[jksander]

June 24, 1960: Chuck Stobbs (6-1, 3.98 ERA, 74.2 IP, 29 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) took on George Brunet (6-3, 3.49 ERA, 95.1 IP, 49 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) in front of nearly 32,000 White Sox fans this evening, and we took the lead in the bottom of the second with an RBI double by Spencer followed by Stobbs reaching first on an error to drive home Spencer from third. But Boston answered with a pair themselves in the top of the third, so Spencer had to hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to get us the lead back. Dick Drott came out to pitch in the top of the seventh leading 4-3, and he blew the save as the Red Sox tied us up off an RBI single by Willie Jones. Freddie Burdette came out to pitch in the top of the eighth, and he got us through two innings without a score, but this one went into extra innings when we couldn’t find a way to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth. Paul LaPalme took over in the top of the 10th, and he gave up a pair to give Boston all the momentum. We lost 6-4, in another close game we should, on paper, have been able to win. LaPalme took the loss, fallling to 2-2 with a 2.70 ERA, allowing two hits, a walk, two runs and striking out one batter. But the real story was we let Boston outhit us 11-7, our team led by Daryl Spencer with two hits, two runs and three RBIs.

June 25, 1960: Bob Porterfield (1-0, 4.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 4 K’s, 1.50 WHIP) got the start in our second game against the Red Sox, facing the ice cold Bob Kuzawa (2-9, 5.56 ERA, 68.0 IP, 43 K’s, 1.53 WHIP). It wasn’t a great start for him, with Boston taking the lead 2-0 in the second inning and still holding a 4-2 advantage in the top of the seventh when Raul Puig came out to pitch. Puig pitched the rest of the way but we weren’t able to make up any ground, and the Red Sox stuffed us 5-2 ahead of tomorrow’s doubleheader. Porterfield had four hits, four walks, four strikeouts and four earned runs in his six innings, dropping his record to 1-1 with a 5.25 ERA. We outhit them 8-5, but our offense couldn’t make anything happen on the basepaths when it counted. Jim Pagliaroni hit three times to nowhere, and Wally Post had two hits and a run scored to lead the team.

June 26, 1960: Things are definitely tight at the top of the AL standings right now, with us tied with New York for the lead, just half a game up on the Red Sox, who have surged to a 38-29 record. Jack Kralick (7-5, 1.59 ERA, 102.0 IP, 56 K’s, 0.92 WHIP) took the mound in game one against Hoyt Wilhelm (5-5, 4.07 ERA, 77.1 IP, 39 K’s, 1.40 WHIP), and we took the lead in the bottom of the first when Ernie Banks grounded into a double play that allowed Willie Davis to score. It remained a tight contest from there, but Kralick patiently pitched well through the seventh, and we added six runs in the bottom of that inning, batting around in the process! We added four more in the bottom of the eighth, and Kralick pitched to complete his game, shutting them out 11-0 and allowing just three hits and five walks with three strikeouts in the process! Kralick is now 8-5 with a 1.46 ERA through 14 starts, and has to be considered a front-runner in the “way too goddamned early” Cy Young conversations. We outhit Boston 13-3 ... Willie Davis had the best overall night, with two hits, two runs and four RBIs including a seventh inning homer, but Minoso and Bailey each hit three times as well, giving us some real late innings power.

Stan Williams (6-2, 3.35 ERA, 75.1 IP, 52 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) got the start in game two, facing Frank Baumann (6-5, 3.35 ERA, 94.0 IP, 40 K’s, 1.24 WHIP). Boston scored first in the top of the fourth, but we tied it with a Pagliaroni RBI single and took the lead with a single by Luis Aparicio. Wally Post hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 3-1 lead, but Williams got rung up in the top of the sixth, thanks to a three run double by Donn Clendenon and a sac-fly by Ron Henson, Paul LaPalme taking over with two outs to get us through the inning trailing at that point by a 5-3 margin. Freddie Burdette took over in the top of the eighth with the score unchanged, and Bill Fischer came out in the ninth to keep us at least barely in the hunt ... but our bats failed to make anything happen and we lost 5-3. Williams took the hit, allowing five hits, a walk and five runs (three earned) with seven strikeouts through 5.2 innings, falling to 6-3 with a 3.44 ERA. We outhit them 11-6, so it’s maddening that we couldn’t find any way to get back into this one. Wally Post had three hits, a run and an RBI, while Aparicio hit three times and batted in one.

We got some really bad news about Bob Rush, who had already been on the IL with shoulder inflamation since spring training .... we’ve now learned he has to have surgery, is facing an eight month recovery (at least) and his career is almost certainly over at age 34. He is only making $22,500 per year, so we’re going to keep him on the 60-day IL the rest of the season and see how he handles the offseason, but it’s looking grim. He was our best bullpen arm last season and is a well known fan favorite, so it’s a hard pill to swallow.
 
June 28, 1960: We’re back on the road against the Washington Senators, with Billy Pierce (7-3, 2.53 ERA, 89.0 IP, 54 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) pitching against Harold Larned (2-7, 4.08 ERA, 75.0 IP, 42 K’s, 1.40 WHIP). And with ten of our next 14 games before the All Star break on the road, we need to see this team step up if we don’t want to lose significant ground. We took the lead in the top of the first with a two-run homer by Minoso, and Wally Post hit a solo blast to add on in the top of the fourth. Washington fought back in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run single by Gene Freese, but we got one of those runs back in the top of the seventh when Bobby Morgan became our third player to homer in this game. Dick Drott took over in the bottom of the seventh, and again he choked ... three runs were scored by the Senators, and we brought Burdette out to pitch in the bottom of the eighth trailing by a run ... and our bats were no match, the Senators capitalizing on their momentum shift as they beat us 5-4. Drott blew his second save and fell to 1-4 ... his 6.85 ERA since the trade from the north side is frustrating, as his lack of control continues to dog him ... but it has dogged many among our bullpen arms, a problem I am still struggling to solve. They outhit us 8-5, Minoso leading the way for us with two hits, a run and two RBIs.

June 29, 1960: Jim O’Toole (6-1, 2.31 ERA, 81.2 IP, 42 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) pitched against Washington’s Camilo Pascual (5-9, 4.17 ERA, 110.0 IP, 74 K’s, 1.32 WHIP). We took the lead in the fifth inning, picking up a run when Daryl Spencer hit into a fielder’s choice, Piersall scoring from third to break the stalemate. Willie Davis hit an RBI single moments later, Minoso followed with an RBI double, and Ernie Banks slammed a two-run homer out of the park to make it a 5-0 lead in the blink of an eye. Bill Fischer came out in the bottom of the eighth still leading by three runs, and he pitched the remainder of the way as we held on to win 5-2. O’Toole improved to 7-1 with a 2.33 ERA, allowing two hits, two walks and two earned runs with six strikeouts through seven innings. Fischer got his second save, improving his ERA to 2.19 through 12.1 innings this season, and we narrowly outhit them 5-4. Ernie Banks’ homer led the way, giving him a hit, a run and two RBIs.

June 30, 1960: Chuck Stobbs (6-1, 4.02 ERA, 80.2 IP, 31 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) pitched against Gerald Neal (3-5, 6.44 ERA, 65.2 IP, 43 K’s, 1.81 WHIP) in our final game of this series against the Senators, and this time we just laid a big giant steaming egg. The Senators took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, added three more in the fifth and one in the sixth, and we brought in Bennie Daniels, our long reliever, in the seventh with the game pretty much a wash. In the end they stomped us 10-3, and we looked like complete and total horse droppings, outhitting them 13-10 and outwalking them 7-3 but still only managing to put up three runs. Stobbs fell to 6-2 with eight hits, a walk and seven earned runs in six innings, with Daryl Spencer (three hits, a run and an RBI) and Jim Piersall (two hits, one RBI) our only batters with the ability to hold their heads up. The loss sends us into the month of July with a 40-31 record and still in the fight -- we’re in third place, half a game back of Boston and two games behind New York -- but our offensive inconsistency and bullpen chaos still threatening to knock us down hard.

Our remaining games before the All Star break include three games in Baltimore (36-38) this weekend and a doubleheader against Detroit (29-39) on Independence Day. We then get a day off, and will face Cleveland (35-35) for six games in a row (two on the road and four here in Chicago, including a doubleheader on July 10th, with the All Star game set to be played the very next day.

July 1, 1960: Jack Kralick (8-5, 1.46 ERA, 111.0 IP, 59 K’s, 0.92 WHIP) started our first game against Baltimore, facing Dick Wickersham (7-7, 4.05 ERA, 106.2 IP, 62 K’s, 1.46 WHIP). We took the lead in the top of the fourth with a two-run double by Daryl Spencer, and a four-run top of the seventh sent us into the stretch leading 6-1! Kralick stayed out the rest of the way as we held the O’s back to win 6-2. The win improved his record to 9-5 with a 1.50 ERA ... he allowed nine hits and two runs with a strikeout, getting outhit by the Orioles 9-7 but still escaping with our win. Banks led the way with two hits, a run and two RBIs, matched by Wally Post who did the same thing.

July 2, 1960: We’re 8-1 so far against Baltimore, and we’ve won eight in a row against them heading into this game, with Stan Williams (6-3, 3.44 ERA, 81.0 IP, 59 K’s, 0.99 WHIP) facing off against Don “The Sphinx” Mossi (4-4, 3.45 ERA, 88.2 IP, 45 K’s, 1.24 WHIP). Baltimore took the lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by Billy Williams, and in the bottom of the seventh Wayne Causey led off with a triple, and we had to bring up Puig with no outs. Baltimore managed to add on a pair of runs in that frame, and that pretty much did us in ... we went on to lose a 4-0 shutout, Williams taking the loss with four hits, a walk and two runs in his six innings, with six strikeouts. They outhit us 7-3, and even with five free passes we couldn’t make anything happen.

July 3, 1960: Billy Pierce (7-3, 2.46 ERA, 95.0 IP, 57 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) faced Glen Hobbie (3-5, 4.63 ERA, 83.2 IP, 26 K’s, 1.36 WHIP) in the rubber match. This was a score often kind of game ... we took the lead on a Banks solo homer in the top of the first, but Washington bounced back with an RBI triple by Billy Williams and took the lead with an RBI single by Wayne Causey in the bottom of the inning. Jim Piersall scored the tying run in the top of the second off a sac-fly by Pagliaroni, and we retook the lead with a Banks RBI double in the top of the third, adding on in the top of the fourth with a Pagliaroni solo homer to lead 4-2. But in the bottom of the fourth they got an RBI single by Lenny Green and a two-run double by Bill Sarni to retake the lead 5-4 as we all got a touch of whiplash. We answered with a three-run homer by Wally Post in the top of the fifth to take a 7-5 lead, our fifth inning in a row with runs scoring ... Bill Fischer took over in the bottom of the sixth, still leading by a pair, but he gave up three thanks to a two-run single by Brooks Robinson and a Wayne Causey RBI single, making it clear that 1) our bullpen sucks, and 2) this one was destined to remain a shootout. Paul LaPointe took over in the bottom of the seventh, giving them another run, and Burdette came out in the eighth trailing by a pair, holding them off to give us a chance. But we were done scoring and the Orioles took another from us, this time 9-7. That was capital-U Ugly. Fischer blew his second save and took the loss, falling to 0-2 with a 4.05 ERA with five hits and three earned runs in his single inning of work, and we were outhit 17-10, Ernie Banks leading the way for us with two hits, two runs and two RBIs including his 15th homer.

Tomorrow we celebrate our nation’s independence with a doubleheader against the 29-43 Detroit Tigers, with our team now 41-33 and 4.5 games out of first, though we remain comfortably in third place, five games up on the Orioles and Guardians. It’s time to turn things around though -- we haven’t won back-to-back games since sweeping the Orioles June 21-23. In fact we’re 3-7 in our last ten games, so this is definitely NOT the way we wanted to look heading into the All Star break.