[jksander]

MAY 14, 1955 . . . Time to take on the Giants! We have one game against them today, and then a doubleheader tomorrow, with them currently standing in sixth place in the NL with a 13-18 record, 11.5 games back of the lead. Saul Rogovin (5-1, 2.78 ERA, 64.2 IP, 60 K’s, 0.88 WHIP) pitched against Al Gettel (0-0, 7.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 2 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) who the Giants just acquired from the crosstown Yankees. Jackie Robinson remained red hot, hitting his sixth homer of the year and third as a Cub, a three-run blast that put us up 3-0 in the bottom of the first! And Robinson wasn’t happy just stopping there ... he hit a powerful slug into deep center with two outs in the bottom of the third, and though the wind kept it from going all the way, it dropped just out of reach of the center fielder, allowing Roger Maris to blitz around the bases from first to score. But Robinson, after making it to third standing up, KEPT GOING AROUND, and he beat out a haphazard throw to home plate, sliding in headfirst to add another run via an INSIDE THE PARK HOMER! UNBELIEVABLE! That’s ridiculous talent at his age, and it put us up 5-0! Ernie Banks, completely amped up by the display he’d just seen, swung hard and nailed one out of the park himself, his eighth homer of the year, and we went into the top of the fourth with a 6-0 advantage over a shellshocked Giants team. Del Crandall got a two-RBI double in the bottom of the fifth, scoring runs from Maris and Robinson, who were both walked in the inning, and Al Rosen notched an RBI single, putting us up by nine, and Saul Rogovin got a two out hit into right to drive in a 10th run, turning this one into a complete shellacking, up 10-0 after five. Robinson kept getting things to hit -- ekeing out a triple in the bottom of the sixth that would have scored a run by Mays, except he got greedy and was tagged out at home plate. They walked Banks with two outs, and Del Crandall flew out to right to keep us from adding to our dominating lead. Robinson came up in the bottom of the eighth and for the first time all night they got him to bat himself out, this time to center, keeping him off base for the first time in five tries. Rogovin stayed out in the top of the ninth to ice it, getting three outs including his 10th strikeout, to complete the 10-0 shutout.

Rogovin improves to 6-1 with a 2.44 ERA, giving up just five hits to go with 10 K’s and a walk in the kind of dominating pitching performance this year’s Cubs team has made look easy! It was overshadowed by our hitting, however, and by Robinson’s epic night -- we had 13 hits as a team, with Robinson hitting three times and walking once, scoring three runs on the ground and notching 5 RBIs including the two homers ... the fans who saw the inside the park one are going to be talking about that for years! Maris and Banks each had a pair of hits, as did Rogovin. Only Willie Mays went hitless, and he still scored a run on the ground thanks to a walk. Robinson was hitting .310/.369/.534 with three homers and four doubles through 17 games with the Dodgers pre-trade. Since coming to Chicago, he’s played in 15 games and is hitting .320/.403/.680 with four homers, two triples and two doubles! The guy is an absolute beast on the basepaths, even at age 36!

In other news, we have trade news. We’ve received an offer from Pittsburgh that we couldn’t turn down for injured starter Johnny Klippstein. We’re sending the 27-year-old hurler to the Pirates in exchange for their 25-year-old closer Bob Purkey, who this year is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA and three saves. He has enough stamina to transition into a longer relief option or a spot starter, and at one point he was considered a top 20 national prospect. We’re sending him to AAA Los Angeles where he’ll start a few games to test out his ability to handle more innings, at which point we’ll consider bringing him up as a fifth starter in our rotation. Honestly, this is a deal I hope works out well for both of us -- Klippstein deserves a shot to return after his long recovery, and I don’t think he was going to have a spot on our roster when he returned. And Purkey gives us a young player with upside who can develop within our system.

MAY 15, 1955 . . . Doubleheader day! In game one this afternoon we started Camilo Pascual (3-2, 4.24 ERA, 34.0 IP, 27 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) against the Giants’ Jack Harshman (4-3, 2.75 ERA, 52.1 IP, 36 K’s, 1.38 WHIP). Al Rosen hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second to put us up 1-0 on the Giants, and then it was pretty much all pitching until the bottom of the sixth, when Ernie Banks hit a three-run blast that put us up 4-0, his ninth homer of the year! Camilo Pascual was on fire, his best game yet as a starter, and with the game not in a save situation, we kept him in for the ninth inning up 4-0, since my plan is to pitch a bullpen game in the second of the doubleheader. A groundout, a hit and a pair of strikeouts ended the game, his first complete game, after twice lasting seven innings.

In his complete game shutout, our third shutout in a row, Pascual gave up just three hits with 11 strikeouts against a single walk! He improved to 4-2 with the win, with a very solid 3.25 ERA, lasting 111 pitches. We outhit them 7-3 but also had four walks, led by Willie Mays (two hits and a run scored) and Ernie Banks, whose homer scored a run and batted in three.
 
Bob Porterfield (0-0, 3.38 ERA, 5.1 IP, 1 K, 1.50 WHIP) got the start in game two, pitching against Ted Abernathy (0-3, 7.11 ERA, 38.0 IP, 28 K’s, 1.79 WHIP), an intentional spot start from the bullpen to give Hy Cohen an extra day’s rest. Porterfield gave up a two run homer in the top of the first to Walt Dropo, his fifth of the year, and Al Rosen committed a rare error at first that kept the inning going with two runners on base, but Porterfield pitched around it and got the final out. Rosen more than made up for it, however, hitting a two run homer himself (also HIS fifth of the year) to tie it 2-2, and we went into the top of the second knotted up despite this also being a game off for several of our biggest hitters. Porterfield wound up in a jam in the second inning, thanks to some slow throws in the infield, allowing New York to take the lead on an RBI single by Bill Virdon, but he struck out Dropo to get out of it down just the one run. Al Kaline got himself a triple to start the bottom of the inning, but Maris batted out to keep it 3-2 Giants heading into the third. Our defenses were sloppy as hell today, with Grady Hatton committing an error in the top of the third at third base for our third error of the game. Damn, lots of thirds!

Porterfield got us through five innings trailing 3-2, and we brought Joe Dobson in for the top of the sixth, the score unchanged. Dobson had been banged up in his last appearance, but tonight he was able to come in confidently, getting us into the stretch without anyone scoring. In the bottom of the seventh, Kaline got himself a base hit, and then with a man out and Kaline on first, Al Rosen hit a sharp double to right field, putting two in scoring position! We brought Jackie Robinson in to pinch hit for Elston Howard, with plans to bring Del Crandall in to catch the remainder of the game, but Robinson flew out to right for our second out, leaving it to Gene Baker to get his drive into right field, allowing Kaline to score the tying run, and then turning the hit into a double and a second run scored, putting us up 4-3! Grady Hatton got a hit into left that allowed Baker to score as well, and we went into the top of the eighth leading 5-3! Dobson stayed in for the eighth and got three efficient outs to preserve the two-run lead, and Dobson hit a one-out drouble in the bottom of the eighth, advancing to third on a Kaline flyout to center. They walked Maris but Rosen reached first on an error at shortstop, allowing Dobson to score a run, extending the lead to 6-3! Del Crandall then hit a line drive into right field, scoring another run Baker hit another run-scoring single, Grady Hatton hit a run-scoring single, and with the bases loaded, Frank Ernaga walked in our 10th run, batting us around to Dobson! Dobson flew out to center to end the inning with us up 10-3, and he stayed in to close out the game, loading the bases but getting three outs without a score to complete the four-inning win!

Joe Dobson pitched four innings with just three hits, improving to 1-0 with a 6.35 ERA, no strikeouts, no walks, no runs scored. Bob Porterfield set him up nicely with a five-inning six hitter, with four strikeouts and three runs (two earned) to give him a 3.48 ERA through 10.1 innings. We outhit the Giants 16-9, led by Al Rosen’s four hits for three runs and three RBIs and by Baker’s three hits for two runs and three RBIs. Kaline and Hatton each had two hits, and Dobson got a hit and scored a run as we improved to 28-7, sweeping the Giants for our fifth win in a row. Philadelphia (23-11, 4.5 GB) comes to town for a pair on Tuesday, and we’ll have our best pitchers rested for those critical games thanks to our strong bullpen performance in game two today.