[jksander]

JULY 20, 1956 . . . Camilo Pascual (6-7, 2.65 ERA, 115.2 IP, 79 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) is up to pitch in game one, going up against Jack Sanford (2-2, 2.61 ERA, 51.2 IP, 32 K’s, 1.08 WHIP). Jackie Robinson got himself another bottom-of-the-first triple, driving in our first run of the game, but the Giants got on the board in the top of the second, Luis Aparicio scoring from third when Jim Gilliam reached first on an error by Banks at short, tying the score at 1-1. Al Rosen hit a sac-fly in the bottom of the third that drove Poppell in to score from third, giving us back our lead, but the Giants got it back in the top of the fourth with a solo blast by Ed Bailey that tied things back up at 2-2. And Erskine clearly did not have his best stuff today, giving up another solo blast in the top of the fifth to Bill White, giving the Giants a 3-2 lead as he neared 90 pitches. Carl Erskine came in to pitch, striking out the next two batters in a row to get us out of the inning, and he struck out two more in the top of the sixth en route to getting out of the inning cleanly. Poppell got a base hit in the bottom of the inning, stole second (his third steal of the game!) and tied things up when Al Rosen hit an RBI double! Ernie Banks added an RBI single moments later to give us back the lead, sending us into the top of the seventh leading 4-3. Erskine pitched himself into a bases-loaded jam in the top of the inning, but got us into the break with his lead safe, getting our second out via a pop-up to short and striking out his fifth batter for the third. Poppell beat out an infield squib to reach first safely in the bottom of the seventh, and Al Rosen walked, putting him in scoring position with two outs and Robinson at the plate. Poppell stole third, his fourth steal of the afternoon, but Robinson popped out to center, ending the inning with our lead still at one run.

Hersh Freeman came in to pitch in the eighth, but he gave up an RBI single to Jim Gilliam that tied us back up at 4-4, blowing the save, and with Koufax hurriedly warming up, Hector Lopez hit a two-run double, putting us in a 6-4 hole just like that. Koufax came in with Lopez in scoring position with just one out, notching two quick strikeouts, and we went into the bottom of the eighth trailing by a pair. Mays hit one out of the park, his 34th homer of the year, to make it a one-run ballgame, and Banks and Kaline each got hits to put the tying run in scoring position. But Koufax flew out to deep left, narrowly missing out on a homer himself, and we went into the top of the ninth needing to prevent any damage so we’d have a chance, and he did his job, getting a pop-out to short and completing a double play off an infield hit by Don Blasingame, bringing rookie sensation Jack Poppell up to bat to start the bottom of the inning. Poppell would not get a chance to play hero -- he popped out to right field. But Rosen walked, as did Robinson, and Willie Mays got a great hit into left field, driving in a run to tie it up and putting the winning run on third thanks to a well-timed double! Rosen was picked off at home on a fielder’s choice, and Kaline batted out to right, ending the inning and sending us into extras knotted 6-6.

Koufax stayed out for the top of the 10th, getting Red Wilson to ground out to first and then walking Jack Shepard. Jim Gilliam sac-bunted Shepard to second, and then Hector Lopez hit a single into right, allowing Shepard to come in for the go-ahead run. Crandall couldn’t handle a wild pitch, sending Lopez to second, but Koufax struck Norm Siebern out swinging to get us back up to bat trailing by a run. And this time our extra-innings luck ran out, as the Giants shut us down to win this one 7-6 in ten innings.

Koufax took the loss, lasting 2.2 innings but giving up two hits, a walk and a run with three strikeouts, keeping his ERA a respectable 3.08 as he fell to 5-6. Erskine was impressive, pitching 2.2 innings as well with one hit, two walks and five strikeouts, bringing his ERA down to 3.59. Pascual was not impressive, however, only lasting 4.1 innings with five hits, three walks, three strikeouts and three runs (two earned). They outhit us 12-10, our team led by Willie Mays (three hits and a walk for a run and two RBIs), Ernie Banks (two hits and an RBI) and Jack Poppell (a hit, a walk and four stolen bases for two runs scored).Banks and Crandall each had errors, which didn’t help us in a tight contest.
 
JULY 21, 1956 . . . Saul Rogovin (13-2, 1.73 ERA, 171.1 IP, 218 K’s, 0.72 WHIP) came up to pitch in the second game of the series, facing New York’s Bob Lemon (2-7, 5.84 ERA, 57.0 IP, 19 K’s, 1.70 WHIP). With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Al Rosen came in to score on a wild pitch to put us up 1-0. Of course we reciprocated in the top of the second, a wild pitch of our own allowing Norm Cash to tie it up at 1-1, a real comedy of errors. We loaded the bases again in the bottom of the third, taking the lead back with a two-RBI single by Kaline, giving us a 3-1 lead heading into the top of the fourth. Ed Bailey hit an RBI single in the top of the fourth to cut our lead to one run, and then Bob Lemon hit a homer into the center field bleachers, scoring three runs to put the Giants ahead 5-3. Unbelievable! The top of the seventh was interrupted by a brief rain delay, but we were able to resume and get into the stretch still trailing by two runs. Rogovin stayed out for the ninth inning, striking out a pair to get us into the bottom of the frame still down by two runs. Jackie Robinson came out and hit a towering blast to right, leaving the park for his 19th homer of the year and the 200th of his career to pull us within a run ... but that was all we were able to muster, limping into the finish to lose our second in a row, 5-4 to the Giants.

Rogovin fell to 12-3 with a 1.90 ERA, allowing only five hits and striking out 12 batters while walking only two, but giving up five earned runs in the process. We actually outhit the Giants 9-6, but they made better use of their runners on the basepaths and then holding the lead well in the final innings. Robinson led the team with three hits, a walk, two runs and an RBI, while Al Kaline added a hit and two RBIs. Poppell, in the leadoff role he seems to have been made for, got a hit and a walk, adding two more stolen bases to his total, giving him 29 so far through just 31 games.

We have a doubleheader tomorrow here at Wrigley, and then we hit the road, not returning to Chicago until the 10th of August. So we really need to come out strong and win, as our schedule does not grow easier from here.

JULY 22, 1956 . . . Tom Acker (4-2, 3.27 ERA, 74.1 IP, 52 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) got the start against Seth Morehead (8-9, 3.78 ERA, 148.1 IP, 91 K’s, 1.24 WHIP) in game one of today’s doubleheader. The Giants quickly got on the board in the top of the first, Bill White hitting an RBI double to give them a 1-0 lead. Al Rosen batted in a run via Del Crandall in the bottom of the third to tie us up 1-1, at which point this one stayed locked up cold. In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs and no one on, Jack Poppell got his first hit of the game, a blistering double into the left corner. He stole third with the count 2-2 against Rosen, who then got a great line drive into right to drive in the go-ahead run -- Poppell being good as gold if he gets himself a base-running opportunity. Hersh Freeman came in for the save opportunity in the top of the ninth, and he held tough despite letting a baserunner on quickly, getting three outs in a row to shut them down and hold on to the 2-1 victory.

Tom Acker improved to 5-2 with a 2.95 ERA, lasting eight innings with just three hits, one walk and six strikeouts, to go with one unearned run. Freeman earned his seventh save of the year, with one hit and one strikeout, improving his ERA slightly to 5.46. We outhit them 5-4 in this pitcher’s duel, led by Rosen with two hits and two RBIs, and by Poppell, whose hit and steal helped set up his game-winning run.

Hy Cohen (19-2, 1.72 ERA, 188.2 IP, 198 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) started game two of the day, facing their ace, Ted Abernathy (12-8, 2.59 ERA, 178.0 IP, 118 K’s, 0.97 WHIP). The Giants got up quickly, an RBI by Wally Post driving in the first run of the game in the top of the first. But Ernie Banks hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the inning, his 21st of the year, to put us back on top by two runs. Al Kaline added his 15th homer of the season in the bottom of the third, driving in three runs to quickly make this one into a 6-1 blowout! Jackie Robinson added an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, and Willie Mays hit a sac-fly to center that added another. Ernie Banks got himself an RBI single to make it 9-1 heading into the top of the fifth. Kaline added an RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth that scored two more runs, and a two-run homer by Roger Maris made it a complete and total rout, his 11th blast of the year. Cohen stayed out to complete the 13-1 win, his 20th victory of the year!

Cohen is now 20-2 with a 1.68 ERA, having thrown a seven-hitter with six strikeouts and a walk, allowing a single run in the top of the first. We had 14 hits as a team, led again by Robinson (three hits, three runs, one RBI), alongside Ernie Banks (three hits, two runs, four RBIs) and Kaline(three hits, two runs, five RBIs). Poppell had a hit and scored a run, stealing three bases in the game, while Robinson picked up one for his fifth steal of the season.

Heading into what I expect to be our most difficult road stretch of the season, we now hold a 66-27 record and lead the Brooklyn Dodgers by 5.5 games. Here’s our upcoming schedule:

7/24-26: @ Pittsburgh (46-48)
7/27-29: @ Brooklyn (59-31) -- doubleheader on the 29th
7/30-8/1: @ Philadelphia (49-43)
8/3-5: @ NY Giants (42-50) -- doubleheader on the 5th
8/6-7: @ Milwaukee (43-48)
8/8-9: @ Cincinnati (35-57)

The remainder of the month will feature 17 games at Wrigley, with just four additional games on the road against St. Louis (28-64) and Cincinnati.

At this point the Yankees (64-31) are handling their business, 7.5 games up on Detroit (54-36), with Cleveland (48-42, 13.5 GB) and Boston (47-43, 14.5 GB) lagging far behind. Neither Kansas City (43-49), the White Sox (39-51), Baltimore (36-56) or Washington (35-59) are in any kind of contention for the AL pennant.