[jksander]

AUGUST 1, 1956 . . . The biggest move of the deadline period would likely be the trade between the Phillies and Washington that sent the Phillies veteran right fielder Jackie Jenson, who at 29 has been hitting .295/.381/.490 with 13 homers and 74 RBIs, in exchange for top-30 pitching prospect Bill Monbouquette and top 25 pitching prospect Jim Perry. The Senators then traded Perry to the Red Sox for Steve Sisler, while Boston then flipped Perry to Milwaukee for first baseman Joe Adcock, who has been underwhelming this year but who has significant right-handed power in his bat and exceptional fielding ability. Whether any of those moves significantly help either team will remain to be seen, but Perry’s definitely racked up the miles -- the poor 20-year-old has definitely racked up some road miles in the last week or so.

Today we have our final game against Philly, with a day off tomorrow and then a four-game set on the road against the Giants (45-54). We then have a pair at Milwaukee (47-52) and a pair at Cincinnati (36-64) before returning home to play St. Louis (30-69) on the 10rh. Today Bob Porterfield (2-0, 2.12 ERA, 29.2 IP, 18 K’s, 0.88 WHIP) pitched against Joe Nuxhall (12-6, 1.74 ERA, 155.1 IP, 103 K’s, 0.79 WHIP). We took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single by Banks that drove Al Rosen around to score from second. Porterfield allowed a hit and a walk to start the bottom of the inning, but he got two pop-outs and a strikeout to strand both runners as the sun dipped below the horizon. We loaded the bases in the top of the fourth, but Poppell struck out swinging to end the frame with us still leading by a run. And in the bottom of the inning Porterfield surrendered a three-run blast to Red Schoendienst, his 33rd homer of the year, to put Philly ahead 3-1. Richie Ashburn batted in another run with a single, but was picked off trying to steal second and we went into the top of the fifth trailing 4-1. Willie Mays hit a sac-fly to drive Rosen in from third for a run in the top of the fifth, and then Daniel Howard pinch-hit for Porterfield in the top of the sixth and got a high fly ball into deep center field, using his legs to power through an inside the park homer! UNBELIEVABLE! That cut the margin to a single run!

Vern Law came in to pitch in the bottom of the sixth with the Philllies up 4-3, giving up a hit to Burgess and walking Schoendienst but getting out of the inning unblemished, and he did the same in the bottom of the seventh, getting three quick outs to keep us in the game. Law was very efficient, getting us an out in the bottom of the eighth on just his 23rd pitch of the game, but Willie Jones hit a two-run blast into the right field stands and made it a 6-3 game. Larry Jansen came out with two outs and the bases empty, and got a quick out on an amazing catch at third by Robinson, and we had our work cut out for us in the top of the ninth. Dick Whitman pinch-hit for Crandall and got a quick single into right, taking first, bringing up Bouchee who was hitting for Jansen with Koufax warming up in the bullpen. Unfortunately, Bouchee took it to a full count and then hit into a double play. They walked Poppell, who, with the count 0-2 on Rosen, stole second! But Rosen struck out swinging and stranded him there on second, and we lost this one 6-3, losing the series to Philly in the process.

Porterfield took the loss, falling to 2-1 thanks to a seven hit five inning effort with five strikeouts, a walk and four earned runs. Vern Law had a solid 2.2 inning effort with three hits and a walk, but one of the hits was the two-run homer in the eighth ... he has a 3.86 ERA in his two efforts as a Cub thus far, but has looked impressive -- Philly is just a tough team, better than their record would indicate, and these two losses keep them within 13 games of a pennant shot. They outhit us 10-9 tonight, with Mays batting in a run with a sac fly and Banks getting a hit and an RBI. Al Rosen scored both our runs, off a hit and an error, and “Jackrabbit” Poppell got himself a hit, a walk and two stolen bases to bring his total on the year to 50 bags.

Our lead against the Dodgers has now been cut to three games. Over in the AL, the Yankees are feeling tense as well -- they have a 68-36 record but Detroit (62-38) has won eight of their last ten games to pull within four of the Bronx Bombers. Cleveland (59-42) is still within striking distance at 7.5 games back, and the Boston Red Sox are 52-49 and clinging to hope with a 14.5 game deficit to overcome.