[jksander]

OOC: Got one game in before we head out for two days of relaxing See you all for more 1953 Cubs fun when I get back on the 4th! And yes, I do plan to continue this beyond 1953, it will be interesting to see what our GM does for us since I have no control over player signings.

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JULY 11, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker (11-5, 2.57 ERA) took the mound today for his 21st start of the season, and he should have had a lead heading into the bottom of the first, considering we’d loaded the bases with three walks, but a fly-out and a double play saved Cincinnati a lot of pain. And Hacker gave up a walk and two hits in his half of the frame, giving Cincy the early lead 0-1 instead, though he also tallied two strikeouts. Wally Post had a weird start for the Reds, giving up four walks in the first three innings, but also allowing no hits, so we still trailed by the one run at the end of three. Clyde McCullough spoiled Post’s no hitter in the top of the fifth, but we couldn’t get anything together to score. And the pressure on Hacker to stay as close to perfect as possible wore on him; we gave up a second run in the bottom of the sixth, but Hacker kept his composure and we just needed to get some run support going. Randy Jackson gave us a solo homer in the top of the seventh with one out, making it 1-2, and then McCullough hit one of his own to tie it 2-2, still with just a single out! And then Eddie Miksis made it another trifecta, hitting his own solo homer to give us the lead, on only his fifth four-bagger of the season! So we went into the bottom of the seventh holding a 3-2 advantage on the Reds, and Hacker stayed strong to defend his lead. Clyde McCullough drove in two more runs in the top of the eighth, and Cavarretta hit a run-scoring double in the top of the ninth to add even more insurance! Ernie Banks added a seventh run, scoring his 50th RBI of the season, They walked in another run with the bases loaded, adding to the rout, and Hacker stayed in to close out his excellent night, getting two great infield outs and a strikeout to win the game 8-2.

Hacker improved to 12-5 with a 2.53 ERA, throwing nine innings of seven-hit ball, with two earned runs, two walks and nine strikeouts! McCullough led our batters with three hits for a run and four RBIs, while Fondy, Banks and Jackson each had two hits.

All-Star rosters have been announced, and we have plenty of players who will be representing our Cubs in that fun fan experience:

- SP Warren Hacker
- SP Bob Rush
- CF Willie Mays
- RF Phil Cavarretta

We head into tomorrow’s doubleheader, the last two games before the All Star break, with a 44-40 record and fourth place in the NL -- we’re 11 games back in the race for the pennant, but we’re still safely in the race thanks to our pitching resurgence -- if only our GM would make a few calls down to the minors to bring up some promising young pitchers who could bolster our bullpen, I think we’ve got what it takes to stun some “baseball experts” and make the Cubs a hot ticket this fall.