[jksander]

MAY 10, 1957 . . . We’ve spent 82% of our season on the road, which is as hard to believe as the fact that, of our four home games prior to today’s return we’ve only won once. Luckily for us we finished the long road trip strong, and we’re 12-6 in that regard, which has kept us from falling out of the race for the NL’s lead. We’ve played the fewest home games of all major league teams this year, with the Yankees (5), Orioles (5), Red Sox (5), Cardinals (6) and Braves (6) not far off. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have a 15-5 record overall, but have played 16 of their first 20 games on their own field.

This afternoon Hy Cohen (1-2, 3.26 ERA, 38.2 IP, 26 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) started against Don Drysdale (1-3, 3.20 ERA, 39.1 IP, 22 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) in our first of four games against the Redlegs, on a clear, cool Chicago day with the wind blowing in hard from center. Good pitching weather! The Redlegs got on the board in the top of the second, Hal Smith batting in a run to put them up 1-0 with a single. Another run scored in the top of the fourth, off an RBI single by Drysdale, as Cohen continued to have difficulty getting outs off contact -- allowing eight hits in the first four innings of play. I can tell he’s becoming frustrated, as our batters never seem to find hits against opposing pitchers when he’s on the mound this year to back him up. Roger Maris got a hit and stole two bases in the bottom of the fourth, but Mays and Robinson couldn’t get a hit to bring him home, keeping us scoreless. Kaline had a great hit into right that should have been a homer, but the wind blew it foul and we failed again to score in the bottom of the fifth. Cohen bunted successfully for a hit to start the bottom of the sixth, and Poppell hit a sac-bunt to move him to second base. Al Rosen then finally got a hit into right field, advancing Cohen to third, and Cohen made it home to score our first run thanks to a sac-fly to deep center by Maris. A wild pitch advanced Rosen to second, so they walked Willie Mays for the second time this afternoon, setting up Robinson nicely ... but they walked him too, bringing Ernie Banks up with the bases loaded and a pair of outs. He hit it straight to their center fielder, however, sending us into the seventh still trailing 2-1. Don Demeter came in to pinch-hit for Cohen in the bottom of the seventh, laying down a soft hit into left field, and a Jack Poppell hit into a fielder’s choice moved Del Crandall to third, Poppell quickly stealing second to give us two in scoring position. But Rosen grounded out to first and ended the rally attempt quickly.

Don Gross came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, and he pitched efficiently to get us back up to the plate. Maris got us going with an infield single, and yet again we wound up with the bases loaded, two outs, and this time Del Crandall up to the plate. And yet again, groundout to first, end of inning, still trailing by one. Gross stayed out and got us three quick outs in the top of the ninth, and with Carl Erskine and Dick Drott warming up in the bullpen, Ed Bouchee came in to pinch hit with a chance to rally to tie the game or walk off with a win. Bouchee batted out to the left fielder at the wall for out number one. Poppell walked and stole second, and Al Rosen got a wicked hit off the end of his bat but it, like the one by Kaline earlier in the game, blew way foul. Damn it! His next hit popped out straight to the catcher for our second. Poppell quickly stole third to get in quick scoring position, and they walked Maris, putting Mays on base with a plunk to the shoulder -- bases loaded, AGAIN ... two outs, AGAIN ... but this time Robinson was patient from the plate and wound up taking his base on balls to tie this game up 2-2! They then walked Banks as well, suddenly gifting us the game! That was unexpected, but we got out of here with a 3-2 victory!

Hy Cohen pitched seven innings and allowed eight hits, striking out seven without a walk -- his two earned runs giving him a 3.15 ERA through his first six starts for his third no-decision of the season. Don Gross has proven to be cool, calm and collected out of the bullpen, allowing one hit in his two innings, keeping them from scoring and giving us a chance in this one. Cincinnati outhit us 9-7, but we made up the difference with strong baserunning -- Poppell had a walk, three steals and a run scored, while Maris hit twice, walked once, stole two bases and scored a run, batting in another. We also had eight walked batters, while they had none, so while I’m glad we picked up the win, I’m concerned that we made it so hard on ourselves.

MAY 11, 1957 . . . Saul Rogovin (3-2, 1.71 ERA, 42.0 IP, 45 K’s, 0.83 WHIP) is ready to go today against Cincy’s Max Surkont (3-0, 1.30 ERA, 27.2 IP, 12 K’s, 1.01 WHIP), a recent claimed acquistion off waivers from Detroit who pitched a five-hit shutout of the Giants in his first game with the Redlegs. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the first but came up empty. And the Redlegs took advantage in the top of the third, getting runners on the corners and then Frank Robinson hitting a three-run blast out to left, digging us a nice deep 3-0 hole. But Ernie Banks hit an RBI double that scored two runs to get us right back into the game in the bottom of the fourth, a Kaline RBI single tying it all up 3-3, and it stayed that way deep into the game, both pitchers dueling efficiently to keep their teams in it. In the top of the ninth Rogovin gave up a two-run homer to Frank Robinson, his second multi-run homer of the game, and Carl Erskine came in, no outs, no one on, to try and give us a chance. He got us the three outs we needed, but Rosen, Maris and Mays were unable to rally and we lost this one 5-3.

Rogovin slips to 3-3 with the loss, an eight hit, nine strikeout effort that led to five earned runs, all off Frank Robinson’s bat. This time we outhit Cincinnati 12-8, outwalked them 2-0 and Robinson stole his fifth base, but our continued inability to prevent the long ball damned us yet again. Robinson had three hits, a walk and scored a run on the ground, while Mays hit three times and scored as well. Banks and Kaline batted in all our runs. The series is going to come down to tomorrow’s doubleheader, as right now we’re tied up.

After the game, a writer from the Sun-Times pointed out to me that Al Rosen, who didn’t get on base today, snapped a 55-game streak of at least getting on base. That’s an incredible stretch even if it doesn’t come close to either of Ted Williams’ epic on-base streaks.
 
MAY 12, 1957 . . . Camilo Pascual (3-0, 2.67 ERA, 33.2 IP, 23 K’s, 0.89 WHIP) got the start in game one against Larry Jansen (0-1, 10.12 ERA, 5.1 IP, 4 K’s, 2.25 WHIP). We got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by Ernie Banks, giving us a 1-0 lead. But they tied it up in the top of the seventh, a Frank Robinson sac-fly to center driving in a run by Kluszewski. Del Crandall hit a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh, just his second of the year, to make it 2-1 Cubs, and Al Rosen hit his first homer of the year in the bottom of the eighth to give us a two-run lead. Pascual got himself through the rest of the game unblemished, throwing 88 pitches as he helped us beat the Redlegs 3-1.

Pascual only surrendered three hits all day, striking out four and walking no one, allowing just one earned run as he improved to 4-0 with a 2.32 ERA this season in just his fifth start. We outhit the Redlegs 8-3 in a game that barely lasted two hours! Rosen and Crandall led with their homers, while Maris had two hits and a walk, and Robinson hit twice and scored a run on the ground.

Sandy Koufax (2-1, 2.61 ERA, 31.0 IP, 23 K’s, 0.94 WHIP) pitched in the second game, facing Luis Perez (2-2, 2.79 ERA, 29.0 IP, 18 K’s, 1.31 WHIP). Maris batted in a run by Poppell to get us going in the bottom of the first, and Willie Mays hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the third to make it a 3-0 lead thanks to his sixth homer of the season. Don Gross came in to take over in the top of the eighth, pitching around a runner who reached base on a Banks error, getting us through the inning with the shutout still secure. Willie Mays hit a two-run blast out to right, his second homer of the game, to make it a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth, and Gross stayed out to finish the game as we easily bested the Redlegs.

Koufax is now 3-1 with a 2.13 ERA, giving us seven innings today with six hits and 10 strikeouts. Don Gross earned his second save of the season, allowing one hit during his two innings. Since debuting with two walks and no outs in the overtime loss to Philly on May 4th, he’s been exceptional in relief, getting through 8.1 innings with just three hits allowed and no earned runs, giving him a 0.60 WHIP. Cincinnati outhit us 7-5, but Willie Mays was too much for them, going off for two homers with four runs batted in, propelling him right back into this year’s home run race, just one behind Mickey Mantle as he defends his long-ball title.