[jksander]

MAY 10, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (5-1, 2.18 ERA, 62.0 IP, 56 K’s, 0.77 WHIP)) got the start tonight back at home in Chicago, going up against Billy Loes (1-3, 3.44 ERA, 36.2 IP, 24 K’s, 1.09 WHIP). Brooklyn quickly got on the board with a one-out solo homer by Gil Hodges, putting them up 1-0 after half an inning. And Rogovin continued to have bad luck, giving up a two-run blast to left by Bobby Morgan that made it 3-0 in the top of the second. His control was off, loading the bases and walking in a run to make it 4-0, and this was turning into a disaster. Two outs in the second and we’re warming up Porterfield, Rogovin having already thrown 62 pitches. He got the final out, but my confidence in his ability to keep us in this game was gone, our hole at four runs. He got two strikeouts to start the third, but then gave up a second solo homer to Morgan and I brought Porterfield in. Del Crandall got a hit into right in the bottom of the fourth to load the bases, and then Al Rosen HIT A GRAND SLAM (his third homer of the year) to pull us within a run, down 5-4!

In the top of the fifth, Gil Hodges hit a two-out single and Sandy Amoros scored from second, but Pee Wee Reese tried to make it home and was tagged out to get us out of the inning trailing 6-4. Willie Mays hit a two-run blast to center in the bottom of the fifth, tying the score 6-6 with his seventh homer of the season, and Jackie Robinson followed with his first homer as a Cub (and fourth of the season) to make it 7-6! Gene Baker added an RBI single and Roy Sievers walked the bases loaded, bringing Kaline up to score two more with a single, his second base hit of the inning. By the time Roger Maris struck out swinging, we’d taken a 10-6 lead on the Giants batting around and scoring six runs. But the top of the seventh was a complete disaster -- Dobson, who came in starting in the sixth, gave up an RBI single to pull the Dodgers within three, but with Harry Dorish warming up, he then gave up a three-run homer to Carl Furillo that tied the game at 10-10. And Dorish, on his first goddamned pitch of the game, gave up a homer to Frank Thomas that gave the Dodgers an 11-10 lead, and then four pitches later he threw ANOTHER fastball that turned into a homer for Amoros, putting them up 12-10. This game is absolutely a mess. He FINALLY got the strikeout, but now we’re headed for the bottom of the seventh and trailing 12-10.

Koufax came in with two outs and no one on in the top of the eighth, getting the final out with ease, and in the bottom of the inning Willie Mays hit an RBI triple to bring us within a run, and Ernie Banks batted in the tying run with a line drive to left, tying it up 12-12! Koufax got two strikeouts and a flyout in the top of the ninth to pitch around a walk, with Sandy Consuegra warming up in case the game went into extra innings. And as I feared, Gene Baker got a hit in the bottom of the ninth, but Joe Collins batted into a double play to force extras. Consuegra got us through the 10th perfect, and Kaline wasted no time in the bottom of the inning, getting a double into deep center, and Maris walked it off with a line drive to right, driving Kaline around to score as we survived to beat the Dodgers here at Wrigley 13-12!

Consuegra improved to 2-0 with a no-hit one strikeout performance, keeping his ERA perfect through four appearances. Rogovin set up the bullpen game by only lasting 2.2 innings, with seven hits four strikeouts and two walks to drive in five earned runs. We blew through five pitchers in the game, but managed to come out of it with the win despite Dobson’s disasterous 1.2 innings with six hits and four earned runs. This is one of those games you’re happy to survive, and the fans loved it -- 35 hits between the two teams! We notched 19 of them, Leadoff man Al Kaline led the way with four hits and two walks, scoring three runs and batting in a pairm while Willie Mays added three hits, three runs and three RBIs. Al Rosen added two hits and a walk for a pair of runs and four RBIs and Jackie Robinson hit once and walked once, scoring twice and driving in a run with his homer.

MAY 11, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (6-2, 1.72 ERA, 68.0 IP, 48 K’s, 0.72 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Larry Jansen (2-2, 2.63 ERA, 27.1 IP, 11 K’s, 1.17 WHIP). Bill Hodges busted up what had been a perfect game for Cohen heading into the fourth inning, hitting a solo blast over the left field wall to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with one out in the top of the fourth. And like all our games with the Dodgers this year, the game stayed tight from there. Cohen struck out two batters in the top of the sixth, but then allowed another solo homer, this time to Pee Wee Reese, increasing their lead to 2-0. And the wind kept blowing that way, with Gil Hodges hitting their third homer of the game to make it 3-0. And Cohen’s luck went completely into the toilet, with the next batter, Duke Snider, hitting it out to center for a third homer in a row and their fourth of the game to make it 4-0. From two strikeouts in a row to three homers in a row, I just can’t explain it. Despite his six strikeouts and no walks, we had to start warming up Dorish. And then he got strikeout number seven to end the inning. Insanity! I decided to trust Cohen, at eighty pitches, to stay in for the seventh, and he stayed cool and collected and got us three outs. Koufax came in for the eighth inning for the top of their order, getting three outs and keeping us in this one, though we still trailed by four. But this wasn’t our night. The bats were cold, and we could get nothing out of the infield. We took the beating tonight that we’d deserved yesterday. Willie Mays hit a two run homer in the bottom of the ninth to get us within a pair, down 4-2, but Robinson batted out to left and ended it as a two-run loss.

The homers killed him -- Hy Cohen fell to 6-3 with the loss, striking out eight without a walk but giving up four hits for four homers. Sounds like a bad movie. His ERA slipped to 2.04 in the process, but every pitcher has a night like this, especially at Wrigley where the wind isn’t always our friend. Koufax continues to have a stellar rookie year, giving up one hit in two innings with three strikeouts and a walk, dropping his ERA to 1.86 through 19.1 innings in his 14th appearance. The Dodgers outhit us 6-5 -- we were led by Maris, who had a hit for a run on the ground, and by Mays who got a hit for a run and two RBIs.

At 23-07 through thirty games, we remain 2.5 games up on Philadelphia (20-9), heading into a two game set against Pittsburgh (14-16). The two Phillies games next week will be very important wins for us to secure during this longer stretch of home games.

MAY 12, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (2-2, 5.00 ERA, 27.0 IP, 20 K’s, 1.37 WHIP) pitched the first game against the Pirates, up against Pittsburgh’s Johnny Kucks (2-1, 4.79 ERA, 35.2 IP, 9 K’s, 1.57 WHIP), a good matchup of young pitchers looking to make names for themselves with their clubs. Pascual in particular has shown flashes of greatness, but has also been raw overall -- he could really use a solid performance in front of the home fans to build his confidence. And damned if he didn’t come out throwing fire, striking out the side in the first inning, and our batters took notice, coming out amped! Ernie Banks hit a run scoring double in the bottom of the inning to put us up 1-0, a lead which could have been bigger except that Maris tried to make it around from second to score, and instead was tagged out at the plate. Jackie Robinson hit a double to start the bottom of the fourth with us still up 1-0, advancing to third on a groundout to first by Banks. Del Crandall then got an RBI single, giving us a bit of added insurance. And Pascual added some more, hitting an RBI single to put us up 3-0 heading into the top of the fifth! The Pirates got on board in the top of the seventh with an RBI double, but Pascual got out of the inning with two well-timed K’s, bringing Harry Dorish in for the eighth. Pascual hit again in the bottom of the seventh, an impressive wind-assisted triple, and Kaline batted him in to make it 4-1 Cubs. Jackie Robinson beat out an infield hit to reach first safely, driving in a fifth run, and Ernie Banks then did the same with another awkward squib, loading the bases! Del Crandall then got one off into the left field corner on the ground, driving in three runs with a double, with Ernie Banks scoring from third on a no-throw. Up 8-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth, we added a run an an RBI single by Maris, and Dorish got three quick outs in the top of the ninth to seal the 9-1 victory.

Pascual improved to 3-2 with a 4.24 ERA, thanks to a six-hitter through seven innings, striking out seven with two walks. Dorish made it through two innings with just two hits to go with two strikeouts, and he now has a spectacular 1.20 ERA through 15 innings and 10 appearances! We outhit the Pirates 14-8, led by Al Kaline with four hits, two runs and an RBI. Robinson, Banks and Crandall each hit twice, with Crandall batting in four runs and hitting once.
 
MAY 13, 1955 . . . Game two against Pittsburgh here in Chicago and we’re starting Robert Diehl (5-0, 1.42 ERA, 57.0 IP, 29 K’s, 0.91 WHIP) against Bob Friend (2-4, 3.75 ERA, 48.0 IP, 30 K’s, 1.42 WHIP). Roger Maris got things started with a solo homer to right field, just his second homer of the season, to put us up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Jackie Robinson made a headfirst slide into third, stretching a double into a triple with one out in the bottom of the fourth, and Del Crandall hit a two-run blast into left on two outs, making it a 3-0 ballgame with his ninth homer of the year! We loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, and on one out, Diehl hit a bouncer into left field, driving in Rosen from third to make it 4-0, but Kaline batted into a double play, the out at home and them him out at first, to end the inning. Jackie Robinson hit a towering homer to right in the bottom of the seventh, his fifth of the year, to put us up 5-0, and Diehl came in chasing history in the top of the eighth, though with one batter put away he then accidentally plunked Joe Garagiola, ending his perfect game with a baserunner. A double play kept him hitless, however, and got us into the bottom of the eighth. We went into the top of the ninth still up 5-0, and immediately Danny O’Connell spoiled the no-no, a hit to center getting him to first base. But a flyout and an infield double play kept him from getting any further, and Diehl dominated the field in the 5-0 shutout.

Diehl remained perfect this year, improving to 6-0 with a 1.23 ERA, with just the one hit, three strikeouts and no walks, easily the most memorable game of his career -- and to think, he’s just 23! We outhit the Pirates 11-1, led by Jackie Robinson (two hits, two runs, one RBI) and Del Crandall (two hits, two runs, two RBIs). Al Rosen and Robert Diehl each added a pair of hits, and Diehl notched his fourth RBI of the year as a pitcher!