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jksander · 06-25-2023, 02:38 AM

JUNE 19, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges hit a two-run homer off Newcombe in the top of the third, getting Brooklyn on the board on only the third hit of the game. But in the bottom of the inning Fondy hit a triple with two outs, driving Newcombe home to score our first run, and Cavarretta hit a single to deep right, scoring Fondy and tying the game at 2-2! The Dodgers added a run in the top of the third, but Randy Jackson hit an RBI single that drove Banks in to score our third run, tying it up again with just one out in the bottom of the third! Unfortunately Atwell and Miksis weren’t able to drive in Jackson, who had made it all the way to third. Newcombe gave up his fourth run in the top of the seventh, and then two more while we tried to get Bob Kelly warmed up. Kelly finally got our third out but we were suddenly in a three-run hole against one of the best teams in baseball. Kelly gave up a run in the top of the eighth on a pick-off play error by Banks to home plate, and we went into the bottom of the ninth still trailing by four. Eddie Miksis hit a solo homer to make it 4-7, but that was all she wrote as we lost to the Dodgers by three.

Newcombe threw 6.2 innings but gave up nine hits and six earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk as he took the loss, falling to 3-3 with a 4.59 ERA. Kelly had 2.1 innings of one-hit ball, giving up one earned run with two strikeouts and a walk. His ERA atands at 5.91. Mays was held hitless again, as his average slides all the way to .352 after chasing .400 for nearly eight weeks of the season. Sauer was also held hitless, which rendered the heart of our order mostly moot. Ernie Banks (two hits, one run) and Randy Jackson (one hit, one RBI) were bright spots, but once we got into a hole we just didn’t have the offense to climb out of it.

Three games left in the series, and Warren Hacker will be pitching tomorrow.

JUNE 20, 1953 . . . Brooklyn quickly took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but McCullough walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the second, and Hank Sauer reached home safely on a wild pitch with Miksis at the plate with an 0-1 count and still just the one out! Miksis got the walk and re-loaded the revolver, but Hacker batted into a double play that first tagged out Ernie Banks at home and then Hacker at first to keep the score tied after two. Willie Mays hit a stand-up double in the bottom of the third, driving Cavarretta home to give us the lead 2-1, and Ernie Banks had an RBI single moments later that sent Sauer to second and drove Mays home to make it 3-1! Randy Jackson promptly loaded the bases with a single of his own, but we weren’t able to do anything with all those men on board. Still, a 3-1 lead after three innings was looking pretty good if Hacker could stay strong on the mound.

In the bottom of the fourth, Hacker hit a line-drive to right field, reaching base from the bottom of the order with one out, but the top of the order could do nothing with it. Brooklyn got a run back in the top of the sixth, and with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth Willie Mays came up and hit a blistering single up the right field foul line that stayed safe, driving in two insurance runs! Joe Hatton came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, with Hacker tiring after 100+ pitches and promptly struck out the first two batters before giving up a hit and a walk -- but he got out of the jam with a fly out to left, giving us one more chance to add insurance to our three-run lead. And we got exactly that, with McCullough slamming a 384-foot 3-run homer over the center field wall, his seventh homer of the year! Hatten got three quick outs and we won this one 8-2!

Warren Hacker pitched seven great innings, giving up just seven hits, with a strikeout and a walk, that produced two earned runs. He improves to 10-4 on the season with a 2.56 ERA. Meanwhile, Joe Hatton got a two-inning save, his second of the year, giving up one hit with two strikeouts and a walk, bringing his ERA down to 7.71. Warren Hacker was also one of our best hitters of the night, getting three hits on four at-bats, scoring a run! Randy Jackson had three hits in five at-bats, scoring a run himself, and Ernie Banks had three hits and a walk in four at-bats, driving in one. But Willie Mays was on his game again, hitting twice to score once while driving in three RBIs, and though McCullough only had one hit it was a doozy, also driving in three thanks to it going all the way out of the park!

With the series even and two more game to go, Bob Rush will be pitching for us tomorrow, putting his 6-7 record and 3.99 ERA on the line.

JUNE 21, 1953 . . . Brooklyn came in ready to go, with lead-off man Jackie Robinson power-boming a homer off the end of his bat with just seven pitches thrown to score the first run, and by the time we came up to bat for the first time we were in an 0-2 hole. Randy Jackson came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, however, and hit a single right past the pitcher’s ear to get deep into the outfield and score two runs, and McCullough added a third with a single of his own, giving us a one run lead at the end of the first inning. And in the bottom of the third, Jackson got another RBI single, making the lead 4-2 with two men on and only one out. Miksis got an RBI single as well, and Bob Rush came around in the nine spot and RBI singled himself, bringing up Fondy for the third time and it was still the third inning! He struck out, but the score was now a much more secure 6-2 and the Cubs faithful were loving it!

In the fourth inning, Randy Jackson came up to bat, again, and Randy Jackson hit an RBI single, again, truly dominating starter Ron Negray, who we were happy to torch for as long as the Dodgers wanted to keep him out there! Sauer hit a line drive to the shortstop, who chose to throw him out at first instead of throwing for home, allowing Cavarretta to score our eighth run, with Willie Mays on second and just one out. Ernie Banks advanced Mays to third with a well-placed line drive to right, and Randy Jackson hit a sac-fly to center field, allowing Mays to slide home safely ... this is one helluva hot streak, Jackson! Thanks to the strong inning we went into the top of the seventh leading 9-2. In the top of the seventh, Rush gave up a two-run homer as I was warming up Klippstein. Klippstein came in with one out and a man on first, and he got a quick fly-out and caught a runner trying to steal second, securing the five run lead as we headed into the stretch. In the bottom of the seventh, Mays hit a triple that drove in two more runs, and this one was looking like a complete rout. The Dodgers got a solo homer in the eighth by Jim Gilliam, but Klippstein handled himself well otherwise and we went into the bottom of the eighth leading 11-5 against the second-best team in the NL. They still had some offensive fireworks in store -- Roy Campanella nailed a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth with two outs to pull the Dodgers within three, but Klippstein ended the game on a strikeout on the next at-bat to ensure we’d hold on to win the game 11-8, having out-hit Brooklyn 19-13!

Everybody got a hit except Sauer, who still managed an RBI thanks to his sacrifice hit, and Klippstein, who only batted once anyway. Randy Jackson had three hits in four at-bats, scoring twice and driving in FIVE RUNS, adding nearly a sixth of his total RBIs for the season in this single game and bringing his average up to .274! And Ernie Banks nailed four hits in five at-bats, scoring twice and bringing his average up to .279. He and Jackson now each have 29 RBIs on the season batting in the middle of the order. Willie Mays added three hits in five at-bats, scoring two and driving in two, bringing his RBI total to 55 on the year and his average up to .359. Fondy, Cavarretta, McCullough and Miksis each had two hits, and McCullough, Miksis and Rush each had an RBI, making this an all-around effort.

Bob Rush got the win, improving to 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA -- he gave up 10 hits and four earned runs, but had six strikeouts and just three walks. Had he not thrown 36 pitches in the first two innings, he might have lasted the whole game, but I pulled him after 97 throws and 6.1 innings. Klippstein got rung up a bit thanks to the Campanella homer, but he was having a great night overall. He finished with 2.2 innings pitched and had only three hits, with two strikeouts and a walk. But the four earned runs brought his ERA to 5.50 on the year.

One more game against the Dodgers for a chance to win the series and finally get back up over .500! Dick Brodowski (3-2, 1.63 ERA) will be on the mound in command.

JUNE 22, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges tagged us with a solo homer to start the game, and Gilliam hit a triple that drove in a second run for the Dodgers in the top of the fourth, and Bobby Morgan drove in a third before Brodowski was able to get the final out. Unfortunately our lineup was getting nothing going offensively to back him up, so despite a solid pitching night overall he was simply stuck out there in the wind. But we woke up in the bottom of the sixth, when Hank Sauer slammed a two-run homer to get us on the board, sending us into the top of the seventh just trailing 2-3. Unfortunately, Brodowski gave up two more runs in the top of the eighth. Randy Jackson opened the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer to make it 3-5, and Fondy and Sauer both made it on base, bringing up Willie Mays with two on and no outs. Mays hit it squarely between the second baseman and the shortstop, driving in another run, but we couldn’t get the tying run on.

Bob Kelly came in to pitch in the top of the ninth, and he gave up a sixth run, so we reached the bottom of the ninth with the bottom of our order up to bat. McCullough took a strikeout, Bill Serena pinch-hit for Kelly and was tagged out at first, and suddenly it came to Randy Jackson in the ninth spot to keep us alive -- and he did, with a single to right that brought Fondy to the plate. But Fondy hit it straight to the center fielder who ended the game with a catch and a fist pump as we dropped game four to the Dodgers by a 4-6 margin.

Brodowski had nine hits in eight innings, throwing 117 pitches and giving up one walk against two strikeouts. He fell to 3-3 with this loss, and his ERA dropped to 2.31. Bob Kelly gave up a hit that led to an unearned run thanks to a fielding error. Fondy had three hits for us in five at-bats to score a run, while Sauer added two hits in four at-bats, scoring and driving in two. Mays had two hits and an RBI, while Jackson, batting ninth today in a reshuffled order, hit twice and drove in one while also scoring himself.

We’re now 33-34 heading into our last six games of this honestand, against Philly (39-28) and the Giants (33-35). We’re currently six games behind Philly and sitting in fourth place, with Brooklyn eight games up on us and the Milwaukee Braves holding a 12 game lead on us and a four-game lead on their closest opponents. Milwaukee, Brooklyn and Philly all have +67 run differentials or better, while we’re holding onto a -15 differential. Unless things change and our bats become more consistent and our pitching more dominant, erasing this distance between us and the division leaders is going to be difficult ... so these next six home games are going to mean a lot.

The Yankees currently lead the AL with a 44-22 record, a game and a half up on Cleveland (41-22), with Boston (38-31) trailing six games behind Cleveland.

06-25-2023, 02:38 AM	#43
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,676	JUNE 19, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges hit a two-run homer off Newcombe in the top of the third, getting Brooklyn on the board on only the third hit of the game. But in the bottom of the inning Fondy hit a triple with two outs, driving Newcombe home to score our first run, and Cavarretta hit a single to deep right, scoring Fondy and tying the game at 2-2! The Dodgers added a run in the top of the third, but Randy Jackson hit an RBI single that drove Banks in to score our third run, tying it up again with just one out in the bottom of the third! Unfortunately Atwell and Miksis weren’t able to drive in Jackson, who had made it all the way to third. Newcombe gave up his fourth run in the top of the seventh, and then two more while we tried to get Bob Kelly warmed up. Kelly finally got our third out but we were suddenly in a three-run hole against one of the best teams in baseball. Kelly gave up a run in the top of the eighth on a pick-off play error by Banks to home plate, and we went into the bottom of the ninth still trailing by four. Eddie Miksis hit a solo homer to make it 4-7, but that was all she wrote as we lost to the Dodgers by three. Newcombe threw 6.2 innings but gave up nine hits and six earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk as he took the loss, falling to 3-3 with a 4.59 ERA. Kelly had 2.1 innings of one-hit ball, giving up one earned run with two strikeouts and a walk. His ERA atands at 5.91. Mays was held hitless again, as his average slides all the way to .352 after chasing .400 for nearly eight weeks of the season. Sauer was also held hitless, which rendered the heart of our order mostly moot. Ernie Banks (two hits, one run) and Randy Jackson (one hit, one RBI) were bright spots, but once we got into a hole we just didn’t have the offense to climb out of it. Three games left in the series, and Warren Hacker will be pitching tomorrow. JUNE 20, 1953 . . . Brooklyn quickly took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but McCullough walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the second, and Hank Sauer reached home safely on a wild pitch with Miksis at the plate with an 0-1 count and still just the one out! Miksis got the walk and re-loaded the revolver, but Hacker batted into a double play that first tagged out Ernie Banks at home and then Hacker at first to keep the score tied after two. Willie Mays hit a stand-up double in the bottom of the third, driving Cavarretta home to give us the lead 2-1, and Ernie Banks had an RBI single moments later that sent Sauer to second and drove Mays home to make it 3-1! Randy Jackson promptly loaded the bases with a single of his own, but we weren’t able to do anything with all those men on board. Still, a 3-1 lead after three innings was looking pretty good if Hacker could stay strong on the mound. In the bottom of the fourth, Hacker hit a line-drive to right field, reaching base from the bottom of the order with one out, but the top of the order could do nothing with it. Brooklyn got a run back in the top of the sixth, and with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth Willie Mays came up and hit a blistering single up the right field foul line that stayed safe, driving in two insurance runs! Joe Hatton came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, with Hacker tiring after 100+ pitches and promptly struck out the first two batters before giving up a hit and a walk -- but he got out of the jam with a fly out to left, giving us one more chance to add insurance to our three-run lead. And we got exactly that, with McCullough slamming a 384-foot 3-run homer over the center field wall, his seventh homer of the year! Hatten got three quick outs and we won this one 8-2! Warren Hacker pitched seven great innings, giving up just seven hits, with a strikeout and a walk, that produced two earned runs. He improves to 10-4 on the season with a 2.56 ERA. Meanwhile, Joe Hatton got a two-inning save, his second of the year, giving up one hit with two strikeouts and a walk, bringing his ERA down to 7.71. Warren Hacker was also one of our best hitters of the night, getting three hits on four at-bats, scoring a run! Randy Jackson had three hits in five at-bats, scoring a run himself, and Ernie Banks had three hits and a walk in four at-bats, driving in one. But Willie Mays was on his game again, hitting twice to score once while driving in three RBIs, and though McCullough only had one hit it was a doozy, also driving in three thanks to it going all the way out of the park! With the series even and two more game to go, Bob Rush will be pitching for us tomorrow, putting his 6-7 record and 3.99 ERA on the line. JUNE 21, 1953 . . . Brooklyn came in ready to go, with lead-off man Jackie Robinson power-boming a homer off the end of his bat with just seven pitches thrown to score the first run, and by the time we came up to bat for the first time we were in an 0-2 hole. Randy Jackson came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, however, and hit a single right past the pitcher’s ear to get deep into the outfield and score two runs, and McCullough added a third with a single of his own, giving us a one run lead at the end of the first inning. And in the bottom of the third, Jackson got another RBI single, making the lead 4-2 with two men on and only one out. Miksis got an RBI single as well, and Bob Rush came around in the nine spot and RBI singled himself, bringing up Fondy for the third time and it was still the third inning! He struck out, but the score was now a much more secure 6-2 and the Cubs faithful were loving it! In the fourth inning, Randy Jackson came up to bat, again, and Randy Jackson hit an RBI single, again, truly dominating starter Ron Negray, who we were happy to torch for as long as the Dodgers wanted to keep him out there! Sauer hit a line drive to the shortstop, who chose to throw him out at first instead of throwing for home, allowing Cavarretta to score our eighth run, with Willie Mays on second and just one out. Ernie Banks advanced Mays to third with a well-placed line drive to right, and Randy Jackson hit a sac-fly to center field, allowing Mays to slide home safely ... this is one helluva hot streak, Jackson! Thanks to the strong inning we went into the top of the seventh leading 9-2. In the top of the seventh, Rush gave up a two-run homer as I was warming up Klippstein. Klippstein came in with one out and a man on first, and he got a quick fly-out and caught a runner trying to steal second, securing the five run lead as we headed into the stretch. In the bottom of the seventh, Mays hit a triple that drove in two more runs, and this one was looking like a complete rout. The Dodgers got a solo homer in the eighth by Jim Gilliam, but Klippstein handled himself well otherwise and we went into the bottom of the eighth leading 11-5 against the second-best team in the NL. They still had some offensive fireworks in store -- Roy Campanella nailed a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth with two outs to pull the Dodgers within three, but Klippstein ended the game on a strikeout on the next at-bat to ensure we’d hold on to win the game 11-8, having out-hit Brooklyn 19-13! Everybody got a hit except Sauer, who still managed an RBI thanks to his sacrifice hit, and Klippstein, who only batted once anyway. Randy Jackson had three hits in four at-bats, scoring twice and driving in FIVE RUNS, adding nearly a sixth of his total RBIs for the season in this single game and bringing his average up to .274! And Ernie Banks nailed four hits in five at-bats, scoring twice and bringing his average up to .279. He and Jackson now each have 29 RBIs on the season batting in the middle of the order. Willie Mays added three hits in five at-bats, scoring two and driving in two, bringing his RBI total to 55 on the year and his average up to .359. Fondy, Cavarretta, McCullough and Miksis each had two hits, and McCullough, Miksis and Rush each had an RBI, making this an all-around effort. Bob Rush got the win, improving to 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA -- he gave up 10 hits and four earned runs, but had six strikeouts and just three walks. Had he not thrown 36 pitches in the first two innings, he might have lasted the whole game, but I pulled him after 97 throws and 6.1 innings. Klippstein got rung up a bit thanks to the Campanella homer, but he was having a great night overall. He finished with 2.2 innings pitched and had only three hits, with two strikeouts and a walk. But the four earned runs brought his ERA to 5.50 on the year. One more game against the Dodgers for a chance to win the series and finally get back up over .500! Dick Brodowski (3-2, 1.63 ERA) will be on the mound in command. JUNE 22, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges tagged us with a solo homer to start the game, and Gilliam hit a triple that drove in a second run for the Dodgers in the top of the fourth, and Bobby Morgan drove in a third before Brodowski was able to get the final out. Unfortunately our lineup was getting nothing going offensively to back him up, so despite a solid pitching night overall he was simply stuck out there in the wind. But we woke up in the bottom of the sixth, when Hank Sauer slammed a two-run homer to get us on the board, sending us into the top of the seventh just trailing 2-3. Unfortunately, Brodowski gave up two more runs in the top of the eighth. Randy Jackson opened the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer to make it 3-5, and Fondy and Sauer both made it on base, bringing up Willie Mays with two on and no outs. Mays hit it squarely between the second baseman and the shortstop, driving in another run, but we couldn’t get the tying run on. Bob Kelly came in to pitch in the top of the ninth, and he gave up a sixth run, so we reached the bottom of the ninth with the bottom of our order up to bat. McCullough took a strikeout, Bill Serena pinch-hit for Kelly and was tagged out at first, and suddenly it came to Randy Jackson in the ninth spot to keep us alive -- and he did, with a single to right that brought Fondy to the plate. But Fondy hit it straight to the center fielder who ended the game with a catch and a fist pump as we dropped game four to the Dodgers by a 4-6 margin. Brodowski had nine hits in eight innings, throwing 117 pitches and giving up one walk against two strikeouts. He fell to 3-3 with this loss, and his ERA dropped to 2.31. Bob Kelly gave up a hit that led to an unearned run thanks to a fielding error. Fondy had three hits for us in five at-bats to score a run, while Sauer added two hits in four at-bats, scoring and driving in two. Mays had two hits and an RBI, while Jackson, batting ninth today in a reshuffled order, hit twice and drove in one while also scoring himself. We’re now 33-34 heading into our last six games of this honestand, against Philly (39-28) and the Giants (33-35). We’re currently six games behind Philly and sitting in fourth place, with Brooklyn eight games up on us and the Milwaukee Braves holding a 12 game lead on us and a four-game lead on their closest opponents. Milwaukee, Brooklyn and Philly all have +67 run differentials or better, while we’re holding onto a -15 differential. Unless things change and our bats become more consistent and our pitching more dominant, erasing this distance between us and the division leaders is going to be difficult ... so these next six home games are going to mean a lot. The Yankees currently lead the AL with a 44-22 record, a game and a half up on Cleveland (41-22), with Boston (38-31) trailing six games behind Cleveland. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)