[jksander]

JULY 18, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (9-5, 3.59 ERA, 125.2 IP, 72 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) is back in action this afternoon, fully rested since pitching three days ago in the first doubleheader game against Pittsburgh. He’ll challenge Brooklyn ace Johnny Podres (12-3, 2.97 ERA, 127.1 IP, 68 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) in a game we expect to be pitcher dominated, with the wind blowing in strongly from right on a clear Chicago afternoon. And the wind definitely played a big part in the game early on, with several long-balls turned into easy outs, while many would-be hits couldn’t even escape the infield. We went into the seventh-inning stretch still knotted 0-0, having outhit the Dodgers 3-1 without managing to get a single runner into scoring position. That changed in the bottom of the seventh, when Elston Howard and Gene Baker each took walks to put men on first and second with two outs. But Hy Cohen couldn’t get the ball out of the infield, leaving us still tied at zero. Cohen gave up a hit and a walk in the top of the eighth but got out of his jam handily and kept things knotted. In the bottom of the eighth, Cavarretta took a one-out walk and Willie Mays knocked a hard hit single into center for a single to put Cavarretta in scoring position. But Maris flew out to right and the runners smartly held ... there was no room for Cavarretta to safely reach third. And Ernie Banks flew out to left, ending another opportunity with an oh-fer.

Cohen stayed in for the ninth, but after getting a quick out, he gave up a stunning solo blast by Gil Hodges to put the Dodgers up on us 1-0. Though he got us out of the inning without further incident, we had the bottom of our order up and would need to string something serious together if we want to get out of this one with a win. Al Rosen hit a weak infield blooper that accounted for out number one. Joe Collins came in to hit for Elston Howard, striking out swinging. Gene Baker kept us alive with a blast to center, but he only made it to first base. We brought Bill Serena in to hit for Hy Cohen, with Consuegra warming up in case we forced extra innings, but a hard-hit ball to right was kept barely in the park, blowing right into the fielder’s glove, ending our game as a 1-0 loss. What a bummer of a way to lose this one.

With the loss, Cohen fell to 9-6 on the season with a 3.41 ERA, giving up just three hits and a run, with three walks and eight strikeouts. We outhit the Dodgers 5-3 but couldn’t get anyone around to score, despite hits by Cavarretta, Mays, Maris, Howard and Baker. Three additional runners reached via base-on-balls, but we couldn’t capitalize on it. Games like this are tough, but eventually someone was going to sneak something through. Let’s come back from this and win the next two.
 
JULY 19, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl’s been red hot lately, and he’s up today against the Dodgers, with a 9-3 record, 2.78 ERA, 52 K’s and a 1.05 WHIP through 110 innings. He’s up against Brooklyn’s Billy Loes (11-5, 3.39 ERA, 156.2 IP, 93 K’s, 1.28 WHIP) so this will almost certainly be another brutal battle. Can we come out ahead?

The Dodgers got on board 1-0 thanks to an RBI single by Jackie Robinson in the top of the first, bit Robert Diehl hit a sac fly to center that drove in the tying run in the bottom of the second. But Diehl gave up a second run in the top of the third, this time a run-scoring double (again by Robinson) and our fielding, particularly by the usually solid Ernie Banks, was atrocious early, allowing two more runs to score before we finally got out of the inning. Vern Fear came in to pitch in the top of the fifth still trailing 4-1, and in the bottom of the sixth we loaded the bases with just one out, and Jerry Runyard walked in a run with two outs, pulling us within two points and bringing up the top of the order! Al Kaline got a hit into right that drove in two runs, tying the score 4-4, and Cavarretta dropped one into center field that should have been a run scored, but a strong defensive play at home plate got the out by miliseconds. So we headed into the top of the seconds knotted at four runs each and with Harry Dorish coming in to pitch.

With the score still knotted 4-4, Sandy Consuegra came in for the top of the ninth, getting three quick outs to keep our hopes of a win alive -- with the top of the order coming up for the bottom of the inning! But we went down one, two, three, forcing extra innings. Consuegra got us through the 10th unscathed, but we couldn’t buy a hit. Consuegra hit a batter and then gave up a double to Sandy Amoros, putting two runners in scoring position and I had to bring in Tom Ferrick to try and at least give us a chance at escaping this. But he walked the bases loaded, and then a sac-fly to center scored the go-ahead run for the Dodgers. A second run scored on a botched catch attempt by Chapman at second, at which point we finally got the out we needed to come up in the bottom of the 11th trailing by two. Clyde McCullough opened the frame by hitting a shot deep to left of center, giving him a sudden double, and Kenneth Chapman was walked to give us two on and no outs. Carmen Mauro came in to pinch hit for Ferrick, getting Chapman out at second on a fielder’s choice but advancing McCullough to third and bringing up Kaline. And Kaline did what he does best -- he blasted one into the right field corner, tying the f---ing score and giving us a chance! But Cavarretta got tagged out at first to end the inning, sending us into the 12th, with Bob Porterfield, our recent acquisition from Boston, coming in for his first relief appearance as a Cub.

Porterfield came in and pitched beautifully, getting three quick outs on just 12 pitches, making it likely he could stay in for another inning if required. Mays took a walk to start the bottom of the inning, and though he was tagged out moments later on a fielder’s choice, Ernie Banks reached first on a single and drove Roger Maris, a quick runner, to second. That brought up Al Rosen with just one out, meaning a shot into the outfield could be enough to win this. A single to left kept us alive, but the runners held with the bases loaded -- no score. So that brought McCullough to the plate, one out, bases loaded, and he had a brilliant plate appearance, winning the game on a walk-off .... WALK???? What a way to end this! Cubs win 7-6 in 12 innings!

Bob Porterfield may have been the sixth pitcher to take the mound for us today, but he was also the one to take the win! He’ll start his Cubs career with a 1-0 record of no-hit baseball, and the fans already love him. Diehl struggled, giving up six hits and four earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts, but our bullpen was phenomenal and gave us the chance to climb back. Fear, Dorish and Consuegra each went two innings, with only Consuegra giving up any runs, the two guys he put on base in the 11th without getting any outs. In the end we outhit the Dodgers 13-10, surviving to see if we can steal this series after all. Twenty-one batters for our Cubs were listed in the box score, including all our pitchers and pinch-hitters, but in the end it was lead-off man Al Kaline who led the way with three hits for four RBIs -- call him “Klutch” Kaline! Ernie Banks had three hits and scored two runs, while Rosen and McCullough notched a pair apiece.

JULY 20, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker (9-6, 3.13 ERA, 146.2 IP, 84 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) took to the mound today in game three against the Dodgers’ Carl Erskine (13-7, 3.78 ERA, 159.1 IP, 93 K’s, 1.33 WHIP). Roger Maris put us on the board in the bottom of the second, hitting a blast to center that just cleared the Ivy by inches, giving us a 1-0 lead and him his seventh homer of the season as he has struggled to stay above .200 in his rookie season. It was a much needed score, giving us the edge in a game I expect will be another tight affair. So of course in the top of the third Hacker pitched a fastball to Bobby Morgan that he quickly put over the left field wall to tie us up, and they scored a second run on an RBI single by Carl Furillo moments later. And suddenly Hacker was giving up nothing but hard contact, barely getting out of the inning without a fire hose. Roger Maris loaded the bases in the bottom of the third thanks to a bobbled catch at second by the Dodgers, and Ernie Banks reached first by being hit by an errant Erskine pitch that tied us at 2-2. But after getting an out, Hacker gave up another fastball solo homer, this time to Pee Wee Reese, and the wheels came off again. An RBI triple made it a 4-2 game, and even Furillo got in on the hit parade. His game was done ... there was no way I could justify keeping him in this game, warming up Vern Fear as Furillo’s double made it a 5-2 game. And suddenly I do have to seriously start questioning whether Hacker still has what it takes -- can you really win the Cy Young at 28 and then the next year just become a hit-or-miss prospect?

Vern Fear made it through the fifth and sixth, getting an out in the seventh before putting two runners on base and forcing us to bring in Porterfield, who got the final outs but also gave up both of Fear’s runs in the process to make it a 7-2 blowout. Porterfield earned a lot of respect by staying in for the eighth and ninth, closing out an unwinnable game -- and giving up four runs in the top of the ninth. Ooooof. We lost this one badly, 11-2, and we deserved to. We’ll have to pick ourselves up and go into our next series hoping we can play better baseball than this.

Warren Hacker took the loss, falling to 9-7 with a 3.35 ERA thanks to four innings of ten hit, five run baseball. Fear came in for 2.1 innings and gave up two hits and two runs but his ERA remains a highly respectable 1.49 overall. Porterfield took a beating, lasting 2.2 innings but giving up eight hits and four runs, with two walks and two strikeouts, blowing his ERA up to 9.82 through 3.2 innings.

The Dodgers pulled to within 11 games of us thanks to the series loss, with Cincy just a game and a half behind them. But the race in the AL is definitely heating up, with Cleveland still comfortably eight games up on both the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees, but with Washington’s Senators just nine games back, with Boston sitting 13-1/2 games back and triyng ot eyeball a way back in. With the trade deadline coming up fast, will anyone make big moves to dominate the stretch run? At this point.

And I’m not ready to give up on Warren Hacker yet. I have seen enough good innings from him in my time here in Chicago, I have to trust that he can find his best form. And with Klippstein and Rogovin out for the season, and with our record still a stellar 66-28 overall, it seems foolish to tinker too much and risk ruining our team’s chemistry. The guys still trust Hacker and I have to put my faith in them as a whole. Bring on the Giants and the Phillies for our last six game of this homestand -- let’s see what we can do!