[jksander]

APRIL 22, 1956 . . . Hy Cohen (1-0, 2.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 9 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) pitched in the first game of the doubleheader, facing Cincinnati’s 19-year-old ace-in-training Don Drysdale (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) who is currently the #4 prospect in all of baseball according to the BNN reports. We’re switching Banks with Perry in today’s lineup to see if batting later in the rotation helps break him out of his slump. Maris will be batting third, and Robinson will bat sixth behind Perry.

Kluszewski is a f---ing maniac this year, and he got the Redlegs a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with his fifth homer of the year, giving him a .526 average and a 1.368 slugging percentage just five games into the season. Perry got on base in the bottom of the second thanks to an error at shortstop, and Robinson hit himself a double to put both of them in scoring position. AL Rosen batted out to center and Perry tried to come around to score, but he was tagged out at the plate for our third out. Roger Maris hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second to put us in the lead 2-1, his second homer of the year, and Willie Mays immediately followed it with his third of the season as we inreased the margin to two runs. Del Crandall then hit his first of the year, a two-run blast to left that gave us a 5-1 lead heading into the top of the fifth. Jackie Robinson hit a solo homer to left in the bottom of the sixth, his first of the year, and Ernie Banks reached first on an error that allowed Crandall to score from third and blow the lead up to 7-1 ... that was the Redlegs’ FOURTH ERROR of the game! Perry scored a run in the bottom of the seventh off an Al Rosen sac-fly, building our lead to seven runs. Cohen stayed in to complete his second game in a row, and we dominated this one over Cincinnati 8-1.

Hy Cohen is now 2-0 on the year with a 1.50 ERA, having pitched a three-hitter today with 11 strikeouts, one walk and one earned run. Our bats were making good contact today, hitting 13 times, led by Jackie Robinson with three hits, a run and an RBI. Banks, Maris, Perry and Crandall each hit twice, with Perry scoring two runs and Crandall scoring twice and batting in two more. Roger Maris added a run and two RBIs thanks to his homer, cappng an all-around dominant performance.

In game two of the afternoon, Saul Rogovin (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 9 K’s, 0.44 WHIP) pitched against Vern Law, who will be pitching his first start this year. The 26-year-old went 2-2 last year with a 4.50 ERA, through 38 innings and 18 relief appearances and three starts. Rogovin’s ERA became blemished for the first time in the top of the first, when Ted Kluszewski hit an RBI single to put the Redlegs up 1-0. And from there the game became a pitching battle, with just seven hits between the two teams through four innings, our team heading into the top of the fifth still trailing 1-0. We committed two errors, one by Perry at first and one by Rogovin covering first, to put runners on the corners in the top of the fifth, but Rogovin pulled off a solid double play to get us out of the frame unscathed. And Ted Kluszewski hit his sixth homer of the young season to add two runs in the top of the sixth, putting the Redlegs ahead by a daunting 3-0 margin. Another run scored when Elmer Valo hit a grounder to first and we failed to make the pickoff at home on a fielder’s choice, sending us into the bottom of the sixth trailing by four runs against a vastly improved Redlegs team. We brought Larry Jansen in for the top of the seventh, and with two outs he intentionally walked Kluszewski and then got the final out via a popup to Banks to keep the score 4-0 heading into the stretch. Elmer Valo added a homer to the list in the top of the eighth to make it 5-0, and our lineup continued to struggle the rest of the way as they shut us out in the end by the same five runs, dropping us to 4-2 to start the season.

Rogovin took the loss, falling to 1-1 with a 2.40 ERA, thanks to five hits, five strikeouts and two walks that led to four earned runs. Jansen added two hits and a walk for an earned run, lasting 1.2 innings and giving him a 1.93 ERA. And Harry Dorish came in for 1.1 innings, giving up a hit with a strikeout but improving his ERA to 9.00 through three innings of work. The Redlegs outhit us 8-6, with Willie Mays’ two hits leading the way. But we mounted no offense and manufactured no runs, handing Cincinnati an easy win.

We have one game against Milwaukee (2-4) here at home on Tuesday and a game on the road in St. Louis (2-4) on Wednesday, before heading to Cincinnati to close out the month with four games against the Redlegs on their field. Right now there is a four-way logjam at first place in the NL between Philly, our boys, Cincinnati and the Dodgers. The Giants are 3-4 and the last-place Pirates are 2-5.

APRIL 24, 1956 . . . Sandy Koufax (0-1, 3.60 ERA, 5.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) is up in the rotation against Milwaukee’s Johnny Antonelli (0-1, 4.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 5 K’s, 1.00 WHIP). The Braves scored a run in the top of the first off a grounder by Gene Woodling that led to a fielder’s choice at second. Jackie Robinson hit a two-out triple in the bottom of the inning, but Willie Mays flew out to center and ended the inning scoreless. Koufax loaded the bases in the top of the second, with two more runs scoring before he could secure the final out. We’re just not playing with the same defensive confidence of last year, and teams are going to keep taking advantage of that until we wind some power behind our bats and hit the ball down their throats. Banks and Maris each beat out infield throws to get on base to start the bottom of the second, and Del Crandall hit a shot into deep center, allowing us to score two runs to narrow the gap, sending us into the top of the third trailing 3-2. Willie Mays hit his fourth homer of the season to tie us up 3-3 in the bottom of the third, but we weren’t able to add to it in the fourth, sending us into the top of the fifth knotted 3-3 and with Koufax at 80 pitches. He got two quick outs and then gave up a double to Lee Walls, who advanced to third on a wild pitch. But with our bullpen arm not completely warm, he stayed out and got he final out, keeping us tied heading into the bottom of the inning. Koufax got himself a hit to start the bottom of the fifth, but Kaline hit into a double play and Alonso Perry, who continues to struggle against major league pitchers, struck out swinging.

Bob Purkey came in to start the top of the sixth, getting three quick outs to set them down, and in the bottom of the inning Mays got a base hit on an infield fly, and then Ernie Banks hit his first blast out of the park of the season, giving us a 5-3 lead! Purkey stayed out for the seventh and got us three more solid outs, sending us into the stretch leading still by two runs. Mays got himself another solid hit in the bottom of the seventh, but was tagged out trying to turn a double into a triple, sending us into the top of the eighth with Mike McCormick coming in for his first relief appearance of the year. He got two quick groundouts to first, and then a lightning-sharp line drive was hit into left -- but straight into the glove of Roger Maris for our third out! With the score still 5-3 Cubs, Hersh Freeman came out for the top of the ninth, and this time (after giving up a hit to his first batter) Freeman found his rhythm and was able to get us the outs we needed to end this one as a two-run win!

Koufax gave us all he had in five innings, giving up just five hits with five K’s, but he also walked five and gave up three earned runs. He now holds a 4.50 ERA through his first two starts. Bob Purkey came out with the win, lasting two innings with a strikeout and no hits, staying perfect in his first appearance this year, as did Mike McCormick, who got a hold in a no-hit eighth. Hersh Freeman earned his first save of the year, giving up one hit with a strikeout without surrendering a run, improving his ERA to 9.00 while getting his first three outs as a Cub closer (we’ll just agree to forget his first appearance). We finally strung hits together, outhitting the Braves 11-6, led by Mays with two hits two runs and an RBI and by Ernie Banks with two hits two runs and two RBIs. Through seven starts, Willie Mays is having a career-best start, hitting .480/.536/1.120 with two doubles, a triple and four homers.
 
APRIL 25, 1956 . . . On the road in St. Louis, we’ve got Hy Cohen (2-0, 1.50 ERA, 18.0 IP, 20 K’s, 0.56 WHIP) ready to go againast Larry Jackson (1-0, 2.57 ERA, 7.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1.00 WHIP). Jackie Robinson hit an RBI single to make it 1-0 in the top of the first, and a balk on Johnson moved our runners both over into scoring position with no outs. Willie Mays grounded out to first but drove in our second run, but Jackie Robinson tried to take home on a flyout by Banks and was tagged out sliding into home, sending us into the botom of the inning leading 2-0. Cohen struck out the side in the bottom of the first, and Roger Maris hit his third homer of the year to make it 3-0 in the top of the second. Mays batted in a run with an RBI single in the top of the third with a flyout to right, and Cohen struck out the side again in the bottom of the inning as we put the clamps down on the Cardinals. Maris doubled to start the fourth, and Al Rosen followed it with an RBI double to make the score 5-0 Cubs. Kaline reached first on a fielder’s choice and drove in a sixth run with two outs, and this one quickly spiraled out of control for St. Louis. They got on the board with a homer by Wally Moon to make it 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth, but by the end of the inning Cohen had 10 K’s and we were firmly in control. Cohen was locked in like I’ve never seen, striking out the side for the third time in the bottom of the fifth, and by the end of the sixth he’d fanned 14 batters! Rogovin’s strikeout record remained safe by the end of the day, but Cohen completed the game as a 6-1 victory for our Cubs, in one of the more dominant performances of his already incredible career.

In the end Cohen improved to 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA, giving up three hits and an earned run while striking out 16 batters with NO WALKS, through 107 pitches (76 of them for strikes!) We outhit the Cardinals, who now fall to 3-5, by an 11-3 margin, led by Kaline (two hits two runs one RBI), Maris (two hits two runs one RBI) and Rosen (two hits one run one RBI). Willie Mays added a hit for two RBIs, and Alonso Perry hit once and walked twice, scoring a run. We improved to 6-2 on the season with the win, and will head into a four-game set against the Redlegs (5-3) on a two-game win streak. We’re currently half a game ahead of Brooklyn (6-3) and a full game up on the Phillies and the Redlegs.

We’ve claimed Alex Kellner, a 31-year-old reliever, off waivers from Cincinnati to give our bullpen a bit of depth, as Dorish’s skills are beginning to decline with age and he may not be able to go a hard as he did last year in as many appearances (though he’s still going to be a key middle reliever out of our bullpen). We have also brought Robert Diehl back up Robert Diehl to give him a chance out of the bullpen as well to hopefully rebuild his confidence and ease him back into the rotation eventually as a spot starter. But we’ll be sticking with our four man rotation of Cohen / Rogovin / Koufax / Pascual for the time being.