[jksander]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Well, now you are safely over 100,000 words in this narrative! Still enjoying the prose. It is shaping up as a magical season for the Baby Bears. Forgive me but I’ll be rooting for the Phillies in the upcoming series.

Thanks, Pelican! That series is now upcoming, since we've completed the thorough dismantling of the Brooklyn Dodgers! (See Below)

JUNE 4, 1954 . . . Johnny Klippstein (8-1, 1.16 ERA, 77.2 IP, 51 K’s, 0.85 WHIP) pitched tonight against Brooklyn’s Carl ‘Oisk’ Erskine (7-4, 4.03 ERA, 87.0 IP, 55 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) in our first of three home games against the Dodgers. Cavarretta and Mays are off today, and we’re going to be keeping Kaline in the leadoff spot, followed by Baker, Maris, Rosen and Banks. Despite our big lead in the standings, the Dodgers have been our biggest rival since I took over as manager of the Cubs, so we’re not taking anyone lightly.

Sure enough, Jackie Robinson put the Dodgers on the board with a run scoring single that sent Gil Hodges around from second to score in the top of the first. Mauro and Smith got hits in the bottom of the second, but Klippstein batted a grounder into first to end the inning with no one scoring. But Klippstein stayed solid, getting a double play to end the top of the fourth with Campanella stranded on second, and stranding another runner in the top of the fifth to keep it 1-0 heading into our turn in the bottom of the inning. Mauro got another hit, a double, to start the bottom of the fifth, and he reached third on a flyout to first for Woody Smith. Klippstein batted past the third baseman for a hit that drove Mauro home to tie the game 1-1, but Baker batted into a double play to end the inning and stop the rally. Klippstein got through the top of their order in the top of the sixth and pitched nicely in the seventh as well, bringing in Harry Dorish in the top of the eighth with the score still knotted 1-1. Dorish loaded the bases but got out of his inning with no runs scored, and Jerry Bunyard pinch hit for him in the bottom of the eighth, getting a hit! Kaline advanced him to second with an infield single, and Roger Maris came up huge with a two-run triple to give us a 3-1 lead! Ernie Banks added a run-scoring double with two outs to make it 4-1 Cubs, and Carmen Mauro hit a stand-up double that added a fifth run! Though it was no longer a save opportunity, Consuegra was already warmed up to come in for Dorish, and he came in to finish things off. Two quick outs and he then gave up a triple to Billy Cox, before getting their pitcher out on a grounder to Rosen, who easily got him out at first to complete the 5-1 win!

Harry Dorish came out of it with his second win of the year, improving to 2-0 with an 0.82 ERA, giving up just two hits and a walk in his one inning. Klippstein threw seven innings of three-hit ball, giving up just one earned run with two strikeouts and three walks, finishing with 105 pitches thrown. Consuegra gave up one hit with 11 pitches thrown in the ninth, improving his ERA to 0.82 through 24.2 innings of work. We out-hit Brooklyn 12-6, most of those hits coming in the four-run eighth inning. Roger Maris had two hits for a run and two RBIs, Al Kaline had two hits and scored a run, and Carmen Mauro was exceptional with three hits in four tries, scoring a run and batting in another as he improved his average to .462 through 13 at-bats in five appearances. Three years playing in the top level of the minors have really helped him hone his plate discipline, and though he’s unlikely to become more than a backup, he’s making the most of his opportunities as a 27-year-old benchwarmer. He’s earning $22,000 this year and will be a free agent -- at this rate I’m considering extending him before he reaches the offseason.

JUNE 5, 1954 . . . This afternoon was Saul Rogovin’s (6-0, 1.37 ERA, 65.2 IP, 44 K’s, 0.93 WHIP) turn up in the rotation, and he took on Brooklyn’s Russ ‘Rowdy’ Meyer (4-4, 3.43 ERA, 78.2 IP, 29 K’s, 1.12 WHIP). Roger Maris made one of the most spectacular diving catches to steal a home run in the top of the second, keeping the score 0-0 instead of letting Brooklyn take a three run lead. Ernie Banks scored in the bottom of the second on a double by Al Rosen, and just like that we headed into the third inning with a 1-0 lead. Elston Howard added a run in the bottom of the fourth with a run-scoring triple, and in the bottom of the fifth Ernie Banks hit a run-scoring double to make it 3-0. Joe Dobson came in with one out and two in scoring position in the top of the seventh for his first relief appearance since the Boston trade, and he got back to back strikeouts to keep the shutout intact! Dobson loaded the bases in the eighth but got two outs, at which point we brought in Sandy Consuegra to try for the last out and to complete the save opportunity. A quick pop-up to Mays in the outfield got us out of the inning unscathed as the Dodgers left three runners stranded, and Consuegra set them down quickly in the ninth with a strikeout, a flyout to left and an infield out from shortstop to first as we won our 12th game in a row, a 3-0 shutout!

Saul Rogovin got the win, improving to 7-0 with a 1.25 ERA, giving up three hits in 6.1 innings with three strikeouts and three walks. Dobson came in for 1.1 innings, giving up one hit with two strikeouts and a pair of walks, throwing 33 pitches and keeping his ERA unblemished while getting the hold. And Consuegra came in for 1.1 innings, getting a strikeout and giving up no hits while earning his eighth save of the season and improving his ERA to 2.42 on the season through 26 innings.

We outhit the Dodgers 7-4 in our 38th win of the season, led by Ernie Banks who had three hits and scored twice with an RBI, bringing his average up to .339 with 40 RBIs on the season! Maris, Rosen, Howard and Baker each had hits as well, all of them contributing to the win in what is now our longest win streak since the 21-game stretch in 1935 that remains a Cubs record ... for now! We’ve won 14+ games in a row multiple times, but it has been a long time since we’ve had a team this solidly constructed.

Phil Cavarretta is currently 2nd in the 1B voting for the All Star roster, with Al Rosen currently third among third basemen. Ernie Banks is by far the leader among shortstops, along with Mays at center field and Hank Sauer at left based on his national popularity more than his performances this year as a Cub. Hacker and Klippstein are currently 1st and 3rd among starting pitchers, and Harry Dorish are likely to be voted in as All Star relievers as well. I’d say our players are representing the National League very well! Mays in particular is proving to be a national star in the making, leading all players in the vote -- including both leagues! -- by nearly 60,000 votes.

JUNE 6, 1954 . . . Tonight’s turn in the rotation went to Hy Cohen (3-1, 5.06 ERA, 42.2 IP, 25 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) who is looking to come off his worst outing of the season, his three inning game on June 1st that involved five earned runs. Tonight he’s up against Brooklyn’s Billy Loes (6-2, 3.32 ERA, 84.0 IP, 43 K’s, 1.42 WHIP) as we try and keep the streak alive with another series sweep. Roger Maris hit a double to start the bottom of the second, and he reached third on a deep flyout by Ernie Banks. Al Rosen beat out an infield dribbler, reaching first safely and scoring Maris from third to give us a 1-0 lead with just the one out! Sauer then reached first on a bad throw from the third baseman, reaching base milliseconds before the catch, and then Clyde McCullough blasted a three-run homer over the left field wall only his second four-bagger of the year, to make it 4-0! Cohen, meanwhile, was having his best game since his perfect game debut, getting through the third inning without a single baserunner! He walked their lead-off batter to start the fourth and then finally gave up a hit, walking the bases loaded and then giving up a run on a groundout to first that gave us our second out. A flyout to right ended the frame, with us coming up to bat still leading 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Cohen hit a standup double in the bottom of the seventh that pushed Clyde McCullough to third with no outs, and Cavarretta blasted a hard-hit ball past the first baseman into the outfield, driving home both runners with the single, making it a 6-1 lead! Willie Mays got a solid drive into center, Banks walked the bases loaded on two outs, and Al Rosen then struck out, saving the Dodgers the humiliation of further run inflation. Cohen stayed in for the final frame, surrendering a solo homer to Campanella, but Jackie Robinson hit into a double play (breaking his bat in frustration in the process) and Pee Wee Reese flew out to Baker for the final out as we dismantled the hapless Dodgers 6-2, increasing our win streak to 13 games!

Cohen threw 119 pitches with only four hits and two earned runs to go with six strikeouts and five walks, improving to 4-1 with a 4.53 ERA. We outhit the Dodgers 8-4, led by McCullough’s two hits and a walk which generated two runs and three RBIs. Cavarretta, Mays, Maris, Banks, Rosen and Cohen also notched hits -- Maris, with his double, improving to .191 with a run scored, giving him a .360 slugging percentage since joining the Cubs this spring.

The Phillies (29-24, 10 GB) come to Wrigley on Tuesday for a three-game series, hoping they can put some distance between themselves and the third place Redlegs (27-25, 11.5 GB) and find a way to snap our streak. They’ll have to do it against Hacker, Klippstein and Diehl, our three top pitchers -- this oughtta be fun!