[jksander]

OCTOBER 2, 1954
WORLD SERIES, GAME 3
Chicago Cubs (0-2) at Cleveland Guardians (2-0)

1:05 PM -- Cleveland Stadium ... Attendance: 40,105
Weather: Clear, 65 Degrees, Wind blowing in from right at 10 miles per hour

CLEVELAND STARTER: Bob Feller (17-8, 3.13 ERA, 229.2 IP, 87 K’s, 1.25 WHIP)
CHICAGO STARTER: Hy Cohen (23-7, 2.91 ERA, 269.1 IP, 147 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) -- 0-1 in the Series, 5.00 ERA

Roger Maris hit a triple in the top of the first that sent Mays all the way around from first base to score a run, putting us up 1-0! The triple came on two outs, with Mays only on base because of an error by Cleveland first baseman Stan Lopata, so we were really glad to finally capitalize on a Guardian mistake. Hy Cohen pitched around men on the corners to start the bottom of the second, getting three consecutive outs to strand the runners and keep our 1-0 lead intact. We scored a second run on an error at third, Cavarretta’s single scoring Kaline from first base while allowing Cavarretta to take second on the errant throw. Cavarretta advanced to third on a sac-fly to right by Mays, but Maris flew out to the shortstop, sending us into the bottom of the third leading 2-0. Cohen stumbled in the bottom of the fourth, giving up three hits in a row with one out, allowing two runs to score and tie the game thanks to a Ray Boone triple. A strikeout and a groundout to first ended the inning knotted two-all. Al Rosen hit a two-run blast into the right field bleachers in the top of the sixth, giving us back a 4-2 lead, but Cohen gave up a two-run blast to center by Ralph Kliner to tie it up 4-4 in the bottom of the inning, denying us all momentum. Cohen got us out of the inning but his night was clearly over at that point, nothing left in the tan, as we went into the seventh tied up at 4-4.

Gene Baker hit a single in the top of the seventh and was then driven to second when Roy Sievers batted himself out at first as a pinch hitter for Cohen. Kaline flew out to center, but Cavarretta reached first base on balls to bring up Willie Mays with two on and two outs. But Mays flew out to center, ending the inning still knotted up. Harry Dorish came in to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, getting three quick outs without the ball leaving the infield, but we did nothing in the top of the eighth, and Dorish -- who had gotten out of the seventh inning on FOUR PITCHES, gave up a solo homer to Larry Doby on his second pitch of the eighth, giving Cleveland a 5-4 lead, though he got us three fast outs to get out of the rest of the inning. Bill Serena pinch hit for Baker in the top of the ninth, striking out swinging. Joe Collins hit for Dorish, struck out swinging. And Al Kaline flew out to the first baseman, ending the inning and sending us into a 3-0 hole, dropping this game at Cleveland 5-4 and virtually ending our hopes of contending for a title.

Cohen lasted six innings and gave up six hits for four earned runs, striking out three but walking four as he continued to have rookie jitters as our top playoff starter. Dorish, however, took the loss, despite only giving up one hit and one earned run with a strikeout through two innings. Each team had seven hits -- Maris led our offense with two hits for a run and an RBI, while AL Rosen hit once for two RBIs and a run scored on the ground. It’s frustrating continuing to lose this way in the postseason when we dominated the NL so thoroughly, but baseball is that kind of game. A 154 game season decided by the luck of a seven game series against a team we haven’t faced all year. We’ll go into game four at least hoping to find a way to extend the series, but no one has ever come back from three games down to win the whole thing.