[jksander]

JUNE 11, 1954 . . . Today Hy Cohen (4-1, 4.53 ERA, 51.2 IP, 31 K’s 1.18 WHIP) takes his turn on the mound against Giants starter Jack Sandford (1-7, 6.37 ERA, 59.1 IP, 20 K’s 1.77 WHIP). The Giants are off to an abysmal 18-38 start, 24 games out of first, though at least they’re still four wins ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, who are looking like they’ll set an all-time record for futility. Cavarretta is back in the lineup, so Al Rosen can go back to playing third base.

If you were a fan of pitching, this was a very good game for you early on. Then Hy Cohen had something of a meltdown in the top of the fourth, giving up his first three hits to drive in the go-ahead run for the Giants. He gave up a second run on a flyout to right, and then with two outs surrendered a two-hit homer over the right field wall to put us in a 4-0 hole. Al Rosen got us on the board with a run scoring single in the bottom of the fourth, but Cohen stayed in to clean up his own mess.

In the bottom of the seventh Baker and Cohen reached base on successive hits, and Kaline then doubled to deep center, driving in our second run with no outs. Cavarretta doubled up the gap to drive in two more, and suddenly we were knotted 4-4 with no outs! They walked Willie Mays and Maris couldn’t get a fly ball out of the infield, but Ernie Banks got a blistering drive between the third baseman and shortstop to drive in the go-ahead run and Al Rosen doubled to right, driving Mays home and moving Banks to third, making it 6-4 with two in scoring position and only a single out. Elston Howard drove one deep to left, reaching third and scoring two more, and suddenly this was a blowout with Baker back up to bat for the second time in the inning, still just one out. They got Baker and Cohen out to mercifully end the inning, but we were now up 8-4 and the top of our order would be up in the eighth after a seven-run bombing. Cohen stayed in and gave up a two run, two out homer to make it 8-6, but he also got two strikeouts during the inning and got out of it with the lead still safe. Sandy Consuegra came in for the final inning, getting a strikeout and two flyouts to earn the save and get us out of this with an 8-6 win!

Despite his brutal fourth inning, Cohen stayed tough and lasted through eight innings and 119 pitches, throwing for eight hits, six earned runs and getting six strikeouts against a single walk. His ERA blew up to 4.83, but he improved to 5-1 nonetheless. Consuegra earned his 10th save of the year, throwing nine pitches and striking out one batter, improving his ERA to 2.20 through 28.2 innings. We outhit the Giants 12-8, with Rosen leading the way with three hits for a run and two RBIs, while Kaline, Cavarretta and Banks each had two hits. Maris couldn’t get anything to hit, but he took a walk and scored a run, so he’s making the best of his opportunities.

The New York Yankees have agreed to our trade offer, sending us 31-year-old first baseman Joe Collins (hitting .248/.324/.395 so far in 44 games with four doubles, five homers and 21 RBIs) in exchange for minor league reliever Robert Hartig, veteran left fielder Hank Sauer, veteran right fielder Earl Rapp and $50,000 cash. The market for solid first basemen is tight right now, and Collins is a disciplined power batter with good fielding skills -- better than Cavarretta, in fact! -- so we’re actually likely to start him and move Cavarretta into a bench role. We’ll be playing shorthanded until he arives in Chicago on Sunday in time for our doubleheader, so I’m calling up Frank Baumholtz to the active roster. He’ll go back down to AAA on Monday when Russ Snyder is ready to return.

JUNE 12, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (5-3, 2.61 ERA, 62.0 IP, 27 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) took the mound today against Jack Harshman (2-6, 4.16 ERA, 88.2 IP, 43 K’s, 1.53 WHIP). Diehl quickly got himself into trouble, giving up a pair of hits, getting an out, and then giving up a two-run double to put the Giants ahead 2-0 with just the one out. An infield groundout allowed a third run to score, and the Giants went into the bottom of the first leading 3-0. We left four runners in scoring position over the first and second innings, and Diehl gave up a fourth run in the third inning to put us down 4-0 for the second game in a row -- did we have another comeback in us? Willie Mays hit a solo homer to left field to start the bottom of the third, his 14th of the year, but despite two walked batters we couldn’t do anything else in the inning. But the Giants added a run in the fifth, and we had to bring Vern Fear in for the sixth inning.

Harry Dorish came in with the score still 5-1 in the top of the eighth, and Dorish batted in a run in the bottom of the eighth to pull us within three. Al Kaline got a shot through to left, and due to a throwing error in the outfield he was able to reach second and drive in a run to make it 5-3! Cavarretta got a ball through the gap into center field, scoring two runs with the single, and suddenly we were tied 5-5! They walked Mays, but Roger Maris hit the ball straight up for an easy catch by the catcher, ending the inning and sending Dorish back out to pitch the ninth with Consuegra warming up. Dorish got two quick outs and then a single got into right field, and a double to right drove the go-ahead run in, giving the Giants a 6-5 lead. Consuegra came in and got a quick grounder out to Baker, who gloved it to Cavarretta to get us into the bottom of the ninth down a run. Ernie Banks flew out to center, but Rosen hit a nice blast out to left to get on base. But Gene Baker batted into a double play and just like that we lost our first game in more than two weeks, falling to the Giants 6-5. The epic win streak ends at 17.

Harry Dorish took the loss, falling to 2-1 with a 1.14 ERA, with four hits against two strikeouts and a single earned run. But most of the damage was done by Diehl, who gave up six hits for five earned runs in five innings, striking out five but walking three, lasting just 79 pitches. Vern Fear was solid in two innings of one hit work, striking out one and walking another, and Consuegra got one out without a hit, improving his ERA slightly to 2.17. We lost despite outhitting the Giants 13-11, with Willie Mays hitting three times to score a run and drive in another, his 52nd RBI of the year. Cavarretta hit twice to drive in two runs, giving him 21 for the season, and despite batting last and failing to get us tied up, Baker hit twice as well, scoring a run and keeping his average at .295 for the season.

We have one game left on this homestand, having gone 16-1 since returning to Wrigley, good enough to put our record at 43-15, leading the NL’s second best team (Cincinnati) by 11.5 games. So we’re doing just fine, and we’ll go in tomorrow working to get the series win via the doubleheader and keep the Giants on their heels before we start our massive road run. So far our attendance average this year is up nearly 17 percent, and though we’re not yet where we want to be, still playing to Wrigley stands that are two-thirds full, it’s hard to deny the buzz that’s growing here on the north side.

I’ve rethought my plans at first base, and have decided to let Cavarretta keep his starting spot for now, though Collins will likely alternate in as a regular backup starter and pinch hitter. We’re going to keep our bullpen at five men heading into the road trip, and I’m debating whether to have Russ Snyder do a minor league rehab assignment when he comes of the IL on Monday. I am leaning in that direction, as right now Maris is continuing to improve in his role in left field, so I don’t feel rushed to throw Snyder back into the fire.