[jksander]

APRIL 27, 1956 . . . For the first of four games against Cincy over the next three days we’ve got Saul Rogovin (1-1, 2.40 ERA, 15.0 IP, 14 K’s, 0.73 WHIP) up to pitch against Don Drysdale (1-1, 3.86 ERA, 14.0 IP, 6 K’s, 1.36 ERA). Rogovin gave up a string of hits in the bottom of the first inning, allowing the Redlegs to score first via a Frank Robinson RBI single, but though two more runners were in scoring position by the end of the frame he was able to hold the runners and get the two outs we needed, so we went into the top of the second trailing just 1-0. Nellie Fox hit a two-out triple for them in the bottom of the second, but a flyout to left kept the Redlegs from scoring again. Al Kaline tied the game up 1-1 in the top of the fifth with an RBI single that put men on the corners, but Alonso Perry struck out swinging and kept us from taking the lead. And in the bottom of the inning Rogovin gave up a two-run blast to Gus Bell that put them back into the lead 3-1. With bullpen arms warming up, he gave up a third run in the inning, an RBI single by Hal Smith, and by the time we got up to bat in the top of the sixth we trailed the Redlegs 4-1.

Robinson doubled, and then they walked Mays to give us two on and no outs in the top of the sixth, but two flyouts and a strikeout ended any chance of a rally. Rogovin stayed out in the bottom of the inning as we had to warm up a bullpen arm again, and with two outs he surrendered another homer, AGAIN to Gus Bell, making it 5-1 and I had to bring in Larry Jansen to get us out of the inning. And he did NOT get us out of the inning, instead surrendering a homer to Kluszewski (his eighth of the season) to make it 6-1. He then gave up a triple to Frank Robinson before finally getting the third out. Jansen tried to stay out in the bottom of the seventh but gave up a run on an RBI single by Hal Smith, and we brought Robert Diehl in to mop things up with a man on first and no outs, and he got us through the inning without incident. Willie Mays hit a two-run blast to center to make it 7-3 in the top of the eighth, his fifth of the year, and Diehl got us into the top of the ninth without any more damage. But Cincy handled their business, and Alonso Perry continued to struggle to do anything BUT strike out, and we lost this one 7-3.

Rogovin is off to a 1-2 start with a 3.92 ERA, giving up 10 hits in this one with five K’s and a pair of walks, surrendering five runs in the process through 5.2 innings. Janson gave us 0.1 innings with four hits and two earned runs, ballooning his ERA to 5.40, and then Diehl came in to keep it from getting worse and did a really good job -- two innings, no hits, one strikeout. We’ll have to see how he does as the season progresses, when there are higher leverage situations he has to face. But it was a good start considering his struggles. Cincinnati outhit us 14-9, and I’m frustrated that we only managed three runs off nine hits. Perry is only hitting .206, and though he got a hit today he also struck out swinging three times. Willie Mays had a pair of hits for a run and two RBIs, and has been a bright spot in the lineup, hitting .484 in cleanup. Kaline hit twice and batted in a run, improving his average to .225, but even he hasn’t been immune to struggles this year.

This loss pulls Cincinnati back into a tie for second with our Cubs, as we both sit half a game behind the Dodgers. This is clearly not the same Redlegs team that lost 85 games last year, and with the Dodgers also showing significant improvement, it’s time we come to grips with the fact that there’s going to be no coasting this year. No one is going to come out here and hand us a third consecutive pennant, we’ve got to EARN IT.

APRIL 28, 1956 . . . Camilo Pascual (1-0, 2.25 ERA, 8.0 IP, 7 K’s, 0.75 WHIP) pitched today against the Redlegs’ Roman Ramos, a 21-year-old rookie making his first major league start! Roger Maris hit a two-run homer in the top of the second to put us up 2-0, his fourth homer of the year, but the Redlegs got one back in the bottom of the inning off an RBI single by Bob Elliott. Al Kaline beat out an infield throw to reach first in the top of the third, and then took second on a botched pick-off attempt. Willie Mays got a great hit into right with men on the corners, driving in our third run of the day, and we went into the bottom of the third leading 3-1. But the Redlegs tied it with a two-run homer by Gus Bell (his fifth of the year), and this clearly was going to be a game where both pitchers struggled to prevent runs. Alonso Perry proved the point, hitting a three-run homer in the top of the fourth, his first as a major leaguer, and suddenly we led in this one 6-3! The Redlegs got one back in the bottom of the sixth off an RBI single by Elliot, and then a line drive to right by Nellie Fox drove in another pair to tie it 6-6, all with two outs. Kluszewski hit an RBI single to give them the 7-6 lead and then Pascual mercifully got the final out to send us into the seventh and end his night. Larry Jansen came in for the bottom of the seventh and got us three solid outs to stay in this one. Roger Maris hit himself his secod homer of the day in the top of the eighth to give us an 8-7 lead, and with the bases loaded Al Kaline batted in another, still no outs! Then, with two outs, Willie Mays hit a three-run double that made it a 12-7 lead, and an Ernie Banks two-run blast (his second of the year!) cleared the bases to make it a seven-run lead. Maris hit a single into left, having batted twice now in the inning, but Crandall finally ended the inning with us having scored eight runs to completely take this one over. Harry Dorish came in to finish the game out, got us through the bottom of the eighth, and then Willie Mays hit a three-run triple in the top of the ninth to add insult to their injury. With the bases loaded, Al Rosen added another run, and Dorish struck out to give us an 18-7 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Dorish got three outs to end the game as an 11-run blowout -- they’d outscored us 7-6 in the first six innings, but we destroyed them 12-0 in the last three.

Larry Jansen got his first win, improving to 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA thanks to a one-hit one strikeout inning in relief. Pascual gave us six innings but gave up 11 hits with four strikeouts, one walk and seven runs (three earned) to give him a 3.21 ERA. Harry Dorish then gave us two innings with one hit, bringing his ERA down to 5.40 through five innings. We outhit the Redlegs 19-13 as we scored our 18 runs, and only Pascual and Dorish failed to at least hit once. Kaline, Mays, Maris and Crandall each hit three times, with Mays scoring twice with seven RBIs and Maris adding two runs and four RBIs. Perry, who hit once, walked once and scored twice with three RBIs, had his best game of the year so far but was definitely lost a bit in the shuffle in the box score -- same with Banks, who had two hits three runs and two RBIs. What a way for our bats to wake up ... but can they keep it going into the doubleheader tomorrow?

APRIL 29, 1956 . . . For game one of today’s doubleheader, Sandy Koufax (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 10.0 IP, 8 K’s, 1.80 WHIP) pitched against Bobby Shantz (0-1, 5.54 ERA, 13.0 IP, 6 K’s, 1.46 WHIP), looking to have his first truly confident start of the season while playing in a harsh road environment. So of course he gave up a homer to Nellie Fox on the very first pitch of the afternoon. The Redlegs scored a second run, with two outs, via a Dick Groat double, before Koufax got a strikeout to end the inning -- 16 pitches, three hits, two runs. Maris hit a triple with one out in the top of the second, scoring on a flyout by Al Rosen to make it 2-1 Redlegs. The Redlegs scored two more on a Frank Robinson homer in the bottom of the third that made it 4-1, and Koufax continued to struggle at finding his rhythm and control. He walked three batters in the third frame, finally getting the last strikeout and sending us into the top of the fourth trailing by three. Koufax got a pair of outs in the fourth, but was completely flustered overall and we brought Bob Purkey in with two outs and a man on second to try and get us through. He got the final out via strikeout, and we went into the fifth still trailing by a 4-1 margin.

The Redlegs picked up a run with a Bob Elliott groundout in the bottom of the fifth, and in the bottom of the sixth, despite having only thrown 16 pitches prior, Purkey melted down and gave up three walks including walking in a run while we rushed to warm up Alex Kellner. Kellner came in with one out and the bases loaded, and he gave up a grounder to right that drove in three goddamned runs. This is a f---ing disaster coming in the first game of a doubleheader! We got out of the inning trailing 9-1, but it’s clear this team is not playing with the same fire as we did all last year, and it’s going to be my job to motivate the players while figuring out what pieces we need to fill the holes in the puzzle. Kellner got us through the seventh, and Robert Diehl came in with two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the eighth to get the final out by strikeout. We added a run in the top of the ninth on a groundout by Banks, but Roger Maris struck out swinging to end this stinker of a game as a 9-2 loss.

Koufax fell to 0-2 in a 3.2 inning six hit, two strikeout, three walk, four run (three earned) effort that brought his ERA down to 5.27. Purkey gave us 1.2 innings with just two hits, but he walked four against one strikeout and eventually was charged with five earned runs. Kellner lasted 2.1 innings with three hits and a strikeout, all his runs getting charged to Purkey, and Diehl gave us an inning with a strikeout through five pitches. But they were both in long after the game was out of hand. The Redlegs outhit us 11-4, with Ernie Banks (one hit one RBI) and Maris (one hit one run) doing what they could. Robinson also scored a run, reaching base on an error.

I’m not willing to give up on Koufax as a starter -- we know he has the talent, and my pitching coaches continue to tell me he’s got the improved stamina to get us through games. He just needs the confidence to realize he can throw fire, without letting mistakes lead him into more mistakes.

Hy Cohen (3-0, 1.33 ERA, 27.0 IP, 36 K’s, 0.48 WHIP) got the start in the second game of the doubleheader, already his fourth start of the month -- and judging by our more shaky pitching than usual this year, the 25-year-old Cy Young winner is going to have to truly be our ace this year, taking on more responsibility as a leader. He pitched today against Tex Clevenger (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1.67 WHIP) as we fought to avoid a loss overall in the series. Kaline and Perry opened the first inning with singles, and then Robinson was walked to load the bases, setting up Willie Mays nicely in the cleanup spot. Mays flew out to center, however, holding the runners, and Ernie Banks flew out to right and AGAIN the runners all were too afraid to go. Maris was patient and took his base on balls, allowing us to score at least one run in the inning, and then Rosen got a hit over the shorstop’s head to drive in a second. Del Crandall struck out, but we went into the bottom of the inning with a 2-0 lead. Alonso Perry hit a solo homer in the top of the second, his second of the year, to put us up 3-0. Ernie Banks reached first to load the bases, thanks to an error at third base, but Maris flew out to end the inning or we really could have built an advantage. Cohen struggled to find the strike zone, and in the second inning he gave up an RBI single to Bob Elliott to put the Redlegs on the board. But even pitching to contact he was better than most of the other pitchers in this league, and we were able to carry the 3-1 lead into the fourth inning, when Kaline hit a homer into the center field stands to add a run, his first homer of the season, to make it 4-1. Cohen loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but got out of the jam without a run scoring, and the score then stayed exactly where it was, with Hersh Freeman coming in to relieve Cohen in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and a man on first and Cohen at nearly 120 pitches. Freeman got the third out, then stayed out in the ninth to protect the three run lead, and he handled himself admirably as we held tough to win 4-1 to split the series.

Cohen improved to 4-0 with a 1.30 ERA, giving up seven hits with only five strikeouts and a walk, but he kept them to that one earned run which more than did the job. Freeman came in for the save and gave us 1.1 innings with two hits through 20 pitches to bring his ERA down to 3.86 through 2.1 innings for his second save of the season. We were outhit 9-8, but Cincinnati walked us six times which made the difference. Perry had a really good game, hitting three times for two runs and an RBI, and Kaline had two hits for two runs and an RBI. Mays, Banks and Maris went hitless, though Maris came up with an RBI and a walk.

We have tomorrow off and then head home to Chicago for 12 games in a 13-day stretch. Brooklyn leads the division at 10-3, we’re a game and a half back in second place, with Philly and Cincy tied for third at 7-5 and 2.5 GB. Over in the American League, New York leads at 9-3, with Boston half a game back at 9-4. Detroit and Cleveland (8-4) are a game back, while the rest of the league is five games or more behind the eight ball.