[jksander]

MAY 1, 1955 (Cont’d) . . . We got into Philadelphia late last night with Jackie Robinson in tow, ready to begin his new era as a Chicago Cub. This afternoon we had Hy Cohen (4-1, 2.09 ERA, 43.0 IP, 28 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) ready to pitch against Philly’s Don Lemon (3-0, 2.67 ERA, 27.0 IP, 6 K’s, 1.00 WHIP), with Elston Howard behind home plate to give Del Crandall an afternoon off after all of his weekend heroics. Willie Mays got a two-out grounder into right field to take first base, and Robinson, in his first at-bat as a Cub, beat out a throw from third base to come out with an infield hit! Too bad Ernie Banks batted out to center to end the frame scoreless. Jim Dyck got Philly’s first hit, a single in the bottom of the third, but Granny Hamner hit into a double play, and Bob Lemon flew out to left keeping things tied at zero. Mays walked to start the top of the fourth, but Robinson couldn’t beat out a weak infield hit this time, though a wild pitch allowed Mays to move to third moments later. Lemon walked Banks, then got Rosen to fly out to center, though Mays was then able to beat out the throw, sliding into home headfirst ... Cubs up 1-0! Earl Torgeson got a hit to start the bottom of the inning, and Ritchie Ashburn tied things up with a one-out RBI triple, getting the Philly fans going big time. But Cohen struck out Ennis, and Burgess hit into Mays’ glove in center, and we had ourselves a 1-1 tie after four. Willie Mays hit a two-run blast into left field in the top of the sixth to put us up 3-1, his fourth of the year, and they walked Robinson, struck out Banks and then walked Al Rosen, striking out Howard and getting a groundout from Baker to escape the inning without putting the game out of reach.

Philly got a chance in the bottom of the seventh, when Smoky Burgess got himself a double off Cohen, and Red Schoendienst got a line drive into left to advance Burgess to third. Howard made a great catch at the plate to tag Burgess out when Don Newcombe got an infield hit that put him on first, with Schoendienst now in scoring position with two outs. But Cohen stopped the rally before it could start, striking out pinch-hitter Eddie Waitkus to end the inning with the Phillies still trailing by a pair. Bob Lemon stayed in for the top of the eighth, showing his incredible stamina by getting three outs despite having thrown 123 pitches by the end of the inning. But Cohen was just as good, getting two K’s and a groundout to first to get through the bottom of the inning with the score unchanged. Lemon stayed in for the top of the ninth to complete his game and he remained magnificent, striking out Rosen and then getting out of the inning on a double play after allowing Howard to take a base. Cohen stayed in to complete the game as well, and he pitched to contact, getting two flyouts and a groundout to end the game as a Cubs 3-1 win!

With the win, Cohen improves to 5-1, throwing a six hitter with six strikeouts, one earned run and no walks, bringing his ERA down to 1.90 as he continues to prove his success last year as a rookie was no fluke. Lemon, though taking the loss and falling to 3-1, had a six hitter himself with six hits four walks and three earned runs, dropping his ERA to 2.75. Walks were the difference, and Cohen threw 133 pitches and Lemon threw 132. Though the Iron Man pitching sucked up most of the air in the place, Willie Mays led our offense with two hits for two runs and two RBIs, while Maris added two hits for a run on the ground. In his Cubs debut, Jackie Robinson hit once and walked once but was left stranded on base both times.

MAY 2, 1955 . . . We now have a half game lead on the Phillies heading into this afternoon’s two-game set, with Robert Diehl (2-0, 1.47 ERA, 30.2 IP, 19 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) pitching against Phillies pitcher (and former Cub) Bob Rush (2-0, 0.93 ERA, 19.1 IP, 9 K’s, 0.93 WHIP) in the first game.

Schoendienst got the first hit of the game for either team in the bottom of the second, a lightly hit ball into left that barely went over Robinson’s head at third base. And then Jim Dyck hit a 430-foot bomb into the left field stands, his third homer of the season, to put Philly ahead 2-0. Roger Maris doubled to give us a scoring chance in the top of the fourth, and Rush walked Robinson to give us two on with one out. But Banks flew out to right, and then Rosen batted to short, and though Maris advanced to third, Robinson was picked off at second. Gene Baker hit a 358 foot homer into left, his fourth of the year, to put us on the board down 2-1 in the top of the fifth, and Mays doubled with one out in the top of the sixth, this time getting sent all the way around by a Robinson single, tying things up at two! Banks and Rosen batted out to end the inning, but we were right back in this one! And Bob Rush collapsed in the top of the seventh, loading the bases and walking Maris to give us a 3-2 lead with just one out. Mays flew out to center and they made a killer pickoff throw to get the third out at the plate, however, and this one remained tight when it easily could have just become a blowout, 3-2 Cubs heading into the stretch. Robinson got a base hit and then a stolen base to start the bottom of the seventh, and Rosen walked with Howard loading the bases with a weak grounder. Gene Baker got a low flyball into right, reaching first and driving in a run by Robinson, and Diehl pretty much repeated the same hit, driving in another! Kaline hit into a double play, however, so we went into the bottom of the eighth leading by a solid 5-2 margin. This is a good team, they just kept Rush in too long and we took advantage. Burgess went deep in the bottom of the ninth, a solo blast of at least 410 feet into center that pulled the Phillies to within two. But Diehl got the final two outs with relative ease as we beat Philadelphia for the second time in a row, this time by a 5-3 margin.

Diehl improves to 3-0 with the victory, an eight hitter with four strikeouts for three earned runs, blowing up his ERA a bit to 1.82. We had 12 hits ourselves, led by Gene Baker with four hits for a run and two RBIs, and by Robinson who hit twice and walked twice for a run and an RBI.

In the second game of the afternoon, Camilo Pascual (1-1, 3.63 ERA, 17.1 IP, 11 K’s, 1.17 WHIP) matched up against another former Cub starter, Don Newcombe (4-0, 1.54 ERA, 35.0 IP, 19 K’s, 0.83 WHIP). Pascual pitched very confidently in this one, but Newcombe was on his A-game as well, and Pascual wound up being the first to blink -- with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Smoky Burgess hit an RBI single, driving Richie Ashburn in to score from third to put the Phillies up 1-0. But Roger Maris answered back for us in the top of the fifth via an RBI single that drove Gene Baker in to score and tie it 1-1. With two outs, Mays singled to send Maris over to third, and Robinson drove one up the gap to put us up 2-1! Pascual got us through the sixth inning, and we brought Harry Dorish in to throw in the seventh, still up by a run. In the top of the ninth, Willie Mays hit one 452 feet completely out of the park at center field, buying us two insurance runs and giving him his fifth of the season! Koufax came in to close things out in the bottom of the inning, getting three outs with ease to complete the 4-1 victory! That’s three in a row, all in incredibly tight fashion!

Pascual took the win, improving to 2-1 with a six hit seven strikeout one walk game, giving up just the one earned run to improve his ERA to 3.09! Harry Dorish pitched two innings with four strikeouts and no hits, keeping his ERA at a perfect 0.00 through 12 innings and eight appearances. And Koufax earned his 5th save in a one hit effort, improving his ERA to 2.78 on the season. We outhit the Phillies 11-7, led by Willie Mays who had four hits for a run and two RBIs, while Gene Baker continues to hit well too, getting three hits for a run scored, keeping his average at .315 through 73 at-bats. Mays is now hitting .360, just shy of the .362 mark he set back in 1953, and he’s already at 1.7 WAR through 21 games.

We improved to 18-3 on the season, now sitting 2.5 games up on Philly, but they’re clearly a well-built team. These were close games with lots of good pitching, and they’ll still play us 19 more times. For now we head on to face the New York Giants (9-12) who are currently nine games back and sitting in fifth place in the NL.