[jksander]

JUNE 5, 1956 . . . Can we keep our win streak going? Today we’re welcoming Pittssburgh (24-23, 10.5 GB) to Wrigley, and they’ve been a surprising thorn in our side this year, having beaten us four of the last five times we’ve played. With us now 4.5 games back of the Dodgers for first place, these games remain hyper-important. We need to prove we can continue to win consistently, particularly when playing in front of these partisan home crowds, because it’s only going to get more difficult as the summer heats up.

Camilo Pascual (3-4, 3.75 ERA, 48.0 IP, 34 K’s, 1.33 WHIP) pitched in game one against Pittsburgh’s Hank Aguirre (3-2, 2.20 ERA, 41.0 IP, 20 K’s, 0.95 WHIP). The score was knotted at 0-0 through three innings, with Pascual giving up a hit in each inning but also managing to contribute to a double play in each as well -- and though Aguirre hadn’t given up a hit yet, he’d walked three and seemed on the edge of a collapse if we could just find a chink in his armor. Del Crandall got our first hit of the game in the bottom of the fifth, and a Pascual sacrifice bunt got him into scoring position, while a wild pitch then advanced him to third! Aguirre walked Al Rosen, bringing Kaline up with men on the corners and two outs, but he flew out to right to end the inning with the game still scoreless. We wore Aguirre out quite a bit in the sixth, adding a pair of hits to his tally without managing to score, but in the bottom of the seventh Del Crandall got a great hit off a sinker that didn’t sink, blasting it into the left field bleachers to make it 1-0 Cubs with his sixth homer of the year. He walked Rosen and Kaline, and Robinson then got a line drive into right field, giving us loaded bases! Mays and Banks struck out, however, and we went into the top of the eighth with a slim 1-0 lead.

Carl Erskine came out and pitched beautifully to get us into the bottom of the eighth looking for insurance. Koufax came in with one out and the bases loaded, and he got our second out with relative ease, before walking in the tying run, sending us into the bottom of the ninth knotted 1-1 but avoiding a complete disaster. Daniel Howard pinch-hit for Koufax but grounded out to first. But Rosen got a nice hit into left, a clean single, and Kaline took a walk to put him in scoring position. Robinson grounded out to first, advancing the runners, but Mays struck out swinging and sent us into extras again. Hersh Freeman came out to pitch in the top of the 10th, holding his ground and keeping the Pirates from getting anywhere, while Banks and Maris quickly got back to back hits to put a run in scoring position with no outs. Ed Bouchee walked the bases loaded, amd Del Crandall hit a sac fly into right that batted in the winning run -- we’d held tough, and the win streak lived as we beat the Pirates 2-1 in ten!

Pascual had a great night, lasting seven innings with just five hits, three strikeouts and a walk -- no runs -- bring his ERA down to 3.27. Erskine got his first hold of the year, but Koufax blew the save, leaving it to Freeman (1-2, 5.65 ERA) to get us out of there with just a walk and a strikeout. Erskine was charged with two hits and an earned run, with a walk and a strikeout, but he has gotten his ERA down to 9.75 through 12 innings of work. His early struggles will be hard to erase, but he’s proving to be a hard worker and I am confident he’ll prove to have been worth the investment. Each team had seven hits, with Del Crandall’s two hits, two RBIs and a run scored proving to be the difference-maker for us on offense.

JUNE 6, 1956 . . . Hy Cohen (9-1, 1.58 ERA, 96.2 IP, 111 K’s, 0.69 WHIP) got the start today against Bob Friend (5-4, 2.73 ERA, 85.2 IP, 37 K’s, 1.06 WHIP). Cohen had not given up a hit yet in the game, when in the top of the fourth Ken Boyer hit a solo blast to left, putting the Pirates up 1-0. We tied it up quickly in the bottom of the fourth, however, when Gene Baker hit an RBI single, sending Banks around to score from second, advancing Roger Maris into scoring postion. Maris stole third moments later, scoring on a wild pitch, giving us the 2-1 lead! Al Rosen hit a changeup all the way out of the park in the bottom of the fifth, his ninth homer of the season, which added some insurance up 3-1 on Pittsburgh. Jackie Robinson hit his 10th of the year to make it 4-1, and we went into the sixth feeling much more confident about our lead. Cohen stayed out the rest of the way, and he was dominant as always -- they only had one baserunner in the final three innings as we shut them down 4-1.

Cohen continues to shine, improving to 10-1 with a 1.53 ERA, pitching a three-hitter while striking out 11 and giving up just the one earned run. We outhit the Pirates 8-3, led by Banks (two hits, one run) and Baker (two hits, one RBI). Cohen has said he is not interested in negotiating an extension until he’s in his final contract year after this season, and if he continues to put up Cy Young numbers he’s going to be an expensive signing if we want to keep him from testing the waters of free agency.
 
JUNE 7, 1956 . . . Saul Rogovin (6-2, 2.49 ERA, 86.2 IP, 116 K’s, 0.84 WHIP) is up for today’s game, facing down Pittsburgh’s Johnny Klippstein (3-5, 4.09 ERA, 77.0 IP, 43 K’s, 1.13 WHIP). He picked up right where he left off after his record-breaking start against the Dodgers, striking out the first batter he faced, but at least early on in this one his ability to get outs off soft contact proved to be his ace in the hole. Roger Maris got us the lead in the bottom of the second with an RBI single, and Rogovin didn’t allow a single baserunner until the top of the fifth. Al Rosen hit a double that drove in two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, giving us a 3-0 advantage, and Gene Baker hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth that made it 4-0 Cubs. Rogovin completed the two-hit shutout, as we kept our win streak alive with another series sweep here at home!

Rogovin improved to 7-2 with a 2.26 ERA, striking out 10 batters and giving up just the two hits in 97 pitches. We had seven hits ourselves, led by Maris (two hits, one RBI) and Baker (two hits, one run, one RBI).

Heading into the Philly series, we’re now 32-16 and just trailing the Dodgers by two games! The Phillies, meanwhile, are 24-24 and 10.5 games back, though they now hold third place in their control. We hold an eight game winning streak, and have yet to lose a game against the Phillies this season. In the American League, the Yankees (35-17) have a 4.5 game lead on Detroit (29-20) and a 7.5 game lead on Cleveland (26-23). Boston, nine games back with a 25-25 record, is struggling in a league where all but two teams are still within ten wins of the lead. Only Baltimore (18-36) and St. Louis (15-35) are far enough out of contention to barely draw any notice in either league.

And whereas last year we were dominating the NL based on our hitting, this year no one’s really standing out in that regard. We and Brooklyn each have run differentials of +60 or higher, and only the Yankees (+72) are better. And in our league, teams like Milwaukee (22-27, 13 GB) are going to bear watching, as their +10 run differential suggests they’ve been underperforming in close battles, which could mean a mid-season resurgence is possible once they figure it out.