[jksander]

JUNE 29, 1956 . . . We’re 5-1 against the Braves this season, and we returned to Wrigley to find nearly 36,000 screaming Cubs fans filling the stands on a cloudy, 72-degree afternoon for the start of this four game set. Tom Acker (2-2, 2.89 ERA, 46.2 IP, 34 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Johnny Antonelli (8-5, 2.29 ERA, 122.0 IP, 68 K’s, 1.02 WHIP). Poppell got things started by beating out a slow infield hit to take first base, drawing a rousing cheer for the rookie, who got so excited he tried for a steal and was thrown out for only the second time this season, part of the growing pains you expect from a player playing in front of a crowd like this for the first time. Unfortunately, in the top of the third inning Acker loaded the bases, and Eddie Mathews hit a blistering drive to right, legging out a triple and scoring three runs for the Braves. Acker almost had himself out of the inning, but Banks committed an error on a short pickoff throw to second, allowing Mathews to score, and we went into the bottom of the third trailing 4-0, with Acker suddenly having thrown 51 pitches.

Carl Erskine came in with one out and a man on first in the top of the fifth, getting two quick outs to get us back up to bat, but ours were just not making any contact. Erskine gave up a solo homer to Mathews in the top of the seventh, making it 5-0 Braves as we entered the stretch. But Ed Bouchee came in to pinch hit for Erskine with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and hit a towering three-run homer into the center field bleachers, the first homer of the year for Bouchee, and suddenly we were within a pair of runs! Bob Purkey walked two batters after coming in for Erskine in the top of the eighth, but he also got two outs via bunt attempts, and was able to ge the third when Willie Mays made a spectacular catch at center field to avoid catastrophe. Rosen got a hit and Robinson walked to start the bottom of the eighth, and with one out Ernie Banks walked to load the bases for Al Kaline, who hit a sharp shot into left field, pulling us within a run! With the bases still loaded, Roger Maris took a pitch one strike, then got four balls in a row to walk in the tying run, which sent us into the top of the ninth tied up 5-5. Sandy Koufax came in to pitch, getting three quick outs via soft contact, sending us into the bottom of the inning with a chance to win it. With one out, Al Rosen got a hit into center field, sliding safely into second! But Robinson flew out to right, and Mays did the same, ending the inning and sending us into extras.

Koufax got us quickly through the top of the tenth, walking one batter but making a great double play to keep the runner from advancing. Banks got a shot into right field for a base hit, and Kaline hit one into center field, driving Banks to second. Maris hit into a double play that sent Banks to third, and Gene Baker pinch-hit for Crandall, and an error at first base allowed Banks to come around and score the go-ahead run! We came out of this with a 6-5 win by the skin of our teeth, but a win’s a win any way you get it, especially when it’s in the 10th inning.

Koufax got the win, improving to 3-5 with two hitless innings, walking just one batter and improving his ERA to 3.44 on the season. Acker lasted only 4.1 innings, with three hits, three strikeouts and five walks that contributed to four runs (three earned). Erskine gave us 2.2 innings with one hit, three strikeouts, a walk and an earned run, improving his ERA to 4.50 through 28 innings. And though Purkey lived dangerously, walking a pair, he didn’t give up any runs -- without his poise in getting out of his own jam in the eighth, we wouldn’t have survived this one. We outhit the Braves 11-4, led by Al Rosen with three hits, a walk and a run, and by Ernie Banks with three hits, a walk and two runs. Ed Bouchee made a huge impact with just one at-bat, hitting the three-RBI homer that started our scoring onslaught.

We’ve made a trade with Kansas City that sends Bill Serena and Joe Collins to the Athletics in exchange for Les Moss, a backup catcher who has better hitting abilities as a backup than does Roy Jarvis, who aside from being unable to hit the broad side of a barn, has decidedly weak catching abilities as well. It’s not a trade I expect to make a significant impact, but if Jarvis (who had to be waived due to lack of minor league options) eventually refuses to take a minor league assignment, he’ll be significantly less expensive to cut ties with.

JUNE 30, 1956 . . . Bob Porterfield (2-0, 0.95 ERA, 19.0 IP, 8 K’s, 0.79 WHIP) got the start today against Warren Spahn (4-11, 4.26 ERA, 116.1 IP, 55 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). And it didn’t start out great -- he gave up a solo homer to Bill Bruton just eight pitches in. But he got the next three batters out quickly, and we were able to get into the bottom of the first trailing just 1-0. Poppell beat out an infield hit to take first safely in the bottom of the inning, and Robinson got to first on a no-throw by the shortstop that advanced Poppell to second. Willie Mays beat out an infield blooper of his own to load the bases, but we weren’t able to get anyone in to score. Jackie Robinson hit a solo blast of his own in the bottom of the fifth to tie things up with his 13th homer of the season, and Willie Mays tripled to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Alas, we weren’t able to make it happen, and we went into the top of the sixth all knotted up. And Porterfield surrendered his second homer of the game, a two-run blast to right, by Gene Woodling that put the Braves right back on top 3-1.

Larry Jansen came in with two outs and a man on first in the top of the sixth and got the final out, leaving us to dig back out of the hole. Roger Maris hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth, but he tried to tie things up on a deep flyout by Kaline and was picked off at the plate, the score 3-2 heading into the seventh. Jansen got us into the stretch with the score unchanged, and Hersh Freeman did the same in the eighth and ninth, sending us into the bottom of the ninth with a run left to make up and Kaline up to the plate. Spahn stayed in to pitch, which may have been his undoing -- Kaline got a base hit, and then Maris singled to drive him over to third. Crandall grounded out to first, advancing Maris to second, and with one out Daniel Howard came up to pinch-hit for Freeman, striking out with the count loaded 3-2. With two outs and men in scoring position, they brought out a reliever, Don Cardwell (1-2, 4.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 4 K”s, 2.33 WHIP), who with the count 2-2 against Poppell, gave up a perfect fastball -- line drive into right, and the score was tied 3-3! Al Rosen came up to the plate with runners on the corners, but he popped out to center and we were headed for extras again. Koufax came in to close, making quick work of the bottom of their lineup in the top of the 10th, and Willie Mays made them pay in the bottom of the inning, hitting a two-run blast into the bleachers at center, his 28th of the year, and we won this one by a 5-3 margin!

Koufax won his second extra-innings game in a row, improving to 4-5 with a 3.38 ERA, striking out one batter. Porterfield gave us 5.2 innings with four hits, six K’s and a walk along with three earned runs. Jansen and Freeman then gave us 3.1 two-hit innings to keep this one winnable. Again we outhit them by a wide margin, 13-6, but had to fight from behind to win in extras. Robinson had three hits and two walks, scoring twice and driving in a run, while Mays added three hits, a run and two RBIs and Kaline hit three times for two runs. Poppell had two hits and an RBI, keeping his average at .289 through 45 at-bats.
 
We won 10 of our last 11 games to finish June with a 21-7 record, getting us right back into the battle to defend our World Series title. Heading into July, we are right where we want to be, and it’d be even better if we can finish the sweep against the Braves and start this month off the same way we finished the last one. Just a game and a half behind the Dodgers , our 47-23 record is third overall in the majors, and our +96 run differential is second only to the Yankees (48-25, +116) who lead the AL by four games over Detroit, with the Red Sox fading fast in third with a 36-34 record. We’re 7-2 in extra innings games, 16-9 in one-run finishes, and our team ERA of 2.75 leads the NL, as we do for batter WAR (12.5), runs scored (315), extra-base hits (211), home runs (100) and bases-on-balls (229). We’re dominating in strikeouts as a team as well, with our pitchers combining for 556 K’s -- only Brooklyn (407) and Detroit (400) come even remotely close.

Hy Cohen was named NL Pitcher of the Month again with a 6-1 record, notching 68 K’s in 60 innings with just 34 hits and four walks in the month of June. His 9.2 WAR already this season amounts to more than half of our overall pitching wins above replacement as a TEAM -- he’s on pace for one of the best performances as a pitcher this century, and I have to wonder if it’s sustainable. What goes up has to eventually come down.

He’s not the only pitcher having a great year, if I’m giving that impression. Overall, the pitching in the NL has become much more difficult to face, the league being led by Cohen and Rogovin on our team, Maglie and Connie Johnson on the Dodgers, and by Pittsburgh’s Hank Aguirre, all of whom have sub-2.00 ERAs. Cohen and Maglie are tied with 14 wins apiece, with the Yankees’ Harvey Haddix and Brooklyn’s Johnson (12) not far behind. Connie Johnson is on pace for 15.0 WAR, and if Cohen falters, he’s the odds-on favorite for Cy Young honors in the league. As for K’s, Cohen (171) and Rogovin (170) are dominating the nearest competition (Johnson, with 135 for Brooklyn, and Detroit’s Herb Score with 132).