[jksander]

MAY 27, 1955 . . . All Star voting starts today, as we start a three-game set against Milwaukee (14-26). This afternoon, Hy Cohen (7-4, 1.78 ERA, 91.0 IP, 72 K’s, 0.74 WHIP) takes to the mound against Bob Turley (2-6, 7.80 ERA, 45.0 IP, 35 K’s, 2.04 WHIP). Jackie Robinson hit a solo bomb to left field in the bottom of the second to put us up 1-0, his 10th homer of the season, and we loaded the bases in the bottom of the third with no outs, Baker scoring a run on a passed ball to put us up 2-0. Robinson came up for the second time with two outs and men on second and third, and he got a hit that rolled all the way to the warning track at center, giving him a standing double and scoring two more runs, sending us into the top of the fourth with a 4-0 lead on Milwaukee. We loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of outs, and Willie Mays walked in our fifth run of the afternoon, bringing up Robinson in a situation where we KNEW they wanted to walk him, but they were gonna have to give him something. But he flew out to center, ending the inning and giving the Braves at least a sigh of relief, though Turley had walked seven batters throgh four innings of work. Banks hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-0, and with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Jackie Robinson AGAIN came up with the bases loaded (this time with one out) and smacked himself a triple, scoring three runs and blowing this one up into a 9-0 lead. Robinson scored our 10th run of the day off a Banks flyout to center, and Cohen finished them off quickly in the top of the ninth as we shut the Braves out 10-0.

Cohen improved to 8-4 with a 1.62 ERA in the complete game shutout victory, giving up just five hits and two walks while striking out nine batters. Robinson had three hits for two runs and six RBIs, hitting a double, a triple and a homer in the magnificent hitting performance. Al Kaline added a pair of hits with two runs as well, and Ernie Banks batted in a pair with a hit and a walk. In his 26 games since joining us in Chicago, Robinson has done very well batting cleanup, hitting four doubles, three triples and seven homers and stealing four bases, hitting .284/.371/.636 with 24 RBIs.

MAY 28, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (6-3, 2.44 ERA, 88.2 IP, 91 K’s, 0.83 WHIP) got to start in game two against the Braves’ Bob Kuzava (0-1, 8.44 ERA, 10.2 IP, 4 K’s, 1.69 WHIP). Al Kaline wasted no time, hitting his third homer of the year to put us up 1-0 before most folks got a chance to sit down with their first beer and hotdog. The Braves walked Rogovin in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded, extending our lead to 2-0, but got out of the jam without giving us the chance to really explode offensively. Roy Jarvis then put the Braves on the board with a solo moonshot to left, sending us into the bottom of the fifth with a slimmer 2-1 advantage. Jackie Robinson got things going by extending a double into a headfirst triple, sliding into home to score on a Banks flyout to center to re-extend our lead to two runs. And this time we DID catch fire, with Elston Howard slamming a two-run homer into center, just his second of the year, sending us into the sixth inning with a much more solid 5-1 lead. Sandy Consuegra came in with two outs and a man on first in the top of the eighth, keeping the Braves from sparking a rally, and we scored a run in the bottom of the inning on a wild pitch, sending us into the ninth with a five-run advantage. Consuegra pitched perfectly and helped us complete the 6-1 victory, our 35th of the season, as we continue to roll as summer nears.

Rogovin lasted 7.2 innings with just two hits, striking out eight batters and walking no one while giving up just the one run. But he threw 114 pitches, so bringing in Consuegra was the prudent move -- Sandy threw just eight pitches to get the four final outs without allowing a single baserunner. We out-hit Milwaukee 11-2, led by Kaline with three hits for two runs and an RBI. Mays and Howard each had two hits, and Howard’s homer put the game out of reach. Robinson had his fourth triple of the year, continuing to be dangerous no matter what our opponents throw him. He’s currently tied for fourth in the NL with Kaline in overall triples, and third in the majors in overall slug. His 10 homers have im in a five way tie for ninth place in the home run race -- Baltimore’s Gus Zernial currently leads the majors with 16 homers, putting him just shy of Babe Ruth’s record pace!

MAY 29, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (8-0, 1.08 ERA, 83.1 IP, 40 K’s, 0.78 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Bob Buhl (2-5, 6.04 ERA, 50.2 IP, 22 K’s, 1.74 WHIP). Hank Aaron got a hit for Milwaukee in the top of the fourth, the first hit for anyone all game, and then Eddie Mathews nailed a two-run homer into the left field bleachers to make it 2-0 Braves. Sid Gordon hit an RBI single to make it 3-0 as out of nowhere Diehl started to fall apart. An RBI double by Dick Wilson made it 4-0, and then Buhl batted out to center to end the inning. But Diehl had thrown 70 pitches and looked completely rocked, almost all of the damage coming in that fourth inning. He got us through the fifth inning safely, as well as the sixth, but our bats were not finding anything to hit from Buhl. Dorish came in to pitch in the top of the seventh, getting us through the inning unblemished, and finally Ernie Banks hit an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to put us on the board. Al Roen batted in a second run with a single, and Gene Baker tripled to bat in a third, pulling us to within a run of the Braves! Roy Sievers pinch hit for Dorish, but he flew out to left to end the inning and we had to bring Tom Ferrick in to pitch in the top of the eighth. Ferrick got two quick outs and then gave up a double and a homer to put the Braves up again by three. Bob Purkey came in and got the final out of the inning, and Al Kaline got things started quickly in the bottom of the eighth by hitting his 9th double of the season. Maris batted out to first, moving Kaline to third, and Willie Mays reached safely thanks to a bobbled catch at third that allowed Kaline to come in and score! But we went into the top of the ninth trailing 6-4 and really needed some luck if we were going to pull this one out. Purkey did his part, getting three efficient outs to send us into the bottom of the inning trailing by two and needing something good on offense. And that wasn’t in the cards -- three quick outs and the game was over, the Braves pulling out a surprising 6-4 victory.

We only had four hits all day, giving up seven total to the Braves, though a walk and a trio of Milwaukee errors kept us in the game. Diehl took his first loss of the year, falling to 8-1 with a 1.41 ERA thanks to five hits three strikeouts two walks and four earned runs in a six-inning effort. Harry Dorish got a strikeout in his inning, dropping his ERA to 1.00 on the year, and Purkey lasted 1.1 innings with no hits, a strikeout and a walk. Tom Ferrick had bad luck, giving up two hits and two runs and his ERA through three appearances is now 12.00 -- at age 40 he still has the stuff to play in the majors, but for how long? Kaline, Banks, Rosen and Baker each got a hit, and Mays, Banks, Rosen and Baker each batted in runs.

This was our last home game for the next two weeks and change, as tomorrow we’ll be in St. Louis (15-27) for a doubleheader, followed by a pair at Philly (30-15), four at the Giants (17-30), three at Pittsburgh (22-25) and four at Brooklyn (18-24). At 35-11 ourselves, we hold a mere 4.5 game lead on the Phillies, and this road trip could tighten up the race significantly if we don’t play things smartly. Over in the AL, Cleveland (27-15) has a half game lead on Boston (28-17) with the Yankees (25-16, 1.5 GB), Senators (26-18, 2 GB) and Tigers (22-19, 4.5 GB) keeping things interesting in that league. Our +144 run differential is by far the best in the majors, but in one-run games we’re 6-5.