[jksander]

JUNE 4, 1957 . . . Hy Cohen (5-2, 1.98 ERA, 81.2 IP, 60 K’s, 0.87 WHIP) went up against Brooklyn’s Billy O’Dell (7-1, 1.75 ERA, 77.0 IP, 52 K’s, 0.88 WHIP) in a battle of top starters. And O’Dell came out and made a statement, striking out our side in the top of the first. Robinson committed an error on what should have been an easy second out in the bottom of the inning, but was lucky the ball was foul. So Cohen was able to answer with three quick pop-outs after all and keep his game perfect as well. The duel was on from there ... but the Dodgers struck first, scoring on an RBI single by Bill Mazeroski in the bottom of the second to go up 1-0. Al Kaline got our first hit of the game in the top of the third, and it was a GOOD ONE, a solo homer into right that tied us up 1-1, and Cohen struck out a pair to keep it that way as the sun set in the bottom of the third. Willie Mays hit a two-run blast in the top of the fourth to give us a 3-1 lead, and Kaline hit his second of the game in the top of the fifth to make it a three-run lead! Mays and Robinson added back-to-back RBI triples in the top of the sixth, and Kaline added an RBI single to make it a 7-1 lead heading into the bottom of the inning. Robinson hit another run scoring triple in the top of the eighth, and though Cohen gave up a meaningless homer to Duke Snider in the bottom of the ninth, this one was all wrapped up, a surprisingly easy 8-2 victory.

Cohen improved to 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA, allowing just five hits and two earned runs, walking one and striking out 12 batters. We only outhit them 8-5, but had half a dozen multi-base hits which more than made the difference. Kaline and Mays each had two hits, two runs and three RBIs, though both of Kaline’s were homers while Mays only hit one long ball. Robinson hit twice for a run and two RBIs as well, including two triples.
 
JUNE 5, 1957 . . . Sandy Koufax (5-2, 1.61 ERA, 61.2 IP, 52 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) is up tonight against Brooklyn’s Johnny Podres (4-2, 2.83 ERA, 63.2 IP, 24 K’s, 1.16 WHIP). Willie Mays hit a home run in the top of the second to put us up 1-0 with his 13th four-bagger of the season, But that was our only hit for a long while, as both pitchers were locked in. Al Rosen got our second hit of the night in the top of the sixth, and it too went all the way, giving us a 2-0 lead with his sixth homer of the year. Duke Snider hit a homer for the Dodgers in the bottom of the sixth to pull them to within a run, and Frank Thomas tripled with just one out. With two outs, Mazeroski batted in the tying run with a single, Koufax finally getting out of the inning with a strikeout to Bobby Morgan. Banks hit a single in the top of the seventh, but Kaline batted into a double play to send us into the stretch knotted up at 2-2. Mike McCormick came in to pitch in the bottom of the inning, and though Don Hoak got on base and managed to advance as far as third, McCormick got us through without surrendering a run, and Al Rosen hit another homer in the top of the eighth, scoring two runs to give us a two-run lead! Maris tripled and then Mays batted him in to score with a single, giving us a solid 5-2 cushion heading into the bottom of the frame. But the Dodgers didn’t quit -- McCormick allowed a two-run homer by Roy Campanella to pull them back within a run, and we brought Dick Drott in to get us through the remainder. The wind worked in our favor again in the top of the ninth, with Ernie Banks adding his eighth homer of the year to the tally to buy us a run back, and Drott closed things out efficiently to get us out of there with a 6-4 win.

Koufax was solid through six innings with five hits, a walk and seven strikeouts to go with two earned runs, dropping his ERA slightly to 1.73. McCormick picked up his first win of the year, starting out 1-0 with his ERA still bloated at 9.00, allowing three hits and two earned runs. And Drott came out and did what needed to be done, with 1.1 innings of one walk one strikeout ball, improving his ERA to 3.38 on the year. We had eight hits ourselves, led by Rosen who hit two homers and batted in three runs. Mays and Banks each picked up two hits, scoring two runs and driving in three between them.

JUNE 6, 1957 . . . Saul Rogovin (7-3, 1.67 ERA, 86.0 IP, 91 K’s, 0.64 WHIP) pitched in the final game against the Dodgers, facing Sal Maglie (4-3, 1.89 ERA, 57.0 IP, 36 K”s, 0.86 WHIP). Another pitcher’s duel, this one stayed scoreless until the top of the sixth, when Jackie Robinson hit an RBI single with the bases loaded, sending Poppell around to score and put us ahead 1-0. But Ernie Banks decided to take advantage from there, removing all doubt as he hit a grand slam into center to blow this one up before the stunned Dodgers fans had a chance to blink. Ernie Banks hit another homer in the top of the eighth to make it 6-0 Cubs, and Rogovin was razor sharp down the stretch to complete the game and keep it that way. With that, we swept the Dodgers and improved our NL lead to seven games.

Rogovin improved to 8-3, allowing four hits with one walk and 13 strikeouts in the complete-game shutout. We outhit the Dodgers 7-4, easily led by Banks, who had two homers and five runs batted in. Robinson, with a hit, a run and an RBI, accounted for the remainder of our offense. We’ll head into the four-game road series in Philadelphia with a 38-13 record and a four-game winning streak.

The Yankees currently lead the AL with a 35-11 record, six games up on Detroit (31-19) and 9-1/2 games up on the Orioles (27-22). But Mickey Mantle (.349/.455/.722, 9 doubles, 18 homers) has been added to the injured list for at least the next two months due to nagging acute elbow soreness, which will leave the Yankees to rely on Charlie Maxwell in center field for the forseeable future, so I expect that margin to tighten up.