|
MAY 29, 1953 . . . We opened the game with a single by Fondy, followed by back-to-back walks for Ernie Banks and Phil Cavarretta, putting Mays at the plate with no outs, at which point he hit a grand slam to put us up 4-0 -- 385 feet of cold to center left! Even without anyone else getting on board the rest of the inning, we were off to the races! Two fielding errors really f---ed Minner over in the bottom of the fourth inning, and a 2-RBI double put the Reds on the board, cutting our lead to 4-2, though only one of the runs was earned. He gave up a third run with just one out, letting the crowd get in his head. But he was able to get out of the inning with our lead still 4-3, and he told me in the dugout he still had something left in him. I just had to hope we could add some runs to give him some insurance.
In the top of the seventh, Fondy singled and was then driven to third by an Ernie Banks double (Banks’ eighth of the year!) and Cavaretta followed it with a deep fly-out to right that allowed Fondy to score, and Willie Mays hit a double to drive Banks home to make it a three-run game with only one out. Sauer is cold as ice, however, and for the third time in the game he was unable to make something happen, grounding out to first while advancing Mays to third, and Randy Jackson popped up to the catcher, ending the inning with us up 6-3, allowing me to keep Minner in the game. He got through the seventh on only seven pitches, making it likely I’d be able to avoid going to the pullpen. Ernie Banks added a solo homer in the ninth to make it a four-run game, and Jackson hit a line drive down the left-field foul line that stayed fair, sending Mays home from third to add another run. Minner gave one run back in the bottom of the 9th but ended the game on a solid double play to close out the 8-4 complete game win.
Minner gave up eight hits in the win, improving to 4-4 with a 4.79 ERA having only given up three earned runs. He had two strikeouts and no walks. Willie Mays led the team with four hits in five at-bats, scoring two runs and driving in five, improving his slash line to .391/.475/.763 and virtually guaranteeing even Reds fans are going to be putting him on their All-Star ballots. Ernie Banks batted second tonight, hitting three times and walking another, scoring three times and batting in his 20th run alongside his sixth homer.
Mays currently leads the majors in batting average (.391), Slugging (.763), Hits (61), Homers (14), OPS (1.238), and WAR (3.2), and his 40 RBIs have him only two behind the Dodgers’ catcher Roy Campanella, tied for 2nd with Brooklyn’s Gil Hodges. His on-base percentage, .475, is only one point behind Jackie Robinson. Our lead-off man Dee Fondy is on 2nd place in the majors in hits (60), tied with Brooklyn’s Jackie Robinson, and he leads the majors in at-bats (191). Warren Hacker is our best pitcher by far, leading the majors in rWar (3.3) and in Quality Starts (10 so far, every game).
An update on current Cubs streaks:
- Ernie Banks is currently on a seven-game RBI streak.
- Warren Hacker has pitched 10 quality starts in a row.
- Phil Cavarretta has an eight-game hitting streak going and has gotten on base in nine games in a row.
Tomorrow we have a double-header to complete this series against the Reds, with Brodowski taking the first game from the mound and Hacker pitching in the second. I’m going to be playing Fondy / Banks / Cavarretta / Mays / Jackson / McCullough / Miksis / Sauer as my first eight in the lineup, as Sauer has become too much of a liability batting in the middle of the order. We’ll see if this sparks any improvement by taking the pressure off him a bit, while allowing us to still use his fielding.
|