[jksander]

JULY 26, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (21-4, 1.30 ERA, 215.0 IP, 189 K’s, 0.66 WHIP) is up today on five days’ rest, ready to pitch against Seth Morehead (8-6, 3.71 ERA, 126.0 IP, 90 K’s, 1.37 WHIP) in the first of four games against the 38-61 Giants. Jackie Robinson put us up 1-0 when, with the bases loaded, he was hit by a pitch, and Banks beat out an infield squib to take first and make it 2-0! Del Crandall hit into a double play but still helped a third run score via Mays, and Gene Baker batted one into right field to score Robinson and giving Rosen time enough to go from first to third! Hy Cohen hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning, but we batted around and built a 4-0 lead heading into the top of the second. With two men on in the bottom of the sixth, Ernie Banks stole third, and when the throw was botched, he came around to score, advancing Al Rosen to third and giving us a 5-0 lead. Baker flew out to center but with enough room for Rosen to score a sixth run, and we led 6-0 heading into the seventh with Cohen still going strong. The Giants spoiled the shutout by getting an RBI double from Pidge Browne in the top of the eighth, but they couldn’t do it twice and we went into the bottom of the inning still up 6-1, and Cohen shut them down in the ninth to cap the five-run win.

Cohen improved to 22-4 with the win, giving him 16 consecutive wins and 17 consecutive quality starts. He gave up just three hits in the complete game start, striking out six with one walk and one run, improving his ERA by one hundredth of a point. We only had five hits in the game, but took advantage of six walks and an error, Morehead only giving up four earned runs. Baker had a hit and two RBIs, while Robinson added a hit for a run and an RBI and Robinson got a hit and a walk for a run and an RBI. Mays and Rosen each walked twice and scored a run on the ground.
 
JULY 27, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (13-3, 1.78 ERA, 157.0 IP, 73 K’s, 0.80 WHIP) is back from his 10-game suspension for intentionally hitting multiple batters in that July 16th game at Philadelphia, and he’ll pitch in game one today against Jack Harshman (8-10, 3.38 ERA, 170.1 IP, 100 K’s, 1.36 WHIP). This one turned into a pitcher’s duel -- in the bottom of the fifth we finally got a good hit from Robinson, who turned it into a triple, and Banks got on base with a walk, giving us our best scoring opportunity of the game with Del Crandall up to the plate, no outs. Crandall struck out swinging, however, and so did Al Rosen and Gene Baker, leaving Robinson frustrated but stranded over at third and the score still knotted 0-0 heading into the sixth inning. In the top of the sixth, Willy Miranda got the Giants on the board with an RBI single that drove Bill Virdon in to score from third, and Red Wilson hit an RBI single that drove Dusty Rhodes around to score from second. With two on and only one out, we started warming Harry Dorish as quickly as we could, while Diehl struck out Pidge Browne and got Harshman out via a flyout to Maris in left field. That sent us into the bottom of the sixth needing two runs in a game where we’d only mustered two hits.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jackie Robinson was hit by a pitch and hit the ground in extreme pain, and we had to insert Bob Will as a pinch runner. Unbelievable! Ernie Banks then hit into a double play to end the inning, moving Will over to first and putting Al Rosen at third base in place of Robinson for the rest of the game. Dorish allowed two baserunners in the top of the eighth, but got out of the jam with a pair of critical strikeouts to leave Dusty Rhodes stranded at third and the lead still 2-0. But Harshman was having the game of his season, and time and time again we just couldn’t find a way to get on base. Bob Porterfield came in to pitch in the top of the ninth, getting us out of the inning without further scoring, and Ed Bouchee pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the ninth as we warmed up Koufax and hoped for a miracle. Bouchee couldn’t make anything happen, bringing up Kaline, who grounded out to first. Maris struck out, and we lost this one -- a real heartbreaker -- by a 2-0 margin, as Jack Harshman pitched a two-hit nine strikeout one walk shutout.

Diehl fell to 13-4 on the season, lasting just six innings with eight hits, four strikeouts and a walk for two runs, bringing his ERA down to 1.82. He came back raw from the suspension. Hopefully he’ll get his form back quickly. Harry Dorish gave us two solid innings with two hits, three strikeouts and a walk, and Porterfield got us through the ninth on just one hit. We just couldn’t get on base. Hard to win when you can’t get on base. Robinson and Baker got our only two hits, with Banks getting on with a walk and then staying stuck at first.

Robinson’s diagnosis is still pending -- we’re going to have to start Bill Serena at third base in game two, hitting out of the two-spot. Maris will bat cleanup. Saul Rogovin (16-6, 1.95 ERA, 198.1 IP, 226 K’s, 0.79 WHIP) will pitch against Ted Abernathy (5-11, 4.77 ERA, 145.1 IP, 90 K’s, 1.47 WHIP). With the wind blowing in briskly, this was expected to be another battle favoring the pitchers, but the Giants took advantage on the basepaths in the first inning -- Walt Dropo hit a single with two outs and a man on, driving Virdon to third, where a throwing error allowed him to come all the way around to score. This day just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Rogovin struck out Dusty Rhodes to get out of the frame, but we already trailed 1-0 and it was only the bottom of the first. But we got into a good groove in the bottom of the inning, getting Serena and Mays on base, and Roger Maris then took it into his own hands by hitting a three-run blast to center, INTO THE WIND, his 25th homer of the year! A double play ended the inning but we had turned the deficit into a 3-1 lead heading into the second. Crandall hit a two run blast in the bottom of the second to put us up 5-1, and that left Abernathy on the mound looking like he might fold origami style.

Rogovin struggled in the top of the fifth, however, walking both Virdon and Dropo, getting out by the skin of his teeth by striking out Dusty Rhodes to avoid a bases loaded catastrophe. He got us through the sixth, but with two out and a man in scoring position we brought in Tom Ferrick, with Rogovin showing clear signs of wear. Ferrick gave up a single, but got us out of the inning with our 5-1 lead intact heading into the stretch. The way Rogovin had pitched in the later innings, we were lucky not to have given up any runs since the first. Crandall hit his second homer of the game to make it a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth, and with the bullpen dinged up we let Ferrick stay in to close it out. He held tough, got the three outs we needed, and we came out of this one with a 6-1 victory.

Rogovin improved to 17-6 with a five-hitter, striking out 11 but walking five in the later innings, giving up just one (unearned) run in the first inning, lasting 6.2 innings. Ferrick handled himself ably, however, and only gave up three hits and a walk in 2.1 innings, dropping his ERA to 5.25 on the year. We outhit the Giants 12-8 in a fairly ugly game, led by Crandall with three hits and two homers, scoring two and batting in three. Roger Maris, meanwhile, added three hits with a run and three RBIs, walking once for good measure. Al Kaline hit twice as well, keeping his average at .333 through 406 at-bats this year.

We have one game left against the Giants tomorrow, and then a four-game set this weekend against the Phillies, who are currently 14.5 games back in the NL pennant race. We are growing more and more concerned about Robinson’s status. We still don’t have word on his official injury, which has us all concerned that, at his age, it may be something much more serious than we’d thought. All from a damned hit-by-pitch! The trade deadline is looming, but we’re standing pat ... at this point we’ve got a cohesive, winning team and there’s nothing we can do at the deadline that we haven’t done already.
 
JULY 28, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (12-4, 2.80 ERA, 131.2 IP, 140 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) will pitch today against Al Worthington (4-6, 5.37 ERA, 67.0 IP, 42 K’s, 1.60 WHIP). New York got on the board in the top of the first thanks to a Bill Virdon single and a Walt Dropo RBI triple, but surrounding those two events were three strikeouts by Pascual. Bottom of the fourth, we FINALLY got on base with a hit by Willie Mays, but Roger Maris flew out with a line drive to send us into the top of the fifth still trailing 1-0 with only three combined hits and six combined baserunners in those first four innings. Ernie Banks got us on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth, however, with a solo homer to left, his 26th four-bagger this year! Pascual stayed out into the seventh inning, though he was wearing down and nearing 100 pitches. With one out secured, I visited the mound and he said he thought he could reach down for enough to get us through. He struck out Pidge Brown and then put their pitcher away as well, getting us out of the inning and into the stretch still knotted 1-1. But he was going to have to come out, having given us every ounce of energy he had.

We got Banks and Crandall on base in the bottom of the seventh, and with one out Ernie Banks went for it with the count 0-2 on Rosen, but Worthington picked him off at third. Rosen batted out to center and we were still knotted up, with Harry Dorish coming out to pitch for the top of the eighth. Two infield groundouts and a strikeout got us out of the frame safely, and then came back out in the top of the ninth and got us two more K’s and a groundout to head into the bottom of the ninth still tied up! With two outs, Roger Maris got a hit into left, and then Ernie Banks bounced one off the wall at center and got a double out of it, but Maris held at third. And Del Crandall took the count all the way to full and then hit a line drive straight to Virdon ... out number three. We’re going to extras!

Koufax came out for the top of the 10th, walking Red Wilson, Wilson advancing to second on a Pidge Browne bunt. Bob Skinner batted out to Maris in left field, shallow enough to hold Wilson at second, but Jim Gilliam hit a wicked line drive up the middle to drive Wilson around to score the go-ahead run, making it 2-1 Giants. Chico Fernandez then walked, and Koufax struck Virdon out swinging. We’ll get one chance to get this right in the bottom of the 10th, trailing by a run. Rosen grounded out to first, but Gene Baker got himself a hit into deep right field, though he wound up holding at first. Ed Bouchee came in to pinch hit for Koufax, with Porterfield warming up in the bullpen, Bouchee reached base safely on a fielder’s choice, bringing up Al Kaline with two outs and needing some magic. But our magic had run out. For the first time all year we lost an extra-innings game, falling to the Giants 2-1. Not the way we’d hoped to head into the Philly series, but we’re gonna have to step up and dig in.

Camilo Pascual handled himself very well, lasting seven innings with just three hits, striking out 12 with three walks while giving up the one earned run, bringing his ERA down to 2.73 for the year. Harry Dorish came out and gave us two more stellar innings, no hits with three strikeouts, and his ERA is now sub-1.00. But Koufax gave up one hit and two walks against one strikeout, giving up the go-ahead run and taking the loss, falling to 4-2 on the year with a 2.44 ERA.

Philly pulled to within 13.5 games of us, winning their 70th game of the year yesterday as they head to battle us here at Wrigley for four games over the weekend. And Jackie Robinson should be available ... THANK GOD ... we had his knee x-rayed and it’s just a bruise. He’ll be day to day. This Philly battle will be intense -- We’ve beaten then 10 out of 15 times so far this year, but the remaining seven games are likely to be the most difficult.