[jksander]

JUNE 30, 1954 . . . It’s our final road game of this long stretch to end the month of June, and Hy Cohen (7-2, 4.08 ERA, 81.2 IP, 50 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) will be pitching for us, against Johnny Antonelli (8-6, 3.27 ERA, 126.2 IP, 73 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). Willie Mays hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth, his 17th of the season, to finally give us a 1-0 lead ... and it was only our second hit of the game! And though we had a handful of later hits, the game stayed tight and we were unable to buy an insurance run. Cavarretta reached second in the top of the seventh but was stranded on base and the score stayed 1-0. In the bottom of the inning the Braves tied it up 1-1 with a run scoring single by Del Crandall, and Joe Adcock hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth to give Milwaukee a 2-1 lead. Hank Aaron then hit a two-run blast to make it 4-1, and we had our work cut out for us heading into the top of the ninth. Bill Serena pinch-hit for Elston Howard to start the inning, but he struck out swinging. Russ Snyder came in to bat for Gene Baker, amd he popped up to the shortstop, but he caught it on a bounce and wasn’t able to get a throw, allowing Snyder to reach safely. Frank Baumholtz came in to hit for Hy Cohen, but Johnny Sain came in to sub in as their pitcher, and he pitched perfectly into a popup to right, giving us our second out. And Kaline came up to bat and hit a quiet grounder to first, ending the game as another loss, this time by a 4-1 margin.

Hy Cohen fell to 7-3 on the year with a 4.12 ERA, giving up just four hits with four strikeouts, but his four walks killed us and contributed to four earned runs. We outhit them 8-4, making the loss even more frustrating. Kaline and Banks each had two hits but made nothing of them. Willie Mays’ home run was our only real offense of the night.

We’ll end the month of June having gone 19-9, but we’re 4-6 over our last ten games and our pitching depth is now suspect being that two of our best starters are on injured reserve for the rest of the season. We’re 52-23, 9.5 games up on everyone in the NL, and yet it feels like we’re dancing on a razor’s edge. The All Star break can’t get here soon enough.

JULY 2, 1954 . . . Today we’re back at Wrigley, and Robert Diehl (6-3, 2.92 ERA, 80.0 IP, 39 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) is pitching against the Cardinals’ Tommy Byrne (3-5, 4.62 ERA, 85.2 IP, 48 K’s, 1.65 WHIP). Diehl quickly got into trouble in the first inning, giving up a two-run double to spot the Cardinals a two run lead, but Willie Mays got us on the board in the bottom of the inning with his 18th homer, a solo blast over to right, to make it 2-1. And Diehl settled in well from there, as this one turned into a real duel, just four combined hits in the first four innings, Mays’ homer being our only one.

Phil Cavarretta got a great grounder into right in the bottom of the sixth, driving in the tying run as Diehl slid headfirst into home, capitalizing on a walk he took to start the inning. Willie Mays then hit into left, a single that drove in two more runs, giving Mays 67 RBIs so far in the season! Roger Maris kept it going with a great shot to right, and they missed a throw to third, allowing Mays to score and make it 5-2, still with no outs! Ernie Banks drove one up the middle but Maris was tagged out at home plate to prevent a run from scoring on the double, but Al Rosen doubled himself to drive Banks home from second and making it 6-2! They walked Gene Baker, bringing up Diehl for the second time in the inning, and he flew out to center to end things, but we’d done five runs worth of damage and batted around ... how’s that for a Wrigley return? Elston Howard drove in a run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 7-2, and Diehl stayed in to finish the game, having recovered nicely from his first-inning homer, the only runs scored on him in the game thus far. He held tough for three quick outs and we beat St. Louis 7-2 in the first of four here in Chicago!

Diehl improved to 7-3 on the season with a 2.83 ERA with just four hits in the game, three strikeouts, two walks and the two earned runs, throwing 110 pitches in the complete game. We outhit them 9-4, with Willie Mays hitting twice for two runs and three RBIs, while Banks and Rosen each added a pair of hits themselves.

JULY 3, 1954 . . . We have Warren Hacker (8-5, 2.87 ERA, 122.1 IP, 65 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) pitching tonight against St. Louis’ Vinegar Bend Mizell (11-5, 2.19 ERA, 148.0 IP, 113 K’s, 1.15 WHIP). Hacker struggled in his last outing, and I don’t want him getting in his own head -- it’s a matter of getting out there and pitching through it. We need his experience in this rotation.

Hacker got out to a great start, and then in the top of the second inning we committed back to back errors, via Cavarretta and Baker, to put two runners on base with no outs. Visibly frustrated, Hacker gave up a fastball hit to deep center and St. Louis got on the board. With an unearned run. The second unearned run scored on a line drive left of center, and then we finally got out of the inning with Hacker just fighting to keep his composure, knowing now we’d need our hitters to succeed against one of the best pitchers in the majors. Al Rosen opened the bottom of the second with a double, his 16th of the year, but we left him stranded, heading into the top of the third trailing 2-0. And in the top of the inning Hacker gave up a two-run homer to make it 4-0 St. Louis, and it was like watching him crack in slow motion. Just 40 pitches in, I couldn’t pull him out of the game ... he’d lose all confidence. But by the middle of the inning, with St. Louis ahead 5-0 and Hacker 62 pitches in, I had to start planning out the bullpen game.

Mizell came out and walked Kaline, and then beaned Cavarretta, giving us a sliver of light on the horizon! Mays quickly was walked to load the bases, and that brought up Roger Maris with a scent of blood. He struck out, but Banks hit a sac-fly to left field ... or it would have bene one IF ANYONE HAD F---ING RUN! Thank God Al Rosen had the presence of mind to slap one into right field and drive in two runs or I might have had my head explode here in the dugout. Elston Howard walked to again load the bases, and then Gene Baker walked in a run to make it 5-3 as the Cardinals rushed to have a meeting on the mound. Russ Snyder came in to pinch hit for Hacker, but he struck out to end the inning, bringing Harry Dorish in to see what he could do with this one heading into the top of the fourth.

Dorish came in fired up, striking out the first two batters he faced, getting the third out on a grounder to first. Kaline got to first on a bunt to start the bottom of the inning, and Cavarretta quickly walked, with Vinegar Bend Mizell having a meltdown of his own on the mound. Mays drove one hard into right, leading Kaline to score the fourth run for our Cubs, putting runners at second and third, no outs! Maris grounded out, and Banks hit one out to center, driving in the tying run with a sacrifice, and we went into the fifth knotted 5-5! Vern Fear came in to pitch with one out and a man on second in the top of the sixth, and he successfully stranded the runner by getting the two outs we needed to keep the score knotted. Fear loaded the bases in the seventh with one out, but an infield hit and an out at home kept us in it, and a grounder to third for a quick throw to first got us out of the inning still tied 5-5!

Tom Ferrick came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, but he only got one out while giving up two doubles which led to the go ahead run scoring and putting us down 6-5. A subsequent two-run homer doomed him as I had to bring in Consuegra with the score 8-5. Consuegra got us out of the inning but we had played all afternoon like the game was an afterthought, and our four errors through the middle of the eighth suggested we lacked serious focus. Willie Mays hit a run-scoring double to pull us within two, and Roger Maris hit a two-run blast to right to tie it up 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth, giving us a breath of life once again, but could we capitalize on it? We went into the top of the ninth desperately needing the Cardinals to NOT score. Consuegra looked flustered at first, allowing a batter to reach first on a bloop infield single, but we had a brilliant double play with a catch by Howard and a quick throw to first clearing the bases, and a grounder to Rosen at third made for a quick out at first to get us into the bottom of the inning with a chance to walk this off.

Bill Serena pinch hit for Howard to start the inning, striking out swinging. Gene Baker grounded out to first. And Consuegra grounded out to first, forcing us into extras and setting us up for a potential disaster. Consuegra came out to pitch in the top of the 10th, having thrown 29 pitches, and with Joe Dobson warming up in the bullpen we were hoping Sandy had a few more outs left in him. Maris caught a blistering fly to left for out numnber one, and Consuegra got a strikeout from Ray Jablonski, and a quick throw from short to first got us out number three and kept our hopes alive -- with Dobson ready to come in for the 11th if necessary. But Al Kaline came out and got a single up the middle, hoping to spark the rally that could win this one outright. But Joe Collins struck out, Willie Mays flew out to right, and Roger Maris struck out. This game is destined to never end -- we went into the 11th inning still knotted 8-8. Ernie Banks walked to start the bottom of the 11th, but Bill Serena was the hero of the game. He hit a one-out double into the left field corner that drove Banks all the way around from first to score the walk-off run, giving us the 9-8 win seemingly out of nowhere!

Dobson took the win, improving to 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA with two strikeouts. Consuegra stood out with two strikeouts and only three hits over 2.2 innings of relief, while Hacker struggled yet again in his second start not to last more than three innings -- giving up seven hits and five runs (three earned) in three innings, bringing his ERA down to 3.02. Is there a sports shrink out there? I think we may need one to bust him out of this slump. St. Louis outhit us 14-9 but we stole the 9-8 win out from under them, with Al Rosen leading the way with three hits and two RBIs. Willie Mays added a pair of hits for two runs and two RBIs, and Phil Cavarretta walked twice and managed to score three runs this afternoon, making really good use of his opportunities.

We survive to fight another day, but the bullpen is completely shot heading into tomorrow’s double-header. This win may cost us in the end, as we’ve got Hy Cohen rested for game one, but game two is going to be tough ... Dobson had to pitch to end the game, and though he says he’s fully rested, I don’t know that I can safely use him to start the second game. I called Bob Spicer back up from AAA as a backup option, and we may have to start him in the second game, with Dobson as a potential relief option. Whatever happens, right now we’ve gone from having an incredibly deep pod of pitchers to feeling like we’re running on fumes. God help me if Cohen can’t go the distance in game one. Then we have a second double-header on the fifth on the road in Cincy, giving us four games in two days, meaning no matter what I do we’re going to be risking playing guys on extremely short rest with no days off until the All Star Break.

This could be a very long week for Cubs fans ... here’s hoping I can pull a few miracles out of my ass.