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JUNE 10, 1954 . . . Cavarretta is still day to day, and while we have a handful of offers out in an attempt to bring in a solid backup 1B to join our active roster, we’re going to stick with Woody Smith at third and Al Rosen at first in today’s game. Saul Rogovin (7-0, 1.25 ERA, 72.0 IP, 47 K’s, 0.93 WHIP) will be starting up against Philly’s Robin Roberts (6-5, 3.79 ERA, 92.2 IP, 60 K’s, 1.24 WHIP).
Philadelphia came out aggressively, getting a hit from their leadoff man Richie Ashburn, a quick steal of second, and then getting him to third on a sac fly to center. But he was afraid to go for home on a flyout to right, and their next batter flew out to right, ending the scoreless top of the first. And the two Al’s (Rosen and then Kaline) each doubled to start the bottom of the first, allowing Rosen to give us a 1-0 lead eleven minutes into the game. Take that, Phillies! Kaline stole third moments later, still no outs, and Willie Mays doubled to deep center, scoring a second run! Gene Baker flew out to deep right and the Phillies got the final out when Willie Mays tried to advance to home and was tagged out sliding in headfirst, sending us into the second inning with a 2-0 lead on four hits. Banks picked up his 10th double of the season to get going in the bottom of the fourth, and Maris advanced him to third with a single to center. Maris quickly stole second, giving us two runners in scoring position with no outs, and Banks and Maris each scored runs on back to back sac flies to right and center, increasing our margin to 4-0 in the blink of an eye. An RBI double by Kaline in the bottom of the fifth increased our lead to five runs. We didn’t score again, and we didn’t need to -- Rogovin stayed in to complete the shutout as we swept the Phillies with a 5-0 victory to extend our streak to 16 games!
Rogovin stayed undefeated, improving to 8-0 with a 1.11 ERA thanks to a three-hit complete game shutout, with a strikeout and a walk, throwing just 99 pitches. We got ten hits, with Al Kaline knocking in two hits for a run and two RBIs, with Al Rosen, Ernie Banks and Roger Maris each hitting twice as well. Maris has increased his average by fifty points over this home stretch, earning a lot of respect in the clubhouse for the work he’s been putting in.
At this point, our team-best 21-game streak frrm 1935 is in sight. The Giants have won 17 in a row in 1907 and 1916 and 18 games in 1904, records we’d have to pass in order to get to our team’s all time record. And the Giants of 1916 also had a 26 game streak that stands as the all time major league record. So we still have a way to go. With four games in three days against the last-place Giants this weekend, we expect a full press box as sportswriters from around the country try to get in on the biggest story in baseball.
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