[jksander]

JUNE 8, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker (6-2, 2.32 ERA, 89.1 IP, 47 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) took the mound today in front of 19,000 Cubs fans for a mid-week afternoon game on a fall-like clear June day. He faced off against Philly’s Gordon Jones (6-5, 3.29 ERA, 101.1 IP, 52 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) in the first of three against Philadelphia. With the wind blowing in at nearly 12 miles per hour, this seemed like a definite pitcher-friendly afternoon, and at least in the first inning, when both Willie Mays and Roger Maris were robbed of homers by the wind, it seemed likely to be so. But Al Rosen got a great blast to deep right, the ball rolling into the corner and giving him a standing triple to open the second inning, and Gene Baker hit a flyout into the left corner to allow Rosen to score the go-ahead run -- Cubs 1, Phillies 0 at the end of two innings. The Phillies answered quickly with a solo homer by Willie Jones in the top of the third, and leadoff man Richie Ashburn legged out a triple of his own with two outs to give the Phillies real hope. But a flyout to Mays ended the top of the inning knotted 1-1. They then took a 2-1 lead on us in the top of the fourth, Alvin Dark nailing a double into deep right to drive Granny Hammer all the way around from second, again with two outs. But Al Rosen loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with no outs, and Warren Hacker bought himself back the lead with a shot to right, scoring two runs to give us a 3-2 lead!

Cavarretta hit a run-scoring double in the bottom of the seventh to make it 4-2, but he was injured on the slide into second, putting us in a pinch without a dedicated backup at first base. We wound up moving Al Rosen over to first, bringing Bill Serena in to play third base, and had to play on not knowing what Cavarretta’s future situation would be. Willie Mays beat out a slow throw to third on an infield single, but Ernie Banks flew out to right, ending the inning. Consuegra came in for the top of the ninth leading still 4-2, but he gave up two hits without an out, putting a runner in scoring position and bringing up Smoky Burgess as the potential go-ahead run. Burgess singled to load the bases and the mood of this place changed noticeably. With the bases loaded, Consuegra struck out Eddie Waitkus, then cut down the lead runner at home allowing Dale Mitchell to reach first and keep the bases loaded with a pair of outs. That brought up right fielder Johnny Wyrostek, eighth in the rotation, who promptly hit it straight to Rosen at first, who fielded it perfectly -- we pulled the win right out of their hands, beating the Phillies 4-2 and staying red hot as they left three stranded.

Warren Hacker improved to 7-2 with the win, giving up five hits and two runs with three strikeouts and a walk over 115 pitches in the first eight innings. Consuegra had to work his ass off, but he got the three outs and his 9th save of the year on 20 pitches, though he gave up a season high three hits to go with a strikeout. His ERA improved to 2.33 on the season. We outhit the Phillies 9-8 in this one, with Banks and Rosen each notching a pair of hits and a run scored apiece. Cavarretta batted in a run with a hit and a walk before his injury, and Warren Hacker added a hit and two RBIs as the pitcher, giving him 17 RBIs on the year! Luckily for us, Cavarretta’s injury is a bruised wrist, so he’s going to be day by day for the next few days but should return to service good as new.

I’m also told that Russ Snyder should be ready to return to play on our road trip that starts at Pittsburgh on the 14th.