[jksander]

JUNE 3, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (8-1, 1.41 ERA, 89.1 IP, 43 K’s, 0.81 WHIP) pitched tonight against Jack Harshman (5-6, 4.52 ERA, 81.2 IP, 47 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) for game one against the Giants. Gene Baker hit his fifth homer of the season to put us ahead 1-0 in the top of the second, but the Giants got on the board with a solo blast by their pitcher, Hershman, his second homer of the year, to knot things up 1-1 in the bottom of the third. And both pitchers stayed locked in from there, so the game remained a low-scoring affair. We went into the seventh inning stretch tied up 1-1, and pinch-hitter Bill White slammed a homer into the center field bleachers to give the Giants a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning. Red Wilson hit a two-run blast to right moments later and suddenly we were in a 4-1 hole. We never recovered from that deficit, and though Diehl stayed in to complete the game, we lost by the three runs.

Diehl fell to 8-2, giving up just three hits with three strikeouts and two walks, but the four runs (off three homers) doomed him as he lost his second game in a row and fell to a 1.66 ERA. We outhit them 6-3, but they outslugged us. Mays had two hits and four other batters hit once, but only Gene Baker, with his homer, managed to score.

I’ve spoken with our pitching coach, Adam Burroughs, and he says Sandy Koufax’s stamina has been improving and he thinks we should go back to using Sandy Consuegra as our main closer, giving Koufax a chance to develop into a fifth starter in our rotation. Dorish and Ferrick will remain as our middle relievers, with Dorish getting used more often. Purkey and Porterfield will take on the longer relief situations, with Purkey coming in during higher leverage situations as required. Koufax will fall into the starting rotation behind Camilo Pascual, and may get a start in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader.
 
JUNE 4, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (6-2, 2.75 ERA, 59.0 IP, 58 K’s, 1.17 WHIP) pitched today against New York’s Al “Two Gun” Gettel (0-2, 5.64 ERA, 22.1 IP, 6 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). Jackie Robinson flew out to center but drove in an Al Kaline run to put us up 1-0 in the top of the first. Pascual batted in a run in the top of the fifth to make it 2-0, and Kaline quickly batted in another with a line drive into right field. Willie Mays hit into deep center, scoring Pascual from third to make it 4-0, and Ernie Banks cleared the bases with a three-run homer into the center field stands, his 12th homer of the year, to put us up 7-0! Bob Skinner hit his first homer of the year, a two run blast that put the Giants on the board, but we still went into the sixth inning leading by five runs. Kaline flew out to center in the top of the sixth but drove in a run to make it 8-2, and Pascual got us through the seventh inning. Al Rosen hit his eighth homer of the season to extend our lead to seven runs, and then Gene Baker hit an incredible inside the park homer (his sixth four-bagger of the season!) to make it 10-2! Bob Porterfield came in to pitch in the eighth, and he wound up staying in to get our ninth inning outs as well as we stumped the Giants by eight runs.

Pascual improved to 7-2 with a 2.45 ERA through 11 starts, a two-hitter through seven innings with six strikeouts and two unearned runs. Porterfield had a great night as well, two innings with two hits and one strikeout, as he improved his ERA to 2.92 through 12.1 innings. We outhit them 13-4 in this one, led by Al Kaline (three hits two runs two RBIs) and Al Rosen (three hits three runs one RBI). Ernie Banks’ team high 12th homer of the year was one of his two hits tonight as he drove in three runs.

JUNE 5, 1955 . . . Sandy Koufax (0-1, 10 SV, 2.08 ERA, 26.0 IP, 16 K’s, 1.46 WHIP) got his first-ver start for us in the first game of today’s doubleheader, pitching against Ted Abernathy (1-6, 5.74 ERA, 69.0 IP, 40 K’s, 1.76 WHIP). His previous high mark in innings was four in his second save of the season, a game in which he threw a career high 51 pitches. So this afternoon we’ll be keeping a good eye on him as he gets going, to make sure not to put him out there for longer than necessary as he finds his groove in a non-bullpen role, with Bob Purkey ready to come in to throw a longer bullpen stretch if necessary.

Koufax got three quick outs by flyout while throwing a 10 pitch first inning, and he looked incredibly confident out there as he kept their batters off balance. Walt Dropo hit a solo homer off him in the bottom of the second, putting the Giants up 1-0, but he set the next three batters down efficiently, doing the same in the third. In the top of the fourth we tied it up 1-1 thanks to a fly-out by Elston Howard -- Ernie Banks, who had singled and then stolen second, beat out a throw to third thanks to a dropped catch, coming around from there to score the tying run! Gene Baker hit a single that moved Al Rosen to third, and Koufax hit a sac fly that scored Rosen, giving us a 2-1 lead. Al Kaline then hit a two-run blast into left and their fans were now dead silent as we extended the lead to three runs via Kaline’s fourth homer of the season. Maris and Mays each singled, still with two outs, but Jackie Robinson flew out to end the inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Koufax gave up a solo homer to Dropo, his second of the game, and we started warming Purkey up in the bullpen. But Koufax got us out of the inning on his own, finishing with a flyout and a pickoff play at home plate to send us into the fifth leading 4-2 having thrown 62 pitches. Gene Baker batted in another run in the top of the fifth, and Koufax hit a line drive into right field that scored another, and Al Kaline then hit HIS second homer of the day, a three run blast that turned this into a 9-2 blowout!

With Purkey no longer warmed, we sent him back out to warm his arm and gave Koufax a shot at pitching for the win. Unfortunately a pair of poor fielding incidents allowed the bases to be quickly loaded, and Koufax walked in a run with one out, and we had to bring Purkey in with Koufax now at 81 pitches. A fourth run scored on a groundout to first, and then Purkey gave up a two-run single to cut our lead to 9-6. But he got the final out and the lead remained safe heading into the sixth inning. Gene Baker batted in a run with a bases-loaded sac fly in the top of the sixth, and Purkey, who had only thrown six pitches (giving up three runs) in the fifth, stayed out to avoid depleting our bullpen on double-header day. He handled things perfectly, getting us through the sixth and the seventh without incident, and Al Rosen added to our lead with a run scoring double in the top of the eighth, and Elston Howard added another himself, doubling to make it 12-6. Purkey tried to stay out for the bottom of the eighth but gave up a run scoring triple and we brought out Harry Dorish to finish the game. He got us three quick outs to get out of the eighth with a five-run lead, and then stayed out to get the three outs in the ninth as well as we completed the 12-7 victory in game one.

Sandy Koufax lasted 4.1 innings with just five hits to go with three walks. But he gave up six runs (two earned), throwing a career-high 81 pitches and keeping his ERA at a respectable 2.37. Purkey took the win, improving to 2-0 while throwing 2.2 innings of four-hit ball, striking out one, walking another, and giving up just one earned run himself to keep his ERA at 1.86 through 9.2 innings since joining the Cubs. Dorish lasted two innings with just one hit to go with three strikeouts, improving his already stellar ERA to 1.26 through 22 innings of relief. In a slugfest to end all slugfests, we outhit the Giants 20-10, led by Al Rosen with four hits for three runs and an RBI, while Al Kaline had two hits, both homers, to bat in five more. Maris, Robinson and Howard each had three hits as we flummoxed the New York fielders.

For game two we started Saul Rogovin (7-3, 2.18 ERA, 103.1 IP, 105 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) against Seth Morehead (4-3, 3.25 ERA, 69.1 IP, 54 K’s, 1.30 WHIP). We’re also starting pitcher Bob Purkey for the first time playing at third base due to his strong infield arm, giving Jackie Robinson a chance to rest in game two -- he has the potential to be a solid two-way player as a utility infielder in addition to his pitching ability, and it’s time to start giving him chances.

Ernie Banks put us on the board in the top of the second, hitting his 13th homer and giving us a 1-0 lead. But in the bottom of the inning the Giants’ Claudio Solano hit a three-run homer to left, putting them up 3-1 out of nowhere and signifying this was gonna be a battle. Purkey got a base hit to start the top of the third, and a Saul Rogovin double gave us two pitchers in scoring position! Purkey slid in to home, scoring a run on a Roger Maris sacfly to center, cutting the lead to one run as we went into the bottom of the inning. Rogovin loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, but he got two strikeouts in a row, holding all the runners, and a flyout to center ended the inning with no one scoring. Bob Porterfield came in to pitch in the bottom of the fifth with one out and a man on first, getting a strikeout and catching a runner stealing second, getting us out of it still trailing 3-2. Porterfield gave up a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-2 Giants, and we brought in Tom Ferrick to pitch in the bottom of the seventh with the margin still at two runs. Sandy Consuegra came in with one out and men on first and second in the bottom of the eighth, getting a double play quickly to end the inning and give us one last chance with the heart of our order in the top of the ninth. But Mays, Banks and Howard all hit flyouts and we lost game two by a 4-2 margin.

Rogovin took the loss, falling to 7-4 with a 2.34 ERA, giving up three hits for three runs with four strikeouts and four walks through 4.1 innings. Porterfield gave us 1.2 innings of one-hit one strikeout two walk ball, giving up a run and bringing his ERA to 3.21. Tom Ferrick got through 1.1 innings with just a hit and a strikeout, improving his ERA to 8.31 having only pitched in four games this season. And Consuegra kept his ERA perfect, giving us two much-needed outs in his eighth appearance of the season. We were outhit 5-4 in this tight pitchers’ battle, walking only one time as well, so on-base opportunities were all but impossible to find. Bob Purkey did what he could, getting a hit and scoring a run, as did Banks who also had an RBI. Roger Maris had our other RBI, on a night that was overall bereft of offense.

We’re still atop the power rankings this week, well ahead of Boston and the Phillies. Our next opponent is Pittsburgh (27-29, 15 GB), who we’ll face for three games on their field. We still hold a 4.5 game lead on Philadelphia, with Cincinnati (30-22, 10 GB) still fighting to stay in contention. In the AL, the Boston Red Sox have taken the lead, at 35-18, two games up on Cleveland (32-19) and three up on the Yankees (31-20) in what looks like a red-hot race in that league.