[jksander]

APRIL 14, 1955 . . . Today we’re on the raod at Cincinnati for the second time, with Robert Diehl ready to take to the mound. He’ll be facing down George Susce, who went 8-8 for the Redlegs last year in 161 innings, striking out 65 with a 1.24 WHIP and a 3.63 ERA. And for the first time this year we found ourselves in a hole early == Robert Diehl threw a fastball to Hal Keller in the bottom of the second, giving up a three-run homer to put us back 3-0. A fourth run scored on a flyout to left in the bottom of the fourth inning, We got a run back in the top of the fifth, when Al Kaline got a groundball single to right, sending Del Crandall from first to third with Al Rosen coming around to score the run, making it 4-1 Redlegs heading into the bottom of the fifth. Against the top of the order for the third time through, Diehl struggled a bit, putting a runner in scoring position, but he got a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning without damage. In the top of the sixth with one out, Banks hit a single to right, reaching first and driving Maris around to third, and Al Rosen singled, driving Maris home on a headfirst slide, making it 4-2, with Banks moving into scoring position at second. Roy Sievers walked the bases loaded, and Del Crandall snuck one past the third baseman in to left fielder, a slippery grounder that allowed him to reach second base while scoring three to put us ahead 5-4! Diehl singled, reaching first and sending Crandall to third, bringing up the top of our lineup with just the one out! Kaline flew out to center, but Crandall had enough speed to make the slide safely into home to make it 6-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Kaline and Baker walked with two outs in the top of the eighth, bringing up Willie Mays who hit a RBI single into right field to add a little insurance. We brought Koufax in with two outs and a man on second in the bottom of the eighth, and he got the final out on a 4-3 grounder off a ball hit off the third pitch at 105 miles per hour, sending us into the top of the ninth up 7-4. Koufax gave up a hit to start the bottom of the ninth, but it should have been an out if Banks hadn’t bobbled a catch. No matter -- He got Bob Elliott out on an E9 flyout, got the second out by a popup to Banks, and then walked Nellie Fox to give them a man in scoring position with two outs. The young pitcher then walked Bobby Hofman, creating his first bases loaded jam, before securing the final out via a 4-3 grounder that ended this one as a 7-4 victory! We improve to 3-0 with the win, heading into a day off and then the three game road-set in St. Louis this weekend.

Robert Diehl made it through 7.2 innings and 84 pitches today, giving up ten hits with four strikeouts and no walks, accounting for four runs (three earned) and giving him a 3.52 ERA to start his season. Koufax then came in for 1.1 innings in relief, coming out with his first career save in a one hit two walk no run effort. He has gone three innings without a run scoring, but has walked three and has yet to notch his first major league strikeout. The control will come, right now it’s about harnessing his stuff, which is already there, and building up his endurance over the next few years. He’s prime for an excellent rookie season as a key piece in our bullpen.

Cincinnati outhit us 11-8, but we made ours count, taking control with the five runs in the sixth. Al Kaline is a perfect leadoff man, hitting twice, scoring a run and batting in two more to give him 5 RBIs in his first three games of the year to go with a .429 average. Del Crandall got a hit and drove in three runs while scoring once himself, keeping his average at a solid .455 through the first three games as well.

APRIL 16, 1955 . . . So far it’s a small sample size of games, but we, Brooklyn (3-0) and Philadelphia (2-1) all are off to fast offensive starts with lots of runs scoring, while over in the AL Washington and Detroit, both 4-0, have been putting up good numbers on offense as well. Way too early to think much about standings though, particularly not until teams have seen all their league rivals both home and away. But it’s going to be interesting to see how teams like the Giants (1-3) and the Cardinals (0-2) overcome an early lack of offense. The Giants in particular have been outscored by 16 runs in their first four games -- coming out of their abysmal 35-win season last year, their GM needs to make some moves or their rebuild is going to take longer than the fans are going to be willing to wait. They have good prospects coming up from the farm, with six players in the BNN Top 100, but they’re clearly a long way away from their 1951 World Series appearance (98 wins!) and their championship in 1933.

With a single game today and a doubleheader tomorrow while in St. Louis, we’re back to the top of our rotation, with Saul Rogovin (0-0, 6.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1.33 WHIP) pitching on five days’ rest against Cardinals starter Dean Stone, who last year finished 4-9 with four saves, a 4.07 ERA, 46 K’s and a 1.61 WHIP through 128.1 innings of work. We’ve put up seven or more runs in each of our first three games while surrendering four runs per effort, so we should be undefeated. But if we’re going to continue our dominant run we’ll have to see how we handle games with less offense, where our pitchers have to be the dominant force. Getting Rogovin into top form at the top of the rotation is going to go a long way in making that happen.

This game started out as exactly that kind of pitcher’s duel. We got a hit from Mays in the first inning, and they got a hit from Robert Shawver in the bottom of the third, but no one advanced past second base, and the game was knotted 0-0 with those two hits after three innings. Roger Maris led off the top of the fourth, grounding into left field for a single, but we popped out three times in a row to end the frame, and Rogovin was perfect in the bottom of the inning, keeping it locked up. We had our best opportunity in the top of the fifth, when Sievers got a base hit and then Gene Baker took a one-out walk. Rogovin flew out to deep center, allowing Sievers to use his speed on the basepaths to advance to third. But Kaline flew out to right and ended the frame still scoreless. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Rogovin gave up back to back hits for a base each, putting a runner in scoring position for the Cardinals for only the second time in the game. But their pitcher batted out to left and added another zero to the scoreboard. This is one of those games that should be sponsored by Rolaids!

Rogovin faced the top of their order for the third time to start the sixth, and things got dicey. Andy Carey and Wally Moon got on base with back to back hits, and the Cardinals finally broke it open with an RBI single by Stan Musial, to put the Cardinals up 1-0, two men on, no outs. Two more runs scored on a one-out double by Jablonski, and though he got us out of the inning efficiently from there, it was yet another sixth inning struggle for our ace starter. Sievers got another hit in the top of the seventh, reaching third on a single by Gene Baker, and I had to make a move to the bullpen by bringing in a pinch hitter for Rogovin with two outs, trying to find a way to get something going. Deacon Jones came in to hit, and Jones got a great hit on the sweet spot, driving the ball deep into the left field corner to drive both runs in, reaching second standing up. That brought Kaline in to restart the order, but he popped it up to their catcher, sending us into the seventh inning stretch trailing 3-2 with Harry Dorish coming in to throw.

Dorish got us through the seventh and the eighth, and with Sandy Consuegra warming up in the bullpen, we went into the top of the ninth trailing by a run and needing something good to happen. Roy Sievers made great contact yet again, driving a scorcher into right and reaching base safely, and Del Crandall hit a feisty one that bounced funny in the infield, allowing Sievers to beat out the throw to second and then Crandall made it safely to first inches ahead of the throw. Both safe! Gene Baker flew out to deep center, leaving just enough time for Sievers to advance to third, and Jerry Bunyard came in to pinch hit for Dorish, allowing Sievers to score the tying run while Crandall advanced to second on the fielder’s choice! Al Kaline got a great hit into center field, allowing Crandall to come around to score, and suddenly we held a 4-3 lead! Maris popped out to right, but we had our chance, and Consuegra was coming in to close it out. Three quick outs via soft contact and we’d done it, improving to 4-0 with a one-run victory!

Saul Rogovin survived his six innings having given up seven hits and three earned runs with a pair of strikeouts, improving his ERA to 5.25 through two games. Dorish improved to 2-0 with a no-hit one walk two inning sprint, and Consuegra earned his second save with a perfect final inning. So far in four games our bullpen has yet to surrender a run! We outscored the Cardinals 9-7, led by Roy Sievers who hit three times to score twice on the ground. Deacon Jones sparked the rally that finally awoke our offense, hitting in his one at-bat and driving in two runs. This was a great team effort! Tomorrow’s doubleheader will be a test, but I think we’re ready to pass.

APRIL 17, 1955 . . . Brooklyn lost a game yesterday, so we’re the only undefeated team left in the NL, though in the AL both Washington and Detroit are off to 5-0 starts. Hy Cohen (1-0, 4.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 8 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) pitched today in the first game of the afternoon, up against Bob Grim (0-1, 12.27 ERA, 3.2 IP, 2 K’s, 2.45 WHIP). St. Louis got on the board 1-0 in the bottom of the first, thanks to a Ray Jablonski RBI single that wouldn’t had happened if Gene Baker hadn’t botched a pickoff moments earlier at second by dropping the ball, getting his first error of the season. It was Musial, who should have been our third out, who scored the run. Cohen got a hit in the third inning, bringing up the top of the order, and Deacon Jones got a hit into the outfield that drove him all the way around to score, tying things up 1-1 with one out. Willie Mays kept the hits coming, getting a grounder through the gap to bat in a second run! Maris got a hit into left as well, but Ernie Banks flew out to left and Gene Baker flew out to center, ending the inning with us leading now 2-1. Al Rosen got a hit in the fourth, snapping a bit of a skid offensively for the third baseman, advancing to second on a Hy Cohen sac bunt. But Kaline batted out to first to end the top of the fourth without Rosen being able to score. We got our secondo out of the inning on a flyout to center, but Crandall couldn’t make the tag at home quickly enough and the tying run scored.

Cohen gave up two hits in a row to start the bottom of the seventh, but he got three quick outs to keep either of the runners from scoring, so the score remained knotted up at 2-2 heading into the eighth. And we should have pulled him out at that point, but I trusted him when he said he still had something in the tank -- instead he gave up a triple and an RBI single to start the bottom of the eighth, with Koufax fighting to warm up quickly and get in this one. Then Cohen showed why he’s a great starting pitcher -- he made a successful pickoff throw to second, when the runner started to lead, and then on the NEXT THROW he used a successful pickoff throw to get the runner leading at first as well! So we headed to the top of the ninth needing a run to stay alive. But we had the bottom of the order coming up, and even with Roy Sievers coming in to pinch hit for Cohen, we couldn’t get a hit out of the infield. St. Louis held tough and won this one 3-2 as we endured our first loss of the year.

Cohen lasted eight innings but fell to 1-1 on the year with a 3.18 ERA, giving up eight hits and three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and a walk through 100 pitches. We hit successfully nine times but couldn’t find a run at the end when we needed it. Deacon Jones had two hits with a run scored and another batted in, Cohen scored a run from the pitchers’ spot in the lineup, and Willie Mays had a hit and an RBI as well. But this is a game of random outcomes piled up on each other, and you’re not gonna win them all. We’ve just got to play the averages and know we’ve got a team that can take us places.

In game two of the doubleheader, Cuban rookie hurler Camilo Pascual got his first start of the season, up against Ron Kline, who last year was 5-12 with five saves, a 3.51 ERA, 47 K’s and a 1.23 WHIP through 159 innings. Al Kaline reached first on an error to start the game, and Deacon Jones singled, followed by a Willie Mays grounder into a double play that sent Kaline to third. Roger Maris hit a flyball single to right that allowed Kaline to come around and put us up 1-0, and Ernie Banks singled to send Maris safely from first to third! Al Rosen then hit one sharply into left, driving Maris home with a single, though Banks tried to steal third unsuccessfully, ending the inning with us up 2-0. Pascual gave up a hit and a walk to start his first inning in the majors, but he got out of things with a flyout to left and a nice double play, giving him some time to breathe and settle in. Duncan Jones botched a catch at first, allowing Ron Kline to reach second in the bottom of the third, and Pascual walked his third batter of the game to put himself in a no-outs jam. But Banks made a great popup catch at short for out one, and we made another impressive double play to end the inning with the Cardinals still scoreless, though Pascual had now thrown 50 pitches through three innings. Rosen doubled to start the top of the fourth, and Elston Howard drove him to third with a single, but Gene Baker hit a flyout to center and Rosen was tagged out trying to get back on third base, and Pascual batted out to end the inning still up 2-0. In the top of the sixth, Al Rosen hit a two-run homer to left with one out, increasing our margin to 4-0, his first homer of the season, and moments later Gene Baker hit HIS first of the year, another two-run blast that increased our lead to six runs.

Sandy Koufax came in to relieve Pascual to start the bottom of the sixth, and he got through that inning with just a single hit, surrounded by a flyout to center and a double play! Al Rosen got a hit up the middle in the top of the seventh to drive in another two runs, ekeing out a double to put us up 8-0 -- he now has a single, two doubles and a homer in this second game of the day! Koufax got his first major league strikeout in the bottom of the seventh, dominating their hitters for the second inning in a row. Koufax stayed in for the eighth inning, getting an easy flyout and then, on what would have been a double for Larry Jackson, Al Kaline made a brilliant throw from deep right to third base when he saw Jackson try for third, nailing the out! That was one of the best throws I have EVER seen. Koufax got his ninth out of the game safely, and capped a really solid third appearance in relief. In the top of the ninth, Ernie Banks joined the homer parade, hitting a two-run blast into deep left, his second of the year, to make it 10-0. Al Rosen got another at-bat in the process, but couldn’t get a triple or he’d have finished with a cycle. Instead it was a blooper pop to the catcher. Koufax stayed out to finish the game, getting three quick outs to end this one as a 10-0 shutout victory and keeping our bullpen scoreless streak going through our sixth game.

Pascual got his first win, starting out 1-0 with a two hitter through five innings, one strikeout, three walks and no runs. But Koufax was a firework out there, staying in for four innings of two-hit ball himself with just a strikeout and a walk through 51 pitches. He doesn’t have the endurance yet to start, and we’re going to have to give him some resting time now that he proved himself in long relief, but my God, this kid’s got stuff. He’s pitched seven innings in three relief appearances with a 1.00 WHIP and opponents batting just .150 against him! Defensively we were impressive as hell tonight, turning FOUR DOUBLE PLAYS, while outhitting the Cardinals 15-4. Rosen had four hits with a run scored and four batted in, improving his average to .280 after a brutal slump to start the season. Elston Howard added three hits with a run scored, and Maris added two hits for three runs scored on the ground and an RBI, walking once as well. Ernie Banks hit twice for a run and two RBIs, capping a great day for us even though we dropped game one.

We have three against Milwaukee (1-4) to start the week, two on the road and then a game back at Wrigley, with four games against the Redlegs (4-2) in Chicago Friday through Sunday. Then next week we’ll get two at Pittsburgh (4-2) and then our first three of the year at Brooklyn (3-3). Philadelphia (5-2) has surged, winning three in a row, We’ll face them to start the month of May, as part of a brutal 15-game stetch on the road that begins with the Pittsburgh games. Sounds like some fun!