[jksander]

May 10, 1957: Don Mossi (2-1, 1.21 ERA, 29.2 IP, 13 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) pitched against Early Wynn (2-2, 4.45 ERA, 32.1 IP, 20 K’s, 1.58 WHIP) in our first of four in Cleveland, with Walker and Pafko still day to day and, for now, unavailable. Mossi pitched around runners on second and third to get out of the second inning without a score, and a Paddock RBI single scored Diering to give us a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. But they tied it up in the bottom of the inning with an RBI triple by Stan Lopata on two outs, though Mossi kept him stranded there to keep it tied. Danny O’Connell hit a solo homer out of right to put us back up 2-1, and with two outs and men on the corners in the bottom of the sixth, Tom Gorman came out to pitch, getting George Strickland to pop out to Crandall and get us safely into the seventh. Chuck Diering hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh, and despite a botched two-out pick off play, Gorman got us through the bottom of that inning safely as well. Moe Drabowsky came out in the eighth, but after a runner reached first on error, Stan Lopata hit a two run homer to tie the game up. Moe got us out of the inning without letting them take the lead, and still tied in the bottom of the ninth, we brought Bob Miller out, and he was looking good, but with two outs Dale Long hit a two-run walk-off homer as Cleveland came from behind to win this one 5-3.

Mossi had a decent start, with five hits, three walks, two strikeouts and one earned run in 5.2 innings. But Drabowsky blew the save and Miller took the loss, dropping to 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA ... bad luck with the long ball, which has been a problem for us in the past, particularly in this ballpark. We outhit the Guardians 11-9, led by Diering who hit three times with a run and an RBI. He’s hitting .400 so far this year in 40 at-bats, with three doubles and nine RBIs.

May 11, 1957: Carl Erskine (3-1, 1.86 ERA, 29.0 IP, 9 K’s, 0.83 WHIP) started today against Herb Score (0-2, 4.34 ERA, 18.2 IP, 9 K’s, 1.71 WHIP). Cleveland took the lead in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI double by Bobby Avila, and Al Rosen added on with an RBI single, and George Crowe belted a two run homer out of right ... which Stan Lopata followed with a solo blast to put the Guardians up 5-0. Erskine came into the inning with a no hitter going, and four hits later we’re drowning. He got us out of the inning but was definitely shaken. We got a pair of runs back in the top of the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Metkovich that scored Bond and Erskine, and Thomas Paddock hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth to drive home Crandall and cut their lead to two. But Erskine gave up a leadoff homer to Crowe in the bottom of the sixth, his second of the game, and Bobby Miller came out to take over. Lopata immediately hit him with a solo homer, HIS second of the game, and Norm Cash made it homer-homer-homer with a solo to make it a five run lead ... what more can you do? Tom Gorman came out in the bottom of the seventh trailing by five, staying out to the end as we would go on to lose this one 9-3. We get a doubleheader against them tomorrow, and if we get bombed like this, I’m not sure we have an answer. Should be interesting at least ...
 
May 12, 1957: Time for our first doubleheader of the season! Larry Jansen (1-0, 1.89 ERA, 19.0 IP, 10 K’s, 1.21 WHIP) got the start in game one against Cleveland’s Tom Cheney (3-1, 1.31 ERA, 34.1 IP, 24 K’s, 1.22 WHIP). And he had a great start, but our bats weren’t giving him anything in support. Cleveland broke it open in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff solo homer by Al Smith to put them up 1-0, but he got through the inning leaving two more runners stranded on base. They added a run in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI single by Cheney, and another with an RBI single by Smith, giving the home team a commanding lead considering our inexcusable complete lack of offense. Sam Jones came out in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases but getting us into the top of the ninth with a strikeout and no runs added on. We’d lose this one 3-0 while being outhit 8-4. Cleveland has outplayed us through these three games completely, outscoring us 17-6, and we get the fun of playing a second game against them today. Jansen did what he could, lasting seven innings with eight hits, two walks, three strikeouts and three earned runs, and O’Connell (a hit and a walk) and Diering (two walks) did what they could but nobody was able to string hits together.

Juan Pizarro (1-2, 2.43 ERA, 29.2 IP, 22 K’s, 1.62 WHIP) is up for game two, facing Johnny Sain (3-0, 3.38 ERA, 24.0 IP, 8 K’s, 1.17 WHIP). We got going in the first inning, as Harry Walker hit a two-run homer to bat him and Andy Pafko around. But Pizarro had a really, really bad bottom-of-the-first, digging himself a hole with three hits in a row, including an RBI single by Rocky Colavito to put the Guardians on the board, no outs. His fourth hit then tied it up with an RBI single by Roger Maris, and with one out and runners on the corners, Jim Finigan hit an RBI double that scored a third. It was nice having a lead for twenty minutes ... a no-throw by O’Connell let a fourth run score without even trying for an easy out at first, and by the time we got out of the inning we were in a 4-2 hole with Pizarro at 31 pitches and looking completely shook. George Crowe hit a solo homer in the third to make it a three-run lead for Cleveland, and though Pizarro did his best to stay calm, the team as a whole did ourselves in with generally poor, uninspired play. We got a run back in the top of the seventh thanks to an RBI single by O’Connell paired with an E8 throwing error, and Moe Drabowsky came out to pitch following the seventh inning stretch, trailing by two runs. He pitched well for the remainder of the game, but Cleveland stifled us and we lost 5-3, our fifth loss in a row.

Pizarro took the loss, falling to 1-3 with a 3.03 ERA ... he finished six innings with eight hits, a walk, six strikeouts and five runs (four earned), a winning performance marred by an absolutely ridiculous start. We matched them with nine hits, led by Walker with a hit and two RBIs, whle Pafko and Pizarro each hit once for a run scored.

The poor showing in Cleveland has turned a 14-6 start into a 14-10 record heading into a pair of games at Yankee Stadium ... we’re in third place still, half a game up on Detroit, but the Yankees (15-7) are tied with the Guardians (16-8), still 2.5 games up on us. So we could really use a strong pair of games in the house that Ruth built to re-seed our confidence.

May 14, 1957: Milt Pappas (2-2, 4.66 ERA, 29.0 IP, 19 K’s, 1.48 WHIP) started tonight’s game against Mike McCormick (1-2, 3.76 ERA, 36.0 IP, 25 K’s, 1.19 WHIP). Andy Pafko hit a solo homer in the top of the first to get us on the board, but we gave it right back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double by Mantle. Drabowsky came out to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, one out, man on first, still tied at 1-1, getting Gil McDougald to ground into a double play to keep it that way. But Mickey Mantle hit a solo homer out of left to put them up 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, and with two outs Yogi Berra hit one out of center to pile on. We lost in the end 3-1, unable to score after the one homer in the first inning.

Drabowsky took the loss, falling to 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA, allowing two hits and two earned runs in his 1.2 innings of work, while Pappas had lasted 6.1 innings with seven hits, two walks, two strikeouts and a single earned run. New York outhit us 9-3, however, our offense remaining inconsistently streaky. Only Pafko’s homer kept us from being completely embarrassed.

May 15, 1957: Don Mossi (2-1, 1.27 ERA, 35.1 IP, 15 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) started game two, going up against Vinegar Bend Mizell (4-1, 2.79 ERA, 48.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.10 WHIP). Del Crandall batted in a run with a single in the top of the first, and like clockwork we gave it right back in the bottom of the inning, Mantle again batting one in with a groundball single. Woodie Held then hit an RBI triple to get them the lead, and we trailed by a pair heading into the second. Gorman came out to pitch in the seventh inning, and again we couldn’t muster any fight after getting, and then losing, a first inning lead -- New York cruised to an easy 3-1 win as this team already looks like it’s falling apart. Mossi fell to 2-2 with a 1.74 ERA, allowing five hits and three earned runs with three strikeouts in his six innings. We had seven hits, same as the Yankees, but only Crandall (two hits, one RBI) managed to do anything with his.

Next up: a pair in Boston at Fenway, our 14-12 A’s taking on the 13-14 Red Sox, who have won six of their last seven.

May 17, 1957: Carl Erskine (3-2, 3.18 ERA, 34.0 IP, 11 K’s, 0.97 WHIP) started against Boston’s Frank Sullivan (1-3, 6.96 ERA, 32.1 IP, 18 K’s, 2.07 WHIP). Andy Pafko hit a two-run homer in the top of the first, his third homer of the season, and with one out in the bottom of the inning Frank Malzone hit a double that drove in two to tie it up. Jesus! They took the lead moments later on a triple by Billy Klaus, and we were in a 4-2 hole by the end of the inning. Bob Miller came out in the bottom of the sixth trailing 6-2, and Sam Jones came out in the eighth and gave them two more runs just for fun as we lost this one 8-2. Erskine fell to 3-3 with a 4.15 ERA, allowing six earned runs off eight hits with two strikeouts in his five innings, while we got ourselves outhit 10-3. That’s eight losses in a row, and just like that we’re back to .500 and fading fast, six games remaining in this road trip from Hell. Pafko had a hit, a run and two RBIs thanks to his homer and is hitting .278, one of our few bright spots offensively ... but even he can’t seem to find ways to spark rallies late. We can’t just score a run or two in the first and then expect to coast the rest of the damned game.
 
May 18, 1957: We’ve called Art Ditmar up from AAA to serve as an extra long-reliever / spot starter option with the Baltimore doubleheader coming up on Sunday, sending Russ Sullivan back down to the minors in the process. Larry Jansen (1-1, 2.42 ERA, 26.0 IP, 13 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) pitched today against Mike Fornieles (1-3, 6.52 ERA, 29.0 IP, 13 K’s, 1.69 WHIP) in our second game in Boston, and in the top of the second Joe DeMaestri hit an RBI single to give us a 1-0 lead. They waited until the bottom of the fourth to steal the lead back, this time off a two-run homer over the monster by Johnny Blanchard, and Jackie Jensen hit a two-run blast out of right moments later to blow this one open. We went into the top of the fifth trailing 4-1, getting a run back off the bat of Metkovich, who pulled off a double to cut their lead to two. Bob Miller came out to pitch in the bottom of the sixth, still trailing by a pair, and the game fell apart from there ... he gave up an RBI single to Piersall without an out, loaded the bases, and another run scored off a sac-fly to center. Ditmar came out of the pen with two outs, men on the corners, and got us out of the inning trailing by four and long out of the game. He stayed out the remainder of the afternoon as we lost this one 7-4. Jansen fell to 1-2 with a 3.19 ERA, allowing four earned runs off seven hits and three walks, striking out a pair while we were outhit 13-8. Crandall hit twice with a run and two batted in to lead the offense.

May 19, 1957: We head to Baltimore (11-18) today for a doubleheader to open a three-game series, our team looking down the barrel of a potential double-digit losing streak if we can’t get a win in the first game. Juan Pizarro (1-3, 3.03 ERA, 35.2 IP, 28 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) got the start in game one against Jim McDonald (2-1, 2.79 ERA, 38.2 IP, 10 K’s, 1.40 WHIP). Del Crandall got us the lead in the top of the first with an RBI triple, and in the top of the fourth Chuck Diering got a double, batting in Harry Walker to give us a 2-0 lead! Baltimore got on the board in the bottom of the inning as Pizarro got into some trouble, a groundout by Wayne Causey batting in a run. Brooks Robinson reached on an E6 error, giving them runners on the corners, one out, and they tied it up when Jerry Kindall hit into a fielder’s choice, giving us the out at second. They got the lead back off a triple by Lenny Greene, and Pizarro’s night was over after five innings. Our bats gave him a gift though in the top of the sixth inning, Chuck Diering driving in a run with a walk to tie it up and Joe DeMaestri hitting an RBI single to push us into the lead 4-3 as Tom Gorman came out to pitch in the bottom of the frame. Crandall hit an RBI double to score in the top of the seventh, and a Chuck Diering single made it a 6-3 lead for us heading into the stretch. Drabowsky came out to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, still leading by three runs, and Don Bessent came out to close in the bottom of the ninth, shutting them down nicely as we snapped the streak and beat Baltimore 6-3. Pizarro had a really good night, giving us five innings with four hits, two walks, three strikeouts and two earned runs. We need to build his confidence up, so we avoided pushing him out there for the sixth inning just because he’d have a lead, trusting the bullpen -- Gorman, Drabowsky and Bessent combined for four innings with four hits, one walk and two strikeouts, with Bessent picking up his fifth save and improving his ERA to 2.35. We outhit the Orioles 11-8, led by Crandall who had three hits, two runs and two RBIs, improving his average to .261.

Milt Pappas (2-2, 4.08 ERA, 35.1 IP, 21 K’s, 1.47 WHIP) pitched in our second game of the afternoon, facing Ruben Gomez (1-4, 2.25 ERA, 44.0 IP, 16 K’s, 1.52 WHIP). Harry Walker hit an RBI single in the top of the first to give us a lead, and though Pappas got into a dangerous bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the second with two outs, he got through it with a pop-fly to left and we kept our lead. Danny O’Connell hit an RBI single to score Metkovich in the top of the third inning after four foul balls in a row, and we added on in the top of the fourth when Catfish Metkovich hit an RBI double that scored two more, though he wrenched his back sliding into second and had to be pulled from the game (Walt Bond came in at left field, replacing him as a pinch runner, and Chuck Diering moved over to center). Danny O’Connell hit an RBI double to bring Bond home, and we went into the bottom of the inning leading 5-0. Baltimore got on the board in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Willie Miranda on two outs, but but Ruben Gomez grounded into a fielder’s choice, with DeMaestri making an unassisted out at seocnd base. Diering hit an RBI single and DeMaestri grounded into a run-scoring double play as we added on in the top of the fifth, and in the bottom of the sixth Pappas got three quick outs around a triple by Brooks Robinson to keep our lead, 7-1. Baltimore got a run back in the bottom of the seventh, and with two outs and the bases loaded, Sam Jones came out to pitch, getting a pop-out to end the inning without further damage. We added on three runs in the top of the eighth, and Jones stayed out the remainder of the game as we shut them down in a 10-2 blowout win.

Milt Pappas gave us 6.2 innings with eight hits, six walks, five strikeouts and just two earned runs, improving to 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA. Jones then earned a 2.1 inning save with a walk and a strikeout, improving his ERA to 3.48 through 10.1 innings. We outhit the Orioles 17-8, led by O’Connell (two hits, three RBIs), Metkovich (two hits, a run, two RBIs) and Walt Bond (a hit, a run and two RBIs). Metkovich’s injury will leave him as a day-to-day option for the next few days, but does not look to be too serious for the 36-year-old. We’ll get a chance to go for a sweep against Baltimore tomorrow afternoon, something which seemed impossible a few hours ago when we came in on a nine-game losing streak.

May 20, 1957: Don Mossi (2-2, 1.74 ERA, 41.1 IP, 18 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) pitched against Roger Craig (2-3, 4.93 ERA, 42.0 IP, 21 K’s, 1.26 WHIP). Joe DeMaestri hit a two run homer in the top of the second, his first of the year, but Baltimore got a run back in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an RBI single by Wayne Causey, their third single of the inning. They tied it up on their fourth, a single by Brooks Robinson that sent Causey over to third, just one out against them, and with the bases loaded Eddie Waitkus hit a weak squib that bounced everywhere but where we needed it to, and he beat out the throw from second to give up the lead and keep the bases loaded -- Mossi was falling apart completely! By the time Bob Miller got warmed up and took the mound with two outs and men on first and second, we’d given up five more runs (including a three-run homer by Hal Smith) and dug an 8-2 hole, all the runs coming in the bottom of the fourth, but Miller did at least bring the inning to a merciful end with a quick groundout. Moe Drabowsky came out in the bottom of the seventh with an out and a man on second, getting two quick outs to prevent the Orioles from adding on, but this game had long since become out of reach. Baltimore beat us 8-2 completely on the strength of that absolutely crazy fourth inning slugfest.

Mossi was not sharp at all tonight, lasting 3.2 innings with seven hits, five walks and eight earned runs, striking out two and falling to 2-3 with a 3.20 ERA through his first seven starts. Miller had a great 2.2 inning effort, allowing two hits through 29 pitches, and Drabowsky got the remaining five outs with a hit and a strikeout. But we were outhit 10-7, six of those coming in the bottom of the fourth. DeMaestri led the team with two hits, a run and two RBIs as we fell back to .500, as we’ll take our 16-16 record to Washington to take on the 14-21 Senators. We’ll then return home for three against Detroit (18-15), followed by five more road games, two against the White Sox (13-18) and three against the Tigers.