[jksander]

AUGUST 23, 1956 . . . We have a big weekend with winnable games if we can get into our normal groove -- three games Thursday through Saturday against the Giants (54-66) and a pair on Sunday against the Pirates (60-61). Today Saul Rogovin (17-4, 1.93 ERA, 233.1 IP, 286 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) pitched against Bill Lemon (4-10, 5.20 ERA, 91.2 IP, 29 K’s, 1.68 WHIP). The Giants capitalized quickly in the top of the first, scoring a run with two outs against them as Bill White beat out an infield blooper to drive Hector Lopez in to put them up 1-0 as nearly 32,000 Cubs fans booed heartily. Rosen reached safely on a fielding error by their third baseman in the bottom of the fourth, advancing to third on a double by Robinson. Mays then got one into right field, tying the score with a single that put runners on the corners. Al Kaline hit an RBI single with one out to put us up 2-1 and advancing Mays into scoring position, and a wild pitch allowed both runners to advance, Lemon choosing to walk Maris rather than risk a homer -- though that meant putting Crandall up with just one out, which is just as dangerous in my book! Sure enough, he got a hit into right field and added a run to our tally, and Rogovin hit a blistering line drive to right field that added two more. Poppell walked to reload the bases, and Robinson got his second hit of the inning to keep them loaded and increase our lead to 6-1! Mays hit to the second baseman who made a great throw to first to end the inning, but we headed into the fifth up by five when we’d trailed 1-0 just half an hour earlier.

Roger Maris hit an RBI triple to make it 7-1 in the top of the fifth, and Rogovin struck out three batters in the top of the sixth after giving up a double, giving him 10 for the game through six innings. Luis Aparicio hit a solo homer to give the Giants their second run of the day, and they walked in a third run with the bases loaded a moment later, but Rogovin got out of it with his 12th strikeout, and we went into the stretch still leading 7-3. Ed Bouchee pinch hit for Rogovin with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, walking in a run to add to our lead, and Jake Poppell hit a sharp drive that bounced off the third-baseman’s glove, allowing everyone to advance and adding another run to make it a seven-run lead. Rosen walked in a run to make it 10-3 Cubs, and Robinson hit one deep into left field to score another pair. Willie Mays then added insult to injury for the Giants, hitting a 3-run power bomb into the bleachers, and the rout was on! We went into the top of the eighth leading 15-3, and Erskine came in and struck out the side in the top of the eighth. And with the lead unchanged, he got us through the ninth inning unscathed as well, completing the win as we blasted the Giants by a dozen.

Rogovin improved to 18-4 with a 1.98 ERA, allowing six hits and four walks but striking out 12 batters, allowing just three runs. Erskine didn’t allow a single hit in his two innings, notching a walk and four strikeouts as he improved his ERA to 4.37. We outhit the Giants 16-6, led by Al Kaline with four hits two runs and an RBI. Jackie Robinson hit three times for two runs and three RBIs, improving his average to .316 and getting him closer to his first back-to-back 100-RBI season, while Willie Mays added three hits, three runs and four RBIs to his tally while he improved to 44 homers on the season. Mays now has 131 RBIs this season, beating his career high of 127 set two years ago here in Chicago. He also has now beaten his previous home-run record of 43, which he set in 1953 when he first arrived in our city. He’s now just twenty dingers away from reaching the 200-homer threshhold, and he’s only 25! Meanwhile, Poppell had a rare day without a hit or a steal, snapping a six game streak with two steals or more in a game.

AUGUST 24, 1956 . . . Camilo Pascual (9-8, 2.96 ERA, 155.0 IP, 103 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) started for us today, facing Ted Abernathy (14-12, 2.93 ERA, 227.2 IP, 153 K’s, 0.96 WHIP) in the second of our three matchups against the Giants. We got on the board quickly, Jackie Robinson hitting a solo blast into the bleachers, his 26th this year, to put us up 1-0. Del Crandall broke it open in the bottom of the fourth, batting in three runs with a double to push the lead to 4-0! The Giants got a run in thanks to an RBI single by Jim Gilliam in the top of the fifth, and then moments later Norm Siebern hit himself a double that scored two more before he got greedy and was picked off trying to turn the double into a triple. That cut our lead to one run heading to the bottom of the fifth, and in the top of the sixth they tied it up with a solo bomb by Wally Post. Kaline tripled to start the bottom of the sixth, and Pascual batted in the go-ahead run, Kaline scoring to put us up 5-4! Robinson picked up a double to start the bottom of the seventh, and he came around to score on an RBI double by Kaline to make it 6-4 Cubs.

Vern Law came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, but he had a horrible effort, walking Norm Cash and Norm Siebern, then after getting an out by fielder’s choice, he made the absolute worst pitch to Bill Taylor, who took it all the way out of the park for a three-run homer and the lead, 7-6. Koufax came in to relieve him, getting the two outs and sending us into the bottom of the inning with work to do. After a solid ninth inning by Koufax, we remained down by a run heading into the bottom of the final frame, and three straight pop-outs ended the game as a 7-6 loss as we continue to struggle closing out games at home. At this rate September is going to be maddening indeed.

Vern Law blew the save and took the loss in his short stretch of this game, getting only one out as he gave up two walks, a hit and three earned runs to blow what Pascual had started. Pascual gave us seven innings with five hits and three strikeouts, but he walked four batters and gave up four earned runs himself, so it wasn’t exactly a pristine performance. But we’d had a chance, until we didn’t. Koufax was solid with 1.2 innings of one hit, one walk two strikeout ball, but all his work couldn’t will our hitters to get him the win despite us getting 12 hits in the game. Robinson led the way with a single, a double and a homer, falling one triple short of a cycle while scoring twice and batting in a run, while Kaline added three hits two runs and an RBI himself as well.
 
AUGUST 25, 1956 . . . Tom Acker (6-5, 4.14 ERA, 108.2 IP, 79 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) got the start today against Jack Sandford (3-4, 3.41 ERA, 89.2 IP, 46 K’s, 1.19 WHIP), with Cohen and Rogovin likely to go tomorrow in the doubleheader against Pittsburgh on short rest. The Giants took an early 1-0 lead off an RBI single by Bill White, but Robinson’s hot hitting streak continued with a triple in the bottom of the first, and Willie Mays’ 45th homer put us back in the lead 2-1! Jack Sandford hit a two-run homer in the top of the second to retake the lead for New York 3-2, and Acker continued to struggle in the third, giving up two more runs before finally getting out of the inning as the crowd grew restless. Poppell continued his cold streak, notching his second strikeout of the game in the bottom of the third as he continues to struggle to reach first, his first cold streak as a major leaguer. And despite getting two runners into scoring position, we again came up empty, searching for a spark to get something good going for us. Acker got through the fourth without another run scoring, but they made him throw a lot of pitches and we were almost certain to have to go to the bullpen in the next inning. We loaded the bases but came up empty yet again in the bottom of the fourth, and we brought spot starter Bob Porterfield in to pitch heading into the fifth.

Al Kaline gave us a huge boost of morale in the bottom of the fifth, hitting a two-run homer into the left field bleachers to pull us within a run with his 22nd homer of the season. And in the bottom of the sixth, Porterfield got himself a hit into right field, and Poppell finally got himself a hit, with Robinson loading the bases for Mays with our second loaded-bases-with-one-out situation of the afternoon. And just like clockwork, Mays batted into a double play, this one a 6-2-3 sequence that got the out at home and then the out at first. I still can’t believe these chances we keep blowing, and there was definitely a contingent of our home fans booing as we went out to field. Porterfield stayed sharp from the mound, however, and we still just trailed 5-4 heading into the stretch. Carl Erskine came out to pitch in the top of the eighth with the score unchanged, getting three efficient outs to keep us in the game. Poppell walked to start the bottom of the inning, quickly stealing second and third, and they walked Rosen which brought Robinson up to the plate with a chance to really make something out of this rally opportunity! BOOM! Sharp hit into left field, driving Poppell home to tie it and giving us a runner in scoring position. Willie Mays was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Ernie Banks got himself a hit into center, batting in two runs to give us a 7-5 lead! Erskine came back out for the top of the ninth, with Koufax warming up just in case -- everything had happened so fast we didn’t think to start warming him. Which immediately bit us in the ass, as Erskine gave up a solo homer to Ed Bailey, cutting the lead to one. Koufax came out at that point, walking Norm Cash, but leadoff man Gilliam popped one up right into Sandy’s glove for the first out. He walked Hector Lopez, putting the tying run in scoring position, but Red Wilson popped it straight to Poppell, who got out one at second and threw successfully to Rosen at first to complete the double play and save the 7-6 victory.

Acker struggled, going four innings with four hits, eight walks, three strikeouts and five earned runs, but Porterfield bailed him out with three no-hit innings, and Erskine came out of it with the win, improving to 5-3 with a hit and an earned run in his one inning of work. Koufax completed his 17th save of the year with two walks, giving him a 3.27 ERA through 71.2 innings. His season has not gone well at all to this point following his Rookie of the Year campaign last season -- 0.9 WAR off a 5-7 record and 1.31 WHIP through his 44 appearances. But he’s only going to be turning 21 in the offseason and I’m all in on this kid’s future once he improves his control. We outhit them 11-5 in the comeback performance, led by Robinson (two hits, two runs, one RBI), Mays (two hits, two runs, two RBIs), Banks (two hits, two RBIs) and Kaline (one hit, one run, two RBIs), all at the heart of the order. And Poppell sparked the rally in the end, getting a hit, two walks, two steals and a run on the ground as he now has 92 steals, almost certain to reach the unheard-of mark of 100+ steals for a rookie.