wanted to stay out there, but he’d thrown 125 pitches and I could tell he was tiring. So I brought in Dutch Leonard to try and give our offense a chance to walk it off. And he pitched well, striking out a batter and getting two quick infield outs to finish the inning leaving us knotted 1-1 heading into the bottom with Randy Jackson up to bat. Eddie Miksis got on base with a single to left, putting the go-ahead run on base. Frank Baumholtz came in to pinch hit for Atwell, and he reached base on an infield fly, though they were able to throw Miksis out at second. So with two outs, I pinch hit Clyde McCullough for Dutch Leonard, and he hit it up the middle to allow Baumholtz to reach third, with Fondy at the plate with a chance to win it outright! But Fondy’s hit flew out to deep center and was an easy catch -- we’re heading into extra innings, with Bob Kelly coming in to pitch for us in the tenth.

In the top of the tenth, Gil Hodges batted in a run to give Brooklyn a one-run lead, but we got out of it without further damage, sending us up to bat with the top of our lineup ready to hit. Hank Sauer reached first on a deep fly to right with two outs, sending Ernie Banks to bat with the chance to keep the game as the potential go-ahead run. But it wasn’t to be ... he hit it to the shortstop to threw Sauer out at second to end the game with our seventh loss in a row, 1-2 against the Dodgers in 10 innings.

Hacker, in eight innings, only gave up six hits for a single run, with four strikeouts and a walk. And Leonard kept things tied with one inning of no-hit ball with a strikeout. Bob Kelly unfortunately took the loss, falling to 0-2 with a 6.89 ERA to go with his five saves. Randy Jackson was the best batter of the night, with two hits and a homer, scoring our only run of the game, his third homer of the year.

With this loss we fell to third in the NL standings at 16-12, tied with the Giants at three games back. We’ll have our next two here at Wrigley against the Phillies (14-16, 6 GB) who sit in fifth place, and we deeply need to find a solution to our hitting problems if we’re going to stop the bleeding.