[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 3, 1956 . . . Not too many of these doubleheaders left this year -- tonight for game one against St. Louis, Carl Erskine (5-3, 4.28 ERA, 73.2 IP, 68 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) got the start, with the expectation of getting through at least four innings before we would go to our expanded bullpen. Al Rosen batted in a run with a single in the top of the third, with Poppell scoring the run that put us up 1-0. Erskine stayed sharp through the fifth inning, getting through the lineup twice and holding the slim shutout lead, and his arm was still going strong through the sixth, setting down Andy Carey and Frank Bolling to send us into the top of the seventh still ahead by one. Roger Maris hit a two-run blast in the top of the inning to put us up 3-0, his 15th homer of the season, and Vern Law took over for him after the stretch, Erskine having thrown nearly 70 pitches, by far his highest workload of the season. Law was incredibly efficient pitching to contact, getting three quick outs off just four pitches, and with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth we added a run, as Roger Maris beat out a weak hit to reach first safely. Law gave up a triple to start the bottom of the eighth, got the next two outs with ease, and then pinch-hitter Charlie Neal hit an RBI single to put the Cardinals on the board and sending us into the top of the ninth with a three-run advantage. Don Demeter, our top 20 fielding prospect we just called up from AA for September, pinch-hit for Law to start the inning, his first MLB plate appearance and he took the count full, but popped out to center field for our first out. Poppell got himself a walk, then stole a pair and came home off an infield RBI single by Rosen to make it 5-1! Hersh Freeman came in to close out the game, getting two outs but loading the bases before getting the final out successfully, a popout by pinch hitter Russ Nixon to close out the 5-1 win.

Carl Erskine, in his first start, came out with the win, giving him a 6-3 record and a 3.95 ERA with three hits, four strikeouts and no runs. Law got his third hold of the year, going two innings with two hits and a run, amd Freeman gave up three hits but didn’t do any damage, improving his ERA to 5.35. We outhit St. Louis 11-8, led by Rosen (two hits, a run, two RBIs), Robinson (two hits) and Maris (two hits, a run, three RBIs). Poppell also hit once and walked once, stealing four bases and scoring twice.

Tom Acker (7-5, 4.10 ERA, 120.2 IP, 90 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) started game two, facing off against Dean Stone (1-6, 6.27 ERA, 51.2 IP, 30 K’s, 1.65 WHIP). With the bases loaded, top of the first, Jackie Robinson batted into a double play but Poppell scored from third to put us up 1-0. But the Cards got on the board quickly this time, Stan Musial hitting an RBI single to tie it up in the bottom of the first. We loaded the bases in the top of the third and Al Rosen walked in to score a run, with Al Kaline taking his base on balls to put us back up 2-1, and a Roger Maris sac-fly to center drove home a third. Willie Mays hit his 49th homer of the year, a two-run blast in the top of the fourth, to break this one open, and we led by four going into the top of the fifth. Acker got us through the seventh, and Larry Jansen came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, the lead still at four runs. Wally Moon hit an RBI single to drive in a run, but Jansen powered through and completed the inning, then leading off in the top of the ninth with a line drive to right, Poppell advancing him to second with a single of his own into center. Rosen walked the bases loaded, and Mays drove in a pair with an RBI single to center. Jackie Robinson hit a line drive to load the bases, and Al Kaline hit one deep into center for a three-RBI double that blew this one wide. Leading by eight, we kept Jansen out for the final frame, and he put away the bottom of their order quietly to complete the 10-2 blowout win.

Tom Acker is now 8-5 with a 3.95 ERA, having pitched seven innings with six hits, eight strikeouts, one walk and one earned run. Jansen had two innings with one hit, one walk, one strikeout and one earned run, and we outhit the Cardinals 11-7. Willie Mays hit three times with three runs and four batted in, Robinson added two hits and a run, and Poppell hit once, walked once and scored twice. We’ll go into the final game of the series against them after an off day, holding onto an incredible 11-game win streak and a four-game lead on Brooklyn.
 
SEPTEMBER 5, 1956 . . . Hy Cohen (28-3, 1.93 ERA, 266.1 IP, 262 K’s, 0.82 WHIP) started today against St. Louis’ Vinegar Bend Mizell (8-15, 4.47 ERA, 223.2 IP, 117 K’s, 1.38 WHIP). Jack Poppell walked the bases loaded in the top of the second and then Mizell walked Rosen, giving us a 1-0 lead as Roger Maris crossed home plate to score. Then Willie Mays hit one deep into center, coming out of it with a two-run double, which was immediately followed by a Robinson two-run double that gave him 110 RBIs on the year and us a 5-0 lead. Banks kept the hits coming, driving Robinson home with a single and then the Cards finally got themselves out of the inning. Cohen hit himself a triple in the top of the third, and he got to score a rare run when Poppell drove him in with an RBI single to make it 7-0 Cubs. Ernie Banks hit a solo blast to left, his 31st homer of the season, in the top of the fourth, and Poppell scored a run on a fielder’s choice in the top of the fifth to put us up by nine. Ernie Banks doubled to drive in our 10th run of the game, and we pulled Cohen after the fifth inning with the game completely under control, wanting to give him a chance to rest his arm for the postseason stretch run. Bob Porterfield came in to pitch with the lead still 10-0 in the bottom of the sixth, and he kept them scoreless through the sixth and seventh, our guys adding a run in the top of the eighth thanks to a Willie Mays RBI single. Jackie Robinson then poured salt in their wounds with a 3-run homer, his 31st this season, victory-lapping his way to a 14-point lead. Porterfield hit into a double play in the top of the ninth but still drove in another run, and Poppell hit a line drive into right to add yet another with a standing double. Porterfield stayed out to finish the game, and St. Louis managed to get on the board with a two-run homer by Hal Rice, but the die was cast and we eventually won the game 16-2.

Hy Cohen improved to 29-3 with a five-inning three hit five strikeout game, improving his ERA to 1.89 in a game he barely had to break a sweat to win. Porterfield was impressive, coming in to mop this up and coming out of it with a four inning save, allowing just five hits, two walks, striking out five and giving up the two earned runs. His ERA is now 3.38 through 64 innings, with a 3-3 record overall through 14 appearances. We outhit them 17-8, with Robinson continuing to look superhuman -- he hit twice and scored three runs, driving in six, while Willie Mays hit four times to score two and drive in three. Ernie Banks had three hits for a run and three RBIs, putting him seven RBIs from 100 in his third of four seasons -- six more RBIs will give him 400 in his career! He’s happy being the guy who gets hits when we need them and then spends hours signing autographs for kids -- no wonder he’s a fan favorite, and we’re hoping to have a contract announced before the playoffs that will keep him here well into the future as a franchise player.

SEPTEMBER 8, 1956 . . . We have a single game against the Milwaukee Braves today, followed by a doubleheader tomorrow, all three here at Wrigley. We’ll then hit the road for ten games over a two-week span before returning to complete the season here in front of the best fans in baseball. Our win streak is now at 12 games, with the Dodgers still trailing us by four games with our magic number at 15. Saul Rogovin (20-4, 2.07 ERA, 256.1 IP, 313 K’s, 0.79 WHIP) started today against Warren Spahn (11-18, 3.73 ERA, 241.1 IP, 108 K’s, 1.33 WHIP) who at this point is relying on his ability to control the ball despite quickly declining ‘stuff.’

This place was PACKED as we got the game started, and Spahn struggled in the bottom of the first, giving up a single to Poppell and then walking Rosen and Mays, which made it easy for Robinson to drive in a run despite flying out to center for our first out. Kaline got a two-out hit into center to drive in another, but Maris popped out to right or it could have gotten ugly fast. Milwaukee got on the board in the top of the second with a Dick Wilson solo homer that barely went over Mays’ glove into the stands, and Spawn settled in to keep us from adding aything in the bottom of the frame. Banks drove in a run with a groundout in the bottom of the third to make it a 3-1 lead, and a wild pitch allowed Al Kaline to come in and make it a three-run lead. Al Rosen hit a solo homer, his 17th of the year, to make it a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth, and Maris hit his 16th homer of the year, a two-run blast that make it a six run lead in the bottom of the sixth.Rogovin struck out the side to send us into the stretch leading 7-1, and he stayed in to complete the game and make sure it stayed that way. Win number thirteen in a row, and we’re ready for tomorrow’s doubleheader!

Rogovin, having reached 20+ wins for the second year running, now has a 21-4 record and a 2.04 ERA, getting through today’s game with six hits, two walks, 13 strikeouts and just one earned run. He now has 326 strikeouts on the year, giving him a real shot at the single-season record, though if we clinch early he’ll get more rest at the end of the month rather than risk burning out his arm. This was a tight battle for hits, our guys coming out with seven to the Braves’ six, but our three runs via homers plus the run scored on a wild pitch really gave us early momentum and we never let up. Six different Cubs had hits, led by Rosen (one hit, one walk, three runs and an RBI), Maris (one hit, one run, two RBIs) and Kaline (two hits, one run, one RBI).

We still lead Brooklyn by four games, while the Yankees have a 9.5 game lead on Cleveland with a magic number of 10 ... so clinching in the AL is not far off on the horizon. Our magic number is now 14.