Let's Play Two! - Page 3

jksander · 06-22-2023, 05:54 AM

JUNE 12, 1953 . . . Cavarretta hit a grounder down the left field side and was able to drive in a run in the top of the third, putting us up 1-0, but Willie Mays grounded into a double play as he has cooled significantly over the last few games. We held the lead through six, but in the bottom of the seventh with one out, Hacker loaded the bases and gave up the tying run, and then for good measure he gave up four more. It all happened so fast I couldn’t get a bullpen arm warmed up fast enough, and suddenly in the top of the eighth we were down 1-5 against one of the best teams in baseball. Bob Kelly gave up a run in the eighth, and all that was left was our last shot at a rally as we came in for the top of the ninth, and no rally formed. We lost this one 1-6 and I’m struggling to find any way to inspire the team. It’s also hard to be down on anyone, because we were heavily outmatched and everyone in the press has us getting swept as the Dodgers continue to make what the papers fully expect to be a run for the pennant. We’re a .500 level team that has played above our level for long enough that the crash landing is all the more brutal.

Warren Hacker fell to 8-4 with a 2.69 ERA, throwing seven innings with only seven hits, five of which gave up the five earned runs in the seventh inning. He had four strikeouts against two walks, but threw 103 pitches, nearly 40 of which came in that 7th inning. Bob Kelly came out and played the sacrificial lamb, and did an adequate job ... one hit in one inning, with a strikeout, but the one hit was a homer so what are you gonna do? We were only outhit 8-6 today but it felt WAY worse. Fondy had two hits in four at-bats but didn’t score. Miksis got a hit and scored a run, but Mays, Banks and Jackson all went hitless. We can’t win when our strongest hitters get shot out.

JUNE 13, 1953 . . . Tonight Paul Minner came up against Preacher Roe, and for the first three and a half frames everything was a Pitcher’s Paradise. But in the bottom of the fourth, Minner gave up his first hit of the game, which as it turned out was a two-run homer to right field, and you get an idea of the cloud of bad juju hanging over our heads. And it wasn’t like our bats weren’t popping the ball off either; rather, it was as though the Dodgers’ fielders had rocket packs on their feet and could get every ball, every time. And when Gil Hodges hit a grand slam off of Minner in the bottom of the fifth, it was hard not to start waving our white flag. So they did what you do and kept piling it on, as Duke Snyder hit a homer in the very next at-bat. Unbef---inglieveable. Minner finally got the final out, but he was clearly completely off his game. But he kept fighting, hoping we’d find a way to rally. In the top of the eighth Eddie Miksis bashed a solid 401 foot homer that put two runs on the board, but that was all we got, and Klippstein surrendered two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, all but sealing the deal. We got nothing going in our final frame, losing this one 2-9 and continuing our downward spiral.

Minner had what would have been a great night in any other game, lasting 6.2 innings with only five hits -- but those hits surrendered seven runs, six of which were earned. He had three strikeouts but also walked three, and his ERA has now fallen to 4.74. Klippstein gave up two hits for two runs in 1.1 innings, walking one and strking out no one, dropping his ERA to 5.36. Mays had three hits but couldn’t score or drive in a run. Fondy, Cavarretta, Sauer and Banks each had one hit with nothing to show for it. Miskis finished with that one hit, his second homer of the year, batting in two to give him 16 RBIs on the year. We’ve had five games in a row where we’ve only managed one or two points of offense, dating back to the 11th inning loss to the Phillies on June 8th.

JUNE 14, 1953 . . . One last game to end the road trip. Two more days and we’ll all be able to be back in our own beds and see our familes for a couple weeks and pretend these last three weeks didn’t happen. But first we had a game to play. Brooklyn scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to open up the afternoon’s scoring, and our offensive woes were as woeful as ever. Brooklyn added a run quickly in the fifth, and our defenses were severely roughed up, with passed balls and two errors giving Newcombe all he could handle. By the end of five we were down 0-5, and I could tell the guys were all mentally just ready to get home. But it’s no excuse for our poor defensive play, and for our desperate attempts at turning walks into runs by being repeatedly caught stealing. We just weren’t playing like a team that believes it can be competitive. So we weren’t. I felt the most sorry for Newcombe, because he should have still been in this one -- as he came back in for the sixth inning he’d given up five runs, but NONE OF THEM WERE EARNED! I’ve never seen anything like it!

Newcombe laid into our guys in the dugout, and I let him stay in because I felt he’d earned it, and because it wasn’t like any of our relievers were going to suddenly find a way to make our bats go boom. So he stayed in and finished what he started, blanking the Dodgers through the sixth, seventh and eighth, but we lost 0-5 nonetheless. And the loss was a team effort, only Newcombe came out of the game showing any real pride. He finished with a complete game but took the loss, falling to 3-2, but his ERA improved to 4.20 because he didn’t give up any earned runs. On 139 pitches over eight innings he gave up 10 hits and three walks, striking out five.

The Dodgers out-hit us 10-3, with Fondy, Cavarretta, Mays, Banks and Miksis all blanking from the plate. Most of our scoring opportunities would have had to come from walks, of which we had five, but Fondy was caught stealing in a key moments and Mays and Banks each committed crucial errors. I’m hoping the return to Chicago sparks SOMETHING, because right now I wouldn’t blame the fans for sitting things out.

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As of June 16th we are now 28-31, 11-1/2 games back of first and lucky to not be worse than 5th in the NL. But St. Louis (26-33) has been making strides, and we’re only 7-1/2 games ahead of 7th place Pittsburgh (23-39) who we’ll face in a four game stretch, starting with a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader here at Wrigley this afternoon. We’ll then face the Dodgers again for four on our field, followed by three each against the Phillies and the Giants before we hit the road to end the month at St. Louis. We’re on a six game losing streak, but Pittsburgh’s been good to us this year. So time to see if we can get some of the early-season mojo back in front of the fans who do choose to show up and pony up that beer and hot-dog money.

jksander · 06-24-2023, 02:04 AM

JUNE 16, 1953 . . . Bob Rush was our first pitcher to take the mound in our Wrigley double-header return, and he got run support almost immediately when Willie Mays knocked in his 19th homer in the bottom of the first. Our fielding early in the game left a lot to be desired, but Rush got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second to keep it scoreless. Eddie Miksis hit a triple that drove in two runs in the botom of the second to give us a 3-0 lead, and the fans who were here started to perk up significantly. Randy Jackson batted in a run in the bottom of the third, but Rush couldn’t keep it scoreless through four innings. In fact, he gave up three in the top of the fourth, putting some presure on our guys to see if we could keep our hit-parade rolling. As it turned out we could, though it took a while -- Cavarretta nailed a homer to center field, another solo one, giving us a 5-3 head and giving Cavarretta his 4th of the year. Rush threw 126 pitches in seven innings, so I brought Bob Kelly in to close things out in the eighth. But in the bottom of the ninth he surrendered two runs, knotting it 5-5 before getting the final strikeout. Sauer hit a one-out double to get the rally going in the bottom of the ninth, and with two outs Clyde McCullough singled and drove Sauer in to score the walk-off game winning run! THE STREAK IS OVER ... we won this one 6-5 over the Pirates.

Bob Kelly got his fourth blown save but came away with the win, improving to 1-3 on the season with a 6.07 ERA, giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and a walk. In seven innings, Bob Rush gave up ten hits but only three earned runs, striking out seven and walking three. His ERA is now 3.99 on the season. McCullough led the way with three hits in five at-bats, driving in a run and scoring one. Willie Mays was one for four but it was a homer so everyone loved it; Cavarretta hit twice, including his homer, scoring once and driving in one. Eddie Miksis put up 2 RBIs with just one hit in three attempts.

About 10,000 fans stuck around for the second game of the double-header, taking advantage of a great weather day in Chicago, as Dick Brodowski took the mound for his fifth start of the season. Ernie Banks gave us a 1-0 lead on an RBI single in the bottom of the first, and Clyde McCullough singled up the gap with a tight grounder to quickly score two more! Dick Brodowski walked with the bases loaded to bring in a fourth run, and we’d officially batted around in the first inning! Fondy kept the scoring parade going, making it all the way to second on a throwing error to drive in two more, so by the time Cavarretta batted out, we led 6-0 heading into just the second inning! Ernie Banks added a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-0, his ninth four-bagger of the season. Brodowski surrendered a run in the top of the eight to end the shut-out attempt, and he dominated in the ninth to hold on to the 7-1 victory in another complete game! Damn it feels good to be home in Chicago.

Brodowski improves to 3-2 with this win, bringing his ERA down to 1.63 while only giving up six hits in nine innings on five strikeouts and no walks! Fondy, Banks and McCullough each drove in two runs, while banks also scored two of his own.

JUNE 17, 1953 . . . Fondy nailed his fifth homer of the year in the bottom of the third to put us up 1-0 in what had been a pitchers’ duel to that point. And a duel it remained, as Warren Hacker and Howie Pollet were each locked in and dialing up well-aimed throws. But Hacker gave up an RBI double in the top of the seventh on only his fourth hit of the game, tying the score at 1-1. Willie Mays hit a solo homer straight over the center Ivy, putting us up 2-1 with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, his 20th of the season to buy us some insurance, and Hacker didn’t give up a single inch in the final frame as we held the Pirates off 2-1 to win our third game in a row!

Warren Hacker improves to 9-4 with a 2.56 ERA on the year, throwing another complete game five-hitter with three strikeouts and a walk leading to only a single earned run. Fondy hit three times in four at-bats, scoring one and driving in another, and Mays had two hits in four at-bats, including the homer which gave him his 50th RBI as well! Hank Sauer had two hits in three at-bats along with a walk and a strikeout, but he was unable to score.

JUNE 18, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer delivered a run scoring single in the botom of the first to put us ahead 1-0 against the wilting Pirates. And we needed the run, because this one was as hard a game to get a hit as yesterday’s! Minner narrowly avoided disaster in the fifth inning, loading the bases on a walk, but he was able to get two harmless outs and leave the Pirates scoreless. Minner did the same thing in the top of the sixth, loading the bases and then safely getting out of it, and McCullough bought us some insurance in the bottom of the sixth, soloing to center (his sixth of the year) to give us a 2-0 lead and a bit of a cushion. But with Klippstein warming up, Minner’s luck ran out in the top of the seventh, loading the bases and giving up a run to let Pittsburgh within a run, and with Klippstein rushing to get ready to throw, he gave up two more to put us in a one run deficit. With Hacker relieved of his mound for the remainder of the game, Johnny Klippstein got two outs in a row to keep us from doing any further damage, but now we had to get this lead back.

Jackson hit a double in the bottom of the eighth inning, putting two runners in scoring position with two outs and McCullough at the plate, but McCullough hit a line drive right at the left fielder -- inning over. Klippstein did his job, completing the ninth inning with no additional runs, so we went into the bottom of the inning only trailing by a single run. But we had the bottom of the lineup up to bat, and no amount of pinch-hitting was getting us a rally tonight as we lost a heartbreaker 2-3. But we won the series 3-1, leaving us just a game under .500 on the year.

Paul Minner falls to 5-7 on the year with a 4.61 ERA, having given up nine hits for three runs (two earned) with four strikeouts and three walks. Klippstein came in and threw 2.2 innings of two-hit ball, with no runs and just a walk, bringing his ERA down to 5.09. Hank Sauer had three hits in four at-bats but we couldn’t get him in to score. Willie Mays walked twice but couldn’t find a hit, and Randy Jackson had two hits but was consistently left stranded. McCullough’s homer should have been enough to ice this one, but we’d ridden the razor’s edge too many times to get away with a close win this time.

Next up: four games here at Wrigley against the Brooklyn Dodgers, who at 39-24 are only three games out of first while we’re 11 games out and needing some serious momentum. We are 2-5 against the Dodgers this year so far, and we definitely could stand to shift that record more in our favor.

jksander · 06-25-2023, 01:38 AM

JUNE 19, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges hit a two-run homer off Newcombe in the top of the third, getting Brooklyn on the board on only the third hit of the game. But in the bottom of the inning Fondy hit a triple with two outs, driving Newcombe home to score our first run, and Cavarretta hit a single to deep right, scoring Fondy and tying the game at 2-2! The Dodgers added a run in the top of the third, but Randy Jackson hit an RBI single that drove Banks in to score our third run, tying it up again with just one out in the bottom of the third! Unfortunately Atwell and Miksis weren’t able to drive in Jackson, who had made it all the way to third. Newcombe gave up his fourth run in the top of the seventh, and then two more while we tried to get Bob Kelly warmed up. Kelly finally got our third out but we were suddenly in a three-run hole against one of the best teams in baseball. Kelly gave up a run in the top of the eighth on a pick-off play error by Banks to home plate, and we went into the bottom of the ninth still trailing by four. Eddie Miksis hit a solo homer to make it 4-7, but that was all she wrote as we lost to the Dodgers by three.

Newcombe threw 6.2 innings but gave up nine hits and six earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk as he took the loss, falling to 3-3 with a 4.59 ERA. Kelly had 2.1 innings of one-hit ball, giving up one earned run with two strikeouts and a walk. His ERA atands at 5.91. Mays was held hitless again, as his average slides all the way to .352 after chasing .400 for nearly eight weeks of the season. Sauer was also held hitless, which rendered the heart of our order mostly moot. Ernie Banks (two hits, one run) and Randy Jackson (one hit, one RBI) were bright spots, but once we got into a hole we just didn’t have the offense to climb out of it.

Three games left in the series, and Warren Hacker will be pitching tomorrow.

JUNE 20, 1953 . . . Brooklyn quickly took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but McCullough walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the second, and Hank Sauer reached home safely on a wild pitch with Miksis at the plate with an 0-1 count and still just the one out! Miksis got the walk and re-loaded the revolver, but Hacker batted into a double play that first tagged out Ernie Banks at home and then Hacker at first to keep the score tied after two. Willie Mays hit a stand-up double in the bottom of the third, driving Cavarretta home to give us the lead 2-1, and Ernie Banks had an RBI single moments later that sent Sauer to second and drove Mays home to make it 3-1! Randy Jackson promptly loaded the bases with a single of his own, but we weren’t able to do anything with all those men on board. Still, a 3-1 lead after three innings was looking pretty good if Hacker could stay strong on the mound.

In the bottom of the fourth, Hacker hit a line-drive to right field, reaching base from the bottom of the order with one out, but the top of the order could do nothing with it. Brooklyn got a run back in the top of the sixth, and with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth Willie Mays came up and hit a blistering single up the right field foul line that stayed safe, driving in two insurance runs! Joe Hatton came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, with Hacker tiring after 100+ pitches and promptly struck out the first two batters before giving up a hit and a walk -- but he got out of the jam with a fly out to left, giving us one more chance to add insurance to our three-run lead. And we got exactly that, with McCullough slamming a 384-foot 3-run homer over the center field wall, his seventh homer of the year! Hatten got three quick outs and we won this one 8-2!

Warren Hacker pitched seven great innings, giving up just seven hits, with a strikeout and a walk, that produced two earned runs. He improves to 10-4 on the season with a 2.56 ERA. Meanwhile, Joe Hatton got a two-inning save, his second of the year, giving up one hit with two strikeouts and a walk, bringing his ERA down to 7.71. Warren Hacker was also one of our best hitters of the night, getting three hits on four at-bats, scoring a run! Randy Jackson had three hits in five at-bats, scoring a run himself, and Ernie Banks had three hits and a walk in four at-bats, driving in one. But Willie Mays was on his game again, hitting twice to score once while driving in three RBIs, and though McCullough only had one hit it was a doozy, also driving in three thanks to it going all the way out of the park!

With the series even and two more game to go, Bob Rush will be pitching for us tomorrow, putting his 6-7 record and 3.99 ERA on the line.

JUNE 21, 1953 . . . Brooklyn came in ready to go, with lead-off man Jackie Robinson power-boming a homer off the end of his bat with just seven pitches thrown to score the first run, and by the time we came up to bat for the first time we were in an 0-2 hole. Randy Jackson came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, however, and hit a single right past the pitcher’s ear to get deep into the outfield and score two runs, and McCullough added a third with a single of his own, giving us a one run lead at the end of the first inning. And in the bottom of the third, Jackson got another RBI single, making the lead 4-2 with two men on and only one out. Miksis got an RBI single as well, and Bob Rush came around in the nine spot and RBI singled himself, bringing up Fondy for the third time and it was still the third inning! He struck out, but the score was now a much more secure 6-2 and the Cubs faithful were loving it!

In the fourth inning, Randy Jackson came up to bat, again, and Randy Jackson hit an RBI single, again, truly dominating starter Ron Negray, who we were happy to torch for as long as the Dodgers wanted to keep him out there! Sauer hit a line drive to the shortstop, who chose to throw him out at first instead of throwing for home, allowing Cavarretta to score our eighth run, with Willie Mays on second and just one out. Ernie Banks advanced Mays to third with a well-placed line drive to right, and Randy Jackson hit a sac-fly to center field, allowing Mays to slide home safely ... this is one helluva hot streak, Jackson! Thanks to the strong inning we went into the top of the seventh leading 9-2. In the top of the seventh, Rush gave up a two-run homer as I was warming up Klippstein. Klippstein came in with one out and a man on first, and he got a quick fly-out and caught a runner trying to steal second, securing the five run lead as we headed into the stretch. In the bottom of the seventh, Mays hit a triple that drove in two more runs, and this one was looking like a complete rout. The Dodgers got a solo homer in the eighth by Jim Gilliam, but Klippstein handled himself well otherwise and we went into the bottom of the eighth leading 11-5 against the second-best team in the NL. They still had some offensive fireworks in store -- Roy Campanella nailed a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth with two outs to pull the Dodgers within three, but Klippstein ended the game on a strikeout on the next at-bat to ensure we’d hold on to win the game 11-8, having out-hit Brooklyn 19-13!

Everybody got a hit except Sauer, who still managed an RBI thanks to his sacrifice hit, and Klippstein, who only batted once anyway. Randy Jackson had three hits in four at-bats, scoring twice and driving in FIVE RUNS, adding nearly a sixth of his total RBIs for the season in this single game and bringing his average up to .274! And Ernie Banks nailed four hits in five at-bats, scoring twice and bringing his average up to .279. He and Jackson now each have 29 RBIs on the season batting in the middle of the order. Willie Mays added three hits in five at-bats, scoring two and driving in two, bringing his RBI total to 55 on the year and his average up to .359. Fondy, Cavarretta, McCullough and Miksis each had two hits, and McCullough, Miksis and Rush each had an RBI, making this an all-around effort.

Bob Rush got the win, improving to 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA -- he gave up 10 hits and four earned runs, but had six strikeouts and just three walks. Had he not thrown 36 pitches in the first two innings, he might have lasted the whole game, but I pulled him after 97 throws and 6.1 innings. Klippstein got rung up a bit thanks to the Campanella homer, but he was having a great night overall. He finished with 2.2 innings pitched and had only three hits, with two strikeouts and a walk. But the four earned runs brought his ERA to 5.50 on the year.

One more game against the Dodgers for a chance to win the series and finally get back up over .500! Dick Brodowski (3-2, 1.63 ERA) will be on the mound in command.

JUNE 22, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges tagged us with a solo homer to start the game, and Gilliam hit a triple that drove in a second run for the Dodgers in the top of the fourth, and Bobby Morgan drove in a third before Brodowski was able to get the final out. Unfortunately our lineup was getting nothing going offensively to back him up, so despite a solid pitching night overall he was simply stuck out there in the wind. But we woke up in the bottom of the sixth, when Hank Sauer slammed a two-run homer to get us on the board, sending us into the top of the seventh just trailing 2-3. Unfortunately, Brodowski gave up two more runs in the top of the eighth. Randy Jackson opened the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer to make it 3-5, and Fondy and Sauer both made it on base, bringing up Willie Mays with two on and no outs. Mays hit it squarely between the second baseman and the shortstop, driving in another run, but we couldn’t get the tying run on.

Bob Kelly came in to pitch in the top of the ninth, and he gave up a sixth run, so we reached the bottom of the ninth with the bottom of our order up to bat. McCullough took a strikeout, Bill Serena pinch-hit for Kelly and was tagged out at first, and suddenly it came to Randy Jackson in the ninth spot to keep us alive -- and he did, with a single to right that brought Fondy to the plate. But Fondy hit it straight to the center fielder who ended the game with a catch and a fist pump as we dropped game four to the Dodgers by a 4-6 margin.

Brodowski had nine hits in eight innings, throwing 117 pitches and giving up one walk against two strikeouts. He fell to 3-3 with this loss, and his ERA dropped to 2.31. Bob Kelly gave up a hit that led to an unearned run thanks to a fielding error. Fondy had three hits for us in five at-bats to score a run, while Sauer added two hits in four at-bats, scoring and driving in two. Mays had two hits and an RBI, while Jackson, batting ninth today in a reshuffled order, hit twice and drove in one while also scoring himself.

We’re now 33-34 heading into our last six games of this honestand, against Philly (39-28) and the Giants (33-35). We’re currently six games behind Philly and sitting in fourth place, with Brooklyn eight games up on us and the Milwaukee Braves holding a 12 game lead on us and a four-game lead on their closest opponents. Milwaukee, Brooklyn and Philly all have +67 run differentials or better, while we’re holding onto a -15 differential. Unless things change and our bats become more consistent and our pitching more dominant, erasing this distance between us and the division leaders is going to be difficult ... so these next six home games are going to mean a lot.

The Yankees currently lead the AL with a 44-22 record, a game and a half up on Cleveland (41-22), with Boston (38-31) trailing six games behind Cleveland.

jksander · 06-25-2023, 02:22 AM

JUNE 23, 1953 . . . Paul Minner got roughed up big time in the second inning of this one, giving up four runs over a prolonged inning after getting the game’s first four outs quickly. He gave up a fifth run in the top of the third, but we finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning when backup left fielder Max West got a double up the gap to drive in two runs, so after three we trailed 2-5. Minner went into the fourth inning having already thrown more than 60 pitches, however, so we really needed him to settle down and show some control. Minner gave up another run in the top of the fifth, and I pulled him at 90 pitches for Klippstein, hoping we could stem the bleeding and give our batters at least a fighting chance. And he got out of the inning with two consecutive strikeouts and we headed for the bottom of the fifth trailing 2-6.

In the bottom of the fifth, Max West, playing in only his third game of the season, hit his first home-run, scoring for himself and Fondy and making this a 4-6 game! The bottom of the order was coming up, so we pinch-hit Jackson, Clyde McCullough and Frank Baumholtz to hopefully give us some rally power. Jackson hit a fly-out to left, but McCullough singled, Baumholtz did the same, and Fondy came up at the top of the order with just one out, taking first on a fielder’s choice, while McCullough went to third. That brought up Max West with two outs, and he singled to drive in McCullough, while Fondy made it to third without a throw! That brought Willie Mays up with the score 5-6 and two outs, and though he should have been easily tagged out at first on a bloop single in the infield, the first baseman for the Phillies committed an error, allowing him to tag up safe at second and sending Fondy in to score the tying run!

Randy Jackson stayed in at third base, while McCullough took over at catcher as Bob Kelly took over in the top of the seventh with the score tied up, quickly getting three outs. That brought Ernie Banks up to bat, at which point he was promptly hit by a pitch and sent to first, at which point Eddie Miksis singled to advance Banks to second with no outs. But Jackson flew out to right, and McCullough flew out to center field -- though his was deep enough to advance Banks to third with two men on and two outs. But Bob Kelly struck out and ended the inning with us still knotted at six all. Kelly was dialed in, however, and got three quick outs to bring us back up, still tied, in the bottom of the eighth and at the top of the order. Unfortunately Willie Mays hit a weak squib into a double play to end the inning with no score, putting all our hopes on Kelly in the ninth and our chances at a walk-off. But he got into trouble quickly and gave up the go-ahead run with two men on and no outs, though he got the outs he needed to get us out of things with just the one run.

In the bottom of the ninth, Cavarretta singled to left, but Banks flew out to right, keeping Cavaretta at first. Miksis hit a fly-out to deep center, and then Jackson managed to reach base on a fielding error by the shortstop, bringing up Clyde McCullough with two outs, two men on, and us just needing to at least tie this thing! But he hit it straight to the third baseman and the game was over -- another tough loss to swallow, the Phillies taking this one 6-7.

Paul Minner only lasted 4.1 innings thanks to 11 hits and six runs, five of which were earned. Klippstein threw 1.2 innings with just one hit along with two strikeouts, but Bob Kelly came in and pitched three solid innings of three hit ball, with four strikeouts and a walk ... and the losing run, which knocks his record to 1-4. Max West had a great night with four hits and a walk, scoring a run and driving in FIVE, his first five RBIs of the year, bringing his average up to .444 in nine at-bats. Cavarretta also had two hits, reaching 2,000 hits in his career, but was unable to score. Dee Fondy hit once but scored three runs himself, thanks to handy errors by Philly. And yet we got out-hit 15-14 so we lost this one that our overall effort suggested we should have found a way to win.

jksander · 06-26-2023, 01:56 AM

JUNE 24, 1953 . . . Newcombe had a hard time in the first inning, getting himself rung up for two runs before he could get out of it. And we’re resting McCullough, Jackson and Banks, so we’re not expecting to be particularly explosive on offense tonight. But we’ll fight for it, and hopefully he’ll be able to settle in and not wear himself out so much in later innings. Eddie Miksis did well for himself in the bottom of the first, doubling with two outs to drive in a run, and Newcombe started to settle in as the game went on. When Cavarretta singled to right, sending in the tying run, we started to breathe a little easier -- this team CAN string things together without forcing our best hitters to destroy their bodies day in, day out. Willie Mays singled in a third run, scored by Fondy, and we were able to go into the top of the third holding a 3-2 lead on the Phillies.

Newcombe gave up the tying run in the top of the third; clearly like the rest of the season nothing was going to come easily. The Phillies took a 3-4 lead in the top of the fourth, but Hank Sauer hit a solo homer to right in the bottom of the fifth to tie things up, his 10th homer of the season! Dutch Leonard gave up a run in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom of the frame we brought Ernie Bnaks to pinch hit for Tommy Brown, Randy Jackson to pinch hit for Ramazotti, and Frank Baumholtz to pinch hit for Dutch Leonard, who we planned to replace in the top of the ninth with Klippstein. Would it be enough to rally our team back into the lead? Banks hit what should have been an easy double but their center-fielder made a spectacular diving cactch for out nubmer one. Randy Jackson was quickly tagged out at first for out number two. And same went for Baumholtz, which left us in a real hole -- yeah, the top of the lineup would be taking the field in the bottom of the ninth, but we needed Klippstein to pitch well and then for our bats to liven up for anything to happen.

Klippstein did his part, finishing the ninth inning with a double play to keep the score at 4-5 heading into our last frame. Cavarretta singled to center with one out, but Willie Mays’ would-have-been-a-homer blew back by the wind and wound up being an easy catch. So with two outs and the tying run on first, Hank Sauer came up for all the marbles. And he flew out to center as well, ending this one as another one run loss on our ledger.

Newcombe threw 5.2 innings of eight-hit ball, giving up four runs (three earned) with two strikeouts and a walk, while Dutch Leonard, who can’t seem to catch a break, came in and threw 2.1 innings of two-hit ball, giving up the go-ahead run and taking the loss. He’ll fall to 0-2 on the year with a 5.52 ERA as he inches nearer to his announced retirement at age 44. Klippstein got through his inning with no hits, no strikeouts and no walks, but the double play was a thing of beauty. His ERA stands at 5.25 on the year. Fondy handled himself well again today with two hits and two runs scored, while Cavarretta added two hits, a run and an RBI to go with a walk. Mays added a hit with an RBI, and Sauer hit twice to score one and drive another in. We just gave up too many runs -- this was a good offensive night considering how many of our stars were on the bench.

As we inch nearer to the All Star break and the ensuing trade deadline and fall further below the .500 mark, it’s becoming more likely that ownership will choose to push our GM to sell at the deadline -- I can only hope we do well enough to keep this team from being completely gutted. The fans deserve better than an August and September with no hope.

JUNE 25, 1953 . . . Tonight Warren Hacker took the mound, while only Willie Mays sat out today to rest giving Baumholtz a chance to be in the lineup at center field as a starter. Ernie Banks hit a triple in the bottom of the first, sending Fondy home to score the first run, giving Banks his 30th RBI of the season, and Banks would quickly score on a passed ball to make it 2-0 with just one out! Jackson hit a line-drive triple right by the ear of the third baseman and into the deep left corner, allowing Hank Seuer to score, and we went into the top of the second leading 3-0 against Philly. McCullough doubled in the bottom of the third and Miksis got himself an RBI single by driving McCullough home, increasing our lead to 4-0 heading into the fourth. Dee Fondy came up for the third time in the bottom of the fourth, and we hoped the third time through the lineup would allow us to really put some distance between us and the Phillies, but Karl Drews finally started to find his rhythm, and he quickly got through the inning. Instead it was Hacker who got rung up quickly in the top of the fifth, loading the bases and giving up two quick runs before I even thought we needed to consider bringing anyone up in the bullpen. By the time Klippstein got properly warmed up, Hacker had gotten out of the inning, but the score was suddenly tied 4-4.

We came out strong in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases ourselves with no outs! McCullough hit a fly-out to center, but an E9 throwing error allowed Hank Sauer to score, with Randy Jackson moving to third and Frank Baumholtz advancing to second. They walked Miksis to load the bases again, and Hacker flew out to left but was able to score Jackson to give us a two run lead. The rally lasted long enough that Klippstein was no longer limbered up, so I kept Hacker on the mound for the top of the sixth while immediately getting Joe Hatten warmed up in the bullpen, as Hacker was nearing 90 pitches already, but it wasn’t immediately necessary -- he got three quick outs, and we came up hoping to build the lead further. Instead we came into the top of the seventh with the same 6-4 lead, and Klippstein, freshly warmed up, came in to hopefully keep it that way. Unfortunately he loaded the bases and drove a run home with two outs, and Hatten came in to get the final out with two men on, one in scoring position. He promptly gave up one of Klippstein’s runs, tying the score 6-6, and then gave up the go-ahead run, having thrown just nine pitches. Finally he got the out, but we went into the stretch down a run again and wondering what we had left in the tank.

Bob Kelly came into the top of the eight with us still trailing 6-7, and he got three quick outs to keep the situation from getting any worse. He then made it even better by hitting a single up the gap to open the bottom of the eighth, getting a solid single for the effort and bringing up the top of the order -- rally caps on, people! Cavarretta reached first on a fielder’s choice and then made it to second on a wild pitch, sending Banks up to the plate. Banks then promptly drove a run-scoring triple to the deep right corner, tying the score 7-7 heading into the ninth inning. But Kelly couldn’t hold onto it long enough for us to bat in the bottom of the frame, giving up the go-ahead run with just one out and two men left on, and then piss-poor fielding allowed two more to score, pretty much sealing things. So we’d head into the bottom of the ninth trailing 7-10 and needing a damned miracle. But the baseball Gods would say we’d already wasted the three or four miracles they’d sent our way tonight and they’d gone off the clock for the night. We lost this one 7-10 and completed the act of being swept by Philly.

Can’t we get some relief (pitching)? Hacker deserved better than this -- he shouldn’t have to throw a complete game and 150+ pitches every four days to keep getting wins! As it stood, he finished six excellent innnings, throwing 104 pitches for three hits and two strikeouts, but he gave up three walks. But had we fielded better he wouldn’t have been jammed up so badly -- only two of his four runs were earned, so his ERA remains a very respectable 2.58. Hatten got the blown save, his second of the year, giving up two hits but no earned runs thanks to the guys Klippstein had put on base. And poor, hapless Bob Kelly took his fifth loss of the year, giving up three earned runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk -- for a guy who is still drawing a ton of All Star fan interest, he simply can’t find any consistency when under pressure.

We were only out-hit 11-10 tonight, but what an incredible waste of such a good offensive effort. Randy Jackson had a three hit effort with a run scored and an RBI as his average climbed to .280 on the year. Banks scored a run and drove two in on two hits, and McCullough had two hits for a run and an RBI as well.

Now we head into our last three home games of June, against the fourth-place Giants (35-36). We’re now in fifth, at 33-37, 14 games back and fading fast. Rush, Brodowski and Minner are expected to pitch in these games, with only 17 games remaining before the All-Star break. And if we think we’re tired yet, wait until the July 4th weekend ... we’ve got five games between the 3rd and the 5th here at Wrigley, with back to back double headers against the Cardinals and the Reds. So nothing gets easier. In fact, we’ll have FIVE double-headers in July.

jksander · 06-28-2023, 07:38 PM

JUNE 26, 1953 . . . Bob Rush gave up a run in the first inning, and with the wind pulling any hits deep into the outfield he wound up giving up two more in the top of the second before finally getting a strikeout to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, Ernie Banks had a solid double to right, reached third on a fly-out by Jackson, and then scored when Eddie Miksis singled up the gap with a wicked-quick grounder that just squeaked by the second baseman. Toby Atwell hit a line drive to left that turned into a double, sending Miksis to third, but Rush hit into an easy out at first to end the inning with just one scored. Unfortunately Rush was not on his best game, giving up a homer in the top of the third, and our fielders weren’t helping at all by being out of position CONSTANTLY, failing to catch fly balls on an almost constant basis, so he was lucky we went into the bottom of the third just trailing 4-1. In the bottom of the third,Hank Sauer loaded the bases on a single to left with just one out, and Ernie Banks was able to drive Cavarretta home from third to make it a two-point game with the bases still loaded. Randy Jackson then hit a bullet off the end of his bat that almost brained the third baseman, driving two more runs in to tie the score 4-4!

Rush gave up another two runs in the top of the fifth, but we hoped to rally in the bottom of the sixth when Miksis hit a solid single and then Atwell followed up with a deep drive to right, reaching first and sending Miksis to third with no outs. Dee Fondy pinch-hit for Rush, but the infield hit was close enough for the Giants to get Miksis out at home, leaving Atwell on second and Fondy on first. They walked Max West, loading the bases with just one out, but they got Atwell at at home with Cavaretta advancing on an infield single to keep the bases loaded now with two outs and Willie Mays up to bat. Mays managed to get his single past the second baseman into the outfield, driving home Fondy and West to tie the score again at 6-6. And on a fielding error at first, Sauer was able to reach second on what should have been the third out, scoring Cavaretta to give us the lead with two men in scoring position and two outs. Banks got the final out on a pop fly to the shortstop, but we held the 7-6 lead at the end of six with Dutch Leonard coming in to pitch.

Leonard gave up the tying run in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded and two outs, Cavarretta came in and nailed a perfect triple to the deep left corner, driving in three runs and giving us a 10-7 lead while reaching third! Joe Hatten came in for the top of the eighth and got three quick outs, and he came out in the top of the ninth ready to close this one out. A flyout, a walk and two strikeouts later and he’d done just that as we beat the New York Giants 10-7 in a real slugfest!

Dutch Leonard blew his save attempt but was able to get his first win of the year, improving to 1-2 with a 5.74 ERA on two hits. Joe Hatten earned his third save of the year, throwing two no-hit innings with a pair of strikeouts and a walk. And Bob Rush was happy to come out with a no-decision, having given up 10 hits and six earned runs in six innings with two walks and a strikeout, blowing his ERA up to 4.33 on the season after 17 starts and 120.2 innings pitched. Max West, filling in for Fondy as our leadoff man, didn’t get a hit but he walked twice and was able to score two runs for us, while Cavarretta, batting second, hit twice to score two and bat in three more. Randy Jackson added three well-timed hits to bat in two, and Willie Mays hit twice, scoring and batting in two additional runs.

JUNE 27, 1953 . . . Dick Brodowski took to the mound today, and he continued our troubling trend of giving up early runs, throwing more than thirty pitches and giving up three runs just in the top of the first. We got one back in the bottom of the inning, but Brodowski gave up two more in the top of the third to make it a four-run lead for New York and putting a lot of pressure on our bats to dig him out of the mess. Fondy hit a brilliant line-drive to right to make it all the way to third to start the bottom of the inning, and Cavarretta hit a sacrifice deep fly to left that allowed Fondy to score, making the score 2-5, but the wind blew in to rob Mays of a potential two run homer, and that was as close as we’d get before Brodowski came back up in the top of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Willie Mays hit another towering ball to deep center, but the wind again blew it just shy of home-run territory, making it an easy catch -- but he drove Cavarretta to third and Fondy scored, making it a two-run game with just one out. And Ernie Banks hit a fly-out to left which drove Cavarretta in to make the score 4-5. In the top of the seventh they added two insurance runs, making it 4-6, but in the bottom of the eighth, Willie Mays finally got his 21st homer of the year, putting us back within two. But we went into the top of the ninth still down 7-5 against the Giants. Brodowski stayed out to complete the game and did not surrender any more runs, giving us the chance to at least come back in this one. We pinch-hit Ramazzotti for Miksis to start the inning, but he was tagged out at first. Baumholtz then came in for Brodowski, but he hit a line drive directly to the first baseman. And Fondy would have been the third out, but for a bobbled catch at first base, allowing him to reach safely and sending the potential tying run, Cavarretta, up to the plate! And Cavarretta hit a line drive to center that their guy couldn’t catch, allowing Fondy to make it all the way to third, with Willie Mays coming up ready to be the hero ... hitting a weak squib that bounced just out of reach of first base, allowing him to reach and drive Fondy home from third ... ONE RUN LEFT! Ernie Banks came up to bat with Cavarretta on second as the potential tying run and Banks on first as the potential game winner. AND HE HIT A WALK-OFF THREE-RUN HOMER TO WIN THIS ONE 9-7! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!

Brodowski, who stayed in for the entire nine innings and 152 total pitches, got the win to improve to 4-3, giving up 13 hits and seven earned runs but striking out five and walking five, keeping his ERA at 3.07 for the year. Ernie Banks is obviously the hero of the game, with his three-run walk-off homer giving us the win, batting in five runs total in the game. But Fondy hit three times to score four runs on his own to keep us in it throughout the game, and Willie Mays stayed tough despite some disappointing fly-outs early, hitting three times, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Banks now has 10 homers this year, tied with Sauer for second on the team behind Mays.

With this win we’re assured the series win against the Giants, but if we can win tomorrow we’ll sweep and improve to just one game shy of .500 on the season heading into what we fully expect to be a difficult stretch in July before the All Star break. So at this point every win is precious. This win moved us half a game up on the Giants to take fourth in the NL, but we’re still 13 games out of first and seven games out of third.

JUNE 28, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker took the mound for us tonight as we hoped to close out the sweep against the Giants and keep our win streak alive. And true to our recent form he gave up two runs in the first inning, giving up only a pair of hits but also walking three which was uncharacteristic for him. He was somewhat maddening in that way through the game, giving up another run in the top of the third by giving up easy hit opportunities, but also having struck out four batters by the end of three innings. Tommy Brown hit a towering two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, his first four-bagger of the year, and Hacker really started to settle in, giving us a real chance. When Willie Mays homered over the right field wall to put us up 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, this place went nuclear. The Giants got a run back in the top of the sixth, but we still held the lead, and we held it through eight, going into the top of the ninth with Bob Kelly on the mound and a one run lead. And he got us out of the inning with some excellent pitching, allowing us to take this one by a 5-4 margin to sweep the Giants in the series!

Hacker earned the win to improve to 11-4, throwing seven innings of seven-hit ball, with seven strikeouts against three walks -- the four earned runs didn’t hurt him much, his ERA remains a strong 2.71 overall. And Kelly was impressive in his eighth save of the year, throwing two innings with only one hit, striking out one batter and walking another, bringing his ERA down to 5.62 through 40 innings pitched. Willie Mays’ homer was one of his two hits tonight, as he scored one and batted in three to reach 65 RBIs this year! And backup shortstop Tommy Brown’s homer was a key moment in the game, batting in two runs to help give Hacker the confidence he needed to buckle in and start throwing all those K’s.

We improved with the win to 36-37 as we prep to drive to St. Louis to play a three-game road series before returning to Wrigley for the Independence Day series against St. Louis (Friday and a doubleheader Saturday) and Cincinnati (a doubleheader on Sunday). How long can we keep the streak alive? And can this momentum help us get to the All Star break with a surge of confidence?

We’re moving Klippstein back into the starting rotation, expecting him to pitch in the opening game of the St. Louis series against Harvey Haddix tomorrow evening, with Minner and Rush expected up in the other two games. Newcombe is stepping back into a bullpen role as we head into the July stretch.

jksander · 06-28-2023, 10:47 PM

JUNE 29, 1953 . . . Willie Mays opened the game with a solo homer in the top of the first to put us up 1-0, his 23rd of the year, and Ernie Banks followed immediately with one of his own over the right field wall to make it 2-0! And then Hank Sauer made it back to back to back solo homers, hitting it over the left wall to make it 3-0, all of the homers coming with two outs! McCullough hit an RBI single that drove in Randy Jackson before Bob Ramazzotti was tagged out at first to end the inning. St. Louis got on the board with a run scoring double and a run scoring single in the bottom of the third, but Bob Ramazzotti got into the homer race with a two-run blast over the right field wall, his first of the year, to make our lead 6-2 midway through the fourth. They got a third run on us in the bottom of the sixth, but Hank Sauer hit another two-run homer over the right field wall in the top of the seventh, giving us an 8-3 lead and him his 12th homer, our fifth of the night -- and the home-run derby didn’t stop either! In the top of the eighth, Willie Mays came up and hit his second of the game, a towering 440 footer that almost left the park, scoring three more runs, and St. Louis entered the bottom of the eighth trailing by eight. We added a 12th run in the top of the ninth, and we held them scoreless in the final frame to win this one in a blowout 12-3 for our fourth straight victory, outhitting the Cardinals just 15-14 but destroying them with SIX HOME RUNS. Perfection!

Johnny Klippstein, in his eighth start and 20th appearance of the year, went 5.1 innings on 94 pitches, giving up eight hits and three earned runs while throwing three strikeouts and one walk, improving to 4-2 on the year with a 5.60 ERA. The real surprise was that Don Newcombe came out of the bullpen and threw 3.2 innings of seven-hit ball, with two strikeouts and no runs scored, bringing his ERA down to 4.38! It’s insane to say, but the only batter all day who didn’t get a hit was Fondy in the lead-off, and that includes both of our pitchers ... Willie Mays led the way with two homers being his only hits of the game, scoring twice and driving in four runs, bringing his homer total to 24! Hank Sauer was also incredible, hitting three times with two homers, scoring three and batting in three. McCullough and Ramazzotti each added two RBIs, and of course there was Ernie Banks’ first-inning solo homer as well. What a night!

JUNE 30, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer hit a run scoring single in the top of the first, scoring Ernie Banks all the way from second to get things going, and in the top of the second we opened with a Toby Atwell double and then Eddie Miksis hit a run-scoring double of his own to put us up 2-0 with no outs, though we weren’t able to do any more damage in the inning. And we added more in the top of the third, when Toby Atwell, up for the second time, singled through the gap to drive Ernie Banks in from third, and then Eddie Miksis drove in another to give us a 4-0 lead after three! Paul Minner was lights-out through the first four innings, though he gave up a run in the bottom of the fifth to let St. Louis on the board and spoil the shutout, and a second run scored in the bottom of the sixth. Joe Hatten came in for the seventh when Minner got two guys into scoring position with no outs, and he had the best inning of his career here in Chicago, striking out two and facilitating a quick throw to home preventing a third run from scoring, maktaining our 4-2 lead heading into the top of the eighth! Bob Kelly came in to get the save with two outs and a man on in the eighth inning and he did his job, until the bottom of the ninth when, with two outs and a man on first, Solly Hemus hit a homer to tie the score 4-4. He got the final out, however, and we were heading for extras!

Randy Jackson came up with one out in the top of the 10th and hit a spectacular triple to deep right, and Miksis hit a deep fly-out sacrifice to center that drove Jackson home for the go-ahead run. That brought Kelly back out for the bottom of the inning, and he secured our 5-4 victory with a flyout and two strikeouts to keep our streak going at five wins! This ties our longest winning streak of the year and showcased our team handling adversity in a whole new way, leaving the St. Louis fans completely gutted.

Bob Kelly blew his save opportunity but came away with the win, improving to 2-5 with a 5.74 ERA while throwing 2.1 innings of two-hit ball with four strikeouts. Paul Minner made it through six innings with nine hits and two earned runs, throwing a strikeout and walking two batters. Ernie Banks is red hot right now, hitting three times tonight with a run scored, and Eddie Miksis hit twice to bat three runs in, playing a critical role in our ability to stay in this one.

Our GM has brought Fred Baczewski back up from the minors, sending Joe Hatten back down.

JULY 1, 1953 . . . Bob Rush came out to pitch for us this evening in the bottom of the first with no score, and he promptly loaded the bases with no outs, an inauspicious beginning. He then walked a runner home, leaving the fans of St. Louis completely delirious. By the time we came up to bat in the top of the second we trailed the Cardinals 2-0 and had work to do if we wanted to keep our streak going. Thankfully they opened the inning by walking Banks. Jackson singled to right, and Cavarretta loaded the bases, putting us in the driver’s seat. And Sauer opened things up by hitting a three-run scoring double to put us ahead 3-2 just like that! Dee Fondy added a run with a single, and Willie Mays added more by singling up the gap to center, driving in two more runs before the inning came to an end with us ahead 6-2! We added a seventh run in the top of the fourth, but we committed two errors in the bottom of the fourth, though Rush was able to get himself out of a jam with only one run scored, making it 7-3 Cubs at the end of four.

Unfortunately Rush gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, and we brought Don Newcombe out to secure the final out of the inning and protect the lead. The Cardinals got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, but we were able to add two more in the top of the seventh to keep the lead at 9-6 heading into the stretch. Newcombe had a sore arm, so we brought Bob Kelly in to attempt the long save attempt ... and it was too soon. He gave up three runs before finally getting out of his jam, tying the score at 9-9 heading into the eighth inning and severely testing our luck. We brought Baczewski in out of the bullpen to pitch with the game still knotted in the bottom the eighth, and he got us out without any damage, but we weren’t able to score in the top of the ninth. Baczewski was game for the challenge, however, and he got us safely out of the ninth as well, sending us to our second night of extra innings in a row!

We had the top of our order up to bat for the 10th inning, and Fondy quickly got things going with a double to deep left, and Ernie Banks doubled up the gap right out of the reach of the second baseman’s glove, scoring Fondy and putting us up 10-9! So with a one run lead and Dutch Leonard ready in the bullpen, Baczewski came out to try and seal the victory. And he got them out one, two, three to end the game with our 10-9 win, and six game streak, intact. Welcome back from AAA, Fred!

In an unexpected bullpen-heavy night, Baczewski took the win and improved to 1-1 on the year with a 4.79 ERA, throwing three innings of two-hit ball. Bob Rush only lasted 4.2 innings, giving up nine hits and five runs (four earned) though he also had five strikeouts against three walks. Newcombe had 1.1 innings of one hit ball, but I didn’t want to risk an injury. Still the less said about Kelly and the more said about Baczewski tonight, the better. Willie Mays hit three times and walked twice, scoring a run and batting in three. Hank Sauer, meanwhile, hit once and walked once, scoring once and driving in three more. We’ve had to put up a lot of runs in the last six wins -- beating teams 51-34 through this streak -- but the bats have been up to it so far. How long we can maintain that pace remains to be seen.

Mickey Mantle of the Yankees has the lead in the home run race right now with 27 deep bombs, and Gil Hodges with Brooklyn has 25. But Willie Mays is right there in the conversation with 24 and he leads the majors with 72 RBIs and his .368 batting average. We’re heading back to the friendly confines of Wrigley, so with the weather warming in Chicago and the winds blowing out, it’s hard not to see those totals going up.

We’re heading into a five game stretch in three days here in Chicago with our record standing at 39-37, in 4th place in the NL, four games out of third. Those five games will be against St. Louis (now 32-43) and the Cincinnati Reds (now 33-48). We’ll have four more on the road against Cincy next weekend, and a mid-week two game series at Milwaukee, so continuing this win streak can help us make some moves upward in the rankings while also distancing us further from .500 in the process heading up to the All Star break.

jksander · 06-28-2023, 11:50 PM

JULY 3, 1953 . . . Hacker gave up a run to start the first inning, but got out of there with only two hits and no further damage. Cavarretta got our first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth, making it to second on a deep fly to center, and Mays hit a double to follow him but Cavarretta tried for home when he should have stayed at third, bringing Ernie Banks up with two outs and a man in scoring position. He was quickly walked, bringing up Sauer, who ... struck out. What a wasted scoring opportunity in such a dueling pitchers game like this one. But Hacker struck out the side in the top of the fifth, and in the bottom of the inning Warren Hacker made everyone think he was going to bunt, only to slam a line drive to center, driving in the tying run via Randy Jackson, who scored from second! Fondy struck out, but Cavarretta walked to load the bases, but Willie Mays was robbed of an extra-bases hit by an incredible diving catch. Still, knotted 1-1 in a game like this is a better place to be than trailing by the run.

OOC: Knotted at 1-1 heading into the seventh, the game was abruptly called for rain ... and frustratingly the game doesn’t actually let you look at your box score when this happens, they just kick you out with a pop-up that says ‘check league schedule for rescheduled date’ and I can’t find any information about this -- it’s like the game never happened. If any of you guys know what the hell, please feel free to chime in. I feel like at the least an email should be involved ... it left me with a case of base-blue-balls. Onward, meanwhile, to the double-header on the fourth of July, with the streak still alive (?)

jksander · 06-29-2023, 12:55 AM

OOC: I resorted to counting games lol ... so yeah it has to be that double-header in late September. So I guess I'm going to get one hell of a surprise when I get to that date having forgotten, and suddenly it's 1-1 in the seventh with my pitcher throwing a three-hitter lol

JULY 4, 1953 . . . Everyone in the stands last night is frustrated with the umpire for calling the game instead of letting us all wait out the rain. But we’ve got two games today and two games tomorrow to salve the wounds, and I suppose the streak still lives, since we didn’t lose yesterday, did we? So Klippstein came out to start the noon game, sun shining, 76 degrees, wind blowing in from the right, and nearly 15,000 eager Cubs fans ready to watch us keep this thing going! We took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and that remained the only run of the game until Fondy hit a run-scoring single to drive Miksis in during the bottom of the fifth, at which point we led 2-0, which was promptly followed by Willie Mays hitting a three-run homer (his 25th) to make it a 5-0 lead! Ernie Banks hit a solo homer immediately after that, and like the snap of my fingers we had a 6-0 lead heading into the top of the sixth.

Klippstein was on fire, coming into the sixth inning with just two hits and a walk, and he kept on dealing fire, keeping them scoreless and getting his 9th strikeout in the top of the seventh. In the top of the ninth, still up 6-0, Klippstein threw his 10th strikeout and then two hits, followed by a shocking three-run homer to blow the shutout. But he got the remaining outs and we beat the Cardinals for our seventh victory in a row, winning 6-3!

Klippstein improved to 5-2 on the season with a 5.28 ERA, throwing a complete game with only five hits and the three earned runs, with 10 K’s thrown and only two walks. Ernie Banks had three hits to score one and drive in two, and Dee Fondy added two hits for two runs and an RBI. Ernie Banks is quietly inching his way closer to a .300 season, with 12 homers and 41 RBIs ... is there anyone out there who can spoil his race for Rookie of the Year?

Incidentally, in case I forgot to mention it, our GM sent Baczewski back down to AAA, bringing Hatten back up. I think he’s just trying to keep me on my toes ... don’t nobody know what’s going through that man’s head, but I’ve got another game to manage, with Dick Brodowski taking the mound for his eighth start of the year.

Willie Mays hit a single up the middle in the bottom of the first to drive Fondy home from third, scoring the game’s first run. We added another in the second, and in the bottom of the third Mays hit a triple and was then driven home by an Ernie Banks single to center, making it 3-0 at the end of three. But Brodowski gave up a solo homer in the top of the fourth to put the Cardinals on the board, saving the rest of the inning with a fantastic double play that kept our lead safe. The score stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the eighth, when Dick Brodowski bought his own insurance run by batting in Jackson with a single to make it 4-1. Miksis then scored on a wild pitch, and then Brodowski scored on ANOTHER wild pitch, and we were able to head into the top of the ninth with a commanding 6-1 lead. Brodowski stayed in to close the game out, and he added two strikeouts and a flyout to cement our eighth win in a row, beating St. Louis 6-1 for our first double-header sweep!

Brodowski improved to 5-2 with a 2.78 ERA thanks to nine innings of three-hit baseball, to go with five strikeouts and a walk against just one earned run. Fondy was sensational in the leadoff position today, hitting four times for a run and an RBI, while Willie Mays added two hits for a run and an RBI as well. Dick Brodowski proves to be my favorite pitcher because he’s also a strong hitter, going two for four today with a run and an RBI -- he has a .240 average so far this year and has driven in six runs.

See you tomorrow for another couple games as we try and keep this thing going! Cincinnati’s coming to town and we’re now 41-37 and just 3-1/2 games out of third in the NL. Keep winning like this and we’ll be a team nobody wants to play. Cincinnati comes into tomorrow’s double-header with a 33-51 record and riding a four game losing streak.

jksander · 06-29-2023, 01:54 AM

JULY 5, 1953 . . . I found out that the Yankees lost yesterday, so we’re now the proud holders of the longest active streak in the majors, league non-withstanding! Minner and Rush will be pitching in today’s games as we see if we can continue our strong offensive play through another double-header. Ernie Banks gave us a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first in game one, driving in two runs with a deep double to get the fans to start celebrating early, going even wilder when Sauer drove in the third run with another double, and McCullough added a run scoring triple to make it 4-0! Cincinnati fans barely had time to buy a draft beer before they were in the toilet in this one. A runner scored for Cincy in the top of the third, but McCullough added a run scoring double in the bottom of the inning to negate it. McCullough singled up the middle in the top of the eighth, giving him a single, double and triple for the game, and then Eddie Miksis homered over the center Ivy, adding two runs to our tally! Minner gave up a run in the top of the ninth with a double play that allowed the runner on third to reach home, but he got the third out quickly enough and we held tough to win over the Reds 7-2!

Minner, with the win, improves to 6-7 on the year with a 4.54 ERA, having thrown nine innings with only six hits, along with three strikeouts and no walks. McCullough was only a homer away from hitting a cycle, but his three hits scored a run and batted in two so he did just fine, getting his average up to .302 in the process! Ernie Banks also had three hits to score two and drive home two more, bringing his average up to .295 on the season. Miksis had his fourth homer of the year, hitting twice to score one and drive in two more.

Five games in three days is hard on a pitching staff, but Bob Rush comes up to the mound in the second game with a full contingent of relivers ready in the wings as we try to extend our winning streak to double digits in front of nearly 16,000 fans. Unfortunately the Reds drew first blood via a two-run homer by Rocky Bridges in the second, and we gave up a third run in the top of the third. But in the bottom of the third inning, Ernie Banks hit a three-run 430-foot homer over the right field wall to tie the score up at 3-3 -- we just don’t quit!

Two scoreless innings followed, and then in the top of the sixth with Newcombe warming up and two outs, Rush surrendered a three-run homer to their damned pitcher, Joe Nuxhall, putting us back in a three-run hole again. Newcombe came in and promptly gave up two hits of his own, resulting in a seventh run by the Reds before he finally got the out and sent them down. McCullough pinch-hit for Atwell to load the bases in the bottom of the sixth with just one out, and we pinch-hit Baumholtz for Newcombe, warming Hatten up in the bullpen. Baumholtz managed to walk in a run to make the score 7-4 Reds, and then DEE FONDY HIT A GRAND SLAM, only his sixth homer of the year, putting us back up 8-7! I can’t believe it! But Hatten couldn’t hold it ... in the top of the seventh he gave up a two-run triple with two outs, whipsawing us back into a one point deficit.

Bob Kelly came in to pitch in the top of the eighth with our boys trailing still 9-8, and he immediately **** his pants, giving up a two-run homer to make our hole 11-8. By the time we got to the bottom of the inning we trailed by four, down 12-8, and our hitters went nowhere. Top of the ninth, we brought in Dutch Leonard, hoping to at least keep the score where it was so we’d have at least a chance at a comeback, what with the top of the lineup coming up and all. And he got the three outs, though we had a four run deficit to make up in a single inning after already having scored eight -- definitely seemed like a lot to ask considering the whole five games in three days thing. Willie Mays got hit by a pitch with two outs to take first, but Banks hit into a fielder’s choice and was tagged out at first, ending the game, and our winning streak, with an 8-12 loss.

Let’s just say our pitching was a disaster and leave it at that. Hatten took the loss and fell to 0-3, also blowing his third save. The less said about it beyond that, the better. Fondy had a great game again with two hits that helped him score a run and drive in four, the grand salami being overshadowed in the end by the blown save. Ernie Banks had three RBIs as well, which I suppose makes it all the more fitting the way we lost this one -- our offense did everything it could to win and our bullpen did everything it could to collapse.

We get a day off and then we will make the short drive up to Milwaukee to play two games. We trail them by 12 games in the pennant race, so getting these wins on the road could be pivotal down the stretch. To this point in the season they have an 8-3 record against us, so we really need to prove that the win streak was a start of something, not the end of it. Hacker and Klippstein have been red hot and will be our starters for these games as we hope not to have to touch the bullpen.

jksander · 06-29-2023, 02:48 AM

JULY 7, 1953 . . . This one was nailbiting from the very first pitch, a true pitching battle between our Warren Hacker and their Bob Buhl. Dee Fondy spoiled Buhl’s no hitter in the top of the sixth, reaching first and then taking second on a passed ball. Mays then walked, bringing up Ernie Banks with one out and the score still knotted 0-0. But Banks hit it straight into the glove of shortstop Johnny Logan, and Hank Sauer batted out to right, ending yet another scoreless frame. And Hacker gave up the first run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, sending us into the top of the seventh inning trailing the Braves 0-1. Hacker kept us in it through the seventh and eighth innings, but we went into the top of the ninth trailng still 0-1, and to that point Buhl had been virtually unhittable. And it stayed that way -- he put us down one, two, three and we lost this one in a 1-0 shutout heartbreaker.

Hacker did everything he could, but he just was out-dueled. He took the loss in a complete game, falling to 11-5 with a 2.57 ERA, giving up just seven hits and the earned run, with seven strikeouts against two walks. Fondy had our only hit of the game but we had our chances, having been walked five times. It just wasn’t in the cards. We’ll see if Klippstein can do any better tomorrow. The loss ended a ten game run streak for Willie Mays, who tonight couldn’t get the ball out of the infield.

JULY 8, 1953 . . . Mays had a triple in the top of the first with two outs, but Banks hit a fly to far right that was an easy catch, stopping us from scoring in our first frame. In fact, we had runners in scoring position in the first three innings but failed to convert, putting all the pressure on Klippstein to remain perfect. We finally scored a run in the top of the fourth on a Milwaukee error, with Hank Sauer reaching second and Ernie Banks scoring to put us up 1-0 with no outs, and the shortstop dropped a throw with two outs, allowing Sauer to score and make it 2-0. Two errors, two runs. Not bad! Mays hit another triple in the top of the fifth and Banks drove him home with a single, increasing our margin and giving Klippstein more room to deal. Klippstein threw 123 pitches in eight innings and was gassed coming into the bottom of the ninth with our 3-0 lead still intact, so Don Newcombe came in to handle the final three outs, and after a scare when he gave up a hit on his first pitch, he got three quick outs including a game-ending double-play, to help us win this one 3-0!

Klippstein got the win, improving to 6-2 with a 4.76 ERA, going eight innings with five hits, six strikeouts and a single walk. Newcombe earned his third save by giving up just one hit on eleven pitches to close the game out. Randy Jackson had three hits but was left stranded every time, while Willie Mays had two hits to score a run. Ernie Banks scored a run and batted one in despite not getting a hit due to Braves errors.

We have a day off, and then we play four games in three days against the Reds in Cincinnati. Then, at long last, we reach the All-Star break. We head into that series four games over .500 at 43-39.

Pelican · 06-30-2023, 11:40 PM

Your summaries are great. Keep up the good work!

jksander · 07-02-2023, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pelican

Your summaries are great. Keep up the good work!

Thanks

I type them as I go along live-playing the games, so it's more detail than just in a box score. Been away for a few days now -- we had severe storms that knocked my power out for the last three days. Probably won't get too much into this again until at least Tuesday. But I appreciate that people are reading it

jksander · 07-02-2023, 01:54 PM

OOC: Got one game in before we head out for two days of relaxing See you all for more 1953 Cubs fun when I get back on the 4th! And yes, I do plan to continue this beyond 1953, it will be interesting to see what our GM does for us since I have no control over player signings.

- - - - -

JULY 11, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker (11-5, 2.57 ERA) took the mound today for his 21st start of the season, and he should have had a lead heading into the bottom of the first, considering we’d loaded the bases with three walks, but a fly-out and a double play saved Cincinnati a lot of pain. And Hacker gave up a walk and two hits in his half of the frame, giving Cincy the early lead 0-1 instead, though he also tallied two strikeouts. Wally Post had a weird start for the Reds, giving up four walks in the first three innings, but also allowing no hits, so we still trailed by the one run at the end of three. Clyde McCullough spoiled Post’s no hitter in the top of the fifth, but we couldn’t get anything together to score. And the pressure on Hacker to stay as close to perfect as possible wore on him; we gave up a second run in the bottom of the sixth, but Hacker kept his composure and we just needed to get some run support going. Randy Jackson gave us a solo homer in the top of the seventh with one out, making it 1-2, and then McCullough hit one of his own to tie it 2-2, still with just a single out! And then Eddie Miksis made it another trifecta, hitting his own solo homer to give us the lead, on only his fifth four-bagger of the season! So we went into the bottom of the seventh holding a 3-2 advantage on the Reds, and Hacker stayed strong to defend his lead. Clyde McCullough drove in two more runs in the top of the eighth, and Cavarretta hit a run-scoring double in the top of the ninth to add even more insurance! Ernie Banks added a seventh run, scoring his 50th RBI of the season, They walked in another run with the bases loaded, adding to the rout, and Hacker stayed in to close out his excellent night, getting two great infield outs and a strikeout to win the game 8-2.

Hacker improved to 12-5 with a 2.53 ERA, throwing nine innings of seven-hit ball, with two earned runs, two walks and nine strikeouts! McCullough led our batters with three hits for a run and four RBIs, while Fondy, Banks and Jackson each had two hits.

All-Star rosters have been announced, and we have plenty of players who will be representing our Cubs in that fun fan experience:

- SP Warren Hacker
- SP Bob Rush
- CF Willie Mays
- RF Phil Cavarretta

We head into tomorrow’s doubleheader, the last two games before the All Star break, with a 44-40 record and fourth place in the NL -- we’re 11 games back in the race for the pennant, but we’re still safely in the race thanks to our pitching resurgence -- if only our GM would make a few calls down to the minors to bring up some promising young pitchers who could bolster our bullpen, I think we’ve got what it takes to stun some “baseball experts” and make the Cubs a hot ticket this fall.

jksander · 07-04-2023, 12:16 PM

JULY 12, 1953 . . . Dick Brodowski pitched the opening game of our double header, and in the bottom of the first he game up a run on a very weakly hit infield ball that no one seemed ready to go after despite the bases being loaded. And that started a fairly severe beatdown, as Brodowski was rung up for four runs in that frame, all of which came with two outs. Not a particularly auspicious beginning, particularly with the Reds’ Ken Raffensberger coming into this game red hot. Brodowski broke up Raffensberger’s no-hitter in the top of the third, getting a hit out of the infield from the nine-spot, but we made nothing of it and he promptly gave up a fifth run in the bottom of the inning to leave us trailing the Reds 0-5 after three. We started warming up Newcombe in the fourth, bringing him in with two outs and a man on first, the score at that point 0-6. They tried to throw Fondy out at home in the top of the sixth, but a throwing error allowed him to score on a Willie Mays fly-out to center, at least putting us on the board. But we couldn’t make anything else happen offensively, and though our pitchers after Brodowski did not give up any runs, we already had too much ground to make up, losing this one to the Reds by a 6-1 margin.

Brodowski fell to 5-4 with a 3.42 ERA, having given up six earned runs on nine hits in just 3.2 innings with three walks and a strikeout. Newcombe came in and pitched effectively for 3.1 innings, giving up just one hit with a walk and a strikeout, and Bob Kelly had one inning with two strikeouts and no hits. We were out-hit 10-6 in the game, with Cavarretta and Sauer each hitting twice and with Mays putting up a hit and the one RBI of the game. Fondy scored by walking -- he did not get a hit all game.

Klippstein came in to pitch the second game with his 6-2 record and 4.76 ERA over 81.1 innings pitched. In the top of the third inning, Phil Cavarretta hit a run-scoring single to put us on the board, and Klippstein hit a run scoring single in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0, but he gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to keep the margins razor thin. Klippstein threw his 50th strikeout of the year (and fourth of the game) in the top of the 5th, along with two more for good measure, but our offense wasn’t able to add any insurance. Sauer finally did add a run in the top of the seventh, driving Cavarretta home with an RBI single, and Jackson followed it up with an RBI double to make it 4-1. Toby Atwell then walked the bases loaded, but we weren’t able to score again. Still, at least now Klippstein had some room to breathe. Willie Mays hit an RBI single in the top of the eighth, after having been walked twice earlier in the game, and Ernie Banks hit a three-run homer to really blow things open, his 14th homer of the year! Klippstein came into the bottom of the eighth in control of an 8-1 lead, and Bob Kelly came in for the bottom of the ninth to wrap it up, getting three quick outs as we beat the Reds by seven!

Klippstein improved to 7-2 with a 4.43 ERA, giving up just four hits in eight innings with one earned run, striking out seven and walking three. Kelly improved his ERA to 6.41, giving up a hit but then doing his job and getting the quick outs. Phil Cavarretta led the team with three hits, scoring twice and driving in a run as well. Mays, Sauer, Jackson and Miksis each added two hits, Mays in particular doing well by hitting twice, walking twice and scoring twice with an RBI as well.

JULY 13, 1953 . . . In the homerun challenge, Ernie Banks beat Mickey Mantle in the first round 11-1, making everyone wonder if the Mickster had been out doing a bit too much celebrating before taking the field. Willie Mays then beat Ralph Kliner 12-9 in his round, setting up a second round duel between him and Ernie! Ernie Banks had a great second round, beating Mays 12-8, putting him through to battle Eddie Matthews in the Home Run Title Round -- and “Mr. Cub” outlasted Matthews 11-9 to bring home the crown!

JULY 14, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker started in the All Star game for the NL, with Mays (3rd) and Cavarretta (6th) starting at center and right field respectively. Duke Snider put our NL All Stars up 2-0 in the top of the fourth with a single that drove San Musial and Willie Mays home, and Al Dark hit a sac-fly to right, driving in a third. Eddie Matthews hit a solo homer in the top of the 6th to give the NL a 4-0 lead, but Bob Rush came in to pitch for us in the bottom of the sixth and suddenly the AL All Stars had signs of life. Rush got the third out but allowed the AL to score two, making the score 4-2 with three innings to play. Ralph Kliner hit a HUGE solo homer in the top of the seventh add a little NL insurance, and Willie Mays hit a moonshot to score three more! Pee Wee Reese hit another NL homer in the top of the eighth to make it 9-2, and Hoyt Wilhelm closed the game out with two perfect innings as our NL All Stars destroyed the AL All Stars 9-2! Willie Mays was named the All Star Game MVP, with two hits and a walk in four at-bats, scoring two and driving in three!

We’ll enjoy the day off and come back rested and ready to take on the New York Giants on Thursday for a two-game road series at the Polo Grounds with an off-day between them. We then travel to Philly for a double-header on Sunday, followed by three games at Brooklyn and four at Pittsburgh before we get to return to Wrigley on the 28th for three against Brooklyn. We’re currently 45-41 and in fourth place in the NL, 10-1/2 games out of first. We have a good chance to climb back into the heart of the race if we can do well on this road stand and return to Wrigley playing like we did at the start of the month.

Current NL Standings:

1. Milwaukee Braves (57-32)
2. Brooklyn Dodgers (54-32) 1.5 GB
3. Philadelphia Phillies (51-38) 6 GB
4. Chicago Cubs (45-41) 10.5 GB
5. NY Giants (38-49) 18 GB
6. St. Louis Cardinals (36-48) 18.5 GB
7. Cincinnati Reds (37-55) 21.5 GB
8. Pittsburgh Pirates (34-57) 24 GB

Current AL Standings:

1. NY Yankees (58-27)
2. Cleveland Guardians (53-32) 5 GB
3. Boston (45-44) 15 GB
4. St. Louis Browns (41-48) 19 GB
5. Chicago White Sox (40-47) 19 GB
6. Washington Senators (40-48) 19.5 GB
7. Detroit Tigers (36-50) 22.5 GB
8. Philadelphia Athletics (36-53) 24 GB

* OOC: Not sure why the game decided to change Cleveland to the Guardians even when starting in the 1950s, but maybe they’ll have better luck breaking their curse without the Indians name hanging over their heads.

jksander · 07-04-2023, 02:38 PM

JULY 16, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker, well rested from his All Star break, came out to start for the 23rd in this one, with a 12-5 record and 2.53 ERA over 163.1 innings pitched. Ernie Banks got us on the board with a solo homer, his 15 of the year, in the top of the second. McCullough drove in a run with an RBI single in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0, and in the top of the fifth Fondy hit a triple with one out and then was driven home by an RBI single from Cavarretta to make it 3-0. Hank Sauer hit a solo homer in the sixth, his 13th of the year as we slowly kept piling on. But it all fell apart in the bottom of the sixth, when Hacker got in trouble, loaded the bases, and then gave up a grand slam to tie it all at 4-4. Just the luck of this game -- he was still pitching well, it was just a string of bad throws at the wrong time. Luckily for us our hitters were on a solid streak this game, with Cavarretta hitting another RBI to drive in Fondy for the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, so we went into the bottom of the inning leading 5-4. But in the bottom of the eighth, Hacker gave up a solo homer to Hank Thompson, tying the score again at 5-5, and I started warming up Bob Kelly just in case, though Hacker got out of the inning without giving up a go-ahead run.

Cavarretta came up to bat in the top of the ninth, reaching base on a single followed by a Willie Mays walk. Banks flew out to left, holding runners at first and second, and Sauer then hit a fly-out to center that was deep enough to advance Cavarretta to third. And then Randy Jackson hit a towering homer to left, his 7th of the season, scoring three runs and giving us much more solid footing thanks to an 8-5 lead. Bob Kelly came out in the bottom of the ninth to get the three final outs and we were able to secure the road win in a real slugfest, beating the Giants by three runs.

Hacker improved to 13-5, though his ERA took a slight hit to 2.68 thanks to the grand salami. He gave up 10 hits and five runs, with three strikeouts against two walks in 123 pitches. Bob Kelly continued his solid streak in recent weeks, giving up no hits and securing the three outs on 11 pitches to bring his ERA down to 6.27. Cavarretta led the team with three hits and two RBIs, scoring a run himself as well. And Randy Jackson had two hits in five at-bats, scoring one and driving in three.

JULY 18, 1953 . . . Klippstein has been hot of late, and we brought him out to pitch in this one with his record standing at 7-2, with a 4.43 ERA over 89.1 innings and 24 appearances (12 starts). McCullough was tagged out at first but was able to drive Banks in to score a run in the top of the second to put us on the board up 1-0. And Klippstein was on fire in this one -- he had a perfect game going until a walk was given in the bottom of the fourth, though the way Sal Maglie was throwing he certainly didn’t have a lot of room for error with our lead still just 1-0. Sauer made two great catches in the outfield in the bottom of the fifth to preserve the no-hitter, and Randy Jackson hit a line drive to center in the top of the sixth to drive in two runs and give Johnny K some cushion. And though Klippstein gave up his first hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth, he remained lights out overall, proving his days coming out of the bullpen are far behind him now. Willie Mays hit a solo shot over the right field wall to make our lead 4-0 in the top of the seventh, giving him 26 homers on the season, and Randy Jackson hit a run-scoring triple to drive in Sauer, followed by an Eddie Miksis ground-out to first that scored Jackson, making it 6-0 as we entered the bottom of the eighth. Klippstein gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth but it hardly mattered as we pummelled the Giants 6-1!

Klippstein improved to 8-2 with a 4.12 ERA thanks to a five-hit complete game in which he gave up just one earned run with eight strikeouts and two walks. Willie Mays hit once and walked twice, scoring one run and driving in another. Cavarretta and Jackson each had two hits, and Jackson drove in three runs and scored one of his own in the process.

We now make the drive from New York to Philly for a two game double-header tomorrow afternoon, having pulled to within 9-1/2 games of first (and just three games behind the Phillies for a shot at third!)

JULY 19, 1953 . . . Bob Rush got the start for the first game this afternoon, his first since our 10-7 loss against the Giants on July 10. Coming into this game he had a 7-8 record with a 4.92 ERA in 137 innings pitched. And his afternoon did not start the way he’d hoped, giving up a solo homer to Earl Torgeson in the bottom of the first, on just the seventh pitch of the game. But Rush bought himself a bit of room as he came up to bat in the top of the second, hitting a stinging line drive double to right that drove McCullough in to score the tying run and Miksis the go-ahead, making it 2-1 Cubs! But McCullough allowed a runner to advance on a passed ball in the bottom of the second and a blooper to center scored the tying run. Eddie Miksis hit an RBI single in the top of the fourth to drive in Randy Jackson, and Rush took a walk to load the bases with just one out! Dee Fondy then singled to right, driving in another run, giving us a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth. But Bob Rush gave up two hits in a row, including an RBI triple, and then gave up an RBI single to tie the score 4-4 and that was enough for me to bring Newcombe in from the bullpen, bottom of the fifth, no outs, a man on first. Newcombe came in and got a strikeout and then the throw to second to get the runner out as well! A double to right and a fly-out to left and he was able to get us out of the inning with the score still tied 4-4. Newcombe gave up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, but Willie Mays hit his 27th homer in the top of the seventh with a man on base, whip-sawing us back into the lead 6-5! And Newcombe stayed in to close out the game, throwing solidly down to the end as we won this one 6-5 over the Phillies in the early afternoon game.

Don Newcombe pitched five innings of four-hit ball in 66 pitches in relief, giving up just the one earned run with five strikeouts, earning the win to improve to 4-3 with a 4.14 ERA. Bob Rush lasted four innings but gave up nine hits and four earned runs in 87 pitches, dropping his ERA to 5.04. The Phillies outhit us 13-12, but we made ours count in the comeback win. Eddie Miksis hit three times in four at-bats, scoring a run and driving in another, while Willie Mays had his homer and Clyde McCullough added two hits, scoring twice.

Paul Minner (6-7, 4.54 ERA) started the second game of the double-header, his first appearance since a 6-2 win against the Reds back on July 5. And he had run support from the word go, with Mays hitting an RBI single to put us on the board, and Banks adding an RBI single that scored Cavarretta all the way from second! Willie Mays scored on a wild pitch, and then Toby Atwell cleared the bases with a 434-footer that scored two and put us up 5-0 thanks to just his second homer of the year! Eddie Miksis singled up the gap to reach first, bringing Minner up to the plate in the top of the first before he even had to throw a single pitch, and though he was an easy out at first we did a ton of damage right out of the gate. But Minner got into trouble in the bottom of the second inning, loading the bases and then allowing two runs to score before he could get the outs we needed, throwing a lot of pitches in the process. But Randy Jackson kept our scoring going with a solo homer in the top of the third, and Minner gave up a run in the bottom of the inning to make the score 6-3 Cubs after three.

The pitching on both sides settled in well from there, until Minner gave up a run-scoring double in the bottom of the sixth and then allowed another run to score on a deep fly to center that we couldn’t catch. But he got out of the inning without giving up the lead, and we warmed Hatten up in the bullpen to get him ready to come out in the seventh. Cavarretta and Mays each walked in the top of the seventh with two outs, and Ernie Banks played the hero again with a three-run homer to put us up comfortably 9-5. Hatten gave up a run in the bottom of the inning but got out of it with us still ahead three, and Bob Kelly came in to close out the last two innings. He sat down all three batters in the eighth, and Willie Mays added a solo homer to right in the top of the ninth, giving him a four-run cushion in the final frame. Three quick outs and the sweep was complete, this time with a 10-6 victory over Philadelphia that puts us right in the heart of the pennant race!

Minner got the win to improve to 7-7 with a 4.69 ERA, with six hits (and five runs) to go with two strikeouts and two walks. Kelly earned his 10th save of the year, bringing his ERA down to 6.02 with no hits and a strikeout in two innings as our closer. Mays and Banks combined for four hits, five runs and 6 RBIs in this one, making them quite the dominant pairing in the lineup! We improved to 49-41 and improved our streak to five wins in a row, pulling within a game of Philly and only nine games back of first.

jksander · 07-04-2023, 05:21 PM

JULY 21, 1953 . . . Big news from the GM today -- he’s decided to bring Vern Fear, the closer from our AAA affiliate in Los Angeles, to protect him from Rule 5 eligibility and give him a shot against major league batters (sending Hatten back down to AAA.) With three key games starting today against the Dodgers, I’m sure he’ll get his shot. But will he have what it takes? We’ll be pitching Hacker, Klippstein and Brodowski in this series, so we’re hoping not to have to rely too much on the bullpen, but I’d rather have good arms available, especially in a series with this much on the line. Brooklyn comes into today’s game with a 58-33 record, just half a game out of first, and now that we’ve hammered on the Giants and knocked them completely out of the race, it’s now us, Philly, Brooklyn and Milwaukee fighting over the last ten weeks of the season.

Hacker opened up the scoring in the top of the second with an RBI single, and Dee Fondy added a second run with an RBI single of his own. Cavarretta kept the two-out hitting train rolling by driving in two more with a double, before Willie Mays flew out to center to end the inning with us up 4-0! Hacker got his first strikeout of the night in the bottom of the third, giving him 100 K’s for the season, and then in the fourth inning he got himself his second hit of the night, scoring our fifth run when Dee Fondy then drove him in from first with a double -- getting it done on both offense and defense! Cavarretta then drove Fondy home, building our lead to 6-0 in the middle of the fourth. Hacker gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to Pee Wee Reese, but they couldn’t get anyone else around to home and we still led by four after four. We surrendered another run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Dodgers also left two more stranded. Cavarretta made a spectacular diving catch to rob Jackie Robinson of an RBI in the bottom of the sixth, and Hank Sauer scored us another run on an RBI double in the top of the seventh to increase our lead to four runs. Jackson hit to deep left immediately after, reaching third and driving Sauer home, and we went into the stretch leading 8-3 against the Dodgers! Hacker struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, and we scored our ninth run of the game on a wild pitch with the bases loaded, heading into the bottom of the eighth with a 9-3 lead. Vern Fear came in at that point to relieve Hacker, and though he was a bit jittery early and got himself into a hole and giving up a run, he settled down quickly and we went into the ninth leading 9-4. He got through the ninth inning with no further incident and we were able to win the first game of the series against the Dodgers by five runs!

Warren Hacker took the win again, improving to 14-5 with a 2.73 ERA, giving up 10 hits and three earned runs, walking two and striking out six. Vern Fear had a solid two-inning debut in relief, with four hits and one earned run to go with a strikeout. His ERA after one appearance is 4.50. Hacker had two hits in the game and scored three runs with one batted in. Fondy, Cavarretta, Mays and Miksis each had two hits as well, as we blew this one out despite being outhit 14-12. Talk about teamwork, we’re really starting to come into our own! With this win we moved ahead of Philadelphia and into third place, though with Milwaukee winning their game today we remain nine games out of first, but we also won our 50th game!

JULY 22, 1953 . . . Tonight’s game was a pitcher’s duel of the highest order, with Billy Loes (14-6) up against Johnny Klippstein (8-2) in a game where both teams combined for just three hits in the first four innings of scoreless baseball. But Brooklyn broke the scoring barrier first, with Carl Furillo hitting a solo homer off of Klippstein in the bottom of the fifth in only the Dodgers’ second hit of the night, so we trailed 1-0 at the end of the fifth. But in the top of the eighth, Dee Fondy hit an RBI single to drive in Eddie Miksis to tie the game at 1-1, and Ernie Banks hit a high fly to left that the fielder just barely missed, the ball rolling to the wall while both Fondy and Cavarretta scored, making it a 3-1 lead for our Cubs -- and the fans in this place were stunned silent. Bob Kelly came in to relieve Klippstein with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but with men on first and second, and he got the final out of the inning when Willie Mays made a spectacular leaping catch in center to keep the lead intact. Brooklyn shut us down in the top of the ninth, bringing Kelly back out to seal the save. Pee Wee Reese hit a double with two outs, but Kelly got the strikeout we needed and we beat Brooklyn for the second night in a row, this time in a tight 3-1 victory!

Klippstein took the win, improving to 9-2 with a 3.91 ERA, giving up just three hits all night and the one earned run, with three strikeouts and a walk. Kelly got his 11th save of the year, improving his ERA to 5.86 while pitching 1.1 innings of one hit ball, with the single strikeout at the end of the ninth. We out-hit them 6-4 in a game where not giving up baserunners was crucial. Fondy had two hits and scored a run while batting in another, and Ernie Banks had a hit with two RBIs. We have now won seven straight dating back to the second game of the July 12 double-header, and we’re right in this NL pennant race.

JULY 23, 1953 . . . When Dick Brodowski walked Billy Cox in the bottom of the third inning, Cox became the first base-runner for either team to that point in the game, which seemed even more tightly contested than yesterday’s bruiser. Fondy didn’t help things by bobbling an easy catch at first that turned a half-hearted bunt attempt by Brooklyn into a double, putting two runners in scoring position with just one out. Brodowski then walked the bases loaded, creating a real jam, but a weakly-hit infield ball made for a quick double play -- first the catch by Brodowski and then the well-timed throw to get Cox out at home plate. Nicely done! The Fondy error kept the no-hitter alive for both pitchers heading into the fourth inning knotted 0-0.

Cavarretta got the first hit of the game in the top of the fourth, and an error by the shortstop allowed Mays to reach first as well with just one out. Sauer hit it lightly into center, but weakly enough it was tough to get a handle on, and just like that we were on the board with Cavarretta crossing home to loud jeers by the home fans. But Brodowski gave up a solo homer to Duke Snider in the bottom of the inning to tie it right back up. Eddie Miksis reached first on Brooklyn’s second error of the game in the top of the fifth but we couldn’t do anything with it, but we kept playing solid defense as well -- in the bottom of the fifth Brodowski made another great play to home, getting Cox out for the second time in the game at home plate. But the go-ahead run did score in that frame as well, so we went into the top of the sixth trailing 2-1. We got two into scoring position in the top of the eighth, but Willie Mays struck out and stranded them both. And Vern Fear gave up a solo homer by Roy Campanella to make it 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth. We didn’t get any of those runs back in the top of the ninth so the win streak ended -- we fell to the Dodgers in the third game of the series, losing 3-1.

Brodowski took the loss, falling to 5-5 with a 3.35 ERA, giving up just four hits and two runs with three walks and two strikeouts, but he threw 125 pitches in seven innings. Vern Fear pitched a full inning in relief with one hit leading to an earned run, along with a strikeout, dropping his ERA to 6.00 after two appearances.

Next up is a four game road series against Pittsburgh (39-60) before we head back to Wrigley for three against Brooklyn, the start of a three-week stretch of Wrigley games as we head toward the month of August. We slipped with this loss back into fourth place, but we’re only eight games out of first so we’re putting in the work to reach our pennant goal.

In roster news, Bob Ramazzotti is being sent back down to AAA. He’s only played in a few games all year, mostly as a pinch-hitter and backup at second base. He had to be moved down to make room for Kenneth Chapman, who was acquired in a trade from Detroit. Chapman only played in one game for Detroit all year, so it’s tough to know what we’re really getting, though he’s had more than 1,100 hits in the minors over a journeyman’s career, hitting .264 in his career.

jksander · 07-04-2023, 07:20 PM

JULY 24, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer hit deep to center, driving Fondy in from third to score the game’s first run with a double, his 45th RBI of the season, and Bob Rush came out to pitch and had a solid early effort, making us think maybe he can find his way out of the cold streak he’s been in. But alas, his first two solid innings gave way to a three-walk third, and the Pirates took a 2-1 lead before he could get out of it. Kenneth Chapman got his first hit as a Cub in the top of the fourth, and a McCullough RBI single drove Randy Jackson home to tie the score. Vern Fear came in with one out in the bottom of the seventh with a man in scoring position, and though he got a quick strikeout to secure out number two, he surrendered a run for Rush to put Pittsburgh up 3-2. But he got the final out with no further damage, and we just needed a rally. Fear got us through the eighth inning without any additional scoring, putting us in the top of the ninth and down just 3-2, but Mays, Sauer and Jackson came up empty and we lost thie one by a single run.

Bob Rush took the loss and fell to 7-9, but he only gave up three hits and three walks in the game, striking out seven. He just had bad luck, as only one of his three runs was earned. Vern Fear pitched 1.2 innings of relief, giving up two hits with two walks and two strikeouts, bringing his ERA down to 3.86. We got outhit 5-4, with Fondy, Sauer, Chapman and McCullough ending up the only players with hits. Jackson walked and then scored a run, and Sauer had an RBI.

JULY 25, 1953 . . . Randy Jackson had an RBI single to drive Cavarretta in to score our first run of the game in the top of the first inning, and Hacker came in to pitch hoping to keep his four game win streak alive. But he made it hard on himself early, giving up a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, really waking this slumbering crowd. He couldn’t seem to buy an out, giving up five hits and four runs with nearly 30 pitches thrown by the end of the first inning. Willie Mays hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Dee Fondy in the top of the third, and in the top of the fourth Hacker hit a blistering drive up the middle that scored Eddie Miksis all the way from second to make it a one run game. Eddie Miksis tied the score up in the top of the eighth, batting in Hank Sauer for the tying run, and Dee Fondy drove in the go-ahead runs with the bases loaded, making it 6-4! Don Newcombe came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, getting three quick outs and holding the lead. Bob Kelly came in for the bottom of the ninth with another save on the line, and he got them with a flyout and a double play to seal the deal -- we won this one 6-4 after trailing by three!

Hacker stayed in just long enough to seal the win, improving to 15-5 with a 2.82 ERA, having given up eight hits and four runs in seven innings while striking out six against one walk. Don Newcombe got a hold, his first of the year, with no hits and a strikeout in the eighth inning, and Bob Kelly got his 12th save with one hit and three outs made on just FOUR PITCHES! His ERA is now 5.75 on the season, in 51.2 innings pitched.

JULY 26, 1953 . . . Double-header day! Get these two wins and it’s back to Chicago for a few weeks of Wrigley fun! Klippstein got the start in the first game, looking for his 10th win in his 27th appearance, and he got run support from the very beginning as Sauer drove Willie Mays home from second to score the game’s first run in the top of the first inning. With Klippstein up to bat in the second inning, Eddie Miksis stole second, then Klippstein hit a fly-out to left, driving Clyde McCullough in from third to score, making it 2-0. In the top of the third, Randy Jackson had an RBI single to score Mays, and Kenneth Chapman singled the bases loaded, though we couldn’t do anything with the three extra runners. Klippstein had a three-hit fifth inning, spoiling what had been a perfect game to that point, and surrendered a run but nothing else, making it 3-1 Cubs after five. Vern Fear came in with two outs and two men on in the seventh, but he surrendered the two earned runs for Klippstein before getting the final out, leaving us tied up 3-3 heading into the eighth inning. McCullough hit a triple with just one out but we couldn’t get him home. Fear got us out of the eighth inning still knotted, but we couldn’t score, setting up a must-dominate bottom of the ninth if we wanted a chance at extra innings, and we got that and more from Vern Fear, who stayed in for another go and got two strikeouts and a fly-out to keep us alive!

Don Newcombe came in to spell Fear in the bottom of the 11th inning with the score still knotted 3-3 and this first game of the double-header already heading deep into the afternoon, and he got the three outs we needed, sending us into a 12th inning! Mays singled to left, but Sauer hit into a double play in the infield, and Randy Jackson struck out. Damn! But Newcombe got three more outs and kept us in this one. In the top of the 14th, Newcombe walked, and Fondy hit into a fielder’s choice that allowed Newcombe to advance to second. But Cavarretta flew out to right, bringing Mays up to bat and us NEEDING SOMETHING ... and he walked, keeping the hope alive! But Sauer flew out to center and the top of the inning was over. We brought Dutch Leonard in for the bottom of the inning, and he tried valliantly, but wound up surrendering the walk-off run as we lost this one 3-4 in 14 innings.

God help us if we need any bullpen help in the second game, as pretty much all we have left is Bob Kelly! No room for error ...

Vern Fear goes down with the blown save, since he came in with a two run lead and then forced the tie situation in the first place. But he powered through, pitching 3.1 innings of one-hit ball, striking out four and giving up no earned runs since the two that scored counted for Klippstein. His ERA through eight innings is now 2.53, showing incredible promise. Newcombe then came in for three innings and had just one hit himself, striking out four and walking one, bringing his ERA down to 3.96 on the year. Dutch Leonard took one for the team, making just one out and surrendering three hits and the run, allowing us to get a short break before coming out to do it all over again. We out-hit the Pirates 14-11, led by Willie Mays who had four hits in five at-bats, scoring twice. Sauer, Jackson and Miksis each had two hits as well.

Paul Minner came out to start for us in the second game. Chapman got himself an RBI double in the top of the second to put us up 1-0, and Willie Mays came up with the bases loaded but flew weakly out to right, ending the inning with just the one run scored. But the Pirates equalized in the bottom of the inning, before Banks hit a beautiful home run to left in the third to give us the 2-1 lead, and Chapman added to it with an RBI double to make it 3-1 before they were able to finally end the inning. Of course Minner had to blow it, loading the bases and then walking in a run before surrendering two more on a simple single to center. He finally got us out of the inning but trailing 4-3 after just three innings. And he was going to have to work his way out of this or accept the consequences because our bullpen is beat to hell after the noon game. Amd he decided consequences it should be, since he gave up another run in the fourth. Mays bailed us out to start the fifth inning, hitting a triple to spark what we hoped would be a rally. Banks was tagged out at first but allowed Mays to score, but Sauer and Jackson were quick outs, leaving us still down 5-4 midway through the fifth. In the top of the eighth, Kenneth Chapman hit an RBI single that drove in the tying run, with two men on and no outs. But Minner, Fondy and Cavarretta were quick outs, leaving us knotted 5-5 heading into the bottom of the inning. Minner loaded the bases and surrendered the go-ahead run with one out, bringing in Bob Kelly to try and finish the game out -- Minner was already at nearly 150 pitches. And he got the two outs, sending us to the top of the ninth and down one run. And we were exhausted, quickly getting out of the inning without any fuss, losing this one to the Pirates 6-5 and therefore losing the series 3-1 to the worst team in the NL.

Minner gave up 10 hits and six earned runs in 7.1 innings of work, taking the loss and dropping his ERA to 4.87 on the year. Kelly came in for two outs, with no hits no strikeouts and no walks. Again we outhit them 12-10 but couldn’t make it work in the end. McCullough and Chapman each had three hits -- Chapman got his first three RBIs of the year and brought his average up to .375 since joining us.

And now we return to Wrigley for our long home stretch, needing to find our way back to the winning ways of early July if we want to stay in the NL race. At 52-45 we remain 10-1/2 games out of first, but we have three chances to make some headway against Brooklyn. Our GM hasn’t said if he has any blockbuster trades in mind, but we’re three days out of the deadline and his time is fading fast if he has such plans.

jksander · 07-04-2023, 11:30 PM

[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]

jksander · 07-05-2023, 01:04 AM

JULY 31, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer batted in the go-ahead run for us in the bottom of the fourth inning, giving us a 1-0 lead on the Pirates. Warren Hacker got through the sixth inning with only one hit, passing the 200 innings mark for the season and keeping us locked in on the goal in this one. And Hacker stayed strong through the remainder of the game, getting us three solid outs in the final inning including two strikeouts to seal the 1-0 victory!

Hacker improved to 17-5 with a 2.61 ERA in his 26th start, giving up just two hits with two walks and nine strikeouts in 115 pitches. We outhit the pirates 5-2, with Phil Cavarretta leading our offense with two hits and a run scored. Hank Sauer had an RBI hit as well.

AUGUST 1, 1953 . . . Johnny Klippstein, July’s NL Pitcher of the Month, took the mound today. We went up 1-0 in the bottom of the second as backup catcher Bruce Edwards drilled a grounder to right that drove Chapman home and put him on second. Klippstein surrendered the tying run on a solo homer by Carlos Bernier, making it 1-1 in the top of the sixth, but he got out of the inning with an excellent double play, avoiding any further damage. And Chapman hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth to give us back our lead, putting us up 2-1 at the end of six. Vern Fear came in for the top of the eighth, getting the outs we needed and putting us into the bottom of the eighth with our 2-1 lead intact. Chapman hit an RBI single to drive home Willie Mays, making it a 3-1 lead, and Bruce Edwards hit his first homer of the season, scoring two more runs to turn this into a rout! When Vern Fear reached first on an error that scored our sixth run, the fun really had begun. Fondy hit an RBI single that drove Miksis home, Cavarretta singled up the middle to load the bases, and another run scored on a wild pitch as we’d batted around in the inning. Hank Sauer finally was tagged out at first, ending the inning but with us ahead by a commanding 8-1 lead. Vern Fear came out and got his three outs to end the game, as we crushed the Pirates by seven. Nice win, five in a row!

Johnny Klippstein won the game, improving to 10-2 with seven innings of four-hit ball, striking out five and walking one, while giving up our only run. Vern Fear continues his dominant streak since coming up from the minors, pitching two innings for his first save, giving up three hits and striking out two. His 1.26 ERA is really starting to draw notice!

AUGUST 2, 1953 . . . Bob Rush came in to pitch the second game of the double-header this afternoon, and it was a real pitcher’s battle throughout, with Rush giving up the first run, a solo shot to center by Cal Abrams to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth. Frank Baumholtz tied it up on an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, however, and the fans were salivating over whether we could stay alive to keep the win-streak going. Rush gave up the go-ahead run and an extra one in the top of the seventh, and Sandy Consuegra came in with one man out and a runner at second, walking a runner but then getting a double play to escape with the deficit of just two runs. Consuegra got three quick outs in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom of the inning Kenneth Chapman drove in a run thanks to a throwing error that allowed Randy Jackson to score all the way from first, sending Chapman to second, but we couldn’t get the tying run over. Consuegra put them down one, two, three in the top of the ninth, giving us one last chance to make something happen. McCullough almost got the tying run over home, but he was tagged out while sliding into the plate, ending the game in a real heartbreaker, falling to Pittsburgh 3-2. Lucky for us we get game two today to avenge the loss.

Bob Rush took the loss, falling to 7-10 on the seaosn with a 4.94 ERA. He gave up six hits and three runs with four strikeouts and two walks in 6.1 innings. Meanwhile, Sandy Consuegra came in and impressed everyone quickly, throwing 2.2 innings of no-hit ball, striking out two while walking only one. Eddie Miksis hit three times but was stranded each time. Willie Mays added two hits and scored a run, and Frank Baumholtz hit once and batted in a run as well.

Paul Minner pitched in the second game of the double-header, and the Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second off a solo homer by Ted Kazanski. Minner gave up a second run in the third inning, and the Pirates made it a 3-0 deficit in the fourth. But Paul Minner singlehandedly got us back in this one with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, his second homer of the year, tying it at 3-3! But he gave up two more runs in the fifth, at which point it seemed like he just gave up on fielding at all. Bases loaded, he managed to get out of it, but the damage was done and his four straight innings of giving up runs was taking its toll. Randy Jackson hit a solo homer to make it a one run deficit, but Bob Kelly surrendered our sixth run of the game in the top of the eighth, giving Pittsburgh a 6-4 lead. And then he let loose a grand slam that pretty much slammed the door closed. Kenneth Chapman batted in a run in the bottom of the eighth and Jackson added an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth, and then with the bases loaded they walked in a run to make it 10-7 with two outs and the bases still loaded. But Ernie Banks flew out to center as a pinch hitter for Northey and this one was over.

Our GM has done us no favors by refusing to help build our pitching corps up -- we’re outplaying expectations but not at the level where we can compete with the likes of Milwaukee. Right now we’re competing well against teams like Brooklyn, but then we’re splitting series against bottom-dwelling Pittsburgh. You don’t win a pennant playing that way.

Bob Kelly deserved to get the loss, giving up five runs in two innings on three hits and three walks, but Minner took the loss instead, falling to 7-9 with a 4.97 ERA. He gave up 13 hits in 5.2 innings, giving up five runs with a strikeout. He should have been the hero with his three run homer, but instead his poor pitching performance will overshadow the rest. Randy Jackson led the offense with three hits, two runs and two RBIs. We were outhit 18-14 in a game we deserved to lose.

We head into the Giants series with a 57-47 record, tied for third with Philly in the NL but three games behind Brooklyn and 12 games behind Milwaukee. The Giants, at 45-59, are now 24 games back of first and we need these wins to allow us to keep chase with the Braves, who are 9-1 in their last ten and pulling away quickly in the race for the NL’s championship.

06-22-2023, 05:54 AM	#41
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JUNE 12, 1953 . . . Cavarretta hit a grounder down the left field side and was able to drive in a run in the top of the third, putting us up 1-0, but Willie Mays grounded into a double play as he has cooled significantly over the last few games. We held the lead through six, but in the bottom of the seventh with one out, Hacker loaded the bases and gave up the tying run, and then for good measure he gave up four more. It all happened so fast I couldn’t get a bullpen arm warmed up fast enough, and suddenly in the top of the eighth we were down 1-5 against one of the best teams in baseball. Bob Kelly gave up a run in the eighth, and all that was left was our last shot at a rally as we came in for the top of the ninth, and no rally formed. We lost this one 1-6 and I’m struggling to find any way to inspire the team. It’s also hard to be down on anyone, because we were heavily outmatched and everyone in the press has us getting swept as the Dodgers continue to make what the papers fully expect to be a run for the pennant. We’re a .500 level team that has played above our level for long enough that the crash landing is all the more brutal. Warren Hacker fell to 8-4 with a 2.69 ERA, throwing seven innings with only seven hits, five of which gave up the five earned runs in the seventh inning. He had four strikeouts against two walks, but threw 103 pitches, nearly 40 of which came in that 7th inning. Bob Kelly came out and played the sacrificial lamb, and did an adequate job ... one hit in one inning, with a strikeout, but the one hit was a homer so what are you gonna do? We were only outhit 8-6 today but it felt WAY worse. Fondy had two hits in four at-bats but didn’t score. Miksis got a hit and scored a run, but Mays, Banks and Jackson all went hitless. We can’t win when our strongest hitters get shot out. JUNE 13, 1953 . . . Tonight Paul Minner came up against Preacher Roe, and for the first three and a half frames everything was a Pitcher’s Paradise. But in the bottom of the fourth, Minner gave up his first hit of the game, which as it turned out was a two-run homer to right field, and you get an idea of the cloud of bad juju hanging over our heads. And it wasn’t like our bats weren’t popping the ball off either; rather, it was as though the Dodgers’ fielders had rocket packs on their feet and could get every ball, every time. And when Gil Hodges hit a grand slam off of Minner in the bottom of the fifth, it was hard not to start waving our white flag. So they did what you do and kept piling it on, as Duke Snyder hit a homer in the very next at-bat. Unbef---inglieveable. Minner finally got the final out, but he was clearly completely off his game. But he kept fighting, hoping we’d find a way to rally. In the top of the eighth Eddie Miksis bashed a solid 401 foot homer that put two runs on the board, but that was all we got, and Klippstein surrendered two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, all but sealing the deal. We got nothing going in our final frame, losing this one 2-9 and continuing our downward spiral. Minner had what would have been a great night in any other game, lasting 6.2 innings with only five hits -- but those hits surrendered seven runs, six of which were earned. He had three strikeouts but also walked three, and his ERA has now fallen to 4.74. Klippstein gave up two hits for two runs in 1.1 innings, walking one and strking out no one, dropping his ERA to 5.36. Mays had three hits but couldn’t score or drive in a run. Fondy, Cavarretta, Sauer and Banks each had one hit with nothing to show for it. Miskis finished with that one hit, his second homer of the year, batting in two to give him 16 RBIs on the year. We’ve had five games in a row where we’ve only managed one or two points of offense, dating back to the 11th inning loss to the Phillies on June 8th. JUNE 14, 1953 . . . One last game to end the road trip. Two more days and we’ll all be able to be back in our own beds and see our familes for a couple weeks and pretend these last three weeks didn’t happen. But first we had a game to play. Brooklyn scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to open up the afternoon’s scoring, and our offensive woes were as woeful as ever. Brooklyn added a run quickly in the fifth, and our defenses were severely roughed up, with passed balls and two errors giving Newcombe all he could handle. By the end of five we were down 0-5, and I could tell the guys were all mentally just ready to get home. But it’s no excuse for our poor defensive play, and for our desperate attempts at turning walks into runs by being repeatedly caught stealing. We just weren’t playing like a team that believes it can be competitive. So we weren’t. I felt the most sorry for Newcombe, because he should have still been in this one -- as he came back in for the sixth inning he’d given up five runs, but NONE OF THEM WERE EARNED! I’ve never seen anything like it! Newcombe laid into our guys in the dugout, and I let him stay in because I felt he’d earned it, and because it wasn’t like any of our relievers were going to suddenly find a way to make our bats go boom. So he stayed in and finished what he started, blanking the Dodgers through the sixth, seventh and eighth, but we lost 0-5 nonetheless. And the loss was a team effort, only Newcombe came out of the game showing any real pride. He finished with a complete game but took the loss, falling to 3-2, but his ERA improved to 4.20 because he didn’t give up any earned runs. On 139 pitches over eight innings he gave up 10 hits and three walks, striking out five. The Dodgers out-hit us 10-3, with Fondy, Cavarretta, Mays, Banks and Miksis all blanking from the plate. Most of our scoring opportunities would have had to come from walks, of which we had five, but Fondy was caught stealing in a key moments and Mays and Banks each committed crucial errors. I’m hoping the return to Chicago sparks SOMETHING, because right now I wouldn’t blame the fans for sitting things out. - - - - - As of June 16th we are now 28-31, 11-1/2 games back of first and lucky to not be worse than 5th in the NL. But St. Louis (26-33) has been making strides, and we’re only 7-1/2 games ahead of 7th place Pittsburgh (23-39) who we’ll face in a four game stretch, starting with a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader here at Wrigley this afternoon. We’ll then face the Dodgers again for four on our field, followed by three each against the Phillies and the Giants before we hit the road to end the month at St. Louis. We’re on a six game losing streak, but Pittsburgh’s been good to us this year. So time to see if we can get some of the early-season mojo back in front of the fans who do choose to show up and pony up that beer and hot-dog money. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-24-2023, 02:04 AM	#42
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JUNE 16, 1953 . . . Bob Rush was our first pitcher to take the mound in our Wrigley double-header return, and he got run support almost immediately when Willie Mays knocked in his 19th homer in the bottom of the first. Our fielding early in the game left a lot to be desired, but Rush got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second to keep it scoreless. Eddie Miksis hit a triple that drove in two runs in the botom of the second to give us a 3-0 lead, and the fans who were here started to perk up significantly. Randy Jackson batted in a run in the bottom of the third, but Rush couldn’t keep it scoreless through four innings. In fact, he gave up three in the top of the fourth, putting some presure on our guys to see if we could keep our hit-parade rolling. As it turned out we could, though it took a while -- Cavarretta nailed a homer to center field, another solo one, giving us a 5-3 head and giving Cavarretta his 4th of the year. Rush threw 126 pitches in seven innings, so I brought Bob Kelly in to close things out in the eighth. But in the bottom of the ninth he surrendered two runs, knotting it 5-5 before getting the final strikeout. Sauer hit a one-out double to get the rally going in the bottom of the ninth, and with two outs Clyde McCullough singled and drove Sauer in to score the walk-off game winning run! THE STREAK IS OVER ... we won this one 6-5 over the Pirates. Bob Kelly got his fourth blown save but came away with the win, improving to 1-3 on the season with a 6.07 ERA, giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and a walk. In seven innings, Bob Rush gave up ten hits but only three earned runs, striking out seven and walking three. His ERA is now 3.99 on the season. McCullough led the way with three hits in five at-bats, driving in a run and scoring one. Willie Mays was one for four but it was a homer so everyone loved it; Cavarretta hit twice, including his homer, scoring once and driving in one. Eddie Miksis put up 2 RBIs with just one hit in three attempts. About 10,000 fans stuck around for the second game of the double-header, taking advantage of a great weather day in Chicago, as Dick Brodowski took the mound for his fifth start of the season. Ernie Banks gave us a 1-0 lead on an RBI single in the bottom of the first, and Clyde McCullough singled up the gap with a tight grounder to quickly score two more! Dick Brodowski walked with the bases loaded to bring in a fourth run, and we’d officially batted around in the first inning! Fondy kept the scoring parade going, making it all the way to second on a throwing error to drive in two more, so by the time Cavarretta batted out, we led 6-0 heading into just the second inning! Ernie Banks added a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-0, his ninth four-bagger of the season. Brodowski surrendered a run in the top of the eight to end the shut-out attempt, and he dominated in the ninth to hold on to the 7-1 victory in another complete game! Damn it feels good to be home in Chicago. Brodowski improves to 3-2 with this win, bringing his ERA down to 1.63 while only giving up six hits in nine innings on five strikeouts and no walks! Fondy, Banks and McCullough each drove in two runs, while banks also scored two of his own. JUNE 17, 1953 . . . Fondy nailed his fifth homer of the year in the bottom of the third to put us up 1-0 in what had been a pitchers’ duel to that point. And a duel it remained, as Warren Hacker and Howie Pollet were each locked in and dialing up well-aimed throws. But Hacker gave up an RBI double in the top of the seventh on only his fourth hit of the game, tying the score at 1-1. Willie Mays hit a solo homer straight over the center Ivy, putting us up 2-1 with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, his 20th of the season to buy us some insurance, and Hacker didn’t give up a single inch in the final frame as we held the Pirates off 2-1 to win our third game in a row! Warren Hacker improves to 9-4 with a 2.56 ERA on the year, throwing another complete game five-hitter with three strikeouts and a walk leading to only a single earned run. Fondy hit three times in four at-bats, scoring one and driving in another, and Mays had two hits in four at-bats, including the homer which gave him his 50th RBI as well! Hank Sauer had two hits in three at-bats along with a walk and a strikeout, but he was unable to score. JUNE 18, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer delivered a run scoring single in the botom of the first to put us ahead 1-0 against the wilting Pirates. And we needed the run, because this one was as hard a game to get a hit as yesterday’s! Minner narrowly avoided disaster in the fifth inning, loading the bases on a walk, but he was able to get two harmless outs and leave the Pirates scoreless. Minner did the same thing in the top of the sixth, loading the bases and then safely getting out of it, and McCullough bought us some insurance in the bottom of the sixth, soloing to center (his sixth of the year) to give us a 2-0 lead and a bit of a cushion. But with Klippstein warming up, Minner’s luck ran out in the top of the seventh, loading the bases and giving up a run to let Pittsburgh within a run, and with Klippstein rushing to get ready to throw, he gave up two more to put us in a one run deficit. With Hacker relieved of his mound for the remainder of the game, Johnny Klippstein got two outs in a row to keep us from doing any further damage, but now we had to get this lead back. Jackson hit a double in the bottom of the eighth inning, putting two runners in scoring position with two outs and McCullough at the plate, but McCullough hit a line drive right at the left fielder -- inning over. Klippstein did his job, completing the ninth inning with no additional runs, so we went into the bottom of the inning only trailing by a single run. But we had the bottom of the lineup up to bat, and no amount of pinch-hitting was getting us a rally tonight as we lost a heartbreaker 2-3. But we won the series 3-1, leaving us just a game under .500 on the year. Paul Minner falls to 5-7 on the year with a 4.61 ERA, having given up nine hits for three runs (two earned) with four strikeouts and three walks. Klippstein came in and threw 2.2 innings of two-hit ball, with no runs and just a walk, bringing his ERA down to 5.09. Hank Sauer had three hits in four at-bats but we couldn’t get him in to score. Willie Mays walked twice but couldn’t find a hit, and Randy Jackson had two hits but was consistently left stranded. McCullough’s homer should have been enough to ice this one, but we’d ridden the razor’s edge too many times to get away with a close win this time. Next up: four games here at Wrigley against the Brooklyn Dodgers, who at 39-24 are only three games out of first while we’re 11 games out and needing some serious momentum. We are 2-5 against the Dodgers this year so far, and we definitely could stand to shift that record more in our favor. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-25-2023, 01:38 AM	#43
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JUNE 19, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges hit a two-run homer off Newcombe in the top of the third, getting Brooklyn on the board on only the third hit of the game. But in the bottom of the inning Fondy hit a triple with two outs, driving Newcombe home to score our first run, and Cavarretta hit a single to deep right, scoring Fondy and tying the game at 2-2! The Dodgers added a run in the top of the third, but Randy Jackson hit an RBI single that drove Banks in to score our third run, tying it up again with just one out in the bottom of the third! Unfortunately Atwell and Miksis weren’t able to drive in Jackson, who had made it all the way to third. Newcombe gave up his fourth run in the top of the seventh, and then two more while we tried to get Bob Kelly warmed up. Kelly finally got our third out but we were suddenly in a three-run hole against one of the best teams in baseball. Kelly gave up a run in the top of the eighth on a pick-off play error by Banks to home plate, and we went into the bottom of the ninth still trailing by four. Eddie Miksis hit a solo homer to make it 4-7, but that was all she wrote as we lost to the Dodgers by three. Newcombe threw 6.2 innings but gave up nine hits and six earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk as he took the loss, falling to 3-3 with a 4.59 ERA. Kelly had 2.1 innings of one-hit ball, giving up one earned run with two strikeouts and a walk. His ERA atands at 5.91. Mays was held hitless again, as his average slides all the way to .352 after chasing .400 for nearly eight weeks of the season. Sauer was also held hitless, which rendered the heart of our order mostly moot. Ernie Banks (two hits, one run) and Randy Jackson (one hit, one RBI) were bright spots, but once we got into a hole we just didn’t have the offense to climb out of it. Three games left in the series, and Warren Hacker will be pitching tomorrow. JUNE 20, 1953 . . . Brooklyn quickly took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but McCullough walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the second, and Hank Sauer reached home safely on a wild pitch with Miksis at the plate with an 0-1 count and still just the one out! Miksis got the walk and re-loaded the revolver, but Hacker batted into a double play that first tagged out Ernie Banks at home and then Hacker at first to keep the score tied after two. Willie Mays hit a stand-up double in the bottom of the third, driving Cavarretta home to give us the lead 2-1, and Ernie Banks had an RBI single moments later that sent Sauer to second and drove Mays home to make it 3-1! Randy Jackson promptly loaded the bases with a single of his own, but we weren’t able to do anything with all those men on board. Still, a 3-1 lead after three innings was looking pretty good if Hacker could stay strong on the mound. In the bottom of the fourth, Hacker hit a line-drive to right field, reaching base from the bottom of the order with one out, but the top of the order could do nothing with it. Brooklyn got a run back in the top of the sixth, and with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth Willie Mays came up and hit a blistering single up the right field foul line that stayed safe, driving in two insurance runs! Joe Hatton came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, with Hacker tiring after 100+ pitches and promptly struck out the first two batters before giving up a hit and a walk -- but he got out of the jam with a fly out to left, giving us one more chance to add insurance to our three-run lead. And we got exactly that, with McCullough slamming a 384-foot 3-run homer over the center field wall, his seventh homer of the year! Hatten got three quick outs and we won this one 8-2! Warren Hacker pitched seven great innings, giving up just seven hits, with a strikeout and a walk, that produced two earned runs. He improves to 10-4 on the season with a 2.56 ERA. Meanwhile, Joe Hatton got a two-inning save, his second of the year, giving up one hit with two strikeouts and a walk, bringing his ERA down to 7.71. Warren Hacker was also one of our best hitters of the night, getting three hits on four at-bats, scoring a run! Randy Jackson had three hits in five at-bats, scoring a run himself, and Ernie Banks had three hits and a walk in four at-bats, driving in one. But Willie Mays was on his game again, hitting twice to score once while driving in three RBIs, and though McCullough only had one hit it was a doozy, also driving in three thanks to it going all the way out of the park! With the series even and two more game to go, Bob Rush will be pitching for us tomorrow, putting his 6-7 record and 3.99 ERA on the line. JUNE 21, 1953 . . . Brooklyn came in ready to go, with lead-off man Jackie Robinson power-boming a homer off the end of his bat with just seven pitches thrown to score the first run, and by the time we came up to bat for the first time we were in an 0-2 hole. Randy Jackson came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, however, and hit a single right past the pitcher’s ear to get deep into the outfield and score two runs, and McCullough added a third with a single of his own, giving us a one run lead at the end of the first inning. And in the bottom of the third, Jackson got another RBI single, making the lead 4-2 with two men on and only one out. Miksis got an RBI single as well, and Bob Rush came around in the nine spot and RBI singled himself, bringing up Fondy for the third time and it was still the third inning! He struck out, but the score was now a much more secure 6-2 and the Cubs faithful were loving it! In the fourth inning, Randy Jackson came up to bat, again, and Randy Jackson hit an RBI single, again, truly dominating starter Ron Negray, who we were happy to torch for as long as the Dodgers wanted to keep him out there! Sauer hit a line drive to the shortstop, who chose to throw him out at first instead of throwing for home, allowing Cavarretta to score our eighth run, with Willie Mays on second and just one out. Ernie Banks advanced Mays to third with a well-placed line drive to right, and Randy Jackson hit a sac-fly to center field, allowing Mays to slide home safely ... this is one helluva hot streak, Jackson! Thanks to the strong inning we went into the top of the seventh leading 9-2. In the top of the seventh, Rush gave up a two-run homer as I was warming up Klippstein. Klippstein came in with one out and a man on first, and he got a quick fly-out and caught a runner trying to steal second, securing the five run lead as we headed into the stretch. In the bottom of the seventh, Mays hit a triple that drove in two more runs, and this one was looking like a complete rout. The Dodgers got a solo homer in the eighth by Jim Gilliam, but Klippstein handled himself well otherwise and we went into the bottom of the eighth leading 11-5 against the second-best team in the NL. They still had some offensive fireworks in store -- Roy Campanella nailed a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth with two outs to pull the Dodgers within three, but Klippstein ended the game on a strikeout on the next at-bat to ensure we’d hold on to win the game 11-8, having out-hit Brooklyn 19-13! Everybody got a hit except Sauer, who still managed an RBI thanks to his sacrifice hit, and Klippstein, who only batted once anyway. Randy Jackson had three hits in four at-bats, scoring twice and driving in FIVE RUNS, adding nearly a sixth of his total RBIs for the season in this single game and bringing his average up to .274! And Ernie Banks nailed four hits in five at-bats, scoring twice and bringing his average up to .279. He and Jackson now each have 29 RBIs on the season batting in the middle of the order. Willie Mays added three hits in five at-bats, scoring two and driving in two, bringing his RBI total to 55 on the year and his average up to .359. Fondy, Cavarretta, McCullough and Miksis each had two hits, and McCullough, Miksis and Rush each had an RBI, making this an all-around effort. Bob Rush got the win, improving to 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA -- he gave up 10 hits and four earned runs, but had six strikeouts and just three walks. Had he not thrown 36 pitches in the first two innings, he might have lasted the whole game, but I pulled him after 97 throws and 6.1 innings. Klippstein got rung up a bit thanks to the Campanella homer, but he was having a great night overall. He finished with 2.2 innings pitched and had only three hits, with two strikeouts and a walk. But the four earned runs brought his ERA to 5.50 on the year. One more game against the Dodgers for a chance to win the series and finally get back up over .500! Dick Brodowski (3-2, 1.63 ERA) will be on the mound in command. JUNE 22, 1953 . . . Gil Hodges tagged us with a solo homer to start the game, and Gilliam hit a triple that drove in a second run for the Dodgers in the top of the fourth, and Bobby Morgan drove in a third before Brodowski was able to get the final out. Unfortunately our lineup was getting nothing going offensively to back him up, so despite a solid pitching night overall he was simply stuck out there in the wind. But we woke up in the bottom of the sixth, when Hank Sauer slammed a two-run homer to get us on the board, sending us into the top of the seventh just trailing 2-3. Unfortunately, Brodowski gave up two more runs in the top of the eighth. Randy Jackson opened the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer to make it 3-5, and Fondy and Sauer both made it on base, bringing up Willie Mays with two on and no outs. Mays hit it squarely between the second baseman and the shortstop, driving in another run, but we couldn’t get the tying run on. Bob Kelly came in to pitch in the top of the ninth, and he gave up a sixth run, so we reached the bottom of the ninth with the bottom of our order up to bat. McCullough took a strikeout, Bill Serena pinch-hit for Kelly and was tagged out at first, and suddenly it came to Randy Jackson in the ninth spot to keep us alive -- and he did, with a single to right that brought Fondy to the plate. But Fondy hit it straight to the center fielder who ended the game with a catch and a fist pump as we dropped game four to the Dodgers by a 4-6 margin. Brodowski had nine hits in eight innings, throwing 117 pitches and giving up one walk against two strikeouts. He fell to 3-3 with this loss, and his ERA dropped to 2.31. Bob Kelly gave up a hit that led to an unearned run thanks to a fielding error. Fondy had three hits for us in five at-bats to score a run, while Sauer added two hits in four at-bats, scoring and driving in two. Mays had two hits and an RBI, while Jackson, batting ninth today in a reshuffled order, hit twice and drove in one while also scoring himself. We’re now 33-34 heading into our last six games of this honestand, against Philly (39-28) and the Giants (33-35). We’re currently six games behind Philly and sitting in fourth place, with Brooklyn eight games up on us and the Milwaukee Braves holding a 12 game lead on us and a four-game lead on their closest opponents. Milwaukee, Brooklyn and Philly all have +67 run differentials or better, while we’re holding onto a -15 differential. Unless things change and our bats become more consistent and our pitching more dominant, erasing this distance between us and the division leaders is going to be difficult ... so these next six home games are going to mean a lot. The Yankees currently lead the AL with a 44-22 record, a game and a half up on Cleveland (41-22), with Boston (38-31) trailing six games behind Cleveland. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-25-2023, 02:22 AM	#44
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JUNE 23, 1953 . . . Paul Minner got roughed up big time in the second inning of this one, giving up four runs over a prolonged inning after getting the game’s first four outs quickly. He gave up a fifth run in the top of the third, but we finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning when backup left fielder Max West got a double up the gap to drive in two runs, so after three we trailed 2-5. Minner went into the fourth inning having already thrown more than 60 pitches, however, so we really needed him to settle down and show some control. Minner gave up another run in the top of the fifth, and I pulled him at 90 pitches for Klippstein, hoping we could stem the bleeding and give our batters at least a fighting chance. And he got out of the inning with two consecutive strikeouts and we headed for the bottom of the fifth trailing 2-6. In the bottom of the fifth, Max West, playing in only his third game of the season, hit his first home-run, scoring for himself and Fondy and making this a 4-6 game! The bottom of the order was coming up, so we pinch-hit Jackson, Clyde McCullough and Frank Baumholtz to hopefully give us some rally power. Jackson hit a fly-out to left, but McCullough singled, Baumholtz did the same, and Fondy came up at the top of the order with just one out, taking first on a fielder’s choice, while McCullough went to third. That brought up Max West with two outs, and he singled to drive in McCullough, while Fondy made it to third without a throw! That brought Willie Mays up with the score 5-6 and two outs, and though he should have been easily tagged out at first on a bloop single in the infield, the first baseman for the Phillies committed an error, allowing him to tag up safe at second and sending Fondy in to score the tying run! Randy Jackson stayed in at third base, while McCullough took over at catcher as Bob Kelly took over in the top of the seventh with the score tied up, quickly getting three outs. That brought Ernie Banks up to bat, at which point he was promptly hit by a pitch and sent to first, at which point Eddie Miksis singled to advance Banks to second with no outs. But Jackson flew out to right, and McCullough flew out to center field -- though his was deep enough to advance Banks to third with two men on and two outs. But Bob Kelly struck out and ended the inning with us still knotted at six all. Kelly was dialed in, however, and got three quick outs to bring us back up, still tied, in the bottom of the eighth and at the top of the order. Unfortunately Willie Mays hit a weak squib into a double play to end the inning with no score, putting all our hopes on Kelly in the ninth and our chances at a walk-off. But he got into trouble quickly and gave up the go-ahead run with two men on and no outs, though he got the outs he needed to get us out of things with just the one run. In the bottom of the ninth, Cavarretta singled to left, but Banks flew out to right, keeping Cavaretta at first. Miksis hit a fly-out to deep center, and then Jackson managed to reach base on a fielding error by the shortstop, bringing up Clyde McCullough with two outs, two men on, and us just needing to at least tie this thing! But he hit it straight to the third baseman and the game was over -- another tough loss to swallow, the Phillies taking this one 6-7. Paul Minner only lasted 4.1 innings thanks to 11 hits and six runs, five of which were earned. Klippstein threw 1.2 innings with just one hit along with two strikeouts, but Bob Kelly came in and pitched three solid innings of three hit ball, with four strikeouts and a walk ... and the losing run, which knocks his record to 1-4. Max West had a great night with four hits and a walk, scoring a run and driving in FIVE, his first five RBIs of the year, bringing his average up to .444 in nine at-bats. Cavarretta also had two hits, reaching 2,000 hits in his career, but was unable to score. Dee Fondy hit once but scored three runs himself, thanks to handy errors by Philly. And yet we got out-hit 15-14 so we lost this one that our overall effort suggested we should have found a way to win. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-26-2023, 01:56 AM	#45
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JUNE 24, 1953 . . . Newcombe had a hard time in the first inning, getting himself rung up for two runs before he could get out of it. And we’re resting McCullough, Jackson and Banks, so we’re not expecting to be particularly explosive on offense tonight. But we’ll fight for it, and hopefully he’ll be able to settle in and not wear himself out so much in later innings. Eddie Miksis did well for himself in the bottom of the first, doubling with two outs to drive in a run, and Newcombe started to settle in as the game went on. When Cavarretta singled to right, sending in the tying run, we started to breathe a little easier -- this team CAN string things together without forcing our best hitters to destroy their bodies day in, day out. Willie Mays singled in a third run, scored by Fondy, and we were able to go into the top of the third holding a 3-2 lead on the Phillies. Newcombe gave up the tying run in the top of the third; clearly like the rest of the season nothing was going to come easily. The Phillies took a 3-4 lead in the top of the fourth, but Hank Sauer hit a solo homer to right in the bottom of the fifth to tie things up, his 10th homer of the season! Dutch Leonard gave up a run in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom of the frame we brought Ernie Bnaks to pinch hit for Tommy Brown, Randy Jackson to pinch hit for Ramazotti, and Frank Baumholtz to pinch hit for Dutch Leonard, who we planned to replace in the top of the ninth with Klippstein. Would it be enough to rally our team back into the lead? Banks hit what should have been an easy double but their center-fielder made a spectacular diving cactch for out nubmer one. Randy Jackson was quickly tagged out at first for out number two. And same went for Baumholtz, which left us in a real hole -- yeah, the top of the lineup would be taking the field in the bottom of the ninth, but we needed Klippstein to pitch well and then for our bats to liven up for anything to happen. Klippstein did his part, finishing the ninth inning with a double play to keep the score at 4-5 heading into our last frame. Cavarretta singled to center with one out, but Willie Mays’ would-have-been-a-homer blew back by the wind and wound up being an easy catch. So with two outs and the tying run on first, Hank Sauer came up for all the marbles. And he flew out to center as well, ending this one as another one run loss on our ledger. Newcombe threw 5.2 innings of eight-hit ball, giving up four runs (three earned) with two strikeouts and a walk, while Dutch Leonard, who can’t seem to catch a break, came in and threw 2.1 innings of two-hit ball, giving up the go-ahead run and taking the loss. He’ll fall to 0-2 on the year with a 5.52 ERA as he inches nearer to his announced retirement at age 44. Klippstein got through his inning with no hits, no strikeouts and no walks, but the double play was a thing of beauty. His ERA stands at 5.25 on the year. Fondy handled himself well again today with two hits and two runs scored, while Cavarretta added two hits, a run and an RBI to go with a walk. Mays added a hit with an RBI, and Sauer hit twice to score one and drive another in. We just gave up too many runs -- this was a good offensive night considering how many of our stars were on the bench. As we inch nearer to the All Star break and the ensuing trade deadline and fall further below the .500 mark, it’s becoming more likely that ownership will choose to push our GM to sell at the deadline -- I can only hope we do well enough to keep this team from being completely gutted. The fans deserve better than an August and September with no hope. JUNE 25, 1953 . . . Tonight Warren Hacker took the mound, while only Willie Mays sat out today to rest giving Baumholtz a chance to be in the lineup at center field as a starter. Ernie Banks hit a triple in the bottom of the first, sending Fondy home to score the first run, giving Banks his 30th RBI of the season, and Banks would quickly score on a passed ball to make it 2-0 with just one out! Jackson hit a line-drive triple right by the ear of the third baseman and into the deep left corner, allowing Hank Seuer to score, and we went into the top of the second leading 3-0 against Philly. McCullough doubled in the bottom of the third and Miksis got himself an RBI single by driving McCullough home, increasing our lead to 4-0 heading into the fourth. Dee Fondy came up for the third time in the bottom of the fourth, and we hoped the third time through the lineup would allow us to really put some distance between us and the Phillies, but Karl Drews finally started to find his rhythm, and he quickly got through the inning. Instead it was Hacker who got rung up quickly in the top of the fifth, loading the bases and giving up two quick runs before I even thought we needed to consider bringing anyone up in the bullpen. By the time Klippstein got properly warmed up, Hacker had gotten out of the inning, but the score was suddenly tied 4-4. We came out strong in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases ourselves with no outs! McCullough hit a fly-out to center, but an E9 throwing error allowed Hank Sauer to score, with Randy Jackson moving to third and Frank Baumholtz advancing to second. They walked Miksis to load the bases again, and Hacker flew out to left but was able to score Jackson to give us a two run lead. The rally lasted long enough that Klippstein was no longer limbered up, so I kept Hacker on the mound for the top of the sixth while immediately getting Joe Hatten warmed up in the bullpen, as Hacker was nearing 90 pitches already, but it wasn’t immediately necessary -- he got three quick outs, and we came up hoping to build the lead further. Instead we came into the top of the seventh with the same 6-4 lead, and Klippstein, freshly warmed up, came in to hopefully keep it that way. Unfortunately he loaded the bases and drove a run home with two outs, and Hatten came in to get the final out with two men on, one in scoring position. He promptly gave up one of Klippstein’s runs, tying the score 6-6, and then gave up the go-ahead run, having thrown just nine pitches. Finally he got the out, but we went into the stretch down a run again and wondering what we had left in the tank. Bob Kelly came into the top of the eight with us still trailing 6-7, and he got three quick outs to keep the situation from getting any worse. He then made it even better by hitting a single up the gap to open the bottom of the eighth, getting a solid single for the effort and bringing up the top of the order -- rally caps on, people! Cavarretta reached first on a fielder’s choice and then made it to second on a wild pitch, sending Banks up to the plate. Banks then promptly drove a run-scoring triple to the deep right corner, tying the score 7-7 heading into the ninth inning. But Kelly couldn’t hold onto it long enough for us to bat in the bottom of the frame, giving up the go-ahead run with just one out and two men left on, and then piss-poor fielding allowed two more to score, pretty much sealing things. So we’d head into the bottom of the ninth trailing 7-10 and needing a damned miracle. But the baseball Gods would say we’d already wasted the three or four miracles they’d sent our way tonight and they’d gone off the clock for the night. We lost this one 7-10 and completed the act of being swept by Philly. Can’t we get some relief (pitching)? Hacker deserved better than this -- he shouldn’t have to throw a complete game and 150+ pitches every four days to keep getting wins! As it stood, he finished six excellent innnings, throwing 104 pitches for three hits and two strikeouts, but he gave up three walks. But had we fielded better he wouldn’t have been jammed up so badly -- only two of his four runs were earned, so his ERA remains a very respectable 2.58. Hatten got the blown save, his second of the year, giving up two hits but no earned runs thanks to the guys Klippstein had put on base. And poor, hapless Bob Kelly took his fifth loss of the year, giving up three earned runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk -- for a guy who is still drawing a ton of All Star fan interest, he simply can’t find any consistency when under pressure. We were only out-hit 11-10 tonight, but what an incredible waste of such a good offensive effort. Randy Jackson had a three hit effort with a run scored and an RBI as his average climbed to .280 on the year. Banks scored a run and drove two in on two hits, and McCullough had two hits for a run and an RBI as well. Now we head into our last three home games of June, against the fourth-place Giants (35-36). We’re now in fifth, at 33-37, 14 games back and fading fast. Rush, Brodowski and Minner are expected to pitch in these games, with only 17 games remaining before the All-Star break. And if we think we’re tired yet, wait until the July 4th weekend ... we’ve got five games between the 3rd and the 5th here at Wrigley, with back to back double headers against the Cardinals and the Reds. So nothing gets easier. In fact, we’ll have FIVE double-headers in July. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-28-2023, 07:38 PM	#46
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JUNE 26, 1953 . . . Bob Rush gave up a run in the first inning, and with the wind pulling any hits deep into the outfield he wound up giving up two more in the top of the second before finally getting a strikeout to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, Ernie Banks had a solid double to right, reached third on a fly-out by Jackson, and then scored when Eddie Miksis singled up the gap with a wicked-quick grounder that just squeaked by the second baseman. Toby Atwell hit a line drive to left that turned into a double, sending Miksis to third, but Rush hit into an easy out at first to end the inning with just one scored. Unfortunately Rush was not on his best game, giving up a homer in the top of the third, and our fielders weren’t helping at all by being out of position CONSTANTLY, failing to catch fly balls on an almost constant basis, so he was lucky we went into the bottom of the third just trailing 4-1. In the bottom of the third,Hank Sauer loaded the bases on a single to left with just one out, and Ernie Banks was able to drive Cavarretta home from third to make it a two-point game with the bases still loaded. Randy Jackson then hit a bullet off the end of his bat that almost brained the third baseman, driving two more runs in to tie the score 4-4! Rush gave up another two runs in the top of the fifth, but we hoped to rally in the bottom of the sixth when Miksis hit a solid single and then Atwell followed up with a deep drive to right, reaching first and sending Miksis to third with no outs. Dee Fondy pinch-hit for Rush, but the infield hit was close enough for the Giants to get Miksis out at home, leaving Atwell on second and Fondy on first. They walked Max West, loading the bases with just one out, but they got Atwell at at home with Cavaretta advancing on an infield single to keep the bases loaded now with two outs and Willie Mays up to bat. Mays managed to get his single past the second baseman into the outfield, driving home Fondy and West to tie the score again at 6-6. And on a fielding error at first, Sauer was able to reach second on what should have been the third out, scoring Cavaretta to give us the lead with two men in scoring position and two outs. Banks got the final out on a pop fly to the shortstop, but we held the 7-6 lead at the end of six with Dutch Leonard coming in to pitch. Leonard gave up the tying run in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded and two outs, Cavarretta came in and nailed a perfect triple to the deep left corner, driving in three runs and giving us a 10-7 lead while reaching third! Joe Hatten came in for the top of the eighth and got three quick outs, and he came out in the top of the ninth ready to close this one out. A flyout, a walk and two strikeouts later and he’d done just that as we beat the New York Giants 10-7 in a real slugfest! Dutch Leonard blew his save attempt but was able to get his first win of the year, improving to 1-2 with a 5.74 ERA on two hits. Joe Hatten earned his third save of the year, throwing two no-hit innings with a pair of strikeouts and a walk. And Bob Rush was happy to come out with a no-decision, having given up 10 hits and six earned runs in six innings with two walks and a strikeout, blowing his ERA up to 4.33 on the season after 17 starts and 120.2 innings pitched. Max West, filling in for Fondy as our leadoff man, didn’t get a hit but he walked twice and was able to score two runs for us, while Cavarretta, batting second, hit twice to score two and bat in three more. Randy Jackson added three well-timed hits to bat in two, and Willie Mays hit twice, scoring and batting in two additional runs. JUNE 27, 1953 . . . Dick Brodowski took to the mound today, and he continued our troubling trend of giving up early runs, throwing more than thirty pitches and giving up three runs just in the top of the first. We got one back in the bottom of the inning, but Brodowski gave up two more in the top of the third to make it a four-run lead for New York and putting a lot of pressure on our bats to dig him out of the mess. Fondy hit a brilliant line-drive to right to make it all the way to third to start the bottom of the inning, and Cavarretta hit a sacrifice deep fly to left that allowed Fondy to score, making the score 2-5, but the wind blew in to rob Mays of a potential two run homer, and that was as close as we’d get before Brodowski came back up in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth, Willie Mays hit another towering ball to deep center, but the wind again blew it just shy of home-run territory, making it an easy catch -- but he drove Cavarretta to third and Fondy scored, making it a two-run game with just one out. And Ernie Banks hit a fly-out to left which drove Cavarretta in to make the score 4-5. In the top of the seventh they added two insurance runs, making it 4-6, but in the bottom of the eighth, Willie Mays finally got his 21st homer of the year, putting us back within two. But we went into the top of the ninth still down 7-5 against the Giants. Brodowski stayed out to complete the game and did not surrender any more runs, giving us the chance to at least come back in this one. We pinch-hit Ramazzotti for Miksis to start the inning, but he was tagged out at first. Baumholtz then came in for Brodowski, but he hit a line drive directly to the first baseman. And Fondy would have been the third out, but for a bobbled catch at first base, allowing him to reach safely and sending the potential tying run, Cavarretta, up to the plate! And Cavarretta hit a line drive to center that their guy couldn’t catch, allowing Fondy to make it all the way to third, with Willie Mays coming up ready to be the hero ... hitting a weak squib that bounced just out of reach of first base, allowing him to reach and drive Fondy home from third ... ONE RUN LEFT! Ernie Banks came up to bat with Cavarretta on second as the potential tying run and Banks on first as the potential game winner. AND HE HIT A WALK-OFF THREE-RUN HOMER TO WIN THIS ONE 9-7! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!! Brodowski, who stayed in for the entire nine innings and 152 total pitches, got the win to improve to 4-3, giving up 13 hits and seven earned runs but striking out five and walking five, keeping his ERA at 3.07 for the year. Ernie Banks is obviously the hero of the game, with his three-run walk-off homer giving us the win, batting in five runs total in the game. But Fondy hit three times to score four runs on his own to keep us in it throughout the game, and Willie Mays stayed tough despite some disappointing fly-outs early, hitting three times, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Banks now has 10 homers this year, tied with Sauer for second on the team behind Mays. With this win we’re assured the series win against the Giants, but if we can win tomorrow we’ll sweep and improve to just one game shy of .500 on the season heading into what we fully expect to be a difficult stretch in July before the All Star break. So at this point every win is precious. This win moved us half a game up on the Giants to take fourth in the NL, but we’re still 13 games out of first and seven games out of third. JUNE 28, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker took the mound for us tonight as we hoped to close out the sweep against the Giants and keep our win streak alive. And true to our recent form he gave up two runs in the first inning, giving up only a pair of hits but also walking three which was uncharacteristic for him. He was somewhat maddening in that way through the game, giving up another run in the top of the third by giving up easy hit opportunities, but also having struck out four batters by the end of three innings. Tommy Brown hit a towering two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, his first four-bagger of the year, and Hacker really started to settle in, giving us a real chance. When Willie Mays homered over the right field wall to put us up 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, this place went nuclear. The Giants got a run back in the top of the sixth, but we still held the lead, and we held it through eight, going into the top of the ninth with Bob Kelly on the mound and a one run lead. And he got us out of the inning with some excellent pitching, allowing us to take this one by a 5-4 margin to sweep the Giants in the series! Hacker earned the win to improve to 11-4, throwing seven innings of seven-hit ball, with seven strikeouts against three walks -- the four earned runs didn’t hurt him much, his ERA remains a strong 2.71 overall. And Kelly was impressive in his eighth save of the year, throwing two innings with only one hit, striking out one batter and walking another, bringing his ERA down to 5.62 through 40 innings pitched. Willie Mays’ homer was one of his two hits tonight, as he scored one and batted in three to reach 65 RBIs this year! And backup shortstop Tommy Brown’s homer was a key moment in the game, batting in two runs to help give Hacker the confidence he needed to buckle in and start throwing all those K’s. We improved with the win to 36-37 as we prep to drive to St. Louis to play a three-game road series before returning to Wrigley for the Independence Day series against St. Louis (Friday and a doubleheader Saturday) and Cincinnati (a doubleheader on Sunday). How long can we keep the streak alive? And can this momentum help us get to the All Star break with a surge of confidence? We’re moving Klippstein back into the starting rotation, expecting him to pitch in the opening game of the St. Louis series against Harvey Haddix tomorrow evening, with Minner and Rush expected up in the other two games. Newcombe is stepping back into a bullpen role as we head into the July stretch. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-28-2023, 10:47 PM	#47
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JUNE 29, 1953 . . . Willie Mays opened the game with a solo homer in the top of the first to put us up 1-0, his 23rd of the year, and Ernie Banks followed immediately with one of his own over the right field wall to make it 2-0! And then Hank Sauer made it back to back to back solo homers, hitting it over the left wall to make it 3-0, all of the homers coming with two outs! McCullough hit an RBI single that drove in Randy Jackson before Bob Ramazzotti was tagged out at first to end the inning. St. Louis got on the board with a run scoring double and a run scoring single in the bottom of the third, but Bob Ramazzotti got into the homer race with a two-run blast over the right field wall, his first of the year, to make our lead 6-2 midway through the fourth. They got a third run on us in the bottom of the sixth, but Hank Sauer hit another two-run homer over the right field wall in the top of the seventh, giving us an 8-3 lead and him his 12th homer, our fifth of the night -- and the home-run derby didn’t stop either! In the top of the eighth, Willie Mays came up and hit his second of the game, a towering 440 footer that almost left the park, scoring three more runs, and St. Louis entered the bottom of the eighth trailing by eight. We added a 12th run in the top of the ninth, and we held them scoreless in the final frame to win this one in a blowout 12-3 for our fourth straight victory, outhitting the Cardinals just 15-14 but destroying them with SIX HOME RUNS. Perfection! Johnny Klippstein, in his eighth start and 20th appearance of the year, went 5.1 innings on 94 pitches, giving up eight hits and three earned runs while throwing three strikeouts and one walk, improving to 4-2 on the year with a 5.60 ERA. The real surprise was that Don Newcombe came out of the bullpen and threw 3.2 innings of seven-hit ball, with two strikeouts and no runs scored, bringing his ERA down to 4.38! It’s insane to say, but the only batter all day who didn’t get a hit was Fondy in the lead-off, and that includes both of our pitchers ... Willie Mays led the way with two homers being his only hits of the game, scoring twice and driving in four runs, bringing his homer total to 24! Hank Sauer was also incredible, hitting three times with two homers, scoring three and batting in three. McCullough and Ramazzotti each added two RBIs, and of course there was Ernie Banks’ first-inning solo homer as well. What a night! JUNE 30, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer hit a run scoring single in the top of the first, scoring Ernie Banks all the way from second to get things going, and in the top of the second we opened with a Toby Atwell double and then Eddie Miksis hit a run-scoring double of his own to put us up 2-0 with no outs, though we weren’t able to do any more damage in the inning. And we added more in the top of the third, when Toby Atwell, up for the second time, singled through the gap to drive Ernie Banks in from third, and then Eddie Miksis drove in another to give us a 4-0 lead after three! Paul Minner was lights-out through the first four innings, though he gave up a run in the bottom of the fifth to let St. Louis on the board and spoil the shutout, and a second run scored in the bottom of the sixth. Joe Hatten came in for the seventh when Minner got two guys into scoring position with no outs, and he had the best inning of his career here in Chicago, striking out two and facilitating a quick throw to home preventing a third run from scoring, maktaining our 4-2 lead heading into the top of the eighth! Bob Kelly came in to get the save with two outs and a man on in the eighth inning and he did his job, until the bottom of the ninth when, with two outs and a man on first, Solly Hemus hit a homer to tie the score 4-4. He got the final out, however, and we were heading for extras! Randy Jackson came up with one out in the top of the 10th and hit a spectacular triple to deep right, and Miksis hit a deep fly-out sacrifice to center that drove Jackson home for the go-ahead run. That brought Kelly back out for the bottom of the inning, and he secured our 5-4 victory with a flyout and two strikeouts to keep our streak going at five wins! This ties our longest winning streak of the year and showcased our team handling adversity in a whole new way, leaving the St. Louis fans completely gutted. Bob Kelly blew his save opportunity but came away with the win, improving to 2-5 with a 5.74 ERA while throwing 2.1 innings of two-hit ball with four strikeouts. Paul Minner made it through six innings with nine hits and two earned runs, throwing a strikeout and walking two batters. Ernie Banks is red hot right now, hitting three times tonight with a run scored, and Eddie Miksis hit twice to bat three runs in, playing a critical role in our ability to stay in this one. Our GM has brought Fred Baczewski back up from the minors, sending Joe Hatten back down. JULY 1, 1953 . . . Bob Rush came out to pitch for us this evening in the bottom of the first with no score, and he promptly loaded the bases with no outs, an inauspicious beginning. He then walked a runner home, leaving the fans of St. Louis completely delirious. By the time we came up to bat in the top of the second we trailed the Cardinals 2-0 and had work to do if we wanted to keep our streak going. Thankfully they opened the inning by walking Banks. Jackson singled to right, and Cavarretta loaded the bases, putting us in the driver’s seat. And Sauer opened things up by hitting a three-run scoring double to put us ahead 3-2 just like that! Dee Fondy added a run with a single, and Willie Mays added more by singling up the gap to center, driving in two more runs before the inning came to an end with us ahead 6-2! We added a seventh run in the top of the fourth, but we committed two errors in the bottom of the fourth, though Rush was able to get himself out of a jam with only one run scored, making it 7-3 Cubs at the end of four. Unfortunately Rush gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, and we brought Don Newcombe out to secure the final out of the inning and protect the lead. The Cardinals got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, but we were able to add two more in the top of the seventh to keep the lead at 9-6 heading into the stretch. Newcombe had a sore arm, so we brought Bob Kelly in to attempt the long save attempt ... and it was too soon. He gave up three runs before finally getting out of his jam, tying the score at 9-9 heading into the eighth inning and severely testing our luck. We brought Baczewski in out of the bullpen to pitch with the game still knotted in the bottom the eighth, and he got us out without any damage, but we weren’t able to score in the top of the ninth. Baczewski was game for the challenge, however, and he got us safely out of the ninth as well, sending us to our second night of extra innings in a row! We had the top of our order up to bat for the 10th inning, and Fondy quickly got things going with a double to deep left, and Ernie Banks doubled up the gap right out of the reach of the second baseman’s glove, scoring Fondy and putting us up 10-9! So with a one run lead and Dutch Leonard ready in the bullpen, Baczewski came out to try and seal the victory. And he got them out one, two, three to end the game with our 10-9 win, and six game streak, intact. Welcome back from AAA, Fred! In an unexpected bullpen-heavy night, Baczewski took the win and improved to 1-1 on the year with a 4.79 ERA, throwing three innings of two-hit ball. Bob Rush only lasted 4.2 innings, giving up nine hits and five runs (four earned) though he also had five strikeouts against three walks. Newcombe had 1.1 innings of one hit ball, but I didn’t want to risk an injury. Still the less said about Kelly and the more said about Baczewski tonight, the better. Willie Mays hit three times and walked twice, scoring a run and batting in three. Hank Sauer, meanwhile, hit once and walked once, scoring once and driving in three more. We’ve had to put up a lot of runs in the last six wins -- beating teams 51-34 through this streak -- but the bats have been up to it so far. How long we can maintain that pace remains to be seen. Mickey Mantle of the Yankees has the lead in the home run race right now with 27 deep bombs, and Gil Hodges with Brooklyn has 25. But Willie Mays is right there in the conversation with 24 and he leads the majors with 72 RBIs and his .368 batting average. We’re heading back to the friendly confines of Wrigley, so with the weather warming in Chicago and the winds blowing out, it’s hard not to see those totals going up. We’re heading into a five game stretch in three days here in Chicago with our record standing at 39-37, in 4th place in the NL, four games out of third. Those five games will be against St. Louis (now 32-43) and the Cincinnati Reds (now 33-48). We’ll have four more on the road against Cincy next weekend, and a mid-week two game series at Milwaukee, so continuing this win streak can help us make some moves upward in the rankings while also distancing us further from .500 in the process heading up to the All Star break. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-28-2023, 11:50 PM	#48
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 3, 1953 . . . Hacker gave up a run to start the first inning, but got out of there with only two hits and no further damage. Cavarretta got our first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth, making it to second on a deep fly to center, and Mays hit a double to follow him but Cavarretta tried for home when he should have stayed at third, bringing Ernie Banks up with two outs and a man in scoring position. He was quickly walked, bringing up Sauer, who ... struck out. What a wasted scoring opportunity in such a dueling pitchers game like this one. But Hacker struck out the side in the top of the fifth, and in the bottom of the inning Warren Hacker made everyone think he was going to bunt, only to slam a line drive to center, driving in the tying run via Randy Jackson, who scored from second! Fondy struck out, but Cavarretta walked to load the bases, but Willie Mays was robbed of an extra-bases hit by an incredible diving catch. Still, knotted 1-1 in a game like this is a better place to be than trailing by the run. *OOC: Knotted at 1-1 heading into the seventh, the game was abruptly called for rain ... and frustratingly the game doesn’t actually let you look at your box score when this happens, they just kick you out with a pop-up that says ‘check league schedule for rescheduled date’ and I can’t find any information about this -- it’s like the game never happened. If any of you guys know what the hell, please feel free to chime in. I feel like at the least an email should be involved ... it left me with a case of base-blue-balls. Onward, meanwhile, to the double-header on the fourth of July, with the streak still alive (?) __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs!* -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-29-2023, 12:55 AM	#49
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	*OOC: I resorted to counting games lol ... so yeah it has to be that double-header in late September. So I guess I'm going to get one hell of a surprise when I get to that date having forgotten, and suddenly it's 1-1 in the seventh with my pitcher throwing a three-hitter lol JULY 4, 1953* . . . Everyone in the stands last night is frustrated with the umpire for calling the game instead of letting us all wait out the rain. But we’ve got two games today and two games tomorrow to salve the wounds, and I suppose the streak still lives, since we didn’t lose yesterday, did we? So Klippstein came out to start the noon game, sun shining, 76 degrees, wind blowing in from the right, and nearly 15,000 eager Cubs fans ready to watch us keep this thing going! We took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and that remained the only run of the game until Fondy hit a run-scoring single to drive Miksis in during the bottom of the fifth, at which point we led 2-0, which was promptly followed by Willie Mays hitting a three-run homer (his 25th) to make it a 5-0 lead! Ernie Banks hit a solo homer immediately after that, and like the snap of my fingers we had a 6-0 lead heading into the top of the sixth. Klippstein was on fire, coming into the sixth inning with just two hits and a walk, and he kept on dealing fire, keeping them scoreless and getting his 9th strikeout in the top of the seventh. In the top of the ninth, still up 6-0, Klippstein threw his 10th strikeout and then two hits, followed by a shocking three-run homer to blow the shutout. But he got the remaining outs and we beat the Cardinals for our seventh victory in a row, winning 6-3! Klippstein improved to 5-2 on the season with a 5.28 ERA, throwing a complete game with only five hits and the three earned runs, with 10 K’s thrown and only two walks. Ernie Banks had three hits to score one and drive in two, and Dee Fondy added two hits for two runs and an RBI. Ernie Banks is quietly inching his way closer to a .300 season, with 12 homers and 41 RBIs ... is there anyone out there who can spoil his race for Rookie of the Year? Incidentally, in case I forgot to mention it, our GM sent Baczewski back down to AAA, bringing Hatten back up. I think he’s just trying to keep me on my toes ... don’t nobody know what’s going through that man’s head, but I’ve got another game to manage, with Dick Brodowski taking the mound for his eighth start of the year. Willie Mays hit a single up the middle in the bottom of the first to drive Fondy home from third, scoring the game’s first run. We added another in the second, and in the bottom of the third Mays hit a triple and was then driven home by an Ernie Banks single to center, making it 3-0 at the end of three. But Brodowski gave up a solo homer in the top of the fourth to put the Cardinals on the board, saving the rest of the inning with a fantastic double play that kept our lead safe. The score stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the eighth, when Dick Brodowski bought his own insurance run by batting in Jackson with a single to make it 4-1. Miksis then scored on a wild pitch, and then Brodowski scored on ANOTHER wild pitch, and we were able to head into the top of the ninth with a commanding 6-1 lead. Brodowski stayed in to close the game out, and he added two strikeouts and a flyout to cement our eighth win in a row, beating St. Louis 6-1 for our first double-header sweep! Brodowski improved to 5-2 with a 2.78 ERA thanks to nine innings of three-hit baseball, to go with five strikeouts and a walk against just one earned run. Fondy was sensational in the leadoff position today, hitting four times for a run and an RBI, while Willie Mays added two hits for a run and an RBI as well. Dick Brodowski proves to be my favorite pitcher because he’s also a strong hitter, going two for four today with a run and an RBI -- he has a .240 average so far this year and has driven in six runs. See you tomorrow for another couple games as we try and keep this thing going! Cincinnati’s coming to town and we’re now 41-37 and just 3-1/2 games out of third in the NL. Keep winning like this and we’ll be a team nobody wants to play. Cincinnati comes into tomorrow’s double-header with a 33-51 record and riding a four game losing streak. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-29-2023, 01:54 AM	#50
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 5, 1953 . . . I found out that the Yankees lost yesterday, so we’re now the proud holders of the longest active streak in the majors, league non-withstanding! Minner and Rush will be pitching in today’s games as we see if we can continue our strong offensive play through another double-header. Ernie Banks gave us a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first in game one, driving in two runs with a deep double to get the fans to start celebrating early, going even wilder when Sauer drove in the third run with another double, and McCullough added a run scoring triple to make it 4-0! Cincinnati fans barely had time to buy a draft beer before they were in the toilet in this one. A runner scored for Cincy in the top of the third, but McCullough added a run scoring double in the bottom of the inning to negate it. McCullough singled up the middle in the top of the eighth, giving him a single, double and triple for the game, and then Eddie Miksis homered over the center Ivy, adding two runs to our tally! Minner gave up a run in the top of the ninth with a double play that allowed the runner on third to reach home, but he got the third out quickly enough and we held tough to win over the Reds 7-2! Minner, with the win, improves to 6-7 on the year with a 4.54 ERA, having thrown nine innings with only six hits, along with three strikeouts and no walks. McCullough was only a homer away from hitting a cycle, but his three hits scored a run and batted in two so he did just fine, getting his average up to .302 in the process! Ernie Banks also had three hits to score two and drive home two more, bringing his average up to .295 on the season. Miksis had his fourth homer of the year, hitting twice to score one and drive in two more. Five games in three days is hard on a pitching staff, but Bob Rush comes up to the mound in the second game with a full contingent of relivers ready in the wings as we try to extend our winning streak to double digits in front of nearly 16,000 fans. Unfortunately the Reds drew first blood via a two-run homer by Rocky Bridges in the second, and we gave up a third run in the top of the third. But in the bottom of the third inning, Ernie Banks hit a three-run 430-foot homer over the right field wall to tie the score up at 3-3 -- we just don’t quit! Two scoreless innings followed, and then in the top of the sixth with Newcombe warming up and two outs, Rush surrendered a three-run homer to their damned pitcher, Joe Nuxhall, putting us back in a three-run hole again. Newcombe came in and promptly gave up two hits of his own, resulting in a seventh run by the Reds before he finally got the out and sent them down. McCullough pinch-hit for Atwell to load the bases in the bottom of the sixth with just one out, and we pinch-hit Baumholtz for Newcombe, warming Hatten up in the bullpen. Baumholtz managed to walk in a run to make the score 7-4 Reds, and then DEE FONDY HIT A GRAND SLAM, only his sixth homer of the year, putting us back up 8-7! I can’t believe it! But Hatten couldn’t hold it ... in the top of the seventh he gave up a two-run triple with two outs, whipsawing us back into a one point deficit. Bob Kelly came in to pitch in the top of the eighth with our boys trailing still 9-8, and he immediately ** his pants, giving up a two-run homer to make our hole 11-8. By the time we got to the bottom of the inning we trailed by four, down 12-8, and our hitters went nowhere. Top of the ninth, we brought in Dutch Leonard, hoping to at least keep the score where it was so we’d have at least a chance at a comeback, what with the top of the lineup coming up and all. And he got the three outs, though we had a four run deficit to make up in a single inning after already having scored eight -- definitely seemed like a lot to ask considering the whole five games in three days thing. Willie Mays got hit by a pitch with two outs to take first, but Banks hit into a fielder’s choice and was tagged out at first, ending the game, and our winning streak, with an 8-12 loss. Let’s just say our pitching was a disaster and leave it at that. Hatten took the loss and fell to 0-3, also blowing his third save. The less said about it beyond that, the better. Fondy had a great game again with two hits that helped him score a run and drive in four, the grand salami being overshadowed in the end by the blown save. Ernie Banks had three RBIs as well, which I suppose makes it all the more fitting the way we lost this one -- our offense did everything it could to win and our bullpen did everything it could to collapse. We get a day off and then we will make the short drive up to Milwaukee to play two games. We trail them by 12 games in the pennant race, so getting these wins on the road could be pivotal down the stretch. To this point in the season they have an 8-3 record against us, so we really need to prove that the win streak was a start of something, not the end of it. Hacker and Klippstein have been red hot and will be our starters for these games as we hope not to have to touch the bullpen. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- League Has Openings! WPOBL** (Cincinnati Reds)

06-29-2023, 02:48 AM	#51
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 7, 1953 . . . This one was nailbiting from the very first pitch, a true pitching battle between our Warren Hacker and their Bob Buhl. Dee Fondy spoiled Buhl’s no hitter in the top of the sixth, reaching first and then taking second on a passed ball. Mays then walked, bringing up Ernie Banks with one out and the score still knotted 0-0. But Banks hit it straight into the glove of shortstop Johnny Logan, and Hank Sauer batted out to right, ending yet another scoreless frame. And Hacker gave up the first run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, sending us into the top of the seventh inning trailing the Braves 0-1. Hacker kept us in it through the seventh and eighth innings, but we went into the top of the ninth trailng still 0-1, and to that point Buhl had been virtually unhittable. And it stayed that way -- he put us down one, two, three and we lost this one in a 1-0 shutout heartbreaker. Hacker did everything he could, but he just was out-dueled. He took the loss in a complete game, falling to 11-5 with a 2.57 ERA, giving up just seven hits and the earned run, with seven strikeouts against two walks. Fondy had our only hit of the game but we had our chances, having been walked five times. It just wasn’t in the cards. We’ll see if Klippstein can do any better tomorrow. The loss ended a ten game run streak for Willie Mays, who tonight couldn’t get the ball out of the infield. JULY 8, 1953 . . . Mays had a triple in the top of the first with two outs, but Banks hit a fly to far right that was an easy catch, stopping us from scoring in our first frame. In fact, we had runners in scoring position in the first three innings but failed to convert, putting all the pressure on Klippstein to remain perfect. We finally scored a run in the top of the fourth on a Milwaukee error, with Hank Sauer reaching second and Ernie Banks scoring to put us up 1-0 with no outs, and the shortstop dropped a throw with two outs, allowing Sauer to score and make it 2-0. Two errors, two runs. Not bad! Mays hit another triple in the top of the fifth and Banks drove him home with a single, increasing our margin and giving Klippstein more room to deal. Klippstein threw 123 pitches in eight innings and was gassed coming into the bottom of the ninth with our 3-0 lead still intact, so Don Newcombe came in to handle the final three outs, and after a scare when he gave up a hit on his first pitch, he got three quick outs including a game-ending double-play, to help us win this one 3-0! Klippstein got the win, improving to 6-2 with a 4.76 ERA, going eight innings with five hits, six strikeouts and a single walk. Newcombe earned his third save by giving up just one hit on eleven pitches to close the game out. Randy Jackson had three hits but was left stranded every time, while Willie Mays had two hits to score a run. Ernie Banks scored a run and batted one in despite not getting a hit due to Braves errors. We have a day off, and then we play four games in three days against the Reds in Cincinnati. Then, at long last, we reach the All-Star break. We head into that series four games over .500 at 43-39. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

06-30-2023, 11:40 PM	#52
Pelican Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Wilmington, Delaware Posts: 2,923	Your summaries are great. Keep up the good work! __________________ Pelican OOTP 2020-? ”Hard to believe, Harry.”

07-02-2023, 01:54 PM	#54
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	OOC: Got one game in before we head out for two days of relaxing See you all for more 1953 Cubs fun when I get back on the 4th! And yes, I do plan to continue this beyond 1953, it will be interesting to see what our GM does for us since I have no control over player signings. - - - - - JULY 11, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker (11-5, 2.57 ERA) took the mound today for his 21st start of the season, and he should have had a lead heading into the bottom of the first, considering we’d loaded the bases with three walks, but a fly-out and a double play saved Cincinnati a lot of pain. And Hacker gave up a walk and two hits in his half of the frame, giving Cincy the early lead 0-1 instead, though he also tallied two strikeouts. Wally Post had a weird start for the Reds, giving up four walks in the first three innings, but also allowing no hits, so we still trailed by the one run at the end of three. Clyde McCullough spoiled Post’s no hitter in the top of the fifth, but we couldn’t get anything together to score. And the pressure on Hacker to stay as close to perfect as possible wore on him; we gave up a second run in the bottom of the sixth, but Hacker kept his composure and we just needed to get some run support going. Randy Jackson gave us a solo homer in the top of the seventh with one out, making it 1-2, and then McCullough hit one of his own to tie it 2-2, still with just a single out! And then Eddie Miksis made it another trifecta, hitting his own solo homer to give us the lead, on only his fifth four-bagger of the season! So we went into the bottom of the seventh holding a 3-2 advantage on the Reds, and Hacker stayed strong to defend his lead. Clyde McCullough drove in two more runs in the top of the eighth, and Cavarretta hit a run-scoring double in the top of the ninth to add even more insurance! Ernie Banks added a seventh run, scoring his 50th RBI of the season, They walked in another run with the bases loaded, adding to the rout, and Hacker stayed in to close out his excellent night, getting two great infield outs and a strikeout to win the game 8-2. Hacker improved to 12-5 with a 2.53 ERA, throwing nine innings of seven-hit ball, with two earned runs, two walks and nine strikeouts! McCullough led our batters with three hits for a run and four RBIs, while Fondy, Banks and Jackson each had two hits. All-Star rosters have been announced, and we have plenty of players who will be representing our Cubs in that fun fan experience: - SP Warren Hacker - SP Bob Rush - CF Willie Mays - RF Phil Cavarretta We head into tomorrow’s doubleheader, the last two games before the All Star break, with a 44-40 record and fourth place in the NL -- we’re 11 games back in the race for the pennant, but we’re still safely in the race thanks to our pitching resurgence -- if only our GM would make a few calls down to the minors to bring up some promising young pitchers who could bolster our bullpen, I think we’ve got what it takes to stun some “baseball experts” and make the Cubs a hot ticket this fall. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-04-2023, 12:16 PM	#55
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 12, 1953 . . . Dick Brodowski pitched the opening game of our double header, and in the bottom of the first he game up a run on a very weakly hit infield ball that no one seemed ready to go after despite the bases being loaded. And that started a fairly severe beatdown, as Brodowski was rung up for four runs in that frame, all of which came with two outs. Not a particularly auspicious beginning, particularly with the Reds’ Ken Raffensberger coming into this game red hot. Brodowski broke up Raffensberger’s no-hitter in the top of the third, getting a hit out of the infield from the nine-spot, but we made nothing of it and he promptly gave up a fifth run in the bottom of the inning to leave us trailing the Reds 0-5 after three. We started warming up Newcombe in the fourth, bringing him in with two outs and a man on first, the score at that point 0-6. They tried to throw Fondy out at home in the top of the sixth, but a throwing error allowed him to score on a Willie Mays fly-out to center, at least putting us on the board. But we couldn’t make anything else happen offensively, and though our pitchers after Brodowski did not give up any runs, we already had too much ground to make up, losing this one to the Reds by a 6-1 margin. Brodowski fell to 5-4 with a 3.42 ERA, having given up six earned runs on nine hits in just 3.2 innings with three walks and a strikeout. Newcombe came in and pitched effectively for 3.1 innings, giving up just one hit with a walk and a strikeout, and Bob Kelly had one inning with two strikeouts and no hits. We were out-hit 10-6 in the game, with Cavarretta and Sauer each hitting twice and with Mays putting up a hit and the one RBI of the game. Fondy scored by walking -- he did not get a hit all game. Klippstein came in to pitch the second game with his 6-2 record and 4.76 ERA over 81.1 innings pitched. In the top of the third inning, Phil Cavarretta hit a run-scoring single to put us on the board, and Klippstein hit a run scoring single in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0, but he gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to keep the margins razor thin. Klippstein threw his 50th strikeout of the year (and fourth of the game) in the top of the 5th, along with two more for good measure, but our offense wasn’t able to add any insurance. Sauer finally did add a run in the top of the seventh, driving Cavarretta home with an RBI single, and Jackson followed it up with an RBI double to make it 4-1. Toby Atwell then walked the bases loaded, but we weren’t able to score again. Still, at least now Klippstein had some room to breathe. Willie Mays hit an RBI single in the top of the eighth, after having been walked twice earlier in the game, and Ernie Banks hit a three-run homer to really blow things open, his 14th homer of the year! Klippstein came into the bottom of the eighth in control of an 8-1 lead, and Bob Kelly came in for the bottom of the ninth to wrap it up, getting three quick outs as we beat the Reds by seven! Klippstein improved to 7-2 with a 4.43 ERA, giving up just four hits in eight innings with one earned run, striking out seven and walking three. Kelly improved his ERA to 6.41, giving up a hit but then doing his job and getting the quick outs. Phil Cavarretta led the team with three hits, scoring twice and driving in a run as well. Mays, Sauer, Jackson and Miksis each added two hits, Mays in particular doing well by hitting twice, walking twice and scoring twice with an RBI as well. JULY 13, 1953 . . . In the homerun challenge, Ernie Banks beat Mickey Mantle in the first round 11-1, making everyone wonder if the Mickster had been out doing a bit too much celebrating before taking the field. Willie Mays then beat Ralph Kliner 12-9 in his round, setting up a second round duel between him and Ernie! Ernie Banks had a great second round, beating Mays 12-8, putting him through to battle Eddie Matthews in the Home Run Title Round -- and “Mr. Cub” outlasted Matthews 11-9 to bring home the crown! JULY 14, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker started in the All Star game for the NL, with Mays (3rd) and Cavarretta (6th) starting at center and right field respectively. Duke Snider put our NL All Stars up 2-0 in the top of the fourth with a single that drove San Musial and Willie Mays home, and Al Dark hit a sac-fly to right, driving in a third. Eddie Matthews hit a solo homer in the top of the 6th to give the NL a 4-0 lead, but Bob Rush came in to pitch for us in the bottom of the sixth and suddenly the AL All Stars had signs of life. Rush got the third out but allowed the AL to score two, making the score 4-2 with three innings to play. Ralph Kliner hit a HUGE solo homer in the top of the seventh add a little NL insurance, and Willie Mays hit a moonshot to score three more! Pee Wee Reese hit another NL homer in the top of the eighth to make it 9-2, and Hoyt Wilhelm closed the game out with two perfect innings as our NL All Stars destroyed the AL All Stars 9-2! Willie Mays was named the All Star Game MVP, with two hits and a walk in four at-bats, scoring two and driving in three! We’ll enjoy the day off and come back rested and ready to take on the New York Giants on Thursday for a two-game road series at the Polo Grounds with an off-day between them. We then travel to Philly for a double-header on Sunday, followed by three games at Brooklyn and four at Pittsburgh before we get to return to Wrigley on the 28th for three against Brooklyn. We’re currently 45-41 and in fourth place in the NL, 10-1/2 games out of first. We have a good chance to climb back into the heart of the race if we can do well on this road stand and return to Wrigley playing like we did at the start of the month. Current NL Standings: 1. Milwaukee Braves (57-32) 2. Brooklyn Dodgers (54-32) 1.5 GB 3. Philadelphia Phillies (51-38) 6 GB 4. Chicago Cubs (45-41) 10.5 GB 5. NY Giants (38-49) 18 GB 6. St. Louis Cardinals (36-48) 18.5 GB 7. Cincinnati Reds (37-55) 21.5 GB 8. Pittsburgh Pirates (34-57) 24 GB Current AL Standings: 1. NY Yankees (58-27) 2. Cleveland Guardians (53-32) 5 GB 3. Boston (45-44) 15 GB 4. St. Louis Browns (41-48) 19 GB 5. Chicago White Sox (40-47) 19 GB 6. Washington Senators (40-48) 19.5 GB 7. Detroit Tigers (36-50) 22.5 GB 8. Philadelphia Athletics (36-53) 24 GB * *OOC: Not sure why the game decided to change Cleveland to the Guardians even when starting in the 1950s, but maybe they’ll have better luck breaking their curse without the Indians name hanging over their heads. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs!* -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-04-2023, 02:38 PM	#56
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 16, 1953 . . . Warren Hacker, well rested from his All Star break, came out to start for the 23rd in this one, with a 12-5 record and 2.53 ERA over 163.1 innings pitched. Ernie Banks got us on the board with a solo homer, his 15 of the year, in the top of the second. McCullough drove in a run with an RBI single in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0, and in the top of the fifth Fondy hit a triple with one out and then was driven home by an RBI single from Cavarretta to make it 3-0. Hank Sauer hit a solo homer in the sixth, his 13th of the year as we slowly kept piling on. But it all fell apart in the bottom of the sixth, when Hacker got in trouble, loaded the bases, and then gave up a grand slam to tie it all at 4-4. Just the luck of this game -- he was still pitching well, it was just a string of bad throws at the wrong time. Luckily for us our hitters were on a solid streak this game, with Cavarretta hitting another RBI to drive in Fondy for the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, so we went into the bottom of the inning leading 5-4. But in the bottom of the eighth, Hacker gave up a solo homer to Hank Thompson, tying the score again at 5-5, and I started warming up Bob Kelly just in case, though Hacker got out of the inning without giving up a go-ahead run. Cavarretta came up to bat in the top of the ninth, reaching base on a single followed by a Willie Mays walk. Banks flew out to left, holding runners at first and second, and Sauer then hit a fly-out to center that was deep enough to advance Cavarretta to third. And then Randy Jackson hit a towering homer to left, his 7th of the season, scoring three runs and giving us much more solid footing thanks to an 8-5 lead. Bob Kelly came out in the bottom of the ninth to get the three final outs and we were able to secure the road win in a real slugfest, beating the Giants by three runs. Hacker improved to 13-5, though his ERA took a slight hit to 2.68 thanks to the grand salami. He gave up 10 hits and five runs, with three strikeouts against two walks in 123 pitches. Bob Kelly continued his solid streak in recent weeks, giving up no hits and securing the three outs on 11 pitches to bring his ERA down to 6.27. Cavarretta led the team with three hits and two RBIs, scoring a run himself as well. And Randy Jackson had two hits in five at-bats, scoring one and driving in three. JULY 18, 1953 . . . Klippstein has been hot of late, and we brought him out to pitch in this one with his record standing at 7-2, with a 4.43 ERA over 89.1 innings and 24 appearances (12 starts). McCullough was tagged out at first but was able to drive Banks in to score a run in the top of the second to put us on the board up 1-0. And Klippstein was on fire in this one -- he had a perfect game going until a walk was given in the bottom of the fourth, though the way Sal Maglie was throwing he certainly didn’t have a lot of room for error with our lead still just 1-0. Sauer made two great catches in the outfield in the bottom of the fifth to preserve the no-hitter, and Randy Jackson hit a line drive to center in the top of the sixth to drive in two runs and give Johnny K some cushion. And though Klippstein gave up his first hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth, he remained lights out overall, proving his days coming out of the bullpen are far behind him now. Willie Mays hit a solo shot over the right field wall to make our lead 4-0 in the top of the seventh, giving him 26 homers on the season, and Randy Jackson hit a run-scoring triple to drive in Sauer, followed by an Eddie Miksis ground-out to first that scored Jackson, making it 6-0 as we entered the bottom of the eighth. Klippstein gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth but it hardly mattered as we pummelled the Giants 6-1! Klippstein improved to 8-2 with a 4.12 ERA thanks to a five-hit complete game in which he gave up just one earned run with eight strikeouts and two walks. Willie Mays hit once and walked twice, scoring one run and driving in another. Cavarretta and Jackson each had two hits, and Jackson drove in three runs and scored one of his own in the process. We now make the drive from New York to Philly for a two game double-header tomorrow afternoon, having pulled to within 9-1/2 games of first (and just three games behind the Phillies for a shot at third!) JULY 19, 1953 . . . Bob Rush got the start for the first game this afternoon, his first since our 10-7 loss against the Giants on July 10. Coming into this game he had a 7-8 record with a 4.92 ERA in 137 innings pitched. And his afternoon did not start the way he’d hoped, giving up a solo homer to Earl Torgeson in the bottom of the first, on just the seventh pitch of the game. But Rush bought himself a bit of room as he came up to bat in the top of the second, hitting a stinging line drive double to right that drove McCullough in to score the tying run and Miksis the go-ahead, making it 2-1 Cubs! But McCullough allowed a runner to advance on a passed ball in the bottom of the second and a blooper to center scored the tying run. Eddie Miksis hit an RBI single in the top of the fourth to drive in Randy Jackson, and Rush took a walk to load the bases with just one out! Dee Fondy then singled to right, driving in another run, giving us a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth. But Bob Rush gave up two hits in a row, including an RBI triple, and then gave up an RBI single to tie the score 4-4 and that was enough for me to bring Newcombe in from the bullpen, bottom of the fifth, no outs, a man on first. Newcombe came in and got a strikeout and then the throw to second to get the runner out as well! A double to right and a fly-out to left and he was able to get us out of the inning with the score still tied 4-4. Newcombe gave up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, but Willie Mays hit his 27th homer in the top of the seventh with a man on base, whip-sawing us back into the lead 6-5! And Newcombe stayed in to close out the game, throwing solidly down to the end as we won this one 6-5 over the Phillies in the early afternoon game. Don Newcombe pitched five innings of four-hit ball in 66 pitches in relief, giving up just the one earned run with five strikeouts, earning the win to improve to 4-3 with a 4.14 ERA. Bob Rush lasted four innings but gave up nine hits and four earned runs in 87 pitches, dropping his ERA to 5.04. The Phillies outhit us 13-12, but we made ours count in the comeback win. Eddie Miksis hit three times in four at-bats, scoring a run and driving in another, while Willie Mays had his homer and Clyde McCullough added two hits, scoring twice. Paul Minner (6-7, 4.54 ERA) started the second game of the double-header, his first appearance since a 6-2 win against the Reds back on July 5. And he had run support from the word go, with Mays hitting an RBI single to put us on the board, and Banks adding an RBI single that scored Cavarretta all the way from second! Willie Mays scored on a wild pitch, and then Toby Atwell cleared the bases with a 434-footer that scored two and put us up 5-0 thanks to just his second homer of the year! Eddie Miksis singled up the gap to reach first, bringing Minner up to the plate in the top of the first before he even had to throw a single pitch, and though he was an easy out at first we did a ton of damage right out of the gate. But Minner got into trouble in the bottom of the second inning, loading the bases and then allowing two runs to score before he could get the outs we needed, throwing a lot of pitches in the process. But Randy Jackson kept our scoring going with a solo homer in the top of the third, and Minner gave up a run in the bottom of the inning to make the score 6-3 Cubs after three. The pitching on both sides settled in well from there, until Minner gave up a run-scoring double in the bottom of the sixth and then allowed another run to score on a deep fly to center that we couldn’t catch. But he got out of the inning without giving up the lead, and we warmed Hatten up in the bullpen to get him ready to come out in the seventh. Cavarretta and Mays each walked in the top of the seventh with two outs, and Ernie Banks played the hero again with a three-run homer to put us up comfortably 9-5. Hatten gave up a run in the bottom of the inning but got out of it with us still ahead three, and Bob Kelly came in to close out the last two innings. He sat down all three batters in the eighth, and Willie Mays added a solo homer to right in the top of the ninth, giving him a four-run cushion in the final frame. Three quick outs and the sweep was complete, this time with a 10-6 victory over Philadelphia that puts us right in the heart of the pennant race! Minner got the win to improve to 7-7 with a 4.69 ERA, with six hits (and five runs) to go with two strikeouts and two walks. Kelly earned his 10th save of the year, bringing his ERA down to 6.02 with no hits and a strikeout in two innings as our closer. Mays and Banks combined for four hits, five runs and 6 RBIs in this one, making them quite the dominant pairing in the lineup! We improved to 49-41 and improved our streak to five wins in a row, pulling within a game of Philly and only nine games back of first. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-04-2023, 05:21 PM	#57
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 21, 1953 . . . Big news from the GM today -- he’s decided to bring Vern Fear, the closer from our AAA affiliate in Los Angeles, to protect him from Rule 5 eligibility and give him a shot against major league batters (sending Hatten back down to AAA.) With three key games starting today against the Dodgers, I’m sure he’ll get his shot. But will he have what it takes? We’ll be pitching Hacker, Klippstein and Brodowski in this series, so we’re hoping not to have to rely too much on the bullpen, but I’d rather have good arms available, especially in a series with this much on the line. Brooklyn comes into today’s game with a 58-33 record, just half a game out of first, and now that we’ve hammered on the Giants and knocked them completely out of the race, it’s now us, Philly, Brooklyn and Milwaukee fighting over the last ten weeks of the season. Hacker opened up the scoring in the top of the second with an RBI single, and Dee Fondy added a second run with an RBI single of his own. Cavarretta kept the two-out hitting train rolling by driving in two more with a double, before Willie Mays flew out to center to end the inning with us up 4-0! Hacker got his first strikeout of the night in the bottom of the third, giving him 100 K’s for the season, and then in the fourth inning he got himself his second hit of the night, scoring our fifth run when Dee Fondy then drove him in from first with a double -- getting it done on both offense and defense! Cavarretta then drove Fondy home, building our lead to 6-0 in the middle of the fourth. Hacker gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to Pee Wee Reese, but they couldn’t get anyone else around to home and we still led by four after four. We surrendered another run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Dodgers also left two more stranded. Cavarretta made a spectacular diving catch to rob Jackie Robinson of an RBI in the bottom of the sixth, and Hank Sauer scored us another run on an RBI double in the top of the seventh to increase our lead to four runs. Jackson hit to deep left immediately after, reaching third and driving Sauer home, and we went into the stretch leading 8-3 against the Dodgers! Hacker struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, and we scored our ninth run of the game on a wild pitch with the bases loaded, heading into the bottom of the eighth with a 9-3 lead. Vern Fear came in at that point to relieve Hacker, and though he was a bit jittery early and got himself into a hole and giving up a run, he settled down quickly and we went into the ninth leading 9-4. He got through the ninth inning with no further incident and we were able to win the first game of the series against the Dodgers by five runs! Warren Hacker took the win again, improving to 14-5 with a 2.73 ERA, giving up 10 hits and three earned runs, walking two and striking out six. Vern Fear had a solid two-inning debut in relief, with four hits and one earned run to go with a strikeout. His ERA after one appearance is 4.50. Hacker had two hits in the game and scored three runs with one batted in. Fondy, Cavarretta, Mays and Miksis each had two hits as well, as we blew this one out despite being outhit 14-12. Talk about teamwork, we’re really starting to come into our own! With this win we moved ahead of Philadelphia and into third place, though with Milwaukee winning their game today we remain nine games out of first, but we also won our 50th game! JULY 22, 1953 . . . Tonight’s game was a pitcher’s duel of the highest order, with Billy Loes (14-6) up against Johnny Klippstein (8-2) in a game where both teams combined for just three hits in the first four innings of scoreless baseball. But Brooklyn broke the scoring barrier first, with Carl Furillo hitting a solo homer off of Klippstein in the bottom of the fifth in only the Dodgers’ second hit of the night, so we trailed 1-0 at the end of the fifth. But in the top of the eighth, Dee Fondy hit an RBI single to drive in Eddie Miksis to tie the game at 1-1, and Ernie Banks hit a high fly to left that the fielder just barely missed, the ball rolling to the wall while both Fondy and Cavarretta scored, making it a 3-1 lead for our Cubs -- and the fans in this place were stunned silent. Bob Kelly came in to relieve Klippstein with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but with men on first and second, and he got the final out of the inning when Willie Mays made a spectacular leaping catch in center to keep the lead intact. Brooklyn shut us down in the top of the ninth, bringing Kelly back out to seal the save. Pee Wee Reese hit a double with two outs, but Kelly got the strikeout we needed and we beat Brooklyn for the second night in a row, this time in a tight 3-1 victory! Klippstein took the win, improving to 9-2 with a 3.91 ERA, giving up just three hits all night and the one earned run, with three strikeouts and a walk. Kelly got his 11th save of the year, improving his ERA to 5.86 while pitching 1.1 innings of one hit ball, with the single strikeout at the end of the ninth. We out-hit them 6-4 in a game where not giving up baserunners was crucial. Fondy had two hits and scored a run while batting in another, and Ernie Banks had a hit with two RBIs. We have now won seven straight dating back to the second game of the July 12 double-header, and we’re right in this NL pennant race. JULY 23, 1953 . . . When Dick Brodowski walked Billy Cox in the bottom of the third inning, Cox became the first base-runner for either team to that point in the game, which seemed even more tightly contested than yesterday’s bruiser. Fondy didn’t help things by bobbling an easy catch at first that turned a half-hearted bunt attempt by Brooklyn into a double, putting two runners in scoring position with just one out. Brodowski then walked the bases loaded, creating a real jam, but a weakly-hit infield ball made for a quick double play -- first the catch by Brodowski and then the well-timed throw to get Cox out at home plate. Nicely done! The Fondy error kept the no-hitter alive for both pitchers heading into the fourth inning knotted 0-0. Cavarretta got the first hit of the game in the top of the fourth, and an error by the shortstop allowed Mays to reach first as well with just one out. Sauer hit it lightly into center, but weakly enough it was tough to get a handle on, and just like that we were on the board with Cavarretta crossing home to loud jeers by the home fans. But Brodowski gave up a solo homer to Duke Snider in the bottom of the inning to tie it right back up. Eddie Miksis reached first on Brooklyn’s second error of the game in the top of the fifth but we couldn’t do anything with it, but we kept playing solid defense as well -- in the bottom of the fifth Brodowski made another great play to home, getting Cox out for the second time in the game at home plate. But the go-ahead run did score in that frame as well, so we went into the top of the sixth trailing 2-1. We got two into scoring position in the top of the eighth, but Willie Mays struck out and stranded them both. And Vern Fear gave up a solo homer by Roy Campanella to make it 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth. We didn’t get any of those runs back in the top of the ninth so the win streak ended -- we fell to the Dodgers in the third game of the series, losing 3-1. Brodowski took the loss, falling to 5-5 with a 3.35 ERA, giving up just four hits and two runs with three walks and two strikeouts, but he threw 125 pitches in seven innings. Vern Fear pitched a full inning in relief with one hit leading to an earned run, along with a strikeout, dropping his ERA to 6.00 after two appearances. Next up is a four game road series against Pittsburgh (39-60) before we head back to Wrigley for three against Brooklyn, the start of a three-week stretch of Wrigley games as we head toward the month of August. We slipped with this loss back into fourth place, but we’re only eight games out of first so we’re putting in the work to reach our pennant goal. In roster news, Bob Ramazzotti is being sent back down to AAA. He’s only played in a few games all year, mostly as a pinch-hitter and backup at second base. He had to be moved down to make room for Kenneth Chapman, who was acquired in a trade from Detroit. Chapman only played in one game for Detroit all year, so it’s tough to know what we’re really getting, though he’s had more than 1,100 hits in the minors over a journeyman’s career, hitting .264 in his career. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-04-2023, 07:20 PM	#58
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 24, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer hit deep to center, driving Fondy in from third to score the game’s first run with a double, his 45th RBI of the season, and Bob Rush came out to pitch and had a solid early effort, making us think maybe he can find his way out of the cold streak he’s been in. But alas, his first two solid innings gave way to a three-walk third, and the Pirates took a 2-1 lead before he could get out of it. Kenneth Chapman got his first hit as a Cub in the top of the fourth, and a McCullough RBI single drove Randy Jackson home to tie the score. Vern Fear came in with one out in the bottom of the seventh with a man in scoring position, and though he got a quick strikeout to secure out number two, he surrendered a run for Rush to put Pittsburgh up 3-2. But he got the final out with no further damage, and we just needed a rally. Fear got us through the eighth inning without any additional scoring, putting us in the top of the ninth and down just 3-2, but Mays, Sauer and Jackson came up empty and we lost thie one by a single run. Bob Rush took the loss and fell to 7-9, but he only gave up three hits and three walks in the game, striking out seven. He just had bad luck, as only one of his three runs was earned. Vern Fear pitched 1.2 innings of relief, giving up two hits with two walks and two strikeouts, bringing his ERA down to 3.86. We got outhit 5-4, with Fondy, Sauer, Chapman and McCullough ending up the only players with hits. Jackson walked and then scored a run, and Sauer had an RBI. JULY 25, 1953 . . . Randy Jackson had an RBI single to drive Cavarretta in to score our first run of the game in the top of the first inning, and Hacker came in to pitch hoping to keep his four game win streak alive. But he made it hard on himself early, giving up a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, really waking this slumbering crowd. He couldn’t seem to buy an out, giving up five hits and four runs with nearly 30 pitches thrown by the end of the first inning. Willie Mays hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Dee Fondy in the top of the third, and in the top of the fourth Hacker hit a blistering drive up the middle that scored Eddie Miksis all the way from second to make it a one run game. Eddie Miksis tied the score up in the top of the eighth, batting in Hank Sauer for the tying run, and Dee Fondy drove in the go-ahead runs with the bases loaded, making it 6-4! Don Newcombe came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, getting three quick outs and holding the lead. Bob Kelly came in for the bottom of the ninth with another save on the line, and he got them with a flyout and a double play to seal the deal -- we won this one 6-4 after trailing by three! Hacker stayed in just long enough to seal the win, improving to 15-5 with a 2.82 ERA, having given up eight hits and four runs in seven innings while striking out six against one walk. Don Newcombe got a hold, his first of the year, with no hits and a strikeout in the eighth inning, and Bob Kelly got his 12th save with one hit and three outs made on just FOUR PITCHES! His ERA is now 5.75 on the season, in 51.2 innings pitched. JULY 26, 1953 . . . Double-header day! Get these two wins and it’s back to Chicago for a few weeks of Wrigley fun! Klippstein got the start in the first game, looking for his 10th win in his 27th appearance, and he got run support from the very beginning as Sauer drove Willie Mays home from second to score the game’s first run in the top of the first inning. With Klippstein up to bat in the second inning, Eddie Miksis stole second, then Klippstein hit a fly-out to left, driving Clyde McCullough in from third to score, making it 2-0. In the top of the third, Randy Jackson had an RBI single to score Mays, and Kenneth Chapman singled the bases loaded, though we couldn’t do anything with the three extra runners. Klippstein had a three-hit fifth inning, spoiling what had been a perfect game to that point, and surrendered a run but nothing else, making it 3-1 Cubs after five. Vern Fear came in with two outs and two men on in the seventh, but he surrendered the two earned runs for Klippstein before getting the final out, leaving us tied up 3-3 heading into the eighth inning. McCullough hit a triple with just one out but we couldn’t get him home. Fear got us out of the eighth inning still knotted, but we couldn’t score, setting up a must-dominate bottom of the ninth if we wanted a chance at extra innings, and we got that and more from Vern Fear, who stayed in for another go and got two strikeouts and a fly-out to keep us alive! Don Newcombe came in to spell Fear in the bottom of the 11th inning with the score still knotted 3-3 and this first game of the double-header already heading deep into the afternoon, and he got the three outs we needed, sending us into a 12th inning! Mays singled to left, but Sauer hit into a double play in the infield, and Randy Jackson struck out. Damn! But Newcombe got three more outs and kept us in this one. In the top of the 14th, Newcombe walked, and Fondy hit into a fielder’s choice that allowed Newcombe to advance to second. But Cavarretta flew out to right, bringing Mays up to bat and us NEEDING SOMETHING ... and he walked, keeping the hope alive! But Sauer flew out to center and the top of the inning was over. We brought Dutch Leonard in for the bottom of the inning, and he tried valliantly, but wound up surrendering the walk-off run as we lost this one 3-4 in 14 innings. God help us if we need any bullpen help in the second game, as pretty much all we have left is Bob Kelly! No room for error ... Vern Fear goes down with the blown save, since he came in with a two run lead and then forced the tie situation in the first place. But he powered through, pitching 3.1 innings of one-hit ball, striking out four and giving up no earned runs since the two that scored counted for Klippstein. His ERA through eight innings is now 2.53, showing incredible promise. Newcombe then came in for three innings and had just one hit himself, striking out four and walking one, bringing his ERA down to 3.96 on the year. Dutch Leonard took one for the team, making just one out and surrendering three hits and the run, allowing us to get a short break before coming out to do it all over again. We out-hit the Pirates 14-11, led by Willie Mays who had four hits in five at-bats, scoring twice. Sauer, Jackson and Miksis each had two hits as well. Paul Minner came out to start for us in the second game. Chapman got himself an RBI double in the top of the second to put us up 1-0, and Willie Mays came up with the bases loaded but flew weakly out to right, ending the inning with just the one run scored. But the Pirates equalized in the bottom of the inning, before Banks hit a beautiful home run to left in the third to give us the 2-1 lead, and Chapman added to it with an RBI double to make it 3-1 before they were able to finally end the inning. Of course Minner had to blow it, loading the bases and then walking in a run before surrendering two more on a simple single to center. He finally got us out of the inning but trailing 4-3 after just three innings. And he was going to have to work his way out of this or accept the consequences because our bullpen is beat to hell after the noon game. Amd he decided consequences it should be, since he gave up another run in the fourth. Mays bailed us out to start the fifth inning, hitting a triple to spark what we hoped would be a rally. Banks was tagged out at first but allowed Mays to score, but Sauer and Jackson were quick outs, leaving us still down 5-4 midway through the fifth. In the top of the eighth, Kenneth Chapman hit an RBI single that drove in the tying run, with two men on and no outs. But Minner, Fondy and Cavarretta were quick outs, leaving us knotted 5-5 heading into the bottom of the inning. Minner loaded the bases and surrendered the go-ahead run with one out, bringing in Bob Kelly to try and finish the game out -- Minner was already at nearly 150 pitches. And he got the two outs, sending us to the top of the ninth and down one run. And we were exhausted, quickly getting out of the inning without any fuss, losing this one to the Pirates 6-5 and therefore losing the series 3-1 to the worst team in the NL. Minner gave up 10 hits and six earned runs in 7.1 innings of work, taking the loss and dropping his ERA to 4.87 on the year. Kelly came in for two outs, with no hits no strikeouts and no walks. Again we outhit them 12-10 but couldn’t make it work in the end. McCullough and Chapman each had three hits -- Chapman got his first three RBIs of the year and brought his average up to .375 since joining us. And now we return to Wrigley for our long home stretch, needing to find our way back to the winning ways of early July if we want to stay in the NL race. At 52-45 we remain 10-1/2 games out of first, but we have three chances to make some headway against Brooklyn. Our GM hasn’t said if he has any blockbuster trades in mind, but we’re three days out of the deadline and his time is fading fast if he has such plans. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

07-04-2023, 11:30 PM	#59
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	[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] __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by TC Dale; 07-05-2023 at 01:03 AM.

07-05-2023, 01:04 AM	#60
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,576	JULY 31, 1953 . . . Hank Sauer batted in the go-ahead run for us in the bottom of the fourth inning, giving us a 1-0 lead on the Pirates. Warren Hacker got through the sixth inning with only one hit, passing the 200 innings mark for the season and keeping us locked in on the goal in this one. And Hacker stayed strong through the remainder of the game, getting us three solid outs in the final inning including two strikeouts to seal the 1-0 victory! Hacker improved to 17-5 with a 2.61 ERA in his 26th start, giving up just two hits with two walks and nine strikeouts in 115 pitches. We outhit the pirates 5-2, with Phil Cavarretta leading our offense with two hits and a run scored. Hank Sauer had an RBI hit as well. AUGUST 1, 1953 . . . Johnny Klippstein, July’s NL Pitcher of the Month, took the mound today. We went up 1-0 in the bottom of the second as backup catcher Bruce Edwards drilled a grounder to right that drove Chapman home and put him on second. Klippstein surrendered the tying run on a solo homer by Carlos Bernier, making it 1-1 in the top of the sixth, but he got out of the inning with an excellent double play, avoiding any further damage. And Chapman hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth to give us back our lead, putting us up 2-1 at the end of six. Vern Fear came in for the top of the eighth, getting the outs we needed and putting us into the bottom of the eighth with our 2-1 lead intact. Chapman hit an RBI single to drive home Willie Mays, making it a 3-1 lead, and Bruce Edwards hit his first homer of the season, scoring two more runs to turn this into a rout! When Vern Fear reached first on an error that scored our sixth run, the fun really had begun. Fondy hit an RBI single that drove Miksis home, Cavarretta singled up the middle to load the bases, and another run scored on a wild pitch as we’d batted around in the inning. Hank Sauer finally was tagged out at first, ending the inning but with us ahead by a commanding 8-1 lead. Vern Fear came out and got his three outs to end the game, as we crushed the Pirates by seven. Nice win, five in a row! Johnny Klippstein won the game, improving to 10-2 with seven innings of four-hit ball, striking out five and walking one, while giving up our only run. Vern Fear continues his dominant streak since coming up from the minors, pitching two innings for his first save, giving up three hits and striking out two. His 1.26 ERA is really starting to draw notice! AUGUST 2, 1953 . . . Bob Rush came in to pitch the second game of the double-header this afternoon, and it was a real pitcher’s battle throughout, with Rush giving up the first run, a solo shot to center by Cal Abrams to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth. Frank Baumholtz tied it up on an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, however, and the fans were salivating over whether we could stay alive to keep the win-streak going. Rush gave up the go-ahead run and an extra one in the top of the seventh, and Sandy Consuegra came in with one man out and a runner at second, walking a runner but then getting a double play to escape with the deficit of just two runs. Consuegra got three quick outs in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom of the inning Kenneth Chapman drove in a run thanks to a throwing error that allowed Randy Jackson to score all the way from first, sending Chapman to second, but we couldn’t get the tying run over. Consuegra put them down one, two, three in the top of the ninth, giving us one last chance to make something happen. McCullough almost got the tying run over home, but he was tagged out while sliding into the plate, ending the game in a real heartbreaker, falling to Pittsburgh 3-2. Lucky for us we get game two today to avenge the loss. Bob Rush took the loss, falling to 7-10 on the seaosn with a 4.94 ERA. He gave up six hits and three runs with four strikeouts and two walks in 6.1 innings. Meanwhile, Sandy Consuegra came in and impressed everyone quickly, throwing 2.2 innings of no-hit ball, striking out two while walking only one. Eddie Miksis hit three times but was stranded each time. Willie Mays added two hits and scored a run, and Frank Baumholtz hit once and batted in a run as well. Paul Minner pitched in the second game of the double-header, and the Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second off a solo homer by Ted Kazanski. Minner gave up a second run in the third inning, and the Pirates made it a 3-0 deficit in the fourth. But Paul Minner singlehandedly got us back in this one with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, his second homer of the year, tying it at 3-3! But he gave up two more runs in the fifth, at which point it seemed like he just gave up on fielding at all. Bases loaded, he managed to get out of it, but the damage was done and his four straight innings of giving up runs was taking its toll. Randy Jackson hit a solo homer to make it a one run deficit, but Bob Kelly surrendered our sixth run of the game in the top of the eighth, giving Pittsburgh a 6-4 lead. And then he let loose a grand slam that pretty much slammed the door closed. Kenneth Chapman batted in a run in the bottom of the eighth and Jackson added an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth, and then with the bases loaded they walked in a run to make it 10-7 with two outs and the bases still loaded. But Ernie Banks flew out to center as a pinch hitter for Northey and this one was over. Our GM has done us no favors by refusing to help build our pitching corps up -- we’re outplaying expectations but not at the level where we can compete with the likes of Milwaukee. Right now we’re competing well against teams like Brooklyn, but then we’re splitting series against bottom-dwelling Pittsburgh. You don’t win a pennant playing that way. Bob Kelly deserved to get the loss, giving up five runs in two innings on three hits and three walks, but Minner took the loss instead, falling to 7-9 with a 4.97 ERA. He gave up 13 hits in 5.2 innings, giving up five runs with a strikeout. He should have been the hero with his three run homer, but instead his poor pitching performance will overshadow the rest. Randy Jackson led the offense with three hits, two runs and two RBIs. We were outhit 18-14 in a game we deserved to lose. We head into the Giants series with a 57-47 record, tied for third with Philly in the NL but three games behind Brooklyn and 12 games behind Milwaukee. The Giants, at 45-59, are now 24 games back of first and we need these wins to allow us to keep chase with the Braves, who are 9-1 in their last ten and pulling away quickly in the race for the NL’s championship. __________________ Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs! -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty The Birth of Small Town Baseball in Indiana -- Ohio River Baseball League (ORBL) -- An OOTP 26 Dynasty Online Leagues Modern Baseball (Chicago White Sox) Daily Double Baseball (Tampa Bay Devil Rays) Championship Baseball League (Winnipeg Goldeye) WPORBL 55 (Chicago Cubs) WPORBL 74 (Oakland A's) WPORBL 94 (Montreal Expos) -- *League Has Openings!* WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)