[jksander]

MAY 14, 1953 . . . Ernie Banks hit a solid single to right that got him on base and drove Fondy home from second, giving ua the lead in the bottom of the first, up 1-0 at the end of the inning. In the top of the sixth the Phillies tied it 1-1 on a solo homer by Granny Hammer, and in the top of the eighth they took a 1-2 lead on another solo homer, this time by Richie Ashburn. Minner gave up four runs in the top of the ninth, an uncharacteristic meltdown when we needed a shutdown, sending us into the bottom of the ninth down five and needing a serious rally. Instead, Curt Simmons stumped Mays and McCullough, though Sauer reached first on a hit-by-pitch. Randy Jackson couldn’t do anything of consequence, however, batting into an easy infield out, and we lost our eighth straight by a 1-6 margin. It’s looking like we’ve been playing above our weight through May, and the losses, like the gulls in the bleachers, are coming home to roost.

Minner pitched a complete game but fell to 3-3 with a 5.40 ERA thanks to six earned runs on 10 hits, with five strikeouts and two walks. Cavarretta and Mays each had two hits in four at-bats, and Mays batted in his 22nd run of the year. But Fondy (1 of 4 with a hit and a run) was our only Cub to score tonight. Ernie Banks is now in a real slump ... from April 28th through May 6th he had successfully hit in 10 consecutive games, but in our last three games he’s hit 1 for 13, dropping his average 30 points to .292 -- the guys keep telling him it’s only a few games, he’ll hit his way out of this eventually and get back to feeling like himself. But having lost eight in a row it’s hard for ANY of the batters to feel like themselves.

MAY 15, 1953 . . . Smoky Burgess hit a 406-foot home-run in the second inning to put the Phillies up 0-2 agianst us as Bob Rush got into trouble early. We entered the bottom of the second trailing by three runs, but Dee Fondy answered in the bottom of the third with a 382-foot two-run homer of his own to put us right back in this one! Cavarretta doubled to extend the inning, but Willie Mays wasn’t able to make anything happen and we headed for the top of the fourth trailing 2-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Ernie Banks got a solid hit deep to center that landed just outside the fielder’s grasp, allowing him to reach base and potentially spark a rally! McCullough sacrifice-bunted with Banks on second and Jackson on first, reaching base and sending Jackson to second, but Banks was thrown out. But an E9 throwing error on an Eddie Miksis flyout line-drive drove Jackson home to score the tying run, and I pinch-hit Baumholtz for Rush, with McCullough on second and two outs. He hit it hard to deep center, bouncing off the wall and allowing McCullough to get home for the go-ahead run, with Baumholtz winding up with a triple! We went into the top of the eighth leading 4-3, with Bob Kelly coming in to try and hold on for a save. Willie Mays hit a 380-footer just left of center to drive in two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, giving Kelly a three-run cushion as he tried to close things out (with Baczewski ready to come in if a fire needed dousing) and he handled things perfectly, a strikeout and two fly-outs to ice this one and snap the streak! We won this one 6-3, hopefully setting ourselves up for good things as we fight through the depths of May.

Bob Rush improved to 5-3 with the win, giving up three earned runs on eight hits in seven innings, with three strikeouts and a walk. His 3.22 ERA remains the best among starters on our team, with 58.2 innings pitched in eight starts. Bob Kelly notched his sixth save of the year, throwing two innings with just two hits, a strikeout and a walk. His ERA inched down to 6.11 overall -- he’s thrown 17 innings in ten relief appearances. Ernie Banks got a hit but was not able to do anything with it, though he did spark the rally that helped us get the win. Baumholtz’s first triple of the season got us the victory, and he was rightly celebrated in the dugout after the game. He’s come off the bench in 13 games, batting 24 times for a .250/.280/.375 slash line with two RBIs. Mays had one hit in four at-bats, driving in two runs to bring his RBI total to 24 in 29 games -- he’s hitting .377/.446/.711 so far.

Tomorrow we play Pittsburgh for the first of three games, with two of them coming in an afternoon double-header on Sunday. We should have Newcombe, Klippstein and Hacker available to pitch those games against the Pirates, who currently sit dead last in the NL at 11-21 (11 GB). We are currently four games back and still tied for third with the Giants.
 
MAY 16, 1953 . . . Newcombe gave up a run in the first inning but kept them from doing anything offensively in the next three innings -- and in the bottom of the fourth, Fondy got on-base with an infield hit and then made it to third on a deep fly base hit for Cavarretta, giving us men on the corners with no outs and Mays at the plate. Mays walked to load the bases, and though Sauer hit into a double play, Fondy was able to get home, tying the game at 1-1 with Ernie Banks at the plate and Cavarretta on third. Unfortunately he struck out, stranding the runner and costing us the chance to steal the lead at the end of four. Dee Fondy gave us the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a deep single to left that drove McCullough around from second to score with two outs. Cavarretta singled up the middle to drive pitcher Don Newcombe around to score, and at the end of five we held a 3-1 lead!

McCullough doubled to left, scoring another run in the bottom of the sixth by driving Sauer in from second, and Frank Baumholtz, pinch hitting for Newcombe, singled up the gap to allow McCullough to score, providing us another solid bit of insurance and bringing up the top of the order. Fondy hit an infield blooper that bounced just out of the way of pitcher Bob Friend, loading the bases with two outs, but Cavarretta wasn’t able to make anything happen and we went into the top of the seventh with a 5-1 lead! The Pirates added a run in the bottom of the seventh as Danny O’Connell singled to pinch-hitter Fitz Gerald around to score with two outs, but Baczewski got out of the jam with no further damage. The Pirates walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh with just one out, and McCullough was able to bat Mays home with a single to increase our lead to 6-2. Eddie Miksis then added another run by batting Hank Sauer home on a line drive up the middle to make it a five run lead. Randy Jackson scored on a wild pitch and we were able to exit the inning with an 8-2 lead secure heading into the eighth. Dee Fondy added to the damage in the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer to center, his third of the year, and Ernie Banks drove in another with a line drive single that drove Cavarretta home to give us an eight run lead. Jackson singled to left, driving Banks to third, but McCullough struck out to end the inning with us up 10-2, just needing to close it out in the top of the ninth. We did just that, with Bob Kelly, ineligible for a save due to the lead, capped two near-perfect innings as we won our second in a row by that 10-2 margin.

Don Newcombe improved to 3-0 with a 4.63 ERA in his seventh start, throwing six innings of five-hit ball and surrendering only one earned run. He had three strikeouts and no walks as he reached 35 innings pitched on the year. Baczewski threw one inning, giving up three hits on 20 pitches with one earned run, no strikeouts, no walks. And Kelly pitched two innings of no-hit ball, striking out one and improving his ERA to 5.49 overall. Fondy had four hits in five at-bats, scoring twice and driving in two, while Cavarretta added three hits in five at-bats, scoring once and driving in one. Ernie banks hit one for four, driving in a run, his 15th RBI of the year, and for the first time this season our entire starting lineup got at least one hit. We head into tomorrow’s double-header with an 18-13 record, and we’re alone in second place, just three games back of the Braves in the NL race.

In the American League, the Yankees (21-9) have taken first, now leading Cleveland (18-9) by a game and a half. The Washington Senators currently hold the worst record in baseball in that league, at 10-23, already 12-1/2 half games out of the pennant race and fading fast.

MAY 17, 1953 . . . Hacker and Minner are both ready to start again, so I’ve decided heading into today’s double-header to keep Klippstein as a long-relief option and go with our stronger starters.

In the first game of the day I moved Ernie Banks up to bat second behind Fondy, to see if that would spur him to fully exit his slump, and he answered the call with a 426-foot homer over the center-field wall to put us up 1-0, his third four-bagger of the season! Mays doubled, and then Sauer hit a 383-foot homer to left field, making it quickly a 3-0 ballgame! Banks hit a slow-moving grounder up the middle and was able to outrun the throw, reaching first base to start the bottom of the third, and Willie Mays nailed our third homer of the game over the right field wall, making it 5-0 Cubs! We loaded the bases and Roger Bowman walked Toby Atwell to make it 6-0, and Hacker hit a sacrifice fly to first that allowed Miksis to score, turning this one into a rout! Fondy doubled to score two more, bringing Banks up for the second time in the inning, with two outs. He flew out to right but the damage was done -- we led the Pirates 9-0 after just three innings -- and the fans in the bleachers had hardly had time to get drunk yet. In the bottom of the fourth we loaded the bases AGAIN, and again Bowman walked in a run, sending Baumholtz to first and driving Mays home for our 10th run of the game. Meanwhile Hacker stayed lights out, making it through the top of the fifth having only thrown 53 pitches, with just one hit, two strikeouts and no walks.

The Pirates couldn’t catch a break -- loading the bases again in the bottom of the fifth, Bowman walked Miksis to drive home Ernie Banks to make it 11-0 with just one out. Mays was driven home by a Jackson fly-out sacrifice hit, and Baumholtz drove in two more with a well-placed grounder, reaching first while scoring Sauer and then Miksis with a spectular head-first slide wherein he was called safe. By the time they got the final out we’d made it 13-0 and the game was about to enter its second hour! Hacker surrendered a run in the sixth and a run in the ninth, but it hardly mattered as we crushed the Pirates in the first of two games, winning 13-2.

Warren Hacker improved to 5-2 on the season with a 2.25 ERA, throwing nine innings and 123 pitches, with just six hits, two earned runs and three strikeouts against a single walk. Ernie Banks hit twice in five at-bats, scoring three runs and batting in one, while Willie Mays hit twice and walked twice, scoring four runs and driving in two while hitting his 10th homer of the year! Baumholtz, getting a start for a change, added three hits and a walk, scoring once and batting in two, bringing his total on the year to 5 RBIs.

Banks, Cavarretta and Mays were all on the bench in the second game, which started half an hour after we finished detroying Pittsburgh in the noon game. Hank Sauer opened the second game of the day with a solo blast to put us up 1-0, his fifth of the season, which helped us get out to a good start in a game I fully expected to be a low-scoring affair. Minner gave up a solo homer to Pete Castiglione in the top of the fifth to tie it up, and then in the top of the sixth Johnny Lindell hit a two run blast over the center field wall to make it a 1-3 ballgame. Baczewski gave up two runs in the top of the ninth to give the Pirates a near insurmountable lead heading into our frame, based on the hitters we had available. And sure enough, their guy set us down one, two, three to end this one as a 1-5 loss against the Pirates. We won the series 2-1 but missed out on the sweep as the Pirates outhit us 12-3.

Minner took the loss, throwing 6.2 innings of eight-hit ball with three earned runs, two strikeouts and no walks. His record is now 3-4 with a 5.23 ERA in seven starts with 51.2 total innings pitched. Baczewski pitched the remaining 2.1 innings, giving up four hits with two earned runs, with a strikeout and no walks. Sauer’s homer was the play of the game for us, with no other significant offensive contributions on our end.

The loss knocked us back into a tie with Brooklyn for second at 19-14, and with run differential as a tiebreaker we’re currently in third place in the NL but only two games back of the 22-13 Milwaukee Braves. We have a day off tomorrow followed by a two game series against the Giants, followed by a day off and a critical four game set against the Braves Friday through Sunday.