Let's Play Two!

[jksander]

JULY 31, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (13-4, 1.82 ERA, 163.0 IP, 77 K’s, 0.82 WHIP) started today’s first game, facing down Philly’s Don Newcombe (16-6, 2.50 ERA, 194.1 IP, 129 K’s, 0.91 WHIP). Earl Torgeson hit a solo homer in the top of the third to put the Phillies up 1-0, but Al Kaline hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the inning, his 10th of the year, to put us up 3-1. Robinson drove in a fourth run with an RBI single, and we went into the stretch leading still by the 4-1 margin. Epitacio Torres came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, for his first major league bullpen appearance, getting us through the inning with a pair of hits but no one scoring. Sandy Koufax came in to pitch in the top of the ninth, getting two popups and a strikeout to ice the 4-1 victory. Onward to game two and let’s put these Phillies in our rearview!

Diehl improved to 14-4 with a 1.80 ERA, giving up seven hits and a walk for a single earned run. Torres got his first hold, giving up two hits but getting out of the eighth inning on 15 pitches. And Koufax earned his 16th save of the season with a strikeout and a walk, as we calmed things down and just played the way we’d been playing before the All Star break.

Bud Watkins (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 5.0 IP, 2 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) got the start in game two, up against Bob Rush (11-6, 2.79 ERA, 167.2 IP, 143 K’s, 1.03 WHIP). The Phillies got on board quickly with a two-RBI triple by Del Ennis, and Alvin Dark batted in a third run with a single before we got out of the top of the first. Red Schoendienst added an RBI single in the top of the third to make it 4-0. Roger Maris got us on the board with a solo blast in the bottom of the fourth, his 19th of the season, pulling us within three runs. Bob Purkey came in for the top of the sixth, and he handled himself well but Bob Rush hit a solo blast into left with one out in the top of the seventh to extend the Phillies’ lead to 5-1. Bob Porterfield came in with two outs and one on, getting us into the stretch trailing by four runs. Porterfield kept us from getting blown out any worse than we already were, but there was only so much he could do. We went into the bottom of the ninth still trailing 5-1, and though Jackie Robinson hit a solo jack to right with two outs to score a run, his 33rd homer of the year, we just didn’t have a rally left in us. The Phillies beat us 5-2 and split the series.

Bud Watkins fell to 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA, giving up six hits and four earned runs off three strikeouts and a walk in five innings. Purkey came back well from his recent injury, lasting 1.2 innings with a hit, a walk and an earned run, and Porterfield gave us 2.1 innings without a hit, striking out a pair. They outhit us 7-6, with Robinson (two hits, a run and an RBI) and Maris (two hits, a run and an RBI) leading the way. We fell to 85-24 on the season, 13-7 since the All Star break, and the Phillies (72-38, 13.5 GB) held their ground. With only three more games against them this season, their odds of overcoming us are slim, but with our magic number still at 32 I know this upcoming stretch in August is going to be where we need to put it all together and come through as a team.

Boston remains eight games up on the Detroit Tigers with a 66-38 record, and though there are others in contention in that league still hanging around, Boston has been the clear front-runner since late June and they look like they’re putting things where they need to be. The Yankees, however, are on a five-game winning streak, and though they are 11.5 games back and in fourth place, it’s never a good idea to count them out of it. Jackie Robinson was named NL Player of the Month, batting .369 with 10 homers, scoring 29 times with 36 runs batted in. Hy Cohen was named NL Pitcher of the Month, going 7-0 with a 0.88 ERA, striking out 58 and walking just nine batters while surrendering just 29 hits in 61.1 innings. And Sandy Koufax was named NL Rookie of the Month, going 2-1 with 10 K’s in 14 innings, with a 2.57 ERA.

[jksander]

AUGUST 1, 1955 . . . Here is our August schedule, for those of you keeping track:

8/1-8/4: vs Pittsburgh (48-61)
8/5-8/8: vs Brooklyn (53-51)
8/9-8/11: vs Cincinnati (58-49)
8/12-8/14: vs Milwaukee (38-65)
8/16-8/18: @ Cincinnati
8/19-8/21: @ Milwaukee
8/23-8/24: @ Brooklyn
8/25, 8/27: @ Pittsburgh (48-61)
8/28-29: @ NY Giants (41-65)
8/30-31: @ Philly (72-38)

This afternoon in the first of four games against the Pirates, we’ve got a beat-up rotation and a somewhat rested bullpen. No doubleheaders this month, however, so we should be able to get back into a semblance of order, though we also don’t have a day off until the 15th, so bullpen management will still be a key component of our gameplans going forward. Camilo Pascual (12-4, 2.73 ERA, 138.2 IP, 152 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) is up next in the rotation, pitching against Bob Friend (9-8, 4.11 ERA, 162.0 IP, 79 K’s, 1.41 WHIP).

Bill Virdon, who was traded from the Giants at the deadline with pitcher Bob DiPietro for catcher Jack Shepard, picked up right where he left off during that Giants series last month, hitting an RBI single to put the Pirates up 1-0 in the top of the first. With the bases loaded, Dale Long took his base on balls and walked in a run by Rocky Colavito, putting the Pirates up 2-0 before we finally got out of the inning with a flyout by Bob Meisner. Not the start I’d hoped for, with Pascual throwing 31 pitches and looking highly vulnerable. But Al Kaline wasted no time in the bottom of the inning, hitting his 11th four-bagger to make it 2-1, and Ernie Banks hit a shot through the gap to bat in the tying run, though Robinson got greedy and tried to round second for third and was tagged out for our second out of the inning. Al Rosen flew out to left and we went into the second inning knotted up 2-2. Colavito hit a two-run blast off Pascual in the second, however, and they were back up 4-2 in the blink of an eye. Pascual got a hit into center field with two men on base in the bottom of the inning, however, and was able to load the bases with no outs, bringing up the top of our order. Kaline flew out to right, barely missing out on a second homer at the warning track, and Baker was tagged out trying to slide home. But with Purkey and Pascual in scoring position, Roger Maris got himself a double and drove in both runners to make it 4-4, sending us into the third inning tied up in a game where no one was missing out on runs. Pascual got us through the top of the fourth with no further scoring, but he’d thrown more than 80 pitches and was not showing his best stuff tonight, so we headed for the bullpen.

Bob Porterfield came out for the top of the fifth with the score still tied 4-4, getting a strikeout before allowing a Virdon single and a Garagiola double to put runners in scoring position. A strikeout of Billy Klaus got us our second out, but Porterfield got us out of it with a grounder to first to end the frame. Epitacio Torres came in with two outs and a man on first in the top of the sixth, helping strand the runner as we went into the bottom of the inning. Torres got us into the stretch still tied at four, and he beat out an infield single to give us a runner in the bottom of the seventh, starting the inning out on a great note. But Kaline hit one to short for out one, and Maris batted into a double play, stranding him. Torres got us through the eighth, and with two outs in the bottom of the inning Ernie Banks got a hit into right field, at which point Al Rosen walked. Bill Serena came in to pinch-hit for Baker, taking over at second base as well, but he flew out to center field and ended the inning still locked up at four runs each. We brought Sandy Koufax in for the ninth, and with a man on, we had a spectacular double play ... Rip Repulski hit a blistering line drive that Robinson caught midair and air-mailed to Rosen at first, a blink-and-you’d-miss-it play that had our fans cheering. Colavito hit a double, and we took no chances with Virdon, intentionally walking him to bring up Garagiola with two outs and a man in scoring position. Both runners advanced on a botched catch by Purkey at catcher, and then Garagiola took a walk on a 3-2 count. And our luck ran out, with Billy Klaus getting off a two-run double -- we got out of the inning with a strikeout after that, but suddenly trailed 6-4. We barely fought it in the bottom of the inning, going down one, two, three to end this one as a 6-4 loss to the Pirates.

Koufax took the loss, falling to 4-3 as he gave up two hits, with three walks and a strikeout, allowing two runs and bringing his ERA down to 2.52. But with Pascual only lasting four innings with six hits and four earned runs against four strikeouts and two walks, we never should have stayed in this one. Porterfield gave us 1.2 innings of solid work, just two hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks, and Epitacio Torres, the 33-year-old career minor leaguer, came up big in 2.1 innings with no hits and three strikeouts through 24 pitches in just his second major league game. Both teams had 10 hits apiece -- Maris led us with two hits for a run and two RBIs, and Kaline’s homer in the first helped us get started. Ernie Banks added a pair of hits and an RBI, and Pascual got a pair of hits and scored a run on the ground before getting the hook.

AUGUST 2, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (22-4, 1.28 ERA, 231.1 IP, 203 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) is ready to go against Pittsburgh’s Johnny Kucks (7-8, 3.38 ERA, 151.2 IP, 42 K’s, 1.31 WHIP) and he’s not looking for any nonsense. So of course he got a strikeout to start the game and then gave up a solo bomb to Rip Repulski on just the ninth pitch of the game to put the Pirates up 1-0 -- it’s just been that kind of week. And in the bottom of the third, Cohen had a terrible stretch, loading the bases and giving up a three-run triple to Virdon, our new nemesis, to make it 4-0 Pirates. This is a managerial nightmare! By the time we got out of the third inning Cohen had thrown 61 pitches, the Pirates led 5-0, and the fans on our side were starting to turn ugly. Funny how winning 85 games in the first two thirds of a season starts to spoil people ... at least they calmed down when Al Rosen hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the third to get us on the board, and Cohen got a hit into right field to drive him home, making it 5-2 Cubs. Maris hit a two-out double, but Mays grounded out to first and we headed for the fourth inning trailing by three runs. Rosen and Baker got on base in the bottom of the fifth with no outs, and Cohen laid down a sac bunt to move both of them into scoring position. But, as has been our luck lately, we were unable to do anything with them, and Cohen fell apart in the sixth, loading the bases with one out and forcing my hand. Harry Dorish came in for him, snapping an incredible streak of quality starts for Cohen, to get the two outs we needed. A pair of strikeouts did it and we were lucky to not add to our deficit.

Dorish loaded the bases himself in the top of the seventh, but he picked a man off trying to score, struck Garagiola out swinging and then got Klaus to pop out to Banks, getting us out of the high leverage situation with no runs scoring. But our bats were dead, and despite our luck in not having this game blow up completely on us, we weren’t doing anything to help our pitchers. Bob Purkey came in for Dorish in the top of the eighth and handled his business, and Bob Porterfield did the same in the ninth, sending us into the bottom of the final inning still three down. Roger Maris laid down a perfect hit into right field, coming out with a leadoff double, and they walked Mays, but the wind blew down a wicked shot by Robinson, taking what might have tied things up and turning it into an easy right field out. BUT ERNIE BANKS HIT ONE TO LEFT, LEAVING THE PARK AND TYING THINGS 5-5! OH MY LORD ... that’s 27 homers for Banks, and this one came at the perfect time! Crandall batted out to center, but they hit Rosen in the shoulder to put him on base, but Bill Serena struck out swinging and this one was headed for bonus baseball!
 
Porterfield stayed out to start the top of the 10th, but we brought Koufax in with one out and men on the corners, and he cut the runner down at home plate on a grounder to third, putting Ken Boyer on first via fielder’s choice. But Rip Repulski batted in the go-ahead run with an RBI double before Koufax could get the final out via strikeout. Koufax used good plate discipline to take a walk to start the bottom of the 10th, however, and Al Kaline said let’s finish this out, nailing a power bomb into the center field bleachers that nearly started a riot as we walked this one off 7-6! That ... was ... INCREDIBLE!

Cohen needs to buy Koufax beers for the rest of the year! He only made it through 5.1 innings, giving up five hits and five runs with five strikeouts and four walks through 99 pitches, but Koufax got us the win, improving to 5-3 with a hit and a strikeout, so all Cohen lost was his streak of quality starts. Dorish, Purkey and Porterfield gave us four innings of great work, but the hits were flying -- combined they had eight hits against four strikeouts and a walk, but only Porterfield surrendered a run -- not bad at all! We were outhit by the Pirates 14-9, but took full advantage of the hits we did get. Ernie Banks had two hits for a run and three RBIs, and Kaline had his hit and two RBIs in the 10th that sealed the deal. Maris and Baker each had two hits apiece as well, with Maris walking once and scoring a run as well.

AUGUST 3, 1955 . . . That was a LOT yesterday, so we’re hoping to have an afternoon with less tension as we face the Pirates for the third of four games here at Wrigley. Saul “Strike Force” Rogovin (17-6, 1.94 ERA, 213.0 IP, 247 K’s, 0.82 WHIP) is up in the rotation, facing Dick Hall (7-14, 3.73 ERA, 181.0 IP, 72 K’s, 1.31 WHIP). With the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, Del Crandall batted in a run via fielder’s choice base hit, putting us up 1-0 on the Pirates. Rogovin struck out the side in the top of the fifth, and he remained sharp through the top of the seventh, but Dick Hall also did well pitching to soft contact, and we went into the top of the eighth still leading by the 1-0 margin. Harry Dorish came in to pitch, striking out Virdon with Ripulski and Colavito on base, with Garagiola flying out to Maris at left to end the frame. Kaline hit a one-out triple in the bottom of the eighth, and Maris flew out to right, driving him in for an insurance run! With Koufax needing rest, Dorish stayed out for the top of the ninth, and though he struggled and loaded the bases on two outs, he got the third via a Rip Repulski flyout to right, preserving the 2-0 shutout win!

Rogovin earned his 18th win of the season, improving to 18-6 with a 1.88 ERA, giving up just two hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Dorish lasted two innings with three hits, a strikeout and two walks, bringing his ERA down to 0.87 through 52 innings and earning his third save of the year. The Pirates outhit us again, this time 5-4, but Kaline hit twice for a run, Maris added an RBI via sac-fly, Robinson scored a run with just a walk, and Crandall batted in a run with a hit. We may not have been able to string much together, but we played well as a team and made it happen.

St. Louis (32-73) has become the first team in the majors to be mathematically eliminated from pennant contention ... at 51.5 games back, But in the NL, the only team with any shot of coming back and stealing our World Series shot is Philly, and they remain 14 games back. Cincinnati (59-50) will just have to settle for fighting to stay above .500 ... their fans continue to be frustrated by owner Bobby Gray, who constantly meddles in the team’s interests and has shown no willingness to do anything that doesn’t make him huge profits.

AUGUST 4, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (14-4, 1.80 ERA, 170.0 IP, 77 K’s, 0.84 WHIP) pitched in our final game against the Pirates in this homestand, facing Dick Bessent (6-7, 3.87 ERA, 107.0 IP, 46 K’s, 1.43 WHIP). Jackie Robinson singled and then reached third on a single by Ernie Banks in the bottom of the second, and Del Crandall drove in the first run of the afternoon on a flyout to center field. Diehl used good discipline to take a walk to load the bases, and Al Kaline added to the lead with a base on balls himself, keeping the bases loaded. Bessent lacked control, walking Maris as well, and then Willie Mays got a blistering drive into the right field corner, getting himself a bases-clearing double that put us up 6-0! Pittsburgh brought in a replacement pitcher after just five outs, and finally were able to get Robinson out on strikes to end the inning. Diehl gave up a run in the top of the fourth via an RBI single by Klaus that scored Colavito, and suddenly he was visably in pain and, after a mound visit, we had to pull him.

Bob Porterfield had to come in with no warning, with two outs and men on first and second. Danny O’Connell smelled blood in the water, hitting a blazing triple off the wall at center to drive in a pair, but Porterfield got us out of the inning by striking out Ronald Minnich and we still had a 6-3 lead heading into the top of the fifth. Repulski hit his 14th homer of the year to put the team within a pair in the top of the fifth. Ernie Banks hit a double in the bottom of the inning and then stole third -- too bad Crandall grounded out to first and kept us from adding insurance. Epitacio Torres came in with two outs and a man on in the top of the sixth, getting a strikeout to keep the lead at 6-4, and Al Rosen came out and hit a blazing jack into the center field bleachers, putting us ahead by three with no outs in the bottom of the inning, his 16th bolt of the season. Roger Maris hit a flyball double, allowing Torres and Kaline to score runs, but Maris was injured sliding into second and we had to bring in Bob Will to pinch-run (and play right field, with Kaline moving over to left), the score now 9-3 but with two players now out with unspecified injuries. This could be bad.

Willie Mays flew out to right for our second out, with Will moving to third on the no-throw. Robinson walked, and then Banks got a flyball into center field, scoring our 10th run. Del Crandall loaded the bases, and then they finally got the third out via Rosen, who went down swinging. Cubs 10, Pirates 4, end of the sixth inning. The Pirates got a run back in the top of the seventh, thanks to a Ken Boyer RBI single. But our batters went on a tear in the bottom of the inning, Al Kaline adding a run-scoring double, Jackie Robinson adding an RBI single, and then loading the bases again, exiting the inning with a 12-5 lead that could have been much bigger. Tom Ferrick came in to pitch in the eighth, getting us through the last two innings as we beat the Pirates 12-5, leaving the field having taken a beating ourselves.

Diehl lasting only 3.2 innings turned this one into another bullpen game we didn’t need ... and he’d been pitching well, with just three hits, and a pair of strikeouts, to go with three unearned runs. Bob Porterfield had to come in without a proper warmup, and lasted two innings in spite of it, taking the win and improving to 2-0 with a 2.58 ERA, giving up just two hits and a run with three strikeouts and a walk. Torres got a 1.1 inning hold (his second!) with two hits, two strikeouts and a single earned run, giving him a 1.93 ERA through three appearances. And Ferrick, the 40-year-old uber-veteran, gave us two innings with three strikeouts, a walk and no hits, getting his ERA down to 6.60 as he continues to play the thankless role of “mop-up guy.” We had 12 hits to their seven, led by Ernie Banks with three hits, a run and an RBI and by Mays, who had a hit and three RBIs. We walked 12 TIMES in the game, which is just insane.

Of course now we have to deal with the injury report, and it’s extensive: Epitacio Torres strained an oblique muscle and will be day to day for at least a week. Roger Maris strained HIS oblique muscle as well, but much more severely ... he’ll be out SIX WEEKS at least, and his season is now at risk. Diehl, thankfully, just had back spasms, and should be fine to return for his next start. But losing Maris really hurts. We’ve had to put him on the 15-Day IL, and we’ve called Joe Brovia back up to the majors from AAA Los Angeles. Brovia will be our starter at left, but we’ll be playing the position by committee, with Will and Collins alternating in. It’s not optimal, but it is what we have right now heading into our four game set against the Dodgers.

[jksander]

AUGUST 5, 1955 . . . No days off, we’re right back at it, hosting the Brooklyn Dodgers (55-53) as we hang in there, battered, bruised and owners of an 88-25 record -- so don’t hear me acting like we’re struggling or anything. Camilo Pascual (12-4, 2.90 ERA, 142.2 IP, 156 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) took the mound today against Brooklyn’s Carl Erskine (2-3, 4.64 ERA, 75.2 IP, 34 K’s, 1.45 WHIP). Brooklyn got on board with an RBI triple by Sandy Amoros in the top of the second inning, and Bobby Morgan batted in a second moments later to give them a two run lead. Harry Dorish came in for us in the top of the sixth with two out and no one on, getting a strikeout, though the score remained 2-0 heading into the bottom of the inning. Willie Mays hit a monster of a jam over the center field wall to make it a 2-1 game with his 23rd homer of the year, the 101st of his career, and heading into the seventh this one was still a hard-fought battle. Dorish struck out the side in the top of the eighth, and Al Rosen pinch hit for him in the bottom of the eighth to start the inning, but he popped out to second. Kaline singled to right, and Banks hit a blazing line drive to center field, and Kaline came all the way around from first to score the tying run! Willie Mays hit a single to right that allowed Banks to get to third, and Banks scored on a flyout by Robinson to give us a 3-2 lead, our first of the game. Koufax came in and and shut things down immediately and we were able to hold on to the come-from behind 3-2 victory to keep our win streak going!

Camilo Pascual lasted 5.2 innings without a decision, giving up just four hits with two strikeouts and three walks, giving up two runs (one earned) and keeping his ERA at 2.85. Harry Dorish improved to 6-0, coming in for 2.1 innings without a hit, striking out five in the process and improving his ERA to 0.83 through 54 innings! Koufax then came out and, with the lead in hand, got his 17th save with three strikeouts and a walk, a dominant performance that simply adds to the Rookie of the Year buzz building around him. We outhit the Dodgers 8-4, led by Banks and Mays who each had two hits, a run and an RBI.

AUGUST 6, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (22-4, 1.45 ERA, 236.2 IP, 208 K’s, 0.70 WHIP) piched today against the Dodgers’ Connie Johnson (10-5, 4 SV, 3.59 ERA, 133.0 IP, 69 K’s, 1.35 WHIP). And for the second straight afternoon, Brooklyn picked up a two-run homer to start the game -- this time it was a two-run blast by Duke Snyder in the top of the first. This time we answered quickly, however. Kaline hit a massive solo blast to right, his 13th of the year, to pull us within a run in the bottom of the inning, and we went into the second inning trailing by just a 2-1 margin. Willie Mays tied us up at 2-2 thanks to his 24th homer of the year, a massive shot to left in the bottom of the fourth inning. Cohen hit a sac fly to left with the bases loaded moments later, driving in the go-ahead run, and we took a one run lead into the top of the fifth. But Gil Hodges hit a solo bomb into the bleachers at center to tie it up again 3-3, and in the blink of an eye Campanella added a two-run blast to right that put us right back in a 5-3 hole, the two-run blast coming on two outs. The Homer show continued in the bottom of the fifth, with Jackie Robinson getting a shot out of center for his 34th four-bagger of the season, sending us into the top of the sixth trailing 5-4. Cohen got us through the seventh inning, and Koufax came in for the eighth inning hoping we could keep the game within the one run margin long enough for our bats to wake up. But Bobby Morgan hit an RBI triple that brought a run in to make it a 6-4 margin, and Brooklyn added a solo homer by Campanella off of Epitacio Torres in the top of the ninth to make it a 7-4 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, Del Crandall picked up a hit into right and Ernie Banks singled, setting up Jackie Robinson for a single into center to load the bases! With two outs, Gene Baker nailed a shot into the left field corner, and just like that we’d tied it up with a triple! Joe Brovia came in to pinch hit for Collins, two outs, a man on second, and they walked him! Ed Bouchee came in to pinch hit for Epitacio Torres, and he batted into a fielder’s choice to end the inning and send us into extras, knotted up 7-7. Bob Purkey came in and got us three quick outs, and Kaline got a hit into right in the bottom of the inning, but we couldn’t make anything happen. Purkey gave up an RBI single to Duke Snyder in the top of the 11th that made the score 8-7, and it turned out that was enough. We tried to rally in the bottom of the inning, but a walk by Willie Mays wasn’t enough -- Brooklyn held tough and beat us 8-7 in 11 innings.

Cohen gave us seven innings with nine hits, nine strikeouts and five runs scored (three earned), dropping his ERA to 1.51 through 243.2 innings. Koufax came in for one inning but got dinged up, two hits and a walk for a run through 25 pitches, so Torres came in for an inning and gave up one hit (a homer) for a run. When the game went into extras, that left it to Purkey, who took the loss, falling to 3-2 with a two inning three hit one run effort. Both teams put up 15 hits apiece in this 11-inning marathon. Kaline led our team with three hits for a run and an RBI, while Mays hit once and walked twice to score and drive in a run. Baker had three hits and three RBIs, while Robinson added two hits and a walk for two runs and an RBI.

The series is now even with two games left during this homestand. We remain 14 games up on the Phillies, at 89-26.

We’ve moved Ed Bouchee down to AAA, making room for our latest pickup off the Waiver Wire, Daniel Howard. Howard, a 23-year-old left fielder, was waived by the Pirates, and he’ll give us a trustworthy fielder with good plate discipline to fill in while Maris is out with his injury. He’s only earning $12,000 for the year, so he’s an inexpensive option that keeps us from flailing at the position as we would if we had to keep doing “fielder by committee.”

[jksander]

AUGUST 7, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (18-6, 1.88 ERA, 220.0 IP, 253 K’s, 0.81 WHIP) got the start today against Booklyn’s Sal Maglie (10-9, 2.93 ERA, 190.1 IP, 115 K’s, 1.05 WHIP). Brooklyn scored first in this one, a Carl Furillo solo homer putting them up 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning. Duke Snider hit another two-run blast in the top of the sixth to make it 3-0 Dodgers. Rogovin was on fire, striking out the side in the top of the eighth, but we just couldn’t string any hits together. Koufax came in and got our three outs in the ninth, and Al Rosen opened the bottom of the frame with a solo homer to make it 3-1, his 17th of the year. But that was all we got ... they held tough, and Maglie completed his game, as the Dodgers beat us 3-1 and took a lead in this four-game series.

Rogovin took the loss, falling to 18-7 with a 1.93 ERA, giving up just four hits and three runs with 12 strikeouts against three walks. Koufax sat their ninth inning batters down one, two, three, all with soft contact, and his ERA stands at 2.43 through 66.2 innings of work. We outhit them 7-4, led by Ernie Banks with three hits to nowhere, while Jackie Robinson hit twice. Only Al Rosen got us any offense, and he waited until it was too late.

Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, the Giants and St. Louis are all now out of the race completely. Brooklyn, at 29.5 games back, is still technically in the race, and the way they’ve been playing lately against us, they hope to be spoilers for as long as possible before they too are out of contention completely. No one in the AL is officially out yet, though Baltimore (36-76, 35 GB) should be soon. The key race at this point is between Boston (71-41) and Detroit (62-48, 8 GB), though Washington (61-51, 10 GB) and the Yankees (58-52, 12 GB) are still hanging around along with the Guardians (57-54, 13.5 GB) and the White Sox (55-55, 15 GB). In our league, Philly (76-40, 13 GB) is still out there fighting, but if they manage to come back and make this a race it’s completely on us -- there are only two matchups between us left on their field and then one on ours.
 
AUGUST 8, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (12-4, 2.85 ERA, 148.1 IP, 158 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) pitched today against Brooklyn’s Johnny Podres (11-10, 4.06 ERA, 175.0 IP, 118 K’s, 1.23 WHIP). Jackie Robinson got a flyout to center that drove Al Kaline in to score the first run of the game in the bottom of the first, and Al Rosen added an RBI triple to make it a 2-0 ballgame. Ernie Banks hit a homer to left, adding a run to our margin with his 28th homer this year, sending us into the top of the sixth with a 3-0 lead on the Dodgers. Pascual dug deep and kept the shutout intact through the top of the eighth, and Ernie Banks hit his second homer of the night, this time to center, to make it a 4-0 ballgame in the bottom of the eighth. Daniel Howard got an RBI single that made it 5-0, and Camilo Pascual handed the ball to Koufax in the bottom of the inning to take us the rest of the way as we cruised to a 5-0 shutout victory.

Pascual improved to 13-4 with an eight inning three hit eight strikeout two walk shutout, dropping his ERA to 2.71. Koufax added another inning with two hits a strikeout and a walk, with his ERA improving to 2.39. We outhit the Dodgers 9-5, led by Ernie Banks with three hits three runs and two RBIs, thanks to his two homers. Al Kaline also had two hits, keeping his average at .324 so far this season, right at what he averaged last year in his rookie year, though this year he’s gotten on base more and has had eight more triples, giving him an improved slugging percentage as well.

Still no rest for the weary. With our next day off not until the 15th, we’ll be welcoming Cincinnati in for three in a row, followed by three against the Braves this weekend.

AUGUST 9, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (14-4, 1.76 ERA, 173.2 IP, 79 K’s, 0.83 WHIP) pitched tonight against Tom Poholsky (8-9, 3.96 ERA, 145.1 IP, 60 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). Willie Mays batted in a run with a single in the bottom of the first to put us up 1-0 on the Redlegs, and then Jackie Robinson got hit by a pitch for the fifth time this year, and we had to pull him AGAIN ... godDAMN! Bill Serena will come in to play third base. Daniel Howard walked in a run to make it 2-0 and we carried that lead into the second inning but the loss of Robinson definitely shook up the players in the dugout. But all you can do is play on. Al Kaline hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 5-0 game, his 14th homer of the season. Bill Serena scored a run on a sac fly by Gene Baker to make it 6-0 in the bottom of the seventh, and Diehl got himself a single to bring the top of the order back up with two on and two outs, though Kaline batted out to left to end the inning. Diehl stayed out to complete the game and held on to his six run shutout.

Robert Diehl won his 15th game, improving to 15-4 with a 1.68 ERA, thanks to a five-hit seven strikeout one walk shutout. Even without Robinson we had 12 hits, led by Kaline with three hits two runs and three RBIs. Diehl had two hits and a run scored, and Willie Mays added a pair of hits and an RBI. Daniel Howard has struggled to find hits in the majors since coming to Chicago as a fill-in for Maris, but he drew a walk today and scored a run as well. Robinson is expected to be day to day for the next week or two, after aggrivating a bone bruise on his right knee. We’ll keep him on the roster for now as a potential pinch hitter, but I need him healthy for the postseason. At his age it’s not worth taking huge risks.

AUGUST 10, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (22-4, 1.51 ERA, 243.2 IP, 217 K’s, 0.71 WHIP) pitched today against Paul Minner (4-6, 3.96 ERA, 120.1 IP, 51 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). Ernie Banks hit a sac fly to center that drove Willie Mays in to score from third in the bottom of the fourth to put us up 1-0 on the Redlegs. In the bottom of the seventh we were able to extend the lead, Al Rosen hitting a single that scored both Bill Serena and Willie Mays to make it 3-0 Cubs! And Daniel Howard, after struggling for several games to find his hititng groove, then nailed his first homer as a Cub, scoring two more runs to put us ahead by five! Cohen stayed in for the ninth, letting our bullpen continue to rest up, and though a couple sloppy throws cost him the shutout, we were able to close out a 5-1 win nonetheless, improving to 92-27 in the process.

Cohen improved to 23-4 with the win, giving up nine hits with 12 strikeouts and no walks, the one earned run keeping his ERA right at 1.50. He has now tied his wins total from last year, but with three fewer losses and in five fewer starts, giving him a 46-11 record and 2.22 ERA through 65 starts! Each team had nine hits today, we just made ours count -- Willie Mays dominated with four hits and two runs on the ground, Rosen added a hit and a walk for two RBIs and a run scored, and Daniel Howard hit his fourth career homer to bat in a pair.

AUGUST 11, 1955 . . . We’re on a roll, and we have a chance to sweep the Redlegs this afternoon, with Saul Rogovin (18-7, 1.93 ERA, 228.0 IP, 265 K’s, 0.81 WHIP) at the helm. He’s already got his career high for wins, a career high in strikeouts, and is just a few hundredths away from his career best in ERA as well. Today he’s up against Buddy Shantz (7-10, 5.93 ERA, 118.1 IP, 70 K’s, 1.83 WHIP). Del Crandall hit his 20th homer of the season to put us up 1-0 in the bottom of the third, and we added a run in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by Serena, and a third run via an RBI single by Rosen to send us into the fifth leading 3-0! Cincinnati got a triple in the top of the fifth to give Rogovin his first hit of the game, but they weren’t able to score. Rogovin closed out the shutout once again and we beat the Redlegs for the sweep, winning 3-0.

Rogovin improved to 19-7 with a 1.86 ERA, striking out nine with two walks and three hits. We had ten hits as a team despite not fielding our power lineup; Kaline, Rosen, Will and Baker each had a pair of hits, and Kaline also drew two walks.

Following the sweep, we are now 93-27 this season, and our lead is still 14 games over the 78-40 Philadelphia Phillies, putting us closer to clinching the pennant for the second year in a row. But it is becoming clear we play in the far weaker division, as the AL race continues to tighten. I am hoping we don’t repeat what happened last year, winning a huge number of games and then getting whipped by our AL masters. Right now Boston (71-44) still holds the lead, but they’re no closer to clinching than they were at the beginning of the month. In fact, Detroit (65-48, 5 GB) has been on a tear, winning six straight! Washington (62-52, 8.5 GB) and New York (61-52, 9 GB) are right there on their tails as well.

AUGUST 12, 1953 . . . Milwaukee comes to town for these last three home games of August, bringing with them a 46-68 record. Camilo Pascual (13-4, 2.71 ERA, 156.1 IP, 166 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched against Warren Spahn (11-10, 3.81 ERA, 198.1 IP, 136 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). Pascual got sloppy in the second inning and Cal Abrams got a homer off a fastball outside, putting the Braves up 1-0 in the top of the second. Hank Aaron hit one off him in the top of the third as well, batting in two more runs, as his usually solid command began to waver. An RBI single by Johnny Logan made it 4-0 Braves, and we brought Bob Purkey in with two outs and men on the corners in the bottom of the fifth. Joe Adcock hit an RBI single to add a fifth run, at which point we finally got out of the inning. Danny Lynch put us on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth, Purkey got us into the stretch with the 5-1 record unchanged, Harry Dorish came in for the last two innings, but as good as he was, Spahn was better. We lost this one 5-1, with Spahn going the distance and holding us to just five hits all day.

Pascual took the loss, falling to 13-5 with a six hit 4.2 inning afternoon, striking out seven but giving up five runs to drop his ERA to 2.91 on the season. Purkey only gave up one hit with one strikeout and one walk through 2.1 innings, and Harry Dorish struck out two in two hitless innings, but the damage was done. Kaline led the way with two hits to nowhere, with Lynch’s homer being our only offense.
 
AUGUST 13, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (15-4, 1.68 ERA, 182.2 IP, 86 K’s, 0.83 WHIP) pitched today against Johnny Antonelli (10-12, 4.35 ERA, 194.1 IP, 103 K’s, 1.36 WHIP). We loaded the bases in the bottom of the third, but were unable to get anyone around to score, and this game remained deadlocked at zero. We did it again in the bottom of the fourth, but Bill Serena batted out to center with two outs and kept everyone stranded. Willie Mays got himself a standing double in the bottom of the fifth, and they walked Banks intentionally, but Rosen batted out to left, and finally Bob Will got us on the board with a double that rolled to the center wall. For the third time this afternoon we loaded the bases, but Diehl struck out swinging and we went into the top of the sixth with a 1-0 lead. In the top of the seventh, Joe Adcock hit a triple off Diehl with no outs, giving the Braves their best shot of the day to score thus far, and they took full advantage -- Gene Woodling hit an RBI single to tie it up 1-1, and the go-ahead run scored when Antonelli hit a single that drove Gene Woodling to second ... Woodling in turn tried to take third, and when we botched a throw, he managed to come all the way around to score. What a colossal cock-up! The final strikeout secured, we went into the seventh inning stretch now trailling 2-1.

Dorish got us through the eighth, and Sandy Koufax came in for the ninth, giving up a third run on a two-out RBI single by Sam Mele, increasing our level of comeback difficulty. Willie Mays took a walk, Banks flew out to right, Rosen flew out to almost the same spot, and Joe Brovia, pinch-hitting for Will, had a home-run stolen at the wall as the wind blew it back in. Lovely. We were unable to make anything work, and we handed them a 3-1 victory, giving us two losses in a row against the lowly Braves. Now we need a win tomorrow just to avoid a sweep!

Diehl fell to 15-6 with a six hit, seven inning effort, striking out six against one walk and giving up two runs, only one of which was earned. Dorish had a no-hit, one strikeout inning, but Koufax stumbled, giving up two hits and a walk, including the final run of the game. We outhit them 9-8 but after scoring the first run of the game we simply came up dry. Mays led the way with two hits and a run, and Bob Will hit once and walked once, driving in the only run.

The Phillies won their 80th win this evening, and are now only 12 games behind us with a month and a half to go in the season. The Yankees are climbing back into the AL pennant race as well, having swept the Red Sox and won the first two of a four-game set at Baltimore. If they keep this 5-game win streak alive, they have three games at Boston August 16-18, which could seriously push this AL race into overdrive. And most of their September schedule is at home. So if you’ve been sleeping on the Yanks, I wouldn’t.

[jksander]

AUGUST 14, 1955 . . . For the final game in this homestand and in this series with the Braves, Hy Cohen (23-4, 1.50 ERA, 252.2 IP, 229 K’s, 0.72 WHIP) pitched against Bob Buhl (5-12, 5.51 ERA, 132.1 IP, 59 K’s, 1.59 WHIP). The Braves got on the board quickly in the top of the first thanks to a two-out RBI sac fly by Joe Adcock, but we got the run back thanks to an RBI single by Willie Mays in the bottom of the inning, and Ernie Banks loaded the bases by beating out an infield bounce. Daniel Howard walked in the go-ahead run, and then Buhl walked Al Rosen too, and this one looked like we might break it wide open. Buhl walked in a third run in a row via Crandall, and their manager was apoplectic, making us wonder would Buhl even make it out of the first inning? Dave Baker batted in a run on a fielder’s choice to give us our first out, and Hy Cohen flew out to center for out number two while driving home Howard. Batting for the second time in the inning, Al Kaline batted it to the shortstop who made the quick throw to second for the final out, but we’d built a stunning 6-1 lead. Buhl got replaced after one out in the second inning, but with Bill Kennedy in there in relief the game settled into a groove, with nobody scoring. Cohen put a couple into scoring position in the top of the seventh, and Bill Bruton batted a run in to make it 6-2, but we went into the stretch with a legit four-run lead still intact. Ernie Banks hit a run scoring triple to make it 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh, and Al Rosen added another, reaching first on an error that scored Banks. Al Kaline batted in another run in the bottom of the eighth, and a Mays RBI single made it 10-2 Cubs. Banks flew out to left and drove in an 11th run, and we went into the top of the ninth with a nine run lead. Cohen stayed out and completed the 11-2 victory as we successfully avoided a sweep in a blowout.

Hy Cohen improved to 24-4 on the season with a 1.51 ERA, giving up five hits for two runs with six strikeouts and four walks. We outhit the Braves 12-5, led by Mays with three hits two runs and two RBIs, and by Ernie Banks with two hits two runs and two RBIs. Kaline and Serena each had two hits as well, making the top of our order quite lethal. Willie Mays was named NL Player of the Week, hitting .500 with three runs batted in. No homers, but he did hit 12 times.

Finally we get a day off, and then we’ll spend the rest of the month on the road, facing Cincy, Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, the Giants and then Philly, 14 games in 16 days. We then have 12 games at Wrigley to open September, followed by our last five games (against St. Louis and Cincy) on the road to complete the season. We hold a 13-game lead on the Phillies still, with just 31 games remaining (including three against them) and our magic number stands at twenty.

[jksander]

AUGUST 16, 1955 . . . The Redlegs are 63-57 and still technically alive in the pennant chase, at 29.5 games back in third place. Saul Rogovin (19-7, 1.86 ERA, 237.0 IP, 274 K’s, 0.80 WHIP) started the game against Cincy’s Bobby Shantz (7-11, 5.91 ERA, 123.1 IP, 72 K’s, 1.85 WHIP). Bill Serena opened the game with a two-run blast to left, just his second homer of the season, to make it 2-0 in the top of the first. We loaded the bases in the top of the second and Daniel Howard scored a run thanks to a flyout by Rogovin to make it 3-0. Bobby Shantz became Cincinnati’s first runner to get into scoring position, but we got three quick outs to strand him there in the bottom of the third. Danny Lynch hit a homer for us in the top of the fourth to make it 4-0, his second of the year as well, and Al Kaline added a two-run double in the top of the sixth to make it a six-run game! Del Crandall hit an RBI double in the top of the seventh to add a seventh run, and Rogovin batted in another with an RBI single to turn this one into a rout. We led 8-0 heading into the seventh inning stretch, and Rogovin held tough for a four-hit complete game shutout.

Rogovin got his 20th win of the year, improving to 20-7 with a 1.79 ERA, striking out 12 with just two walks. We outhit them 18-4, an absolute shellacking, led by Serena (three hits, one run, two RBIs), Banks (three hits), Crandall (three hits, two runs, one RBI) and Lynch (three hits, one run, one RBI). Daniel Howard hit twice and walked once, scoring twice on the ground as well, bringing his average up to .188/.333/.281 since joining us early in the month.
 
AUGUST 17, 1955 . . . We should get Robinson back by Sunday, Monday at the latest, giving us four or five games without him in the lineup. Maris’ recovery is more tricky -- he likely won’t be ready to return until late September, and will not be eligible for our playoff roster regardless. If his recovery is quicker than expected he may return to the roster in September in a more limited role, but it is quite liekly his season is over. If so, he had an excellent second year as a major leaguer, hitting .271/.354/.462 with 23 doubles, two triples, 19 homers and 55 RBIs. He hit more doubles and fewer homers this year, but his average was up thirty points over his rookie season, making this year a significant improvement. He also had seven steals in 11 tries, almost exactly the same as last year, showcasing solid speed. Imagine what he’ll be able to do when he really unleashes his skills on the league. His fielding was impeccable as well, with just four errors in 988 innings played, a zone rating of 2.1 and a .997 Efficiency Rating. In total he’s put together a 3.5 WAR season.

Camilo Pascual (13-5, 2.91 ERA, 161.0 IP, 173 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched today in Cincy, facing George Susce (12-12, 3.06 ERA, 203.0 IP, 83 K’s, 1.09 WHIP). Al Rosen hit an RBI double to put us on the board in the top of the second, But in the bottom of the third, Hal Keller hit his 12th homer of the season and tied the game up and we had ourselves a ballgame! Bill Serena absolutely whallopped a ball in the top of the sixth, hitting his third homer of the year and his second in two days to put us up 2-1. Daniel Howard grounded out to first but drove in a third run, and we went into the bottom of the sixth leading by a 3-1 margin. Al Kaline went oppo to hit his 15th homer of the year, putting one over the right field wall to score two, making it 5-1 Cubs in the top of the seventh. Harry Dorish took over with a man on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, and the Redlegs picked up a run thanks to an RBI double by Frank Robinson. But in the top of the eighth we got base hits by Mays and Banks, and then Daniel Howard took a walk to load the bases, and Al Rosen walked in a run to make it 6-2. Dorish stayed out for the ninth to close things out, and we won the game 6-2.

Pascual got the win, improving to 14-5 with a 2.90 ERA, thanks to a four hit, 10 strikeout game with only two walks and two earned runs. Dorish gave us 2.1 innings of impeccable work, with one hit and three K’s, giving him a 0.75 ERA in relief through 59.2 innings! We outhit Cincinnati 9-5, with Mays hitting three times for two runs on the ground, and Serena’s second homer gave us back the lead and helped spark the eventual beatdown.

AUGUST 18, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (15-5, 1.66 ERA, 189.2 IP, 92 K’s, 0.83 WHIP) pitched today against Paul Minner (4-7, 4.11 ERA, 127.0 IP, 52 K’s, 1.39 WHIP) as the Redlegs were officially eliminated from the pennant race yesterday evening. There wasn’t a lot of action in this one initially, as both pitchers worked their way through the lineups without allowing many runners. We only had one runner, Bill Serena, get into scoring position during the first three innings, and he wound up stranded at third, and Cincy only managed one hit and a walk during that span. Then they woke us all up in the bottom of the fourth, as Gus Bell hit his 22nd homer of the year over the right field wall to put Cincy up 1-0. Minner still holds a grudge that we traded him away years ago, and he continued to throw fire in this one, but we did finally get a good hit -- Willie Mays nailed a triple to start the top of the sixth, and Daniel Howard got a hit into the outfield that allowed him to score, tying things 1-1. Diehl loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with just one out, then got out number two by popup to Banks, and we brought Dorish in to get us out of it, striking out Wally Post to get us into the top of the eighth still tied up 1-1, and he kept it tied through the eighth, Al Rosen getting us a hit to start the top of the ninth. Howard and Crandall batted themselves out, however, and they picked Rosen off at first as he took too large of a lead. Dorish got us three quick outs in the bottom of the ninth, Koufax waiting in the wings, and we headed for extras!

In the bottom of the tenth, Bob Elliott hit a triple with two outs, and then Johnny Temple got a walk and then stole second, putting two in scoring position. But Koufax didn’t blink -- a curveball to Arthur Schwartz led to a popout at right, and we were headed for more. With two outs in the top of the 11th, Ernie Banks hit a solo shot to left that barely stayed fair, giving him his 30th homer of the year and putting us in the lead 2-1! Koufax got an out to start the bottom of the inning, but then allowed runners to take first and second, bringing Bob Porterfield in with one out and two on, to put out the fire. He got Ted Kluszewski to pop out to right, holding the runners, and then Gus Bell flew out at center, and we pulled out the 2-1 11th inninv victory, completing the sweep!

Robert Diehl lasted 6.2 innings with six hits, four strikeouts, five walks and just one earned run, coming out of it with a no-decision. Dorish gave us 2.1 innings with just one hit and four strikeouts, bringing in Koufax, who improved to 6-3 thanks to 1.1 innings of three hit, one strikeout, one walk baseball. His ERA improved to 2.44 in the process, while Dorish’s remains absolutely phenomenal at 0.73. Bob Porterfield came in and got his first save in his 19th relief appearance, getting the two outs we needed and keeping his ERA at 2.54. They outhit us 10-9, but Serena, Banks and Howard each hit twice. Howard also walked once and batted in a run, and Banks finished with a run and an RBI.

Next up: three on the road against the Milwaukee Braves (52-69). The Dodgers, at 62-58, just moved ahead of Cincinnati into third, but they are now out of the race as well. It’s just us at 97-29 and the Phillies, 13.5 games back, at 82-41. Over in the AL, Boston (75-46) still leads by six games over Detroit (68-51) with the Yankees, 66-54, still fighting at 8.5 back. The Yanks are 8-2 in their last ten, while Detroit is 7-3, Boston trying desperately just to hold serve. Baltimore, meanwhile, became the first AL team to be officially eliminated, with their abysmal 39-82 record.

[jksander]

AUGUST 19, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (24-4, 1.51 ERA, 261.2 IP, 235 K’s, 0.73 WHIP) is up today against Bob Buhl (5-13, 5.86 ERA, 133.2 IP, 59 K’s, 1.63 WHIP). Bill Serena is on FIRE lately, and he kept it going today by getting a homer to left field, his fourth this year and his third in a week, to put us up 2-0 on the Braves in the top of the first. He came up to bat in the third inning and hit another one, this time to center field, to make it 3-0! Milwaukee got themselves a run in the bottom of the fifth, a solo shot to right by Eddie Mathews, but Cohen got three quick outs following that blast and we went into the top of the sixth leading still 3-1. Serena walked the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, and Willie Mays batted out to center but scored a fourth run, sending us into the stretch leading 4-1. Cohen barely had to break a sweat, closing this one out with a final strikeout to beat the Braves 4-1.

Hy Cohen won his 25th game of the season, improving to 25-4 with a 1.50 ERA thanks to a two-hitter, with 10 strikeouts and just the one earned run! We had seven hits, two of them homers for Bill Serena, who led the team with two hits and a walk for two runs and three RBIs. Al Kaline had a hit, a walk and a run scored, and Willie Mays batted in a run with his sac fly. We’ve now won five games in a row, cutting our magic number down to 16, with the Phillies still trailing us by 13.5 games.
 
AUGUST 20, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (20-7, 1.79 ERA, 246.0 IP, 286 K’s, 0.80 WHIP) got the start tonight, taking on Warren Spahn (13-10, 3.61 ERA, 216.2 IP, 147 K’s, 1.33 WHIP). Willie Mays got us on the board with a solo blast to right, his 25th of the year, giving us a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. But that hit was a rare one. Milwaukee tied it up 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth with a flyout by Johnny Logan driving in a run by Bill Bruton, who had tripled moments earlier. Milwaukee took the lead in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI triple by Warren Spahn, and then Spahn scored on an RBI single by Bruton, who made it a 3-1 lead. And in the top of the eighth inning, with Al Kaline up to bat, they called the game on account of rain, denying us a chance to come back. What a piss poor ending to a great game, but I guess congrats to Milwaukee on the “win.”

Rogovin got through seven innings with seven hits and six strikeouts, walking one batter and giving up three runs. He took the loss and fell to 20-8 with a 1.85 ERA. We were outhit 7-4, with Willie Mays leading the way with two hits, a run and an RBI thanks to his homer.

AUGUST 21, 1955 . . . Jackie Robinson is back and ready to play today! He’s fallen behind in the home run race -- though he hit 34 before his injury, he’s now been outpaced by Micky Mantle (36) and Ted Kluszewski (39) with six weeks left before the end of the season! He’s tied for third with Ted Williams, and has one more dinger than Baltimore’s Gus Zernial. Today we finish up our three-game set at Milwaukee, then take a day off before playing two at Brooklyn and then a pair at Pittsburgh (with a day off between them). Camilo Pascual (14-5, 2.90 ERA, 167.2 IP, 183 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched today against Bob Turley (10-13, 4.55 ERA, 164.0 IP, 118 K’s, 1.64 WHIP). With Robinson returning to play third base, but with Serena red hot as a hitter, we’re experimenting with him as a 1B starter in place of Rosen, who needs some time off to come off a recent cold streak.

Ernie Banks walked in a run with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth to put us on the board after a slow start offensively for both teams, leading 1-0 heading into the bottom of the inning. And it stayed that way into the bottom of the eighth inning, with Pascual getting the three outs we needed to get into the ninth still holding a slim 1-0 lead. All three of our top batters batted themselves out, sending us into the bottom of the ninth with the chance to ice a tight low-scoring game. With two outs, Hank Aaron took a walk to give the Braves a chance, but Eddie Mathews grounded out to first and we were able to get out of there with a 1-0 win! The entire game only had eight hits, four per team.

Pascual improved to 15-5 with a four-hitter, striking out seven and walking one to get out on a 94 pitch shutout! Kaline had two of our four hits, along with a walk, but it was Pascual who scored the winning run, batted in by Ernie Banks, who got on base with a walk! With the win we improved to 99-30 on the season, but Philly is now just 12.5 games behind us in the pennant race, having won nine of their last ten, with our magic number now at 15. Boston, meanwhile, has their magic number down to 24, still holding steady at 76-48 with Detroit (68-55, 7.5 GB), New York (67-56, 8.5 GB) and Washington (66-57, 9.5 GB) fighting to close the gap. Chicago (64-59, 11.5 GB) and Cleveland (64-59, 11.5 GB) still have an outside chance, as both teams are on four game winning streaks. Kansas City (47-76, 28.5 GB) should soon be mathematically eliminated, where they would then join Baltimore.

[jksander]

AUGUST 23, 1955 . . . For our first of two Brooklyn games, we’ve got Robert Diehl (15-5, 1.65 ERA, 196.1 IP, 96 K’s, 0.86 WHIP) pitching against Sal Maglie (11-11, 2.91 ERA, 216.1 IP, 134 K’s, 1.06 WHIP). Kaline opened the game with a double, then reached third on a wild pitch, Ernie Banks driving in a run with a fly-out to center, giving us a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Sandy Amoros hit an RBI double in the bottom of the second to tie the game up 1-1. Danny Lynch doubled to start the top of the fifth, but we left him stranded to stay knotted up. The Dodgers took the lead in the bottom of the fifth off an RBI double by Duke Snider, and they increased the margin to 3-1 with a Carl Furilo RBI single. Harry Dorish came in for the bottom of the seventh, and he kept us in the game, but our bats were again dead -- this has been a thing lately -- and we went into the top of the ninth needing a pair of runs in order to prolong this game. Robinson flew out to left, but Al Rosen got a single into right field, and Howard hit into a double play to end the game as a 3-1 loss.

Diehl took the loss, falling to 15-6 with a 1.73 ERA despite only giving up six hits with eight strikeouts, the three earned runs doing him in. Dorish came out for two innings with one hit and three strikeouts, dropping his ERA to an incredible 0.70 through 64 innings in 34 appearances, but it wasn’t enough -- we only had five hits ourselves, with one walk, and were unable to do anything with our base-runners. Robinson has struggled to find anything to hit at all since coming back, and Rosen was twice stranded. Al Kaline hit once and walked once, scoring our only run, which Banks batted in with his sac-fly in the first inning.

AUGUST 24, 1955 . . . We’re back at Ebbetts Field for game two, with Hy Cohen (25-4, 1.50 ERA, 270.2 IP, 245 K’s, 0.72 WHIP) going up against Johnny Podres (12-12, 3.86 ERA, 198.1 IP, 132 K’s, 1.23 WHIP) as we try again to get our 100th win of the year. Cohen struck out the side in the second inning, and he walked to start the top of the third, though Kaline batted into a double play to stifle the rally. Daniel Howard got a base hit in the top of the seventh with one out, just our second hit of the game, and with two outs Gene Baker came in to hit for Danny Lynch and take over at second base. But Baker grounded out to first, sending us into the seventh-inning stretch still tied up with nothing. Cohen stayed locked in, getting a groundout and two more K’s in the bottom of the inning to keep it scoreless, but Podres was in the zone as well. Both pitchers were over 100 pitches heading into the top of the ninth, when Willie Mays made it on base after a fielding error by the Dodgers at short. Robinson continued to struggle, hitting a flyout to center, but the Dodgers went to the bullpen and their reliever, Linc Donoso, walked Rosen and Howard to give us loaded bases with just one out! Del Crandall flew out to right, driving in Mays from third to score the go-ahead run, and we went into the bottom of the innning with a 1-0 lead. Harry Dorish came in for the save, but he gave up two walks and Sally Hemus advanced to third on a flyout by Gil Hodges, putting a man in scoring position with just one out. Sandy Koufax came in to relieve Dorish, getting a flyout from Duke Snider, but in the process they scored the tying run. A Campanella strikeout ended the inning and sent us into extras, knotted up 1-1.

In the top of the 11th, Del Crandall hit a double with one out, and Bill Serena pinch-hit for Gene Baker, but he flew out to right, leaving enough time for Crandall to safely slide into third. Bob Will pinch-hit for Koufax, striking out swinging, and we were headed for the bottom of the inning with Epitacio Torres coming in to pitch. Deacon Jones got on base with an out, then advanced to second on a ground-out by Hodges, bringing up Duke Snider. He flew out to right, sending us into the 12th inning as the game entered its third hour. Reliever Billy O’Dell set all our batters down quietly in the top of the 12th, and Torres set two of theirs down as well, before Bob Purkey came in to try and finish them off. Frank Thomas got on base with a two-out single, and then George Stubbs got a hit into the outfield, moving Thomas into scoring position. But a grounder to Banks and a quick throw to second got Stubbs out for our third of the inning, and the game played on. Robinson walked to start the top of the 13th, and with two outs, Del Crandall hit a double and I gave Robinson the green light -- he made it all the way around from first to give us a 2-1 lead! Purkey stayed out for the bottom of the inning and sat their batters down one, two, three on pop-outs and we FINALLY were able to get the 100th win of the year for our Cubs with a 2-1 13th inning victory!

Hy Cohen gave us eight innings of one-hit 10 strikeout one walk ball, exiting the game with a 1-0 lead after 102 pitches to keep his ERA at 1.45. Dorish picked up his fourth hold of the year but wound up with a run charged against him thanks to Koufax’s blown save. He gave up one hit and dropped his ERA to 0.84, only getting one out and ending his 16-inning scoreless streak. Koufax threw 1.2 innings with one hit and two strikeouts, and Torres performed admirably in 1.2 innings with just one hit, setting up Purkey perfectly to give us 1.1 innings with just a pair of hits. Purkey took the win, improving to 4-2, and his ERA improved to 1.47 through 25 innings. We outhit them 6-4 in 13 innings of work, led by Crandall (two hits, two RBIs) and Howard (two hits). Mays and Robinson scored our runs, but Robinson, with a hit and a walk, continues to get nothing good from opposing pitchers.
 
AUGUST 25, 1955 . . . Tonight we’re in Pittsburgh, with a game tonight and then a day off before we play them again. We come into the game with a 100-31 record, with the Pirates at 53-76. Saul Rogovin (20-8, 1.85 ERA, 253.0 IP, 292 K’s, 0.81 WHIP) pitched today against Gene Conley, who just got called up from AAA for his first major-league game of the year (he was 12-12 last year for the Pirates, with 118 K’s and a 1.32 WHIP through 225 innings). Willie Mays hit a solo blast to left, his 26th homer of the year, putting us up 1-0 in the top of the first. But in the bottom of the third, Pittsburgh got on the board with an RBI double by Rip Repulski, sending us into the top of the fourth tied 1-1. Robinson got a hit into left, and he was able to take second on a flyout by Al Rosen. He made it to third on a flyout by Del Crandall, but Danny Lynch popped out to first and ended the inning. In the top of the sixth, Robinson again reached first, this time thanks to a fielding error at shortstop, but this time he was taken out via a Del Howard groundout into a double play, and we remained tied up heading into the bottom of the sixth. Rogovin hit a double in the top of the seventh, and Al Kaline hit an RBI single that drove Rogovin in from second to score, putting us up 2-1! We went into the bottom of the ninth with the 2-1 lead still intact, and Koufax came in intending to keep it that way. Two groundouts and a flyout to center were enough, and we beat them by a run in a low-scoring battle.

Rogovin improved to 21-8 on the season, giving up six hits and an earned run with seven strikeouts, improving his ERA to 1.83. Koufax saved his 18th game of the season while throwing just seven pitches, staying red hot and improving his ERA to 2.35 on the year through 72.2 innings. We had six hits, led by Kaline with two hits and an RBI, while Willie Mays’ homer and Rogovin’s two hits and a run scored provided meaningful offense when we desperately needed some.

AUGUST 27, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (15-5, 2.75 ERA, 176.2 IP, 190 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) pitched in our second game at Pittsburgh, against Roy Face (11-14, 2.46 ERA, 226.2 IP, 248 K’s, 0.96 WHIP). Ernie Banks hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth to break a stalemate, giving him his 31st homer of the year and us a 1-0 lead! Pascual struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth, but in the bottom of the fifth he gave up an RBI single to Roy Face that tied the game up. Harry Dorish came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth with an out and men on the corners, getting a double play on just his fifth pitch to preserve the 1-1 tie heading into the top of the ninth. We were unable to score in the top of the inning, but Dorish performed admirably in the bottom of the ninth and we were able to keep it tied and force extra innings for the second time in the last three days! Jackie Robinson got us a triple to start the top of the 10th, scoring the go-ahead run thaks to an Al Rosen sac fly to center! Face stayed in and got the last two outs, sending us into the bottom of the inning with a one run lead. Dorish stayed out there for us and got the outs we needed as we held tough to win 2-1!

Pascual was solid with a 7.1 inning four-hit 10 strikeout effort through 107 pitches, but Dorish came out with the win, improving to 7-0 with a 2.2 inning one hit, one strikeout performance. He now has a 0.81 ERA through 67 innings, an incredible stretch of dominant bullpen work! We only had four hits ourselves, but made them count -- Robinson had a hit and a run scored, while Banks’ homer kept us in this one during the regulation innings.

We still have been dominant all year, with a +378 run differental that is absolutely exceptional, but in recent weeks we’ve done well in these kind of low-scoring situations as well. This was our fifth win in the last ten days that involved both a one-run difference and three or fewer runs scored, with three of those coming in extra innings. And it’s not going to get any easier, with two games against the Giants on the road followed by a pair in Philly. But we’re putting ourselves in position to win against the best opponents can throw at us, and that has to help heading into September.

As of the end of today’s slate of games, we have a magic number of 12 and an 11.5 game lead on Philadelphia, though the Phillies are on a nine-game tear at the moment and giving us every ounce of chase they have left. In the AL, Boston (78-51) still leads, but Detroit and the Yankees are each 70-48 and trailing by just 7.5 games, with Washington (68-60, 9.5 GB) and then Chicago and Cleveland (both 67-61 and 10.5 GB) still trying to fight their way around in the backstretch.

[jksander]

AUGUST 28, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (15-6, 1.73 ERA, 202.1 IP, 104 K’s, 0.86 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Giants, facing Al Worthington (7-8, 3.68 ERA, 122.1 IP, 85 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). Jackie Robinson finally broke out of his struggles with a solo homer in the top of the second, his 35th this year, to put us up 1-0! This is his first homer since the injury earlier in the month. But Diehl gave up a three-run homer to Walt Dropo in the bottom of the third to put the Giants up 3-1. Dusty Rhodes gave them a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-1. Epitacio Torres came in for the bottom of the eighth with us trailing still by three runs, getting us three quick outs heading into the ninth. Robinson singled, but we were quick to get three outs from there as the Giants completely stumped us 4-1, our offensive slump as a team continuing.

Diehl fell to 15-7, giving up nine hits with just four strikeouts and two walks, two homers contributing to four earned runs and dropping his ERA back down to 1.85. Torres was solid in the eighth, getting three outs on 18 pitches without a lot of flash. He now has a 2.16 ERA through 8.1 innings since his call-up from the minors.

This afternoon and evening the Phillies won both games of a doubleheader against Cincy on their field, pulling them to within 10 games of us in the standings. They play one more against Cincy tomorrow and then we have our two on their field -- and this could suddenly become quite the dangerous situation for our struggling Cubs. The Philles have won their last 11 straight, putting together a 19-3 record so far in August and a stunning 34-8 since the All Star break. We, meanwhile, haven’t been terrible but we’ve lost 13 games since the All Star break and haven’t put up more than two runs in a game since August 19th, going 17-8 so far in August.

AUGUST 29, 1955 . . . We need our top pitchers ready to go against the Phillies, so today we’re giving Harry Dorish (7-0, 0.81 ERA, 67.0 IP, 75 K’s, 0.84 WHIP) a start out of the bullpen. He’ll be going up against Ted Abernathy (5-14, 4.32 ERA, 196.0 IP, 128 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). The move backfired on us after he got the first out quickly, as a fastball at the wrong time led to a Bill White three-run homer in the bottom of the first, giving the Giants a quick 3-0 head start. He finished the inning with a pair of strikeouts, but the damage had been done. Now we’d need our bats to perk up significantly if we wanted to turn this one around. We got two runners on in the top of the third but a weak infield squib into a double play by Ernie Banks squelched the rally. Two in scoring position in the top of the fourth were left stranded as well. Ernie Banks finally got us on the board, an RBI triple scoring Dorish from first, making the score 3-1 Giants heading into the bottom of the fifth. Al Rosen got himself a solo blast to left in the top of the sixth, his 18th homer of the year pulling us to within a run, and Bob Porterfield took over for Dorish to start the bottom of the sixth, Dorish having thrown 77 pitches as he tried to give us room to crawl out of the first-inning hole. With the score still 3-2 Giants, Epitacio Torres came in for the top of the eighth, and he promptly gave up a homer to Bill White to make it 4-2.

We came out for the top of the ninth needing two runs to tie, bringing out Bill Serena, Bob Will and Joe Collins as pinch hitters, hoping we could get back to the top of the order. Serena took a base on balls, but Bob Will popped right up to the pitcher and Joe Collins struck out swinging. It came down to Kaline, who walked to give us two runners on and a man in scoring position, with Ernie Banks up to the plate. And Banks stunned everyone in the place with a three-run blast to left, his 32nd homer of the year, to suddenly give us a 5-4 lead! Willie Mays then jacked one into center to make it 6-4 with his 27th homer, and Jackie Robinson made it back-to-back-to-back homers, hitting one just over the right field wall to make it 7-4 with his 36th! We batted around to Serena again, who got one over the head of the second baseman and into the outfield, loading the bases, and Bob Will walked in our sixth run of the inning to make it 8-4 by the time Joe Collins popped out to end the inning. Koufax came out for three quick outs and we were out of there with a four-run victory!

Epitacio Torres got his first major league win despite a two-hit one run inning, saving Harry Dorish (5.0 IP, five hits, six strikeouts, three earned runs) from taking a loss. Porterfield and Koufax combined for three innings and just one hit, keeping both their ERAs well below 2.50 on the year. We outhit them 14-8, led by Banks with three hits one run and four batted in. Robinson added three hits with a run and an RBI, putting him on the verge of returning to .300 on the season. And Al Rosen broke out of his slump with a pair of hits for two runs and an RBI. Heading into Philadelphia we needed that win. Now we have Hy Cohen and Saul Rogovin ready to go as we hope to finally put this pennant race to bed.

Roger Maris will not be ready to come off the IL until late September, and we’ve decided he will not return to the major league lineup afterward. We’ll continue his rehab into the fall and bring him back next year hoping to not aggrivate the injury.

[jksander]

AUGUST 30, 1955 . . . Philly comes into this game on a 12-game winning streak and they’re only ten games out, with our magic number to clinch now holding at 11. Hy Cohen (25-4, 1.45 ERA, 278.2 IP, 255 K’s, 0.70 WHIP) pitched today against Gordon Jones (9-4, 3.77 ERA, 93.0 IP, 98 K’s, 1.17 WHIP). The first four innings went quickly, over in barely an hour, as both teams combined for four hits with no errors and no runs. Nothing changed in the fifth -- but in the top of the sixth Al Kaline got a single into left field, our third hit of the game, and with two outs they walked Robinson, giving us our first runner in scoring position since the first inning! Rosen promptly struck out swinging, however, sending us into the bottom of the inning still knotted up scoreless. We went into the top of the ninth still scoreless, and with two outs and men on first and second, Willie Mays stole third, his 15th stolen base of the year, to get into position. But Del Crandall flew out to right to end the frame, sending Cohen out to get us into extras. A flyout and a strikeout had us on the verge of escaping the inning, but Earl Torgeson got a base hit to get safely on base. Cohen walked Red Schoendienst, but then successfully got the final out, sending this one into extras still knotted 0-0!

We remained in a deadlock through the 10th and the 11th, with Cohen staying in as he continued to pitch very efficiently -- both teams went into the top of the 12th with three hits each, but with Philadelphia going to its third pitcher to start the inning. Al Rosen got a hit to start out the inning, but Daniel Howard hit into a double play, and Del Crandall grounded out to first. Cohen stayed out for the bottom of the 12th and got two outs, before finally admitting he was worn out and we went to the pen, bringing out Sandy Koufax! Richie Ashburn hit one straight to Robinson for the third out, and we were heading for the top of the 13th for the second time this month! With one out in the top of the 13th, Koufax was walked, but Kaline popped out to first, and Banks flew out to left. Jesus H. Christ! Willie Mays got a hit into center to start the top of the 14th, and with one out Rosen reached first base on balls, putting Mays in scoring position. Daniel Howard walked the bases loaded, and Crandall popped out to center, deep enough to finally put a run on the board as Mays crossed home plate, a big smile on his face. Danny Lynch got a hit into the outfield that was deep enough to send Rosen around to score a second run, and once Koufax struck out swinging, we were able to go into the bottom of the inning leading 2-0. But Koufax kept us on a razor’s edge, giving up two hits in a row as we started warming up Epitacio Torres and Harry Dorish just in case. Dale Mitchell hit into a double play, leaving Alvin Dark on third with Earl Torgeson coming back up to the plate. But Koufax had icewater in his veins, getting a nice, easy groundout to first to finally end this one as a 2-0 Cubs victory after 14 innings and nearly four hours on the field.

Hy Cohen all but won himself the Cy Young with this performance alone -- 11.2 innings of three-hit ball for Cohen, with three strikeouts and just one walk in the longest no-decision I’ve ever seen, bringing his ERA down to 1.39 on the season. Sandy Koufax got the win, improving to 7-3 with a 2.1 inning two-hit one strikeout performance, helping complete the shutout and bringing his ERA down to 2.25. We outhit the Phillies just 6-5, and no one hit twice for either team. Mays got a hit for a run, Al Rosen hit and walked twice for the other run, and Crandall and Lynch each batted in runs. The win drops our magic number to nine and puts the Phillies at 11 games back with two head-to-heads left and 18 total games left on our schedule.

[jksander]

AUGUST 31, 1955 . . . After yesterday’s marathon, we brought out Saul Rogovin (21-8, 1.83 ERA, 261.0 IP, 299 K’s, 0.80 WHIP) to try and get us closer to clinching without as much agita. He pitched against Don Newcombe (20-8, 2.59 ERA, 246.1 IP, 170 K’s, 0.88 WHIP), though, so expectations were for another battle of dueling pitchers, with Philly trying desperately to stay in the race. It did not go exactly to plan however, as Rogovin gave up a walk and an RBI double in the bottom of the first to put Philadelphia up 1-0 with just one out. Smoky Burgess grounded out for out number two, but drove in a second run, and we went into the top of the second trailing 2-0, Rogovin having thrown 23 pitches without a single strikeout. Newcombe struck out the side in the top of the third, while Rogovin seemed to find nothing but contact off his pitches, our fielders bailing him out as much as possible. We went into the top of the fourth trailing by two, but Newcombe remained almost unhittable. Rogovin gave up a solo homer to Alvin Dark in the bottom of the fourth to make it 3-0, still having yet to throw a single strikeout. He got the final outs we needed, but his night was drawing to a close -- I don’t know what was wrong, but he completely lacked control, and the Phillies had him figured out. Al Kaline got a solo blast to left in the top of the sixth to put us on the board down 3-1, and Epitacio Torres came in to pitch in the sixth. Danny Lynch hit a flyout to center that scored a run, cutting the lead to 3-2 in the top of the seventh, and Bob Purkey came in with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh, walking in a run and allowing a second run to score on a flyout to center. We went into the top of the eighth trailing 5-2 and our bats were no match for Newcombe’s precision pitching. They added a run in the bottom of the eighth, but we got it back in the top of the ninth with an RBI single by Danny Lynch. All that did, however, was allow us to lose to the Phillies by three instead of four, dropping this one 6-3.

Rogovin fell to 21-9 with the worst performance of his season, giving up four hits and three walks without a strikeout, allowing three runs to score, and doing so all at the start of the game, which gave the Phillies all the momentum they needed. Torres gave us 1.1 innings with two hits, a walk, a strikeout and two runs, and Purkey finished the game, 1.2 innings with one hit, one walk and one earned run. It was an ugly game all around -- we actually out-hit them 9-7, so losing this one stings all the more. David Howard hit FOUR TIMES and scored twice for us, but he got little support from the rest of the lineup.

Maybe we can find some rhythm when we get back to Chicago for a dozen games over the next two and a half weeks. Our magic number to clinch is still at nine, with the Phillies, at 93-42, just ten games back. It’s our division to lose, however, and we can put away all doubt by simply stringing some wins together. We’ve made a few callups with the rosters expanding:

- CL Lovett Geeslin (23, AAA) 13-4, 2.69 ERA, 153.2 IP, 85 K’s, 1.14 WHIP)
- 3B Reno DeBenedetti (27, AAA) .291/.408/.465, 21 2B, 17 HR, 63 RBI)
- CF Ed Bouchee (22, AAA) .222/.462/.667, 1 2B, 1 HR, 13 PA
- 1B Pancho Herrera (21, AAA) .357/.526/.857, 1 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 19 PA)
- SS Jerry Bunyard (23, AAA) .333/.375/.400, 1 2B, 16 PA

No one else showed signs of being ready for a late-season tryout, though we did move a few guys up to AAA including Don Demeter, who we’re hoping could be ready to back up Maris in the outfield at some point next season if he handles AAA pitchers well enough. We have three games against St. Louis this weekend, followed by our last doublheader of the year, a two-game set against Milwaukee on Labor Day.

[Pelican]

Wow, about that trade…Tough to give up Elston Howard, particularly if recalc is on. He has some tremendous seasons ahead of him, and with development on should have great potential, offense and defense.

That said, I always liked Demeter when he was on the Phillies; although it’s hard to criticize the trade to Detroit that brought Jim Bunning. Bouchée as i recall had some problems with sex offenses that ended his career prematurely. He was a 1B with no real HR power. I hope for the Cubs’ sake that Crandall holds up.

[jksander]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Wow, about that trade…Tough to give up Elston Howard, particularly if recalc is on. He has some tremendous seasons ahead of him, and with development on should have great potential, offense and defense.

That said, I always liked Demeter when he was on the Phillies; although it’s hard to criticize the trade to Detroit that brought Jim Bunning. Bouchée as i recall had some problems with sex offenses that ended his career prematurely. He was a 1B with no real HR power. I hope for the Cubs’ sake that Crandall holds up.

Did not know about Bouchee ... time will tell re: Howard / Crandall. Always more moves to be made lol

[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 2, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (15-5, 2.69 ERA, 184.0 IP, 200 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) pitched in game one against the Cardinals, facing Vinegar Bend Mizell (4-18, 5.95 ERA, 168.0 IP, 109 K’s, 1.60 WHIP), who has been vocal all year about how miserable he’s been with the team’s lack of run support (being 38-94, including 26-35 at home, will do that to you). He’d better dig in, however, as there’s no way their ownership is going to trade away the most popular guy on the entire Cardinals roster. It was nice to return to Wrigley, where 30,000 fans showed up to cheer us in our quest toward a World Series championship. Al Rosen walked in a run with the bases loaded to put us into the lead in the bottom of the first, and a Del Crandall line drive into right field on two outs added two more. All nine of our guys batted and we went into the top of the second leading 3-0. Nice start, boys! Willie Mays hit a deep one into center in the bottom of the second, legging out a triple to score two more, though he got picked off trying to make it home on a Robinson flyout, sending us into the third with our best lead in weeks, up 5-0. We extended the lead with a homer by Mays in the bottom of the fifth, his 28th, to make it 6-0, and we brought Lovett Geeslin for his first major league relief appearance in the top of the sixth. The Cards got on the board with a homer in the top of the seventh, a solo blast by Andy Carey, and with two outs and a man on first we brought Epitacio Torres in to get the final out. We got the run back in the bottom of the inning, Jackie Robinson scoring from third on a wild pitch, giving us a 7-1 lead heading into the eighth. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth, and Robinson got a hit into right field, increasing our lead to 8-1, and Al Rosen got a shot into deep left, driving in another run. Torres stayed out there to close the game out in the top of the ninth, and we won this one with ease by a 9-1 margin.

Pascual improved to 16-5, lasting five innings with three hits, eight strikeouts and two walks, bringing his ERA down to 2.62. Geeslin gave us 1.2 innings with just one hit, one strikeout, one walk and one earned run, giving him a 5.40 ERA. Torres then came out and got us through 2.1 innings with a pair of hits and two walks, throwing 37 pitches and lowering his ERA to 3.46 through nine appearances and 13 innings. We outhit the Cardinals 14-6, dominated by the top of our order -- Kaline hit four times for three runs, Banks hit three times and scored twice, and Willie Mays had three hits, two runs and three RBIs.

The Phillies dropped a game today in 12 innings to the Giants, falling 7-2 thanks to a blowout final inning. That puts our magic number at seven, with the Phillies now 11 games back and fading fast. The AL race looks to be between the Red Sox (82-52), the Yankees (74-59, 7.5 GB) and the Tigers (73-60, 8.5 GB) with the Sox’s magic number at 14. Boston still has two games left against Detroit and six against the Yankees, so their ability to clinch remains in doubt -- they’ll have to win those head-to-head battles in order to do so.

SEPTEMBER 3, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (15-7, 1.85 ERA, 209.1 IP, 108 K’s, 0.89 WHIP) pitched against Bob Grim (5-23, 5.00 ERA, 189.0 IP, 84 K’s, 1.57 WHIP) this afternoon. Diehl gave up a run to the Cards in the top of the fourth, an RBI single by Vern Benson putting them ahead 1-0. Their second baseman committed an error in the bottom of the fifth, however, that allowed Al Rosen to score from second and which put Daniel Howard on second with no outs! A Crandall groundout to first moved Howard over to third, but we weren’t able to get him around to score, sending us into the sixth tied up 1-1. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but again were unable to drive anyone around. Bill Serena got a hit into left, pinch-hitting for Diehl, that allowed Baker to take third with one out in the bottom of the seventh. But Kaline hit into a double play to keep us knotted again. Harry Dorish got us through the eighth, and Bob Will pinch-hit for Howard with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, hitting an RBI double to put us up 2-1! Ed Bouchee walked to load the bases, and Gene Baker grounded out to second to end the inning. Dorish stayed in to start the top of the ninth, and was able to get a groundout and a pair of strikeouts to protect our 2-1 victory!

Robert Diehl lasted seven innings with seven hits, three strikeouts and the one earned run, and Dorish came in to win his eighth game, improving to 8-0 with a 1.09 ERA, giving up one hit with three strikeouts in two innings. Each team had eight hits today, with Mays and Rosen leading our team with two hits and a run scored each. Bob Will came in and was a clutch hitter, batting in the winning run! Philly stayed 11 games back but we were able to cut our magic number down to six. Tomorrow we go for the sweep against the Cardinals ahead of the Milwaukee doubleheader Monday.
 
SEPTEMBER 4, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (25-4, 1.39 ERA, 290.1 IP, 258 K’s, 0.69 WHIP) got the start against Dean Stone (6-13, 3.28 ERA, 175.2 IP, 76 K’s, 1.36 WHIP). We loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, and Al Kaline batted out to center but allowed Daniel Howard to score all the way from second ... good baserunning, and we went into the third leading 1-0. Robinson batted out to center but scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 2-0 Cubs, and Ernie Banks added a solo homer to start the bottom of the seventh, his 33rd of the year, extending the lead to three runs. Willie Mays followed it immediately with his 29th of the year to make it 4-0, but Jackie Robinson flew out to right, narrowly missing out on a homer himself. Robinson walked in another run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-0, and Cohen completed the shutout with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout as we swept the Cardinals with a 5-0 win.

Hy Cohen improved to 26-4 with a 1.35 ERA, pitching a one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and no walks. We outhit the Cardinals 10-1 and Ernie Banks hit three times for two runs and the RBI he got from his homer. Daniel Howard also hit three times, scoring a run. Mays’ homer gave him two hits on the day as well, keeping him close to .300 for the year -- and he’s been so good in the outfield that, even in a down year as a hitter, he’s still putting up 8.7 WAR! Cohen, meanwhile, leads the majors in ERA, Wins, Innings, Strikeouts against Walks and in WAR, making him the frontrunner for both the Cy Young AND the MVP award!

Philly held serve, so our win today gets our magic number down to five ... even if the Phillies keep winning, all we need are five more wins and we clinch. And at 107-33, the all time Cubs win record of 116 remains in play!

SEPTEMBER 5, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (21-9, 1.89 ERA, 266.0 IP, 299 K’s, 0.82 WHIP) pitched in the first game of the doubleheader against the Braves’ Ray Crone (4-6, 3.13 ERA, 100.2 IP, 46 K’s, 1.40 WHIP) in front of 36,386 screaming Cubs fans, with clear skies, low seventies and a breeze blowing in from the right at 10 miles an hour. Milwaukee scored a run in the top of the first off a sac fly by Hank Aaron, as Rogovin continued to struggle with his command. He got a pair of K’s and a flyout in the top of the second, however, and seemed to be finding his rhythm. Ernie Banks stayed red hot, hitting a two-run homer into left to put us up 2-1 with his 34th of the season! The Braves had to pull Crone in the top of the sixth as he suffered some form of shoulder strain, and in the bottom of the inning Danny Lynch hit an RBI double with two outs, extending our lead to 3-1. Rogovin got a hit into right to drive in a fourth run, and we went into the top of the seventh with a commanding 4-1 lead on the Braves. We loaded the bases with an out in the bottom of the seventh, and a Daniel Howard flyout to left scored a fifth run. Al Kaline hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, his 17th of the year, and Willie Mays added a two-run blast, his 30th, to extend the lead to 8-1! Rogovin stayed out to finish the game, striking out two in the final inning as we beat the Braves by seven runs.

Rogovin found his groove and pitched a complete game two-hitter, striking out nine and only giving up the one run, keeping his ERA at 1.87 through 275 innings and improving his record to 22-9. We outhit the Braves 12-2 in the game, led by Banks with three hits for three runs and two RBIs, while Rosen had three hits and scored a run as well. Al Kaline hit twice, scored twice and batted in a run with his homer.

Camilo Pascual (16-5, 2.62 ERA, 189.0 IP, 208 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) started the second game for us, up against Johnny Antonelli (13-13, 4.07 ERA, 234.1 IP, 129 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). And Johnny Antonelli took matters into his own hands in the top of the second, hitting a three-run homer into left, just his second of the year, to give them a surprising early lead. Bob Purkey got himself an RBI triple in the bottom of the second to pull us within a pair, and Jackie Robinson broke out of his homer slump, hitting a two-run blast to center in the bottom of the third to tie us up 3-3! That was #37 for Robinson this year, further extending the career year he’s been having! Willie Mays hit a double to start the bottom of the fifth, and Antonelli walked Robinson and Rosen. Bob Purkey batted in a run with two outs, giving us a 4-3 lead, sending us into the sixth having erased Antonelli’s second-inning blast. Robinson swung on a 1-2 fastball in the bottom of the seventh and knocked his second dinger out of the park, extending the lead to 5-3 with his 38th of the season! Camilo Pascual stayed out to complete the game, holding the Braves off as we won 5-3, closing the game out with his 13th strikeout!

Pascual improved to 17-5 with the win, a four-hitter with 13 K’s, two walks and just the three earned runs, giving him a 2.64 ERA as he nears 200 innings in his rookie season! We outhit the Braves 9-4, led by Jackie Robinson, who hit two homers and walked once, scoring three times and driving in three more, while Mays and Purkey also had a pair of hits apiece.

With the pair of wins we’ve improved to 109-33, just one win away from tying last year’s record and seven away from tying the all-time Cubs wins record set back in 1906! Our magic number is now just three, as the Phillies (97-43) have won four straight but remain 11 games back thanks to our five-game streak. Over in the AL, the race looks to be shaping up between Boston and New York. The Red Sox, at 85-53, are just 6.5 games up on the Yankees, who are on an EIGHT GAME WIN STREAK. Detroit (75-62, 9.5 GB) and Cleveland (75-63, 10 GB) are falling quickly out of contention, with Boston’s magic number to clinch now at 11.

[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 7, 1955 . . . For those keeping up with the home run race, Kluszewski and Maris are duking it out in first with 44 apiece, while Ted Williams has hit 41 and Robinson is now alone in fourth with a career-best 38. Regardless of how he finishes this season, he’s put together a career year since joining us in Chicago earlier in the season. Robert Diehl (15-7, 1.83 ERA, 216.1 IP, 111 K’s, 0.89 WHIP) started his 30th game of the season this afternoon against Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend (9-12, 4.10 ERA, 215.0 IP, 101 K’s, 1.41 WHIP). Danny Lynch hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third, his third of the season, to put us up 1-0. Diehl got himself a base hit, advancing to second on a wild pitch to Kaline, and when Kaline flew out to right for our first out of the frame, Diehl made it to third! Banks walked, and then Mays flew out to left, but Diehl was able to beat out the throw to home and give us a 2-0 lead. Diehl made a great double play to get a pair of outs in the top of the fourth, but Rocky Colavito was still able to score from third to pull the Pirates to within a run. And they tied it up in the top of the fifth on a Ken Boyer RBI single. Kaline got a single in the bottom of the fifth, and Ernie Banks hit a line drive into right field that got him a single and which advanced Kaline to third. But Willie Mays flew out to center and ended the inning scoreless. Daniel Howard hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to put us up 3-2, and Al Rosen scored from third on a wild pitch to add another! Crandall flew out to center but allowed another run to score, and suddenly it was 5-2 Cubs heading into the seventh. Dorish was ready to come in for the eighth inning, but in the bottom of the seventh we loaded the bases and Daniel Howard batted in a run to make it 6-2. Jackie Robinson scored on a flyout by Crandall to add another run, and we went into the top of the eighth up 7-2. So Diehl stayed out for the eighth inning, and with the score unchanged he stayed out to complete the game. The Pirates got one run back, but we beat them easily enough 7-3, tying last year’s wins record and putting us a step closer to the pennant clinch!

Diehl improved to 16-7 with a 1.88 ERA, giving up eight hits with five K’s and a pair of walks, for three earned runs. We had 13 hits ourselves, led by Lynch with three hits and a homer. Banks, Mays, Rosen and Howard each hit twice, giving us an unstoppable lineup when it mattered.
 
SEPTEMBER 9, 1955 . . . The Phillies won their games on Wednesday and Thursday, so we have a pair now against the Brooklyn Dodgers with our magic number at two -- we could clinch with a win today and a Phillies loss, or with two wins in this series regardless of what happens in Philadelphia. Over in the AL, meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have now dropped three in a row, and the Yankees are on a 10-game win streak, cutting the Sox’s lead to 4.5 games. And with six head-to-head matchups left to end the month, that race is guaranteed to come down to the wire. Boston gets the final three at home September 23-25, with New York hosting for three September 16-18.

Hy Cohen (26-4, 1.31 ERA, 299.1 IP, 267 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) got his 36th start of the year today against Brooklyn’s Sam Meyer (3-3, 2.55 ERA, 49.1 IP, 19 K’s, 1.22 WHIP). About 30,000 fans showed up, the wind blowing in hard from the right, and both pitchers settled into an early rhythm, with the hits few and far between. Ernie Banks hit himself a double with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, score still knotted 0-0, but Willie Mays grounded out to first, ending our first real scoring opportunity. So Jackie Robinson took things into his own hands in the bottom of the sixth, hitting a solo homer to put us up 1-0, his 39th of the year, giving him 120 RBIs this season! We went into the top of the ninth still leading 1-0, and Koufax came in to finish it off. He got Pee Wee Reese out at center, and then Gil Hodges batted out to right, bringing up Duke Snider, whose potential game-tying homer was blown in at the wall, allowing for an easy out at left field! Cubs win this one 1-0 in a hard-fought defensive battle.

Cohen gave us eight innings with one hit, nine K’s and three walks, improving to 27-4 with a 1.32 ERA, throwing 112 pitches. Koufax came in for his 19th save of the year, no-hitting the Pirates as we won our 111th game of the year. Philly shut out the Cardinals 9-0 this afternoon, however, so we have to wait until tomorrow to officially secure our pennant win. We outhit the Dodgers 7-1 in the one-run shutout, with Robinson’s solo homer our only scoring of the day. Kaline led the team with two hits but was unable to add to the margin.

SEPTEMBER 10, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (22-9, 1.87 ERA, 275.0 IP, 308 K’s, 0.80 WHIP) pitched today against Sal Maglie (14-12, 2.74 ERA, 253.1 IP, 152 K’s, 1.03 WHIP). A win today and we’re in! We wasted no time, loading the bases in the bottom of the first to bring up Robinson, no outs, who hit a three-run triple to put us up 3-0 in the bottom of the first! Willie Mays hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third, his 31st of the year, to make it 4-0 Cubs, and Robinson hit one to deep right, his 40th of the season, to make it 5-0! The Dodgers got on the board in the top of the fourth with an RBI double by Duke Snider to make it 5-1, but Ernie Banks hit his 20th double of the year to start the bottom of the fifth, and Willie Mays hit an RBI triple to make it 6-1. Campanella hit an RBI triple to pull the Dodgers back within four runs in the top of the sixth, and Monte Irvin hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh to make it 6-3. But Willie Mays put it away in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI double, sending us into the eighth inning leading 7-3. Unfortunately, Al Kaline may have injured himself sliding in to score that run, and he’s out of the game -- here’s hoping it’s not serious! Bob Will came in to take over at right, and Harry Dorish came in to pitch. Dorish locked in from the word “go” and we stumped the Dodgers from there, holding tough to win 7-3, clinching our second consecutive NL Pennant!

Rogovin improved to 23-9 on the year, giving up five hits with eight strikeouts to go with three earned runs, dropping his ERA slightly to 1.91 on the season. Dorish gave us two two-hit innings, striking out four and walking one, keeping his ERA nearly spotless at 1.07 through 76 innings in 39 relief appearances. We outhit the Dodgers 11-7, led by Mays who had four hits for two runs and three RBIs. Kaline added two hits and two runs, Ernie Banks hit three times for two runs, and Jackie Robinson stayed hot with two hits, a run and four RBIs thanks to his three-run triple and his 40th homer!

With our spot in the World Series secure, all eyes turn to the American League, where Boston (87-55) fights for its chance to play for a championship they’ve been desperate for since 1918. The Yankees, at 82-59, have kept their win streak intact -- 12 in a row! -- and remain 4.5 games out of first as the only contender with a shot at knocking the Red Sox off their perch.

[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 11, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (17-5, 2.64 ERA, 198.0 IP, 221 K’s, 0.99 WHIP) pitched today against New York’s Seth Morehead (10-11, 4.01 ERA, 186.1 IP, 121 K’s, 1.39 WHIP). Kaline’s injury was superficial, and he’s back in the lineup today still batting lead-off. Willie Mays put us quickly up 3-0 with a three-run blast to left, his 32nd of the year, and moments later Daniel Howard hit a two-run blast to make it 5-0 with his second of the season to make it 5-0, bottom of the first. And Jackie Robinson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the second to make this one a rout right out of the gate, Cubs leading 9-0 thanks to his 41st homer of the year! The bleacher fans were busy, as Howard then hit his third of the year and his second today, extending the lead to ten runs heading into the top of the third. Ernie Banks hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the third, his 35th homer of the year, and though the Giants got themselves a run off a Jim Gilliam RBI single in the top of the sixth, we had them in a 13-1 chokehold already so it made no difference. And Al Rosen knocked his 19th homer of the year out of the park in the bottom of the sixth to add another pair. We brought Tom Ferrick in for the last two innings, coming in for the eighth with a 15-1 lead, and we added another in the bottom of the eighth on a wild pitch to make it 16-1. Ferrick gave up one more run in garbage time, but we destroyed them 16-2 in the end.

Pascual improved to 18-5, giving up seven hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and one earned run, keeping his ERA at 2.59. Ferrick pitched two innings in a mop-up role, giving up four hits with a strikeout, two walks and an earned run, giving him a 6.35 ERA through 12 relief appearances. We out hit them 15-11, but had six homers so the game was a rout almost from the first pitch. Willie Mays was named NL Player of the Week, hitting .579 with three homers and 9 RBIs. He’s currently hitting .308 for the season, with 32 homers, 96 RBIs and 106 runs scored.

SEPTEMBER 13, 1955 . . . The Phillies came to town for our final matchup of the season, with a lot less riding on it now that they’ve been officially eliminated. But they’re 102-44 and playing for a win out of pride, having posted their best season since 1915. Robert Diehl (16-7, 1.88 ERA, 225.1 IP, 116 K’s, 0.90 WHIP) pitched against Robin Roberts (22-7, 2.87 ERA, 263.0 IP, 135 K’s, 0.82 WHIP). Philly got on the board pretty quickly, with Diehl struggling in the second inning, an RBI triple by Willie Jones and a flyout by Alvin Dark leading to a quick two runs for the Phillies in the top of the second. It can happen quickly in this game. The Phillies added an RBI single by Earl Torgeson in the top of the fifth, and we brought Lovett Geeslin in to pitch starting with the sixth inning. Alvin Dark got a double in the top of the seventh and eventually came around to score their fourth run, and Epitacio Torres came in for the top of the eighth with the lead still 4-0 for Philadelphia, and Tom Ferrick came in for the top of the ninth with the situation unchanged. He got two outs and then gave up a solo blast to Jim Dyck that made it 5-0 Phillies, sending us into the bottom of the inning needing a barrage of offense. Didn’t happen. We got a hit out of Mays, but the rest of the guys batted themselves out, giving Philly the 5-0 victory pretty much on a platter.

Diehl fell to 16-8 with a seven-hit one strikeout three run effort through five innings, giving him a 1.95 ERA. Geeslin looked solid in his two innings of work, giving up two hits and a run for a 4.91 ERA through 3.2 innings since being called up with the expanded rosters. Torres got through his inning in eight pitches, and Ferrick gave up a pair of hits and two walks along with the homer to Dyck. His ERA through 18 innings this year is 6.50, and though he’s signed a deal to be with us through next year, I suspect he may choose to retire once the season completes -- we all know, however, how hard it is to leave this game. Philly outhit us 11-4 today as Roberts pitched a four-hit shutout. Crandall had two hits for us, and Kaline and Banks each hit once. But we never got anyone into scoring position.

SEPTEMBER 17, 1955 . . . The Yankees have collapsed down the homestretch, losing three in a row to snap their two-week win streak, losing 4-3 and 0-1 at Yankee Stadium to the Detroit Tigers and then dropping an 0-2 stunner against Boston, ALSO at Yankee Stadium. They’re now 7.5 games back, and Boston will clinch on their next victory, either against the Yankees or in one of their last two against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway. We’ve got two against the Redlegs this weekend, and then five road games next week against the Cardinals and the Redlegs.

Tonight Hy Cohen (27-4, 1.32 ERA, 307.1 IP, 276 K’s, 0.67 WHIP) pitched against Cincy’s George Susce (13-16, 3.32 ERA, 249.2 IP, 103 K’s, 1.16 WHIP). Cohen struck out the first two batters and then gave up a solo homer to Ted Kluszewski, giving the Redlegs an early 1-0 lead. But we answered right back with a slam to left field by Ernie Banks, his 36th of the year, to tie us up 1-1 in the bottom of the first. Banks hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the second to make it 4-1 Cubs, giving him his 37th and second of the game, and a Robinson sac-fly to center drove in a fifth. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the third, and Kaline hit himself an RBI triple to make it 8-1 a complete blowout. Willie Mays hit his 33rd homer of the year, another two-run blast, to make it 10-1, making this a complete blowout heading into the top of the fourth. Robinson batted in another run with a single in the bottom of the seventh, and Cohen stayed in to complete the game as we destroyed the Redlegs 11-1 to win our 114th game of the year.

Hy Cohen’s one earned run today snapped a 40-inning scoreless streak, as he improved to 28-4, giving up seven hits with 12 strikeouts as he held his ERA at 1.31 through his 37th start. We outhit them 17-7 with three homers, led by Ernie Banks who had four hits (two homers) for two runs and four RBIs and by Mays, who had five hits (one homer) for two runs and two RBIs.

The Yankees staved off elimination by beating the Boston Red Sox 6-1 at Yankee Stadium tonight, pulling them to within 6.5 games of first, though the Red Sox’ magic number is just one.

SEPTEMBER 18, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (23-9, 1.91 ERA, 282.0 IP, 316 K’s, 0.79 WHIP) got the start tonight against Tom Poholsky (9-10, 3.59 ERA, 200.1 IP, 83 K’s, 1.33 WHIP). Jackie Robinson hit a two-run blast over the right field wall, his 42nd of the season, to make it a 2-0 Cubs lead in the bottom of the first. Del Crandall hit one to left in the bottom of the second, his 21st of the year, to increase our margin to 3-0, and Al Kaline added an RBI single moments later to make it a four-run lead. Willie Mays finished out the inning with an RBI single, but Ernie Banks tried to steal home and was picked off for the third out making it 5-0 Cubs heading into the top of the third. Cincy got on the board with an RBI single by Nellie Fox, but one was all they’d get. We got the run back in the bottom of the third. We carried that 6-1 lead into the seventh inning stretch, and Rogovin completed the game and kept it that way as we handled the Redlegs easil in this one.

Rogovin improved to 24-9, pitching a seven-hitter with nine strikeouts and one walk, improving his ERA slightly to 1.89 despite the one earned run. We outhit them 12-7, led by Willie Mays, who hit four times with a run and an RBI, improving his average to .318 on the season.

The Yankees (86-62, 5.5 GB) beat the Red Sox (92-57) again 3-2 at Yankee Stadium, so they’ll head into their final road series at Washington (76-72) while the Red Sox get a night off and then return to Fenway Park for a pair against the Orioles (49-100) and then three home-games against the Yankees. Absolutely no one expects this race to survive until the Sox / Yanks series at Fenway, with a Yankees loss or a Bo-Sox win putting this one away long before then.

[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 19, 1955 . . . Just five games remain in the regular season, and if we win just two of them we’ll break the all-time Cubs wins record for a season. Bud Watkins (1-1, 4.50 ERA, 10.0 IP, 5 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) started in game on at St. Louis, against Willard Schmidt (1-7, 4.66 ERA, 75.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.63 WHIP). Cohen and Rogovin are unlikely to start again prior to the World Series. St. Louis took a 1-0 lead on a John Moskus RBI single in the bottom of the first, but Gene Baker hit an RBI single of his own in the top of the second to tie it back up 1-1, and Watkins hit a line drive into left that drove home a second run to put us in the lead. Ernie Banks hit a solo blast to left, his 38th of the year, to put us up 3-1 in the top of the third, and Lovett Geeslin came in with the score still 3-1 to start the bottom of the fifth. Banks hit his second homer of the game, this time in the top of the sixth, to score three more runs, and Geeslin got us through three innings. Epitacio Torres came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth with the lead still at five runs, and he got us through the final two innings to complete the 6-1 road win.

Geeslin picked up the win, improving to 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA through 6.2 innings -- he gave up just one hit, and got three strikeouts, during his three innings thrown. Watkins lasted four innings with just two hits, four strikeouts and three walks, giving up one earned run to improve his ERA to 3.86. And Torres gave us two innings with one hit, keeping his ERA at a solid 2.81. I’m still formalizing our playoff roster, but I’m thinking Torres has earned his spot in our bullpen. We outhit the Cardinals 8-4, led obviously by Ernie Banks, who hit two homers for four RBIs to bring his total on the year to 39, by far the best slugging of his three year career!

Boston has officially clinched the AL Pennant! The Yankees lost 3-2 last night against the Senators on the road, while the Red Sox got to listen on the radio and celebrate on their night off. So we’ve officially got a World Series with two long-suffering franchises -- ours has not won a title since 1908, but we are going to the postseason for the second year in a row. The Sox haven’t won a title since 1918 ... after four titles during the 1910s, the BoSox haven’t been to the Fall Classic since 1946. The Yankees, meanwhile, have now missed out on the postseason two years running, after having won the title in 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953.

SEPTEMBER 20, 1955 . . . Robert Diehl (16-8, 1.95 ERA, 230.1 IP, 117 K’s, 0.91 WHIP) pitched tonight against Mike Fornieles (3-4, 2.96 ERA, 48.2 IP, 23 K’s, 1.60 WHIP). Diehl’s command was awful tonight, as he gave up two hits and three walks in the bottom of the first to spot St. Louis a 3-0 lead. He has been iffy late in this season, far from the lockdown guy we counted on early in the year. He settled down from there, getting us through the fifth still trailing 3-0, but our lineup just wasn’t making good contact tonight. Bob Purkey came in to pitch in the bottom of the sixth with one out and a man on second, getting a flyout and a groundout to end the inning without any scoring. Willie Mays hit a two-run homer to right field in the top of the eighth to pull us within a run with his 34th homer of the season. And then Jackie Robinson hit one that completely baffled the Cardinals’ defenders, coming around to score on an inside the park homer that puts him at 43 for the year! That tied us up 3-3. Purkey got us through a third inning without a run scoring, and we went into the top of the ninth with Koufax warmed up and ready. Unfortunately we were unable to get any hits in the top of the inning, so Koufax came in to at least give us a shot at extras. Groundout, strikeout, groundout and we were heading for a tenth! Kaline hit a triple to start the top of the 10th, scoring the go-ahead run off a Robinson flyout to left. Koufax came out in the bottom of the inning with a one-run lead to protect, making quick work of the Cardinals as we won this one 4-3, our 117th win of the season!

Koufax earned the win, improving to 8-3 with a no-hit two strikeout pair of innings, while Purkey got in 5.1 innings with four hits, two K’s and three walks, giving up three runs and dropping his ERA to 2.02. Purkey was solid as usual, giving us three excellent innings with just two hits a strikeout and a walk, dropping his ERA to 1.54 through 35 innings. We outhit the Cardinals 7-6, led by Robinson with two hits, a run and two RBIs, and Mays with one hit (a homer) for two RBIs.

SEPTEMBER 21, 1955 . . . Camilo Pascual (18-5, 2.59 ERA, 205.0 IP, 227 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) pitched this evening in St. Louis, facing Bob Grim (6-24, 4.69 ERA, 216.2 IP, 101 K’s, 1.54 WHIP). Kluszewski (47) and Mantle (46) are still battling it out for the Home Run Crown, with Robinson and Williams (43) tied for third -- though Ernie Banks (39) has jumped into fifth place. St. Louis got on the board in the bottom of the first with a solo jack by Jim King, but Jackie Robinson tied it with his 44th homer of the year in the top of the second! It’s a windy, rainy night and the ball is flying off the bats -- Bill Sarni put the Cards back up 2-1 with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the second, but then Pascual started throwing strikeouts and our batters remained off balance and the scoring quickly slowed. Pascual struck out nine through the first five innings, but we still went into the top of the sixth trailing 2-1. Robinson tied us up, however, in the top of the sixth with an RBI triple, and Grim walked Rosen and Daniel Howard to load the bases with two outs. Crandall flew out to center, however, and we went into the bottom of the inning knotted 2-2. Ernie Banks hit an RBI double in the top of the seventh to put us ahead 3-2, but Pascual gave up a two-run homer to Dick Stuart that put the Cards back up 4-3. But in the top of the eighth Del Crandall hit his 22nd homer of the season to put us back up 5-3 as he scored a pair of runs. Harry Dorish came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, striking out the side, and Willie Mays batted in a run with a double in the top of the ninth to make it 6-4! Rosen hit a triple to drive in our seventh run of the game, and Crandall hit one into center that extended our lead to 8-4. A Danny Lynch flyout to left ended the inning, but we’d done enough damage not to need Koufax tonight. Dorish stayed out to finish the game, striking out another pair as we beat the Cardinals 8-4 for the sweep.

Pascual gave us seven innings with just five hits to go with 13 K’s against zero walks, improving to 19-5 with a 2.67 ERA in his rookie season. Dorish got his fourth save of the year, giving us two innings with five K’s and no hits, dropping his ERA down to 1.04! We outhit St. Louis tonight 12-5, led by Banks with three hits two runs and an RBI, and by Robinson with two hits, two walks, a run and a pair of RBIs. Rosen, Crandall and Lynch each also had a pair of hits.

SEPTEMBER 24, 1955 . . . We brought Dave Hillman (1-1, 8.36 ERA, 14.0 IP, 5 K’s, 1.93 WHIP) up to pitch in this one and keep our main starters rested for the playoffs. He threw against Tom Poholsky (9-11, 3.82 ERA, 202.2 IP, 84 K’s, 1.36 WHIP) in the first of our final two against the Redlegs of the season. Ernie Banks hit a homer in the top of the first, his 40th, and then Jackie Robinson hit his 45th out to left, quickly putting us up 2-0 after half an inning. Wally Post hit his 10th of the year to make it a 2-1 ballgame in the bottom of the second, immediately followed by Dick Groat’s fourth of the year to tie us up 2-2. All homers all day, the way the wind’s blowing. Al Kaline hit his 18th blast to give us a 3-2 lead in the top of the third, but Gus Bell tied things up with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, and an RBI single by Wally Post put them back ahead 4-3. With Dorish warming up, the Redlegs scored a third run this inning with an RBI single by Dick Groat, before Hillman finally got the final out and we went into the top of the sixth trailing 5-3. Dorish came in with one out in the bottom of the sixth, no one on, and quickly got us out of the inning with the lead still at two for the Redlegs. And they were able to hold that lead, preventing a ninth inning rally as they bested us 5-3 to give their fans a little bit to cheer about as September winds to a close. We play our final game of the year tomorrow before getting ready for the Fall Classic!

Hillman took the loss, falling to 1-2 with an 8.38 ERA thanks to 10 hits and five runs, with two strikeouts and a walk through 5.1 innings. Harry Dorish pitched the rest of the game, going 2.2 innings with no hits, no strikeouts and no walks to drop his ERA to 1.00 through 80.2 regular season innings of relief. Cincy outhit us 10-7 -- Banks, Kaline and Robinson each gave us homers, accounting for the entirety of our scoring for the afternoon.
 
SEPTEMBER 25, 1955 . . . Bud Watkins (1-1, 3.86 ERA, 14.0 IP, 9 K’s, 1.43 WHIP) got the final start of the regular season, facing Cincinnati’s Buddy Shantz (8-17, 5.51 ERA, 170.0 IP, 92 K’s, 1.74 WHIP). The Redlegs took a 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single by Kluszewski, and by the time we got up to bat in the top of the second they had a 4-0 lead and Bob Porterfield was prepping to come in for long relief. Robinson scored from third off a Lynch flyout to left to make it 4-1 in the top of the second, and Bill Serena pinch-hit for Watkins, loading the bases for Kaline, who got a line drive into left to score two more. Ernie Banks drove one into right field to tie it up, and Mays flew out to right to end the frame, sending us into the bottom of the second tied 2-2. The Redlegs got two runs off a Hal Keller flyout to center, giving them a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the third, and a Nelly Fox three-run homer made this one a blwout, heading into the top of the fourth trailing 9-4. Purkey came in and got us through the fourth, and Robinson hit his 20th triple of the season with two outs in the top of the fifth, but was unable to get around to score. Del Crandall hit a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to make it 9-6, his 23rd dinger of the year, but the Redlegs scored a 10th run thanks to an RBI single by Dick Groat, giving them a 10-6 lead heading into the seventh. Geeslin came out midway through the bottom of the seventh and got us the outs we needed to stay within four runs, but that was as close as we’d get it. They shut down the top of our order in the ninth and held tough to beat us 10-6.

Bob Porterfield took the loss and fell to 3-1 with a 3.35 ERA, giving up three hits and five runs with just a walk through two innings, after Watkins (three hits, one strikeout, three walks, four earned runs) only made it through one. Purkey pitched well through 3.1 innings, giving up five hits with two strikeouts, a walk and an earned run, and Geeslin came in for the last 1.2 innings and gave up just two hits with a strikeout and a walk. The Redlegs outhit us 13-10, Kaline leading our offense with two hits and two RBIs. We’ll spend the next couple days ironing out our plans for the postseason, having won a Cubs (and major league) record 118 games this year, winning 76.6 percent of our games!

Final MLB Standings for the 1955 season:

American League
1. Boston Red Sox (96-58)
2. New York Yankees (89-65, 7 GB)
3. Cleveland Guardians (83-71, 13 GB)
4. Detroit Tigers (83-71, 13 GB)
5. Washington Senators (78-76, 18 GB)
6. Chicago White Sox (78-76, 18 GB)
7. Kansas City Athletics (58-96, 38 GB)
8. Baltimore Orioles (51-103, 45 GB)

National League
1. Chicago Cubs (118-36)
2. Philadelphia Phillies (110-44, 8 GB)
3. Brooklyn Dodgers (77-77, 41 GB)
4. Cincinnati Redlegs (72-82, 46 GB)
5. Milwaukee Braves (71-83, 47 GB)
6. New York Giants (62-92, 56 GB)
7. Pittsburgh Pirates (62-92, 56 GB)
8. St. Louis Cardinals (44-110, 74 GB)

Here’s our playoff roster for the upcoming series with the Boston Red Sox:

Starters: Cohen, Rogovin, Pascual, Diehl
Relievers: Koufax, Dorish, Porterfield, Purkey, Torres, Geeslin, Ferrick
Catcher: Crandall, Jarvis
1B: Rosen, Collins
2B: Baker, Lynch
3B: Robinson, Serena
SS: Banks
LF: Howard, Brovis
CF: Mays, Will
RF: Kaline

We open the series with two games at Boston September 28th and 29th, then return to Wrigley for games three and four on the 1st and 2nd of October. If game five is necessary we play it at Wrigley on the 3rd, followed by potential games six and seven at Fenway on the 5th and 6th.

[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 28, 1955
WORLD SERIES, GAME ONE
Chicago Cubs (0-0) at Boston Red Sox (0-0)

1:05 PM -- Fenway Park ... Attendance: 34,110
Weather: Clear, 67 Degrees, Wind blowing in from left, 11 miles per hour

BOSTON STARTER: Willard Nixon (23-5, 2.31 ERA, 276.2 IP, 138 K’s, 1.22 WHIP)
CHICAGO STARTER: Hy Cohen (28-4, 1.31 ERA, 316.1 IP, 288 K’s, 0.67 WHIP)

The first inning of this high-tension ballgame was dominated by the pitchers -- and though Cohen did give up a hit to Red Sox second baseman Billy Goodman, we stranded him at third to get out of the inning scoreless. Al Rosen reached first on balls in the top of the second, but was picked off quickly after taking too much of a lead. Red Sox pitcher Willard Nixon got a base hit in the bottom of the third with one out, and a double by Jim Piersall drove him to third. But a flyout to center held the runners, and Ted Williams batted out to right to end the inning still knotted 0-0. This battle of aces delivered everything fans could have expected, with both teams’ strong defenses being on full display. Heading into the seventh inning stretch we remained knotted up at 0-0, with Nixon still throwing a no-hitter, and Cohen hanging in with just three hits, five K’s and only one walk. We picked up our first hit of the game in the top of the eighth on two outs, when Daniel Howard beat out an infield squib to take his base. But Del Crandall was robbed of a homer when Jim Piersall made an incredible leaping catch, and we were back to Cohen on the mound in a bottom of the eighth deadlock.

Cohen gave up a hit to Mike Durock, but it was quickly negated by an amazing throw by Mays to Robinson to tag him out trying to turn a double into a triple! Cohen struck out Nixon, and then with Piersall coming up to the plate for the fourth time we brought in Harry Dorish from the bullpen. He took his base on balls, and then Dorish got Goodman to ground out to first, sending us into the top of the ninth with Koufax warming up and with Gene Baker coming in to pinch hit for Danny Lynch. Baker batted out to center, but Bill Serena, pinch hitting for Dorish, took his base on balls, bringing up Kaline and the top of the order with just one out! But Kaline hit into a double play, sending us into the bottom of the ninth with Koufax coming in to keep it scoreless into extras. Koufax struck out Ted Williams, and pinch hitter Hoot Evers grounded out to first, bringing up Andy Seminick, who took a walk. Johnny Romano came in as a pinch hitter, but he grounded out to first and game one of the World Series was headed for extra innings!

With one out in the top of the 10th, Willie Mays came up and made himself a Cubs hero for life, hitting a towering blast over the Green Monster and putting us up 1-0! Robinson grounded out to first for out number two, but Al Rosen used his great plate discipline to eke out a walk, before Daniel Howard batted out to center to end the inning. Koufax came back out to protect the lead, giving up a single to Mitt Bolling, but getting Mike Durock to ground out to first. Harry Aganis came in to pinch hit for Nixon, getting a wild bounce into right field to give the Sox two on and a runner in scoring position. Jim Piersall hit a line drive into right, loading the bases, and Koufax then walked in the tying run. He struck Williams out swinging again, and then Norm Larker hit a weak little popup that should have been an easy out for Crandall, but he botched the catch for an error. The count 1-2 on Larker, Koufax was able to get out of the inning with a flyout to left, but now we were headed for the top of the 11th and it was hard not to think we’d had our best opportunity just slip through our fingers.

With two outs in the top of the 11th, Bob Will pinch hit for Koufax and took a base on balls, but Kaline flew out to right to end the frame. Epitacio Torres came in for the bottom of the inning and got three quick outs, adding to the epic nature of this marathon! Again with two outs in the top of the 12th, Jackie Robinson got a hit to carom off the Green Monster, managing a double, but Rosen flew out to the centerfielder and we just couldn’t catch a break. But Torres was incredible, stumping the Red Sox through the bottom of the inning to keep us alive. Daniel Howard walked to start the top of the 13th but never made it past second. Yet Torres found another gear in the bottom of the inning, getting three more putouts and sending us into the 14th with the top of our order back up for another try! Ernie Banks got a flyball to drop into left for a base hit, and Willie Mays hit a blistering line drive into right to give us a runner in scoring position with one out in the top of the 14th. But Robinson flew out to short, bringing up Rosen who drew boos from the rabid crowd as he hit a shot into deep right, scoring two runs and putting us up 3-1! Epitacio Torres then came back out to finish the bottom of the inning, putting on a real show as we stunned the Red Sox, winning 3-1 in 14!

Hy Cohen gave us everything he had, lasting 7.2 innings with just four hits, seven strikeouts and a walk. Dorish got an out on seven pitches to get us to Koufax, who had two innings with three hits, two K’s, two walks and an earned run. But it was Epitacio Torres who, through four incredible innings, gave us the chance to outlast them -- he gave up NO HITS, pitching almost entirely to soft contact through 40 throws, blanking the Red Sox for his first major league win!

Through 14 innings we were outhit 7-6 by Boston, but we made the ones we got count double! Willie Mays led the way with two hits, two runs and an RBI thanks to his homer, while Banks, Robinson, Rosen and Howard accounted for the rest of our hits as we took a 1-0 lead on the Red Sox in this series.

[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 29, 1955
WORLD SERIES, GAME TWO
Chicago Cubs (1-0) at Boston Red Sox (0-1)

1:05 PM -- Fenway Park ... Attendance: 34,262
Weather: Clear, 57 Degrees, Wind blowing out to right, 11 miles per hour

BOSTON STARTER: Ross “Rusty” Kemmerer (8-8, 3.68 ERA, 181.0 IP, 82 K’s, 1.38 WHIP)
CHICAGO STARTER: Saul Rogovin (24-9, 1.89 ERA, 291.0 IP, 325 K’s, 0.80 WHIP)

Tonight Boston wasted no time getting on the board, with Ted Williams hitting a 413-foot blast to right that put them up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. We loaded the bases in the top of the second but left everyone stranded. Kaline and Banks got hits quickly to start the top of the third, and Willie Mays blasted one out to right that put us back up 3-1, his second homer of the series! Kaline hit himself a triple with one out in the top of the fourth, but he was caught out trying to slide home on an Ernie Banks flyout at left, ending the inning without a score. Jackie Robinson added a homer in the top of the fifth that sailed all the way over the Green Monster to make it 4-1 Cubs, and Ernie Banks batted in another in the top of the sixth as the Bo-Sox fans booed heartily. A Robinson flyout allowed us to score our sixth run of the day, and we went into the bottom of the sixth with a 6-1 lead. Willie Mays hit another homer to right in the top of the eighth, his second of the afternoon and third of the series, to make the score 7-1, and Danny Lynch had himself an RBI triple to drive in two more runs in this game two rout! The Sox got a run back in the bottom of the eighth off a solo homer by Mike Durock, and after a strikeout by the pitcher, Jim Piersall hit one to right to make it 9-3. Rogovin added a strikeout to start the bottom of the ninth, then gave up a homer to Andy Seminick, who cut the margin to five runs. But that was the last blast for the Sox, as we beat them handily 9-4. Let’s take this thing back to Wrigley!

Saul Rogovin pitched a complete game, throwing 141 pitches and giving up just five hits, with 13 K’s and a walk. His four earned runs, all off homers, gave him a 4.00 ERA for the game. We outhit them 17-5, an absolutely staggering statistic, led by Willie Mays who hit twice and batted in five runs with his pair of homers. Jackie Robinson hit three times for a run and two RBIs, and Al Kaline hit three times and scored twice on the basepaths.

Willie Mays was named the NL’s September hitter of the month, batting .477 with seven homers, 19 RBIs and 15 runs scored. For the third season in a row he has put up more than 10 WAR, and though he has a lot of competition for the award, he remains the player to beat for the MVP, which would be his third in a row if he wins it.

[jksander]

OCTOBER 1, 1955
WORLD SERIES, GAME THREE
Boston Red Sox (0-2) at Chicago Cubs (2-0)

1:05 PM -- Wrigley Field ... Attendance: 39,560
Weather: Clear, 61 Degrees, Wind blowing in from left, 9 miles per hour

BOSTON STARTER: Jerry Casale (11-8, 4.42 ERA, 165.0 IP, 107 K’s, 1.52 WHIP)
CHICAGO STARTER: Camilo Pascual (19-5, 2.67 ERA, 212.0 IP, 240 K’s, 0.99 WHIP)

This one was a repeat of game one, with both pitchers locking in and making baserunners tough to find. But we broke things open in the bottom of the third inning with a two-run blast to left by Jackie Robinson, whose 400-footer put us ahead 2-0, his second homer of the series! Pascual didn’t give up his first hit until the fifth inning, and with the score still 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh he hit himself a triple as we tried to add some insurance, but we weren’t able to bring him home. Epitacio Torres came in to pitch to start the top of the eighth, and he got us through the inning with the shutout intact. Mays hit a triple to start the bottom of the eighth, and we added a run thanks to an Al Rosen RBI single, and Del Crandall added another with an RBI triple that made this a 5-0 blowout! Danny Lynch brought Crandall home with a single to left, and Torres came out in the top of the ninth to seal it. Boston got a pair of hits including an RBI triple from Jim Rivera, and a second run scored on a flyout by Johnny Romano. But Torres got Milt Bolling to strike out swinging and we completed the 6-2 win, putting us just one win away from banishing the curse!

Camilo Pascual got the win, throwing a seven inning four-hitter with six strikeouts and just a pair of walks. Torres earned a save, getting through two innings with two hits, three K’s and a walk, his two earned runs giving him a 3.00 ERA so far in the series. We outhit Boston 10-6, led by Al Rosen with three hits, a run and an RBI. Kaline added two hits, and Jackie Robinson got a hit and a walk, scoring two and batting in two more!