[jksander]

MAY 24, 1954 . . . Tonight, the first of four games against the Cardinals on the road, we’re starting Hy Cohen (1-1, 4.00 ERA, 27.0 IP, 17 K’s, 0.96 WHIP) up against St. Louis’ Tommy Byrne (2-0, 3.41 ERA, 34.1 IP, 17 K’s, 1.46 WHIP). Roger Maris helped put us on the board in the top of the second, getting a solid hit, stealing a base and then making it around from second on a blooper of a double by Gene Baker that got him the extra base while barely making it into the outfield! Hy Cohen then hit a single that drove Baker around to score, putting us up 2-0. Al Kaline added a double, giving us two in scoring position, but Phil Cavarretta hit one straight to the center-fielder to end the inning. Cohen gave up three runs in the bottom of the third, two unearned thanks to back-to-back unforced errors by Elston Howard, giving the lead to the Cardinals and leaving Cohen nearly apoplectic. But Al Rosen hit a two-run double to put us back in control, leading 4-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth, and Cohen calmed down after the rough third.

Ernie Banks hit a 450-footer to center, driving in two runs in the top of the seventh, and moments later Hy Cohen hit a line drive to center, allowing Gene Baker to score and extend the lead to 7-3. Cohen gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth, bringing in Sandy Consuegra with two outs to get us out of the jam. He gae up one of Cohen’s runs, but got us the final out to go into the top of the ninth leading much more tenuously, 7-6. He came back in the bottom of the ninth to try and close it out, giving up two hits and then getting two outs, bringing Jim King to the plate with the tying run at third. A quick flyout to first and the game was over, another one run victory for our Cubs!

Hy Cohen improved to 2-1 with a 4.15 ERA, but he pitched precariously, giving up nine hits and six runs (four earned) with five strikeouts and two walks on 124 pitches over 7.2 innings. Consuegra came in and threw 1.1 innings, giving up two hits and a walk on 19 pitches, earning his fifth save of the year and bringing his ERA down to 3.20. We out-hit St. Louis 17-12, Al Rosen had three hits for a run and two RBIs, Al Kaline added three hits, Ernie Banks hit twice with a run and two more batted in, and Roger Marris got one hit and scored a run, though he struck out swinging twice. I am confident he is a multi-tool player with a ton of upside, but he’s still struggling to keep up with big league pitching. Once he puts things together I don’t envy opposing pitchers.

MAY 25, 1954 . . . Warren Hacker (4-2, 2.85 ERA, 66.1 IP, 34 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) took on St. Louis starter Dean Stone (4-3, 4.66 ERA, 46.1 IP, 13 K’s, 1.62 ERA) in this evening’s game in front of 10,118 frustrated Cardinals fans. St. Louis got on the board with a solo homer by Ray Jablonski in the bottom of the first, but by the end of the inning that was the only hit for either team of the game, with the Cards leading 1-0 after two. So Woody Smith decided to answer with his first homer of the year to start the third inning, tying the game, and Roger Maris hit his first homer of the season to make it 2-1 just moments later! Elston Howard hit a grounder to deep right in the top of the sixth after a pair of walks, but Ernie Banks tried to steal home and was thrown out to end the inning without a run scored and our lead still tenuous at 2-1. Warren Hacker gave up a triple to start the bottom of the sixth, but was able to get two quick outs to hold the runner at third. He then gave up a flyball to deep right, allowing the tying run to score, but got the strikeout to end the inning. Unfortunately, after six innings he had already thrown 106 pitches and told me he was gassed, so we started warming up Harry Dorish. With the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Willie Mays hit a grounder to center, scoring two runs and giving us a 4-2 lead, giving Hacker a shot at the win even with Dorish coming in to pitch in the botom of the seventh.

In the bottom of the eighth, Tom Ferrick came in to sub for Dorish with men on the corners, and he promptly gave up both of Dorish’s runs to tie the game at 4-4 with two outs. He then allowed a flyball to deep right, scoring the go-ahead run for the Cardinals, along with a sixth run for good measure before we could get anyone warmed up fast enough. He finally got out of the inning, but the damage was severe and with this being his second bum performance in a row I am seriously starting to wonder whether it’s worth keeping him in our bullpen. Regardless, we went into the top of the ninth needing two runs to even force the game to continue, Phil Cavarretta hit a single to right to load the bases with two outs, but Elston Howard wasn’t able to get a hit out of the infield and we lost this one 4-6.

Warren Hacker lasted six innings with four hits and two earned runs, with a strikeout and a walk. Harry Dorish got his second hold of the year, lasting 1.1 innings with two unearned runs that brought his ERA down to 0.82. Tom Ferrick took the loss and the blown save, lasting just two outs with three hits and two unearned runs, taking just 11 pitches to completely collapse. Each team got nine hits, our offense being led by Woody Smith with two hits, two runs scored and a run batted in. Seven other Cubs had hits, including Roger Maris with his fist major league homer.

Tom Ferrick does not have any minor league options left, and at 39 I don’t think he’s worth continuing to keep on the roster while I could be bringing up others, so I’ve put him on irrevocable waivers and designated him for assignment. I’m calling Vern Fear back up from AAA, hoping he can build on his solid season for us last year, when he was 4-1 with 7 saves and a 4.28 ERA.