[jksander]

OCTOBER 4, 1956
WORLD SERIES GAME TWO
New York Yankees (0-1) at Chicago Cubs (1-0)

1:05 PM -- Wrigley Field ... Attendance: 45,366
Weather: Clear Skies, 57 Degrees ... Wind blowing out to right at 9 miles per hour

NEW YORK STARTER: Whitey Ford (16-7, 3.46 ERA, 244.2 IP, 153 K’s, 1.32 WHIP)
CHICAGO STARTER: Saul Rogovin (23-4, 2.09 ERA, 288.1 IP, 353 K’s, 0.82 WHIP)

The Yankees were the first to score in the second game of the Series, Hank Thompson hitting a solo blast into right in the top of the second to put the Bronx Bombers up 1-0, and Whitey Ford lived up to his reputation, proving to be incredibly difficult to hit. Depite the weather favoring hitters, both pitchers kept the environment fully pressurized, and that homer by Thompson remained an outlier deep into the game. Mays had a base hit in the bottom of the fourth, just our third of the game, but was left stranded. Kaline got himself an infield hit to start the bottom of the fifth, but he was picked off on a fielder’s choice that put Maris on first and then Del Crandall hit into a double play. For the third inning in a row we led off with a hit in the bottom of the sixth, this time Rogovin successfully bunting to take his base, and this time we did something with it -- Al Rosen hit a homer into right field to suddenly put us in the lead 2-1! In the top of the seventh, Rogovin put Sievers and Berra in scoring position, then struck out pinch-hitter Charlie Maxwell and Hank Thompson, completing the escape with a strikeout of Ford to get out of the inning and into the stretch still holding our one-run lead. With a runner on, Mantle had a chance to put the Yankees back up, but he popped out to short and ended the inning with their time running out.

The Yankees came up to bat again in the top of the ninth still trailing by a run, but Rogovin gave up a solo blast to Sievers to tie things up, and suddenly this game was anyone’s again. Berra took his base on balls, but Archie Wilson struck out swinging. Thompson walked, and then Grady Hatton struck out for the second out, bringing up Bob Cerv to pinch hit. He popped out to center, however, ending the inning knotted up 2-2, with the heart of our order coming up to bat! Willie Mays swung for the fences and narrowly missed out on a homer, but the carom off the Ivy worked well enough to get him a triple. Robinson popped out to short, Banks walked, and then Kaline got an infield hit, but they squeezed Mays out at home plate leaving us Banks and Kaline on base with Maris coming up to bat. Maris got off a hit into center, and we gave Banks the signal to go for home and he made it in headfirst ... SAFE! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! We’re heading now to New York with a 2-0 series lead after the incredible 3-2 victory!

Saul Rogovin came out of this one with the win, after thinking it was gonna go to extras and Koufax. He only allowed six hits through nine innings, walking three and striking out 11 batters while giving up just two earned runs. His ERA sits now at 2.00. We outhit the Yankees 9-6 in a tight battle, led by Al Rosen, who hit twice for a run and two RBIs, while Roger Maris had another great game with two hits and an RBI. Right now Rosen is hitting .750 through two playoff games, while Mays is batting .675 and Maris is .500, leading the team with three RBIs.