[jksander]

MAY 30, 1954 . . . A little good news! Our trainer, Chris Dickey, tells me that our rookie left fielder Russ Snyder is healing nicely from his fractured foot, and he could be ready to return by mid-June. We’ll have to decide if we want to send him on a minor league rehab assignment first, but regardless it will be very good to have his power bat back in the lineup, along with his solid abilities as a baserunner. Roger Maris will remain our leadoff man until he returns, at which point Maris may return to being our top pinch hitter / runner option off the bench. Snyder was hitting .382/.432/.588 through eight games before his injury, with four doubles, a homer, six RBIs and three stolen bases, so the fans are really looking forward to his healthy return.

Nearly 21,000 fans showed up today at noon to see game one of the double header, with Warren Hacker (4-2, 2.86 ERA, 72.1 IP, 35 K’s, 1.08 WHIP) going up against Cincinnati’s Bobby Shantz (6-3, 3.38 ERA, 77.1 IP, 39 K’s, 1.40 WHIP). Willie Mays is taking the day off from the main rotation, but he will be available as a pinch-hitter, or as a substitute in the field if either game warrants. Carmen Mauro filled in today for Mays, and in the bottom of the second inning he hit a towering homer to center, his first major league four-bagger in just his second game of the season, giving us a 1-0 lead! Hacker then got a hit with two outs, followed by a Roger Maris walk and am Al Kaline run-scoring double, and this place was as loud as I’ve heard it since becoming the manager last season! We went into the top of the third leading 2-0, but in the top of the fifth Hacker gave up a run-scoring double to Whitey Lockman, driving Bobby Shantz around from second to score the Redlegs’ first run of the night. Two groundouts to first ended the inning, however, and we were able to maintain our lead. Al Kaline hit a blistering line drive to right in the bottom of the eighth, driving Gene Baker in from third to score and make it a 3-1 game, but Carmen Mauro got overexcited and tried to make it home as well, and he was tagged out to end the inning with us up 3-1. Sandy Consuegra took over for Hacker for the ninth inning, and though he plunked a batter to start the inning and then gave up a hit on one out, he got back to back strikeouts to end the game with us taking the 3-1 victory!

Hacker took the win, improving to 5-2 with a 2.58 ERA on the season, giving up six hits and one unearned run, while striking out six and walking one through eight innings on 106 pitches. Consuegra earned his seventh save, giving up a hit with two strikeouts to improve his ERA to 2.91. We outhit Cincinnati 9-7, with Carmen Mauro surprising everyone with three hits in four at-bats, with an RBI and a run scored. He hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to start, with Mays being very much an everyday player, but if he keeps playing like this when the opportunties arise, I suspect he’ll start getting more at-bats as a pinch hitter. Al Kaline had three hits as well, driving in two runs.

We haven’t used Vern Fear yet since calling him back up from the minors, so I made the decision to bring him in as a starter tonight, with the ability to go to the rest of our bullpen after a few innings if needed. We already have a 3-0 lead in the series, and I think it’s better to have Klippstein and Rogovin ready to pitch in the two games tomorrow against St. Louis than to blow a key starter this afternoon. Fear, who had a 4-1 record last year with a 4.28 ERA and 22 strikeouts through 33 innings last season, will start against Cincy’s Wally Post (0-2, 8.49 ERA, 11.2 IP, 5 K’s, 2.23 WHIP) so if any game was a good one to use some bullpen arms this one seemed to be it. Mays is sitting out the game again, while Al Kaline is also being replaced for the second game by Hank Sauer. This will be Fear’s first major league start after 27 appearances in relief.

We didn’t expect Fear to last through the first five innings with just a pair of hits. More than that, however, we weren’t expecting Wally Post to have a no-hitter going through the fifth, leaving this one as a lock-down 0-0 duel heading into the sixth inning. Fear stayed in through the sixth inning, getting a really nice double play to keep the game scoreless, but we couldn’t get any hits in the bottom of the inning, and I brought Harry Dorish in to pitch in the seventh. Unfortunately something had to give and in this case it was our defense -- Dorish gave up a pair of hits and a run scored, though he got us through the inning without any further damage. Post walked Maris to start the bottom of the seventh, and he quickly took advantage by stealing second, reaching third on a groundout to first by Cavarretta. Ernie Bnaks hit a blistering drive to left to spoil the no-hitter and bring Maris home to tie the game, and I brought Sandy Consuegra in for the eighth inning. He got three flyouts to end the inning, and after a pair of hits to get the bottom of the eighth going, I brought Willie Mays in to pinch hit for Mauro, and he hit right up the middle to drive home Gene Baker from second to give us a 2-1 lead, two men still on, no outs! Cavarretta got robbed of a three-run homer at the wall to end the inning, but we went into the top of the ninth just needing three outs to seal the win! Consuegra stayed in for the ninth, got all three outs he needed, and earned his first win of the year with a 2-1 victory!

This was Consuegra’s third game in a row, and he threw three innings today in total. He improved to 1-0 with a 2.66 ERA in the second game with two innings of one-hit ball, and he’s earned tomorrow off for sure. Vern Fear was very impressive, lasting through six innings with just a pair of hits to go with three strikeouts and no walks through 67 pitches, giving him an unblemished ERA. And Harry Dorish gave up just two hits in his inning, conceding the first earned run of the game along with a strikeout, bringing his ERA down to a still highly respectable 1.12. We completed the sweep despite the Redlegs outhitting us 5-4, with Ernie Banks and Wilie Mays contributing our two runs batted in, Roger Maris and Gene Baker scoring the respective runs.

Diehl says he is rested enough to start if we need him, but right now my plan is still to stick with Klippstein and Rogovin tomorrow in the second doubleheader, giving Diehl the chance to rest one more day and giving us room to continue to shine on this home stretch. Two games tomorrow and a game Tuesday against St. Louis, and then we’ve got two games against Pittsburgh, followed by three against Brooklyn all here at Wrigley before a day off on the 7th followed by three home games against Philly and a four game weekend series against the Giants before we go back on the road to finish out June. I’d love for our win streak to continue through tomorrow’s doubleheader, but whatever happens we now hold a commanding five game lead on the Phillies and a 7.5 game lead on St. Louis, so we’re definitely building on last year’s success in a big way, and telling the fans it’s fun to come to Wrigley!