[jksander]

[SIZE="4"]JULY 28, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker was ready to pitch tonight on three days’ rest, so we’re starting him in the first of three games against the Dodgers here at Wrigley. Cavarretta opened the bottom of the first with a run-scoring triple, amd Mays got himself an RBI double to make it 2-0 with no outs. Randy Jackson hit an RBI single that drove Mays home from third with two outs, and just like that we welcomed the home crowd with a 3-0 first inning lead. And that is where it would stay, until the bottom of the eighth when Phil Cavarretta hit his fourth homer of the year, increasing our lead to 4-0. Hacker gave up a run in the top of the ninth but then shut them down nicely as we beat the Dodgers 4-1 in our Wrigley return.

Hacker remains red hot, improving to 16-5 with a 2.73 ERA through 194.1 innings. Willie Mays hit four times in four tries, scoring once and batting in another, while Cavarretta had two hits, scoring twice and batting in two.

JULY 29, 1953 . . . Roy Campanella hit a run scoring double off Klippstein to open the scoring in this one, but in the bottom of the third we tied it up on a Cavarretta RBI single, though we couldn’t quite get enough together to take the lead. McCullough surprised everyone with a triple to deep right, scoring the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh, and Eddie Miksis drove in another to quickly make it 3-1 Cubs! Klippstein sacrificed himself in deep center to drive Miksis home and make it a 4-1 game, and that’s where we stood heading into the top of the eighth. Bob Kelly came in to close the game out, and he struggled mightily, giving up back to back hits to score a run and cut the lead to two. Campanella hit it deep to center, driving in a third run, and I brought Vern Fear in to try and get us out of this. But Vern gave up the last of Kelly’s men, completely blowing the save and tying the score 4-4. He did, however, manage to get a double play to end the inning with no further damage, and we’d get the chance to hopefully walk it off in the bottom of the ninth. Jackson got a single and then they walked Kenneth Chapman, bringing up Clyde McCullough with no outs and two men on. McCullough flew out to right and the runners stayed put. Eddie Miksis flew out and the runners stayed put. And Vern Fear struck out, sending us to the top of the 10th knotted 4-4.

Fear got three quick outs in the top of the 10th, giving us another chance to end this one on our terms. Willie Mays hit a two out single to center, but Sauer flew out to right, ending the inning. But Vern Fear has ice flowing in his veins and the making of a really strong long reliever -- he got three more quick outs to send us to the bottom of the 11th. Jackson singled, Chapman singled and sent Jackson to third, and McCullough hit a walk-off single to win it 5-4!

Vern Fear blew his second save of the year, but in the process of staying in and cleaing up the mess he earned his first major league win! He’s now 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA after 11 innings in five appearances since coming up from AAA, with just one hit tonight to go with two strikeouts and a walk. Klippstein threw eight excellent innings, giving up just two hits and an earned run with four strikeouts and a walk. Bob Kelly, meanwhile, reverted to classic Bob Kelly of earlier this year, of which the less said the better.

We head into the third game against Brooklyn having now tied the season series at 8-8. We’re currently 54-45, closing the gap between us, Brooklyn and the Phillies, though we’ve made little headway against the surging Milwaukee Braves (66-36).

Our GM confirmed a trade last night that sends our backup catcher Toby Atwell and our rookie starter Dick Brodowski to Washington in exchange for Sandy Consuegra, a 32-year old 2.5-star receiver who has gone 4-5 with 11 saves and a 4.65 ERA, and Billy Consuelo, a high risk high reward second baseman who won’t be ready to come out of the minors for years. I’m just the manager, but I think it’s a bonehead move that hurts our starting rotation with little reward. But my job is to manage with what I’m given, so, off to make tomorrow’s lineup card.

JULY 30, 1953 . . . We’re short staffed while awaiting the completion of that trade. I’d had Brodowski up next in the rotation, so Bob Rush had to step up to take his place. And Rush helped us get on the board in the bottom of the second, hitting a grounder up the gap to drive home Banks and Sauer to put us up 2-0! Jackie Robinson got Brooklyn on the board in the third, and Gil Hodges hit a triple to make it 2-2. Campanella then completed the rally, and by the time Rush got his third out in the top of the third we were suddenly down 3-2. Rush singled to deep right with one out in the bottom of the fifth, bringing back the top of the order. Fondy got on base as well, but Cavarretta flew out to center and the runners stayed at first and second with two outs, and then Willie Mays struck out, keeping us where we were. Randy Jackson hit an RBI sac-fly to center, driving Ernie Banks in from third to tie the game up in the bottom of the sixth, but Brooklyn added two runs in the top of the seventh, before Fear came in with two outs and got us out of the inning. Mays hit an RBI double in the bottom of the inning that drove Fondy home and pulled us within one, down 5-4, and Fear got us through the eighth inning without adding any Brooklyn runs, giving us two more innings to try and claw back the lead. Randy Jackson hit a whopper of a solo homer to open the bottom of the inning, tying the score 5-5, and Bob Kelly got three quick outs in the top of the ninth to give us a reaonable shot at pulling this one out! But we weren’t able to make anything happen and this one went to extra innings.

Don Newcombe came in for the top of the 10th, with the expectation that he would stay in the game from there to the bitter end. He got two outs on the first two pitches and then struck out Carl Furillo swinging, bringing Randy Jackson up to the plate as we tried to find one more spurt of energy. Chapman walked with one out and then McCullough came up to the plate and hammered a homer to center, giving us the 10th inning 7-5 victory and a sweep of the Dodgers here at home!

Newcombe took the win to improve to 5-3 with a 3.91 ERA, giving up no hits along with throwing a pivotal strikeout. Vern Fear improved his ERA to 1.46 with a 1.1 inning, no-hit, one strikeout one walk night. Bob Rush struggled, lasting just 6.2 innings and giving up six hits that created five earned runs -- he walked three, which hurt, but did get four strikeouts. In the end we outhit the Dodgers 14-7, with Bob Rush adding two hits and two RBIs and McCullough’s two hits, a run and two RBIs sealed the deal. Fondy, Sauer and Chapman each had two hits as well.

At the trade dealine, our GM released Joe Hatten and brought up a backup catcher from AAA Springfield, Bruce Edwards. Edwards, at 30, has hit .251/.321/.419 while playing in the minors this season. He played in fifty games for the Cubs last year, averaging .245 with a homer and 12 RBIs, but looks to be a mediocre two star prospect at best. It does not appear he was able to get any last minute deals through, so in my best judgment he simply took our best young starter and traded him away for a hill of beans. But we’ll see what August brings. Newcombe is stepping back into the starting rotation, while newcomer Sandy Consuegra will take his place in the bullpen. Tomorrow we start a three day four-game series with Pittsburgh, and then next week we’ll have four against the Giants and three against Philadelphia. We have seven games later this month against Milwaukee, and then a final two game double-header against them in September. At this rate those eight games could decide our chances in the pennant race.[/SIZE]