[jksander]

JULY 6, 1954 . . . Time to face Milwaukee back at Wrigley! We’ve got Joe Dobson on the mound, with his 1-1 record and 4.12 ERA through 19.2 innings as a Cub (and a rapidly improving 1.17 WHIP) taking on Milwaukee’s Bob Buhl (6-7, 3.63 ERA, 114.0 IP, 69 K’s, 1.48 WHIP). In the top of the second inning Joe Dobson gave up a triple but then got two quick outs, a walk and then a strikeout to escape without a run scored. Baker doubled in the bottom of the third and a sac-bunt moved him safely to third, but a flyout and a grounder to first ended that inning without a score as well. And Dobson gave up a solo homer that stayed barely fair in the top of the fourth, Hank Aaron getting his ninth of the season as the Braves went up 1-0. Mays and Maris got hits to start the bottom of the fourth, and Ernie Banks walked to load the bases with no outs, with Elston Howard finally getting a shot through into the outfield to score the tying run. Gene Baker drove one out there as well to score another and keep the bases loaded with just one out, but that was all we were able to get, though at least we were back in the lead! Dobson got us through the sixth, and Al Rosen hit a towering homer almost out to Waveland in the bottom of the sixth to score two more runs, making it 4-1 -- that was Rosen’s 14th homer of the year, second only to Mays on the team!

Tom Ferrick came in for the top of the seventh to protect the three run lead, and in the top of the eighth Harry Dorish came in with two outs and a man on first, still up three, hoping to keep it that way. Unfortunately he walked two batters, loading the bases, and then gave up a hit into center, allowing two runs to score, before finally getting the out and surviving with at least a semblance of the lead intact. Sandy Consuegra came in for the ninth, with a 4-3 lead, and though he struggled a bit after getting the first two outs, giving up a hit due to a slow throw to first and giving up a walk, he got the final out via strikeout and we held tough to win the game.

Joe Dobson improved to 2-1 with a 3.51 ERA with four hits two strikeouts and three walks along with the one earned run. Ferrick had a 1.2 inning hold, giving up just one hit and one run with a walk thanks to Dorish letting the man on base score. Dorish wound up getting his fourth hold as well, though he only got one out, walked two and gave up a run. Consuegra saved his 14th game of the season with a hit, a strikeout and a walk, improving his ERA to 1.85 on the year. Each team had seven hits, with Gene Baker being our only player to notch two in the game (to go with a run batted in). Al Rosen’s homer gave him a hit with a run scored and two batted in, while Mays and Maris scored runs and Howard batted one in. It was a team effort and a good win -- our bullpen’s going to have bad nights on occasion, and it’s good to see our guys getting the hits when we need them.

JULY 7, 1954 . . . For game two against Milwaukee here at Wrigley we have Hy Cohen (7-4, 3.92 ERA, 98.2 IP, 58 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) taking the mound against the Braves’ Don Liddle (7-7, 4.01 ERA, 101.0 IP, 40 K’s, 1.50 WHIP). Joe Adcock hit a solo homer off Cohen in the top of the third to put Milwaukee on the board 1-0, and in the top of the fifth Hank Aaron hit his 10th homer of the year, driving in two more runs to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. Ernie Banks walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the sixth, giving us our first real shot at doing some damage, but Al Rosen hit into a double play, the out at home and the out at first, ending the inning with nothing going for us. Hy Cohen made it to second in the bottom of the seventh on two outs, but we left him stranded, still trailing 3-0 heading into the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth Willie Mays hit his 20th homer of the season to make it 3-1, but it didn’t spark a rally. Cohen got the outs we needed in the top of the ninth, but Johnny Sain shut us down in the bottom of the inning and we lost this one 3-1 in a game where we simply could not do anything with guys we got on base.

Cohen fell to 7-5 with this loss, giving up just six hits in a complete game with six strikeouts and a walk, the three earned runs still improving his ERA slightly to 3.85. We outhit the Braves 7-6, but Mays’ homer was our only offense. He led the team with two hits and brought his average up to .355 for the season.

JULY 8, 1954 . . . Final game of the series, with the wins split thus far, before we head to St. Louis for the last three games before the All Star break. Warren Hacker (8-5, 3.02 ERA, 131.1 IP, 72 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) is up in the rotation, facing Milwaukee’s legendary Warren Spahn, who has been struggling this year with a 5-10 record, a 3.94 ERA, 68 K’s and a 1.42 WHIP through 144 innings. But it’s always a good pitching battle when the Warrin’ Warrens take the field in the same game.

We loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, and Hacker drove in the two runs that put us on the board! Al Kaline batted into the final out, but we led 2-0 at the end of two in a game where scoring looked to be at a premium. Hacker didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning, at which point he got into a one-out bases loaded jam. A fly ball hit into center allowed two runs to score, knotting the game up and a third run scored on a groundout to first. Hacker finally got the final strikeout, but the damage was done and he looked like a mess coming into the dugout after throwing more than thirty pitches in the inning. He got through the fifth inning with minimal effort, but he gave up a solo homer to Sid Gordon in the top of the sixth that made it 4-2 Braves. But he was throwing strikes, and he looked confident, we just needed to score some damned runs. Willie Mays got things started with a shot into the deep left corner in the bottom of the sixth, reaching third, but we couldn’t capitalize on it, three outs in a row to ruin the inning. Hacker made it through seven with eight strikeouts, but it was looking unlikely he would be able to go much longer so we started warming up Harry Dorish. He stayed in to start the eighth and got an out, but then gave up a two run blast to Sid Gordon, the second of the game for the right fielder, and I had to bring Harry Dorish in to get the final two outs. Our offense remained anemic, and they loaded the bases against Dorish in the top of the ninth, scoring on a passed ball with two outs to make it 7-2 Braves. Spahn stayed in to close out his excellent game, and the Braves won this one by five runs, completely dominating and winning the series two to one.

Hacker pitched 7.1 innings and gave up seven hits, but two homers contributed to six earned runs scoring, neutralizing his eight strikeouts, and he walked three batters which kept him from lasting longer in the game. He threw 121 pitches and fell to 8-6 on the year with a 3.25 ERA. They outhit us 10-8, with Maris being our only player with two hits, scoring a run. Baker scored our other run, with Warren Hacker driving in both in the bottom of the second. The Braves may be 15 games back in the NL race, but they’re a dangerous team if they can put things together.

Now we head to St. Louis for three games against the 39-47 Cardinals. They are 20 games back, but our lead in the NL has been cut to nine games ahead of the Dodgers (49-35) and we cannot afford to go into the All Star break on a skid.