[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 12, 1954 . . . Two games today, and then we only have six games left to play over the next two weeks! We have Hy Cohen (22-6, 3.08 ERA, 245.1 IP, 135 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) set to go in the first game, up against Carl Erskine (19-11, 3.54 ERA, 238.2 IP, 134 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). Gil Hodges got a double in the bottom of the first with one out, giving the Dodgers two in scoring position, but Cohen was sharp and got a strikeout and a flyout to right, getting us out of the inning safely. And Erskine walked Banks and Rosen in the top of the second, but we left them both stranded, struggling to get a hit when we needed one. Just what you’d expect in a game featuring two pitchers with Cy Young-level talent. Erskine in particular was all but unhittable, which made for a rough situation for Cohen -- carrying a two-hitter into the fourth, Cohen gave up a walk and a pair of hits, and just like that the Dodgers had a 1-0 lead. Elston Howard doubled in the top of the fifth, spoiling Erskine’s no-no, and Cohen drove him to third with a sac-bunt, however, and Kaline was able to drive a grounder through the gap to tie things up with an RBI single! Phil Cavarretta then took the perfect opportunity to drive a two-run blast into the right field bleachers, giving us a 3-1 lead in a tight battle, his 14th homer of the season. Elston Howard drove in a run in the top of the sixth in what would have been a sacrifice, were it not for a throwing error on a fielder’s choice, allowing both runners at first and second to be safe, though Cohen eventually batted into an inning-ending double play to keep us from really blowing the lead up. Roger Maris increased the lead to 6-1 in the seventh, driving in two runs with his 29th homer of the season, at which point the Dodgers had to go to the bullpen. Cohen stayed in to finish the game, ending things with a flyout and a double play as he likely cemented both Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young in one swoop!

Cohen improved to 23-6 with a 3.01 ERA, throwing 135 pitches and surrendering seven hits with five strikeouts, two walks and just one earned run in the complete game. It’s crazy that the Dodgers outhit us 7-6, but Erskine walked four batters and that made the difference. Six Cubs had hits tonight, with Cavarretta scoring once and driving in a pair, same as Maris, though his homer certainly put the dagger in.

I want to rest up our starting rotation, so in the second game I decided to give Bob Porterfield (2-0, 3.65 ERA, 12.1 IP, 7 K’s, 1.54 WHIP) a start from the bullpen. He has spot-starter stamina, and he threw 267 innings for Washington last year, going 14-11, so I think this is a perfect opportunity to see if he can give us four or five innings and give our starters a rest. Brooklyn’s Johnny Podres (22-3, 2.43 ERA, 222.0 IP, 123 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) took the mound for the Dodgers. Brooklyn scored a run in the bottom of the first on a groundout by Gil Hodges, and a second run scored on a flyout by Jackie Robinson. Cavarretta drove in a run for us in the top of the third with an RBI single to make it a 2-1 Dodgers lead, but Carl Furillo, red hot, hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-1. McCullough added a run in the top of the fourth, an RBI single that he turned into two bases thanks to a wild pitch, and Porterfield got three quick outs in the bottom of the inning to keep us in it!

Bob Shaw came in for the bottom of the sixth, but Gil Hodges hit a homer off him on the fifth pitch, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2. Tom Ferrick got us three outs in the seventh, and then Al Rosen hit a solo blast to center, pulling us within a run with one out in the top of the eighth. Vern Fear came in for the bottom of the eighth, setting down the heart of the order, and with Sandy Consuegra warming up in the top of the ninth, Grady Hatton came in to pinch hit for Fear, unfortunately hitting one straight to the left fielder -- out number one. Gene Baker grounded out to first for our second out, and Carmen Mauro struck out swinging. That was the end of a 4-3 loss, though it does little to stop our momentum heading into the final games of September. We still win the season series against the Dodgers 12-10, and we’re the team representing the NL in the World Series, not them.

Porterfield took the loss, falling to 2-1 with a 4.15 ERA, but he gave us five solid innings and only gave up three hits and two walks, making the three runs scored on him more of an aberration than anything. Shaw, Ferrick and Fear each gave us an inning apiece, giving up two hits combined, with two walks, a strikeout and an earned run between them. We outhit the Dodgers 8-5, with Roger Maris leading the team with two hits, while McCullough had two hits and an RBI. Cavarretta and Rosen batted in the other runs, while Baker, Banks and Rosen each scored runs on the ground.

Our backup catcher Al Evans has decided to retire after the season, and with McCullough not likely to make our roster next season, finding a capable backup for Elston Howard is going to be a top priority, with fielding ability the key emphasis.

SEPTEMBER 14, 1954 . . . Today we played our final game against Pittsburgh on their field, having beaten them 19 out of 21 times so far this year. Joe Dobson (10-5, 3.39 ERA, 116.2 IP, 65 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) took the mound against Pittsburgh hurler Bob Friend (14-14, 2.68 ERA, 269.0 IP, 97 K’s, 1.11 WHIP). Pittsburgh took an early 1-0 lead when Gene Baker was slow on a pickoff throw in the bottom of the second, but Dobson got three quick outs to keep them from adding to it. Dobson gave up a second run in the bottom of the fourth, then a second. A third run scored when Ernie Banks bobbled a catch, which went down as an error, and we felt lucky to get out of the inning trailing 4-0 rather than by a lot more. We got our first hit of the game in the top of the fifth, a blooper of a single by Ernie Banks, but two amazing outfield grabs by the Pirates ended the inning with the four-run lead still intact for Pittsburgh. The Pirates scored twice again in the bottom of the seventh, at which point Dobson completely melted down as we warmed up Bob Shaw. Shaw came in with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh with the score now 8-0, and he managed to get the final two outs while only giving up one of Dobson’s runs. At this point the game was a lost cause, one of the worst performances of our season. Phil Cavarretta at least got us on the board in the top of the eighth with an RBI single, and Shaw had a really nice double play to end the eighth. But they sat down the heart of our order in the top of the ninth and we lost this one badly 9-1. Get it out of our system now, I say, rather than in October, but we need to play with at least a sense of urgency. Tonight’s offensive performance was a joke.

Joe Dobson fell to 10-6 with an 11 hit one strikeout three walk embarrassment that wound up giving up nine runs (eight earned) and blowing his ERA up to 3.80 in just 6.1 innings of work. Shaw was impressive, pitching 1.2 innings without a hit, walking just one batter, and he improved his ERA to 2.13. Pittsburgh outhit us 11-4, with Cavarretta’s RBI (run scored by Elston Howard) our only blip on the offensive radar.

We have three days off before two games this weekend at Cincinnati, and then we’ll return to Wrigley for one against the Cardinals and two against the Redlegs to end the season.
 
SEPTEMBER 18, 1954 . . . Cleveland (87-59) still hasn’t clinched the AL Pennant, but they have a five-game lead on Washington (82-64) and their magic number is four. The Guardians have eight games left, all against the Tigers (76-70) and the White Sox (75-71), while Washington has eight games left, all against Boston (69-77) and New York (76-70). So things should stay interesting in that race down to the wire!

Tonight Hy Cohen (23-6, 3.01 ERA, 254.1 IP, 140 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) took the mound against George Susce (8-7, 3.40 ERA, 145.2 IP, 62 K’s, 1.20 WHIP). Cincinnati got on the board with a solo homer by Bobby Adams to put the Redlegs up 1-0 in the bottom of the second. But Al Kaline hit a two-run homer in the top of the third, his 22nd of the year to put us right back in control. In the bottom of the sixth the Redlegs tied the score up 2-2, thanks to a George Susce double, the pitcher driving in a run by Bobby Adams who scored from third. Cohen got us through the seventh without further damage, but we started warming up Vern Fear as Cohen was nearing 120 pitches. With two outs in the top of the eighth, Roger Maris hit his 30th homer of the year, a run which gave us a 3-2 lead and kept Cohen in the running for the win. Cohen wanted to stay in, but with the World Series looming, I don’t want to risk injury, so we brought Fear in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

Fear got a strikeout and got a runner out via bunt, but leadoff man Whitey Lockman hit an RBI single that drove in the tying run, though Fear got us out of the inning with a second strikeout. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Roy Sievers pinch hit for Fear, taking a base on balls, and he used his speed to reach third on a single by Kaline, sending up Cavarretta with a chance to retake the lead, with Consuegra warming up in the bullpen. Cavarretta hit a low-velocity infield blooper and managed to beat out the throw to first, allowing Sievers to score while keeping our rally alive! Mays batted out at second, however, and we went into the bottom of the inning with a one run lead and the best closer in the came on his way in. Robert Broome doubled to start the frame, reaching third on a groundout to first. A pitch to Bobby Adams dropped in the dirt, but Elston Howard smothered it, keeping the runner at third. Consuegra struck Adams out, giving us our second out, and Charlie White hit one straight to Mays in center, ending the game as a 4-3 victory!

Vern Fear got the win after blowing his third save of the season, improving to 6-1 with a 1.88 ERA, with two hits, two strikeouts, a walk and an earned run. Consuegra took his 26th save, improving his ERA to 2.33 with one hit and one strikeout. And Hy Cohen had seven excellent innings of work, giving up eight hits with three strikeouts -- his four walks kept him from completing the game, as he only gave up two earned runs. The Redlegs outhit us 11-9, but Kaline had two hits, scoring a run and batting in a pair, and Roger Maris hit once and walked twice, adding a homer to his tally. Baker added two hits and scored a run on the ground as well as we improved to 109-41 on the season.

SEPTEMBER 19, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (15-4, 2.65 ERA, 204.0 IP, 97 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) pitched today in the final road game against the Redlegs, taking on Bob Kelly (4-5, 3 SV, 3.32 ERA, 57.0 IP, 24 K’s, 1.26 WHIP). Diehl struggled in the third inning, loading the bases and giving up a run, but we got the three outs and they only had the 1-0 lead heading into the top of the fourth. They added a second run in the bottom of the fifth to go up 2-0, and our bats were silent yet again in the top of the sixth and again in the seventh. But Phil Cavarretta hit his 15th homer of the season, a solo blast over the centerfield wall, to make it a 2-1 ballgame in the top of the eighth. Diehl got us through the eighth inning without any runs scoring, bringing up Roger Maris to start the top of the ninth with us needing at least a run to survive. Maris popped out to second, Banks flew out to right, but then Al Rosen got a hit into right field, getting the tying run on base. But Elston Howard popped out to right field and ended this one as a 2-1 loss.

Diehl took the complete game loss, falling to 15-5 with a 2.55 ERA, giving up just five hits tonight with five strikeouts and two walks, leading to his two earned runs. We just were sluggish again on offense, outhitting them 7-5 but doing very little with the baserunners we got. Cavarretta’s homer wasn’t enough to do it, and he was our only player to hit twice.

We’re off tomorrow and Tuesday, and then will be playing a single home game against St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon. We’re then off agin until Saturday and Sunday, when we’ll host the Redlegs for our last two games of the season.