[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 2, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (15-5, 2.69 ERA, 184.0 IP, 200 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Cardinals, facing Vinegar Bend Mizell (4-18, 5.95 ERA, 168.0 IP, 109 K’s, 1.60 WHIP), who has been vocal all year about how miserable he’s been with the team’s lack of run support (being 38-94, including 26-35 at home, will do that to you). He’d better dig in, however, as there’s no way their ownership is going to trade away the most popular guy on the entire Cardinals roster. It was nice to return to Wrigley, where 30,000 fans showed up to cheer us in our quest toward a World Series championship. Al Rosen walked in a run with the bases loaded to put us into the lead in the bottom of the first, and a Del Crandall line drive into right field on two outs added two more. All nine of our guys batted and we went into the top of the second leading 3-0. Nice start, boys! Willie Mays hit a deep one into center in the bottom of the second, legging out a triple to score two more, though he got picked off trying to make it home on a Robinson flyout, sending us into the third with our best lead in weeks, up 5-0. We extended the lead with a homer by Mays in the bottom of the fifth, his 28th, to make it 6-0, and we brought Lovett Geeslin for his first major league relief appearance in the top of the sixth. The Cards got on the board with a homer in the top of the seventh, a solo blast by Andy Carey, and with two outs and a man on first we brought Epitacio Torres in to get the final out. We got the run back in the bottom of the inning, Jackie Robinson scoring from third on a wild pitch, giving us a 7-1 lead heading into the eighth. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth, and Robinson got a hit into right field, increasing our lead to 8-1, and Al Rosen got a shot into deep left, driving in another run. Torres stayed out there to close the game out in the top of the ninth, and we won this one with ease by a 9-1 margin.

Pascual improved to 16-5, lasting five innings with three hits, eight strikeouts and two walks, bringing his ERA down to 2.62. Geeslin gave us 1.2 innings with just one hit, one strikeout, one walk and one earned run, giving him a 5.40 ERA. Torres then came out and got us through 2.1 innings with a pair of hits and two walks, throwing 37 pitches and lowering his ERA to 3.46 through nine appearances and 13 innings. We outhit the Cardinals 14-6, dominated by the top of our order -- Kaline hit four times for three runs, Banks hit three times and scored twice, and Willie Mays had three hits, two runs and three RBIs.

The Phillies dropped a game today in 12 innings to the Giants, falling 7-2 thanks to a blowout final inning. That puts our magic number at seven, with the Phillies now 11 games back and fading fast. The AL race looks to be between the Red Sox (82-52), the Yankees (74-59, 7.5 GB) and the Tigers (73-60, 8.5 GB) with the Sox’s magic number at 14. Boston still has two games left against Detroit and six against the Yankees, so their ability to clinch remains in doubt -- they’ll have to win those head-to-head battles in order to do so.

SEPTEMBER 3, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (15-7, 1.85 ERA, 209.1 IP, 108 K’s, 0.89 WHIP) pitched against Bob Grim (5-23, 5.00 ERA, 189.0 IP, 84 K’s, 1.57 WHIP) this afternoon. Diehl gave up a run to the Cards in the top of the fourth, an RBI single by Vern Benson putting them ahead 1-0. Their second baseman committed an error in the bottom of the fifth, however, that allowed Al Rosen to score from second and which put Daniel Howard on second with no outs! A Crandall groundout to first moved Howard over to third, but we weren’t able to get him around to score, sending us into the sixth tied up 1-1. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but again were unable to drive anyone around. Bill Serena got a hit into left, pinch-hitting for Diehl, that allowed Baker to take third with one out in the bottom of the seventh. But Kaline hit into a double play to keep us knotted again. Harry Dorish got us through the eighth, and Bob Will pinch-hit for Howard with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, hitting an RBI double to put us up 2-1! Ed Bouchee walked to load the bases, and Gene Baker grounded out to second to end the inning. Dorish stayed in to start the top of the ninth, and was able to get a groundout and a pair of strikeouts to protect our 2-1 victory!

Robert Diehl lasted seven innings with seven hits, three strikeouts and the one earned run, and Dorish came in to win his eighth game, improving to 8-0 with a 1.09 ERA, giving up one hit with three strikeouts in two innings. Each team had eight hits today, with Mays and Rosen leading our team with two hits and a run scored each. Bob Will came in and was a clutch hitter, batting in the winning run! Philly stayed 11 games back but we were able to cut our magic number down to six. Tomorrow we go for the sweep against the Cardinals ahead of the Milwaukee doubleheader Monday.
 
SEPTEMBER 4, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (25-4, 1.39 ERA, 290.1 IP, 258 K’s, 0.69 WHIP) got the start against Dean Stone (6-13, 3.28 ERA, 175.2 IP, 76 K’s, 1.36 WHIP). We loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, and Al Kaline batted out to center but allowed Daniel Howard to score all the way from second ... good baserunning, and we went into the third leading 1-0. Robinson batted out to center but scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 2-0 Cubs, and Ernie Banks added a solo homer to start the bottom of the seventh, his 33rd of the year, extending the lead to three runs. Willie Mays followed it immediately with his 29th of the year to make it 4-0, but Jackie Robinson flew out to right, narrowly missing out on a homer himself. Robinson walked in another run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-0, and Cohen completed the shutout with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout as we swept the Cardinals with a 5-0 win.

Hy Cohen improved to 26-4 with a 1.35 ERA, pitching a one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and no walks. We outhit the Cardinals 10-1 and Ernie Banks hit three times for two runs and the RBI he got from his homer. Daniel Howard also hit three times, scoring a run. Mays’ homer gave him two hits on the day as well, keeping him close to .300 for the year -- and he’s been so good in the outfield that, even in a down year as a hitter, he’s still putting up 8.7 WAR! Cohen, meanwhile, leads the majors in ERA, Wins, Innings, Strikeouts against Walks and in WAR, making him the frontrunner for both the Cy Young AND the MVP award!

Philly held serve, so our win today gets our magic number down to five ... even if the Phillies keep winning, all we need are five more wins and we clinch. And at 107-33, the all time Cubs win record of 116 remains in play!

SEPTEMBER 5, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (21-9, 1.89 ERA, 266.0 IP, 299 K’s, 0.82 WHIP) pitched in the first game of the doubleheader against the Braves’ Ray Crone (4-6, 3.13 ERA, 100.2 IP, 46 K’s, 1.40 WHIP) in front of 36,386 screaming Cubs fans, with clear skies, low seventies and a breeze blowing in from the right at 10 miles an hour. Milwaukee scored a run in the top of the first off a sac fly by Hank Aaron, as Rogovin continued to struggle with his command. He got a pair of K’s and a flyout in the top of the second, however, and seemed to be finding his rhythm. Ernie Banks stayed red hot, hitting a two-run homer into left to put us up 2-1 with his 34th of the season! The Braves had to pull Crone in the top of the sixth as he suffered some form of shoulder strain, and in the bottom of the inning Danny Lynch hit an RBI double with two outs, extending our lead to 3-1. Rogovin got a hit into right to drive in a fourth run, and we went into the top of the seventh with a commanding 4-1 lead on the Braves. We loaded the bases with an out in the bottom of the seventh, and a Daniel Howard flyout to left scored a fifth run. Al Kaline hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, his 17th of the year, and Willie Mays added a two-run blast, his 30th, to extend the lead to 8-1! Rogovin stayed out to finish the game, striking out two in the final inning as we beat the Braves by seven runs.

Rogovin found his groove and pitched a complete game two-hitter, striking out nine and only giving up the one run, keeping his ERA at 1.87 through 275 innings and improving his record to 22-9. We outhit the Braves 12-2 in the game, led by Banks with three hits for three runs and two RBIs, while Rosen had three hits and scored a run as well. Al Kaline hit twice, scored twice and batted in a run with his homer.

Camilo Pascual (16-5, 2.62 ERA, 189.0 IP, 208 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) started the second game for us, up against Johnny Antonelli (13-13, 4.07 ERA, 234.1 IP, 129 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). And Johnny Antonelli took matters into his own hands in the top of the second, hitting a three-run homer into left, just his second of the year, to give them a surprising early lead. Bob Purkey got himself an RBI triple in the bottom of the second to pull us within a pair, and Jackie Robinson broke out of his homer slump, hitting a two-run blast to center in the bottom of the third to tie us up 3-3! That was #37 for Robinson this year, further extending the career year he’s been having! Willie Mays hit a double to start the bottom of the fifth, and Antonelli walked Robinson and Rosen. Bob Purkey batted in a run with two outs, giving us a 4-3 lead, sending us into the sixth having erased Antonelli’s second-inning blast. Robinson swung on a 1-2 fastball in the bottom of the seventh and knocked his second dinger out of the park, extending the lead to 5-3 with his 38th of the season! Camilo Pascual stayed out to complete the game, holding the Braves off as we won 5-3, closing the game out with his 13th strikeout!

Pascual improved to 17-5 with the win, a four-hitter with 13 K’s, two walks and just the three earned runs, giving him a 2.64 ERA as he nears 200 innings in his rookie season! We outhit the Braves 9-4, led by Jackie Robinson, who hit two homers and walked once, scoring three times and driving in three more, while Mays and Purkey also had a pair of hits apiece.

With the pair of wins we’ve improved to 109-33, just one win away from tying last year’s record and seven away from tying the all-time Cubs wins record set back in 1906! Our magic number is now just three, as the Phillies (97-43) have won four straight but remain 11 games back thanks to our five-game streak. Over in the AL, the race looks to be shaping up between Boston and New York. The Red Sox, at 85-53, are just 6.5 games up on the Yankees, who are on an EIGHT GAME WIN STREAK. Detroit (75-62, 9.5 GB) and Cleveland (75-63, 10 GB) are falling quickly out of contention, with Boston’s magic number to clinch now at 11.