[jksander]

AUGUST 28, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (15-6, 1.73 ERA, 202.1 IP, 104 K’s, 0.86 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Giants, facing Al Worthington (7-8, 3.68 ERA, 122.1 IP, 85 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). Jackie Robinson finally broke out of his struggles with a solo homer in the top of the second, his 35th this year, to put us up 1-0! This is his first homer since the injury earlier in the month. But Diehl gave up a three-run homer to Walt Dropo in the bottom of the third to put the Giants up 3-1. Dusty Rhodes gave them a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-1. Epitacio Torres came in for the bottom of the eighth with us trailing still by three runs, getting us three quick outs heading into the ninth. Robinson singled, but we were quick to get three outs from there as the Giants completely stumped us 4-1, our offensive slump as a team continuing.

Diehl fell to 15-7, giving up nine hits with just four strikeouts and two walks, two homers contributing to four earned runs and dropping his ERA back down to 1.85. Torres was solid in the eighth, getting three outs on 18 pitches without a lot of flash. He now has a 2.16 ERA through 8.1 innings since his call-up from the minors.

This afternoon and evening the Phillies won both games of a doubleheader against Cincy on their field, pulling them to within 10 games of us in the standings. They play one more against Cincy tomorrow and then we have our two on their field -- and this could suddenly become quite the dangerous situation for our struggling Cubs. The Philles have won their last 11 straight, putting together a 19-3 record so far in August and a stunning 34-8 since the All Star break. We, meanwhile, haven’t been terrible but we’ve lost 13 games since the All Star break and haven’t put up more than two runs in a game since August 19th, going 17-8 so far in August.

AUGUST 29, 1955 . . . We need our top pitchers ready to go against the Phillies, so today we’re giving Harry Dorish (7-0, 0.81 ERA, 67.0 IP, 75 K’s, 0.84 WHIP) a start out of the bullpen. He’ll be going up against Ted Abernathy (5-14, 4.32 ERA, 196.0 IP, 128 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). The move backfired on us after he got the first out quickly, as a fastball at the wrong time led to a Bill White three-run homer in the bottom of the first, giving the Giants a quick 3-0 head start. He finished the inning with a pair of strikeouts, but the damage had been done. Now we’d need our bats to perk up significantly if we wanted to turn this one around. We got two runners on in the top of the third but a weak infield squib into a double play by Ernie Banks squelched the rally. Two in scoring position in the top of the fourth were left stranded as well. Ernie Banks finally got us on the board, an RBI triple scoring Dorish from first, making the score 3-1 Giants heading into the bottom of the fifth. Al Rosen got himself a solo blast to left in the top of the sixth, his 18th homer of the year pulling us to within a run, and Bob Porterfield took over for Dorish to start the bottom of the sixth, Dorish having thrown 77 pitches as he tried to give us room to crawl out of the first-inning hole. With the score still 3-2 Giants, Epitacio Torres came in for the top of the eighth, and he promptly gave up a homer to Bill White to make it 4-2.

We came out for the top of the ninth needing two runs to tie, bringing out Bill Serena, Bob Will and Joe Collins as pinch hitters, hoping we could get back to the top of the order. Serena took a base on balls, but Bob Will popped right up to the pitcher and Joe Collins struck out swinging. It came down to Kaline, who walked to give us two runners on and a man in scoring position, with Ernie Banks up to the plate. And Banks stunned everyone in the place with a three-run blast to left, his 32nd homer of the year, to suddenly give us a 5-4 lead! Willie Mays then jacked one into center to make it 6-4 with his 27th homer, and Jackie Robinson made it back-to-back-to-back homers, hitting one just over the right field wall to make it 7-4 with his 36th! We batted around to Serena again, who got one over the head of the second baseman and into the outfield, loading the bases, and Bob Will walked in our sixth run of the inning to make it 8-4 by the time Joe Collins popped out to end the inning. Koufax came out for three quick outs and we were out of there with a four-run victory!

Epitacio Torres got his first major league win despite a two-hit one run inning, saving Harry Dorish (5.0 IP, five hits, six strikeouts, three earned runs) from taking a loss. Porterfield and Koufax combined for three innings and just one hit, keeping both their ERAs well below 2.50 on the year. We outhit them 14-8, led by Banks with three hits one run and four batted in. Robinson added three hits with a run and an RBI, putting him on the verge of returning to .300 on the season. And Al Rosen broke out of his slump with a pair of hits for two runs and an RBI. Heading into Philadelphia we needed that win. Now we have Hy Cohen and Saul Rogovin ready to go as we hope to finally put this pennant race to bed.

Roger Maris will not be ready to come off the IL until late September, and we’ve decided he will not return to the major league lineup afterward. We’ll continue his rehab into the fall and bring him back next year hoping to not aggrivate the injury.