[jksander]

AUGUST 19, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (24-4, 1.51 ERA, 261.2 IP, 235 K’s, 0.73 WHIP) is up today against Bob Buhl (5-13, 5.86 ERA, 133.2 IP, 59 K’s, 1.63 WHIP). Bill Serena is on FIRE lately, and he kept it going today by getting a homer to left field, his fourth this year and his third in a week, to put us up 2-0 on the Braves in the top of the first. He came up to bat in the third inning and hit another one, this time to center field, to make it 3-0! Milwaukee got themselves a run in the bottom of the fifth, a solo shot to right by Eddie Mathews, but Cohen got three quick outs following that blast and we went into the top of the sixth leading still 3-1. Serena walked the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, and Willie Mays batted out to center but scored a fourth run, sending us into the stretch leading 4-1. Cohen barely had to break a sweat, closing this one out with a final strikeout to beat the Braves 4-1.

Hy Cohen won his 25th game of the season, improving to 25-4 with a 1.50 ERA thanks to a two-hitter, with 10 strikeouts and just the one earned run! We had seven hits, two of them homers for Bill Serena, who led the team with two hits and a walk for two runs and three RBIs. Al Kaline had a hit, a walk and a run scored, and Willie Mays batted in a run with his sac fly. We’ve now won five games in a row, cutting our magic number down to 16, with the Phillies still trailing us by 13.5 games.
 
AUGUST 20, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (20-7, 1.79 ERA, 246.0 IP, 286 K’s, 0.80 WHIP) got the start tonight, taking on Warren Spahn (13-10, 3.61 ERA, 216.2 IP, 147 K’s, 1.33 WHIP). Willie Mays got us on the board with a solo blast to right, his 25th of the year, giving us a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. But that hit was a rare one. Milwaukee tied it up 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth with a flyout by Johnny Logan driving in a run by Bill Bruton, who had tripled moments earlier. Milwaukee took the lead in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI triple by Warren Spahn, and then Spahn scored on an RBI single by Bruton, who made it a 3-1 lead. And in the top of the eighth inning, with Al Kaline up to bat, they called the game on account of rain, denying us a chance to come back. What a piss poor ending to a great game, but I guess congrats to Milwaukee on the “win.”

Rogovin got through seven innings with seven hits and six strikeouts, walking one batter and giving up three runs. He took the loss and fell to 20-8 with a 1.85 ERA. We were outhit 7-4, with Willie Mays leading the way with two hits, a run and an RBI thanks to his homer.

AUGUST 21, 1955 . . . Jackie Robinson is back and ready to play today! He’s fallen behind in the home run race -- though he hit 34 before his injury, he’s now been outpaced by Micky Mantle (36) and Ted Kluszewski (39) with six weeks left before the end of the season! He’s tied for third with Ted Williams, and has one more dinger than Baltimore’s Gus Zernial. Today we finish up our three-game set at Milwaukee, then take a day off before playing two at Brooklyn and then a pair at Pittsburgh (with a day off between them). Camilo Pascual (14-5, 2.90 ERA, 167.2 IP, 183 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched today against Bob Turley (10-13, 4.55 ERA, 164.0 IP, 118 K’s, 1.64 WHIP). With Robinson returning to play third base, but with Serena red hot as a hitter, we’re experimenting with him as a 1B starter in place of Rosen, who needs some time off to come off a recent cold streak.

Ernie Banks walked in a run with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth to put us on the board after a slow start offensively for both teams, leading 1-0 heading into the bottom of the inning. And it stayed that way into the bottom of the eighth inning, with Pascual getting the three outs we needed to get into the ninth still holding a slim 1-0 lead. All three of our top batters batted themselves out, sending us into the bottom of the ninth with the chance to ice a tight low-scoring game. With two outs, Hank Aaron took a walk to give the Braves a chance, but Eddie Mathews grounded out to first and we were able to get out of there with a 1-0 win! The entire game only had eight hits, four per team.

Pascual improved to 15-5 with a four-hitter, striking out seven and walking one to get out on a 94 pitch shutout! Kaline had two of our four hits, along with a walk, but it was Pascual who scored the winning run, batted in by Ernie Banks, who got on base with a walk! With the win we improved to 99-30 on the season, but Philly is now just 12.5 games behind us in the pennant race, having won nine of their last ten, with our magic number now at 15. Boston, meanwhile, has their magic number down to 24, still holding steady at 76-48 with Detroit (68-55, 7.5 GB), New York (67-56, 8.5 GB) and Washington (66-57, 9.5 GB) fighting to close the gap. Chicago (64-59, 11.5 GB) and Cleveland (64-59, 11.5 GB) still have an outside chance, as both teams are on four game winning streaks. Kansas City (47-76, 28.5 GB) should soon be mathematically eliminated, where they would then join Baltimore.