Let's Play Two! - Page 8

jksander · 09-17-2023, 09:40 PM

JULY 29, 1954 (Cont’d) . . . This is our last chance to get a win back against the Dodgers until we play them twice at home September 1-2 and then on a doubleheader in Brooklyn on September 12. We still hold a 12.5 game lead on the Dodgers, but Cincinnati, who we still have nine games against, five of which are on the road, is now only 10.5 games back of first. So we cannot afford to take anyone lightly. Every game will count. So today I am glad to see we have Hy Cohen (11-6, 3.01 ERA, 152.2 IP, 86 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) ready to start. Brooklyn, meanwhile, is saving their big guns for future series, so we’ll be facing 24-year-old Leo ‘Kiki’ Kiely (3-5, 6.39 ERA, 4 SV, 31.0 IP, 20 K’s, 1.97 WHIP) in only his second start -- what is almost certain to be a ‘one time through the order’ situation.

Cavarretta, Mays and Maris each knocked in singles to load the bases in the top of the first, sending Ernie Banks up with one out to try and drive in some runs and ding up Kiely quickly. Banks reached first safely, the Dodgers chosing to go to second for the out and allowing Cavarretta to score and make it quickly 1-0 Cubs, and they were able to get the strikeout of Rosen to end the inning. Cohen came out and got three outs on 12 pitches, and Keily got through the second inning without further incident -- but we would have the top of our order coming up for the third for their second go-round. Unfortunately, Cohen gave up a solo blast to Campanella to start the bottom of the second, tying the game 1-1, and Frank Thomas then immediately tripled. Cohen got Jackie Robinson out via a flyball to center, holding the runner at third, then got Pee Wee Reese out the same way -- though this time Thomas made the run from third and scored the go-ahead run. We got out of the inning but the Dodgers had the 2-1 lead. The best thing we had working for us was that Kiely was staying in for a third inning, though we did nothing with the opportunity. A third run for Brooklyn scored in the bottom of the third, and Kiely settled in, continuing to stump us offensively through the top of the fifth, despite throwing more than eighty pitches.

The Dodgers kept Kiely out there until he had two outs in the sixth, with Willie Mays stuck on first and Al Rosen at the plate before going to the bullpen. With the count 2-1 on Rosen, Mays managed to steal second, and Rosen batted one into center field, driving Mays home and giving Rosen an RBI as we pulled within a 3-2 margin. Roy Sievers came in to bat for Elston Howard, but he flew out to right to end the inning. Al Rosen got a hit into center field in the top of the eighth with two outs and two on, driving Willie Mays home to tie the game at 3-3, and Hy Cohen got us through the eighth inning with the game still knotted, and in the top of the ninth with one out, he was able to get a hit into deep left, legging out a double! Kaline hit one over the head of the center fielder, sending Cohen around to score and give us a 4-3 lead, our first lead since the second inning. And Willie Mays capped it off with a two-run blast to right, putting us ahead 6-3 with his 23rd homer of the season! Cohen got us through the final frame with a flyout and a double play, completing the come-from-behind win as we stole one back from the Dodgers on the road by a 6-3 margin.

Cohen improved to 12-6 with a 2.95 ERA, giving up seven hits for three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and two walks. We outhit them 12-7, led easily by Willie Mays who hit four times, scoring three runs and driving in two more. Kaline, Cavarretta and Rosen each added two hits as well. We now head to Pittsburgh for four games over the next three days.

JULY 30, 1954 . . . For tonight’s game we’ve got Joe Dobson (6-1, 2.73 ERA, 56.0 IP, 31 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) taking his winning streak on the road against Pittsburgh’s Bob Purkey (4-11, 4.37 ERA, 113.1 IP, 43 K’s, 1.55 WHIP). Ernie Banks hit a sac-fly to center with the bases loaded in the top of the first, driving Kaline in to score the game’s first run. Elston Howard opened the top of the second with a triple, and Gene Baker managed to reach first safely on a botched catch by the defender, though Howard was smart to stay at third. Dobson hit into a double play for outs at first and second, but this time Howard was able to come around and score safely, making it a 2-0 game! Mays scored a run in the top of the third off an Ernie Banks two-out double, and an error on a throw to home allowed Banks to score on a single by Rosen, the errant throw allowing Rosen to snag an extra base. Dobson got us through the third unscathed as the sun set over the stadium, and we led 4-0 heading into the fourth. Ernie Banks hit a line drive that rolled along the foul line just barely safe, getting into the outfield and allowing him to score two runs, before Maris tried to go all the way from first to home, getting tagged out at the plate. But we went into the stretch leading by a six unanswered run margin and the Pirates’ fans were stunned silent. Dobson completed his shutout, three quick outs in the ninth to ensure we blanked the Pirates 6-0.

Dobson continues to shine, improving to 7-1 since joining our rotation, pitching a five-hit five strikeout two walk shutout through 98 pitches, improving his ERA to 2.35 overall. We had 12 hits, led by Cavarretta with three hits and a walk, though he never scored. Ernie Banks hit twice and scored a run while batting in four, and Kaline and Rosen each added a pair of hits as well.

JULY 31, 1954 . . . It’s trade deadline day! After today players can only be traded once they’ve cleared waivers. We’re done dealing for the year, ready to let the chips fall where they may. Our focus tonight is on beating Pittsburgh again before tomorrow’s doubleheader. Robert Diehl (9-3, 3.02 ERA, 125.1 IP, 62 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) will be pitching against Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend (11-9, 2.73 ERA, 194.2 IP, 73 K’s, 1.14 WHIP). In the top of the third, Phil Cavarretta got a line drive into the outfield, sending Elston Howard around to score and put us up 1-0. Elston Howard drove in his 40th run of the year with a single in the top of the fourth, but a run scored for the Pirates in the bottom of the inning when Billy Klaus was able to score on a Rocky Nelson flyout to right, sending us into the top of the fifth with a tight 2-1 lead to defend against Friend, 1953’s NL Gold Glove winner. Both pitchers locked in from there, until in the bottom of the eighth Diehl gave up a hit to Rocky Nelson, allowing pitcher Bob Friend to score the tying run from around second. Vern Fear came in to get us out of the jam, two outs with runners on first and second. A flyball to Mays ended the inning and sent us into the top of the ninth knotted 2-2. Unable to score, Fear came back out for the bottom of the ninth, setting the Pirates down with an infield popup out to Fear himself, a strikeout and a flyball to center, sending us into extra innings.

Bob Friend stayed in to pitch in the 10th inning, and he got two quick outs before Cavarretta managed to reach first on an infield single. But Willie Mays popped up to center and ended our frame, sending Fear back out for more fun. He gave up a single, got a quick out at second, and then gave up another single on a grounder to left, putting a runner in scoring position. A quick strikeout by Rip Repulski, and we were facing Rocky Nelson with two outs and two on, knowing an outfield hit would almost certainly end it. But the batter hit it straight to Kaline over in right field for a sure out, sending us into the 11th, with Harry Dorish warming up in the bullpen. Maris popped out to short, but they walked Ernie Banks, and Al Rosen drove one deep into the right corner, sending Banks around to score and giving us a 3-2 lead. Bob Friend stayed in, nearing 120 pitches, and with Rosen on third, Howard got off an infield hit and Rosen went for it but couldn’t beat the throw -- out number two. Gene Baker popped out at first and Dorish came in hoping to end this one quickly. And he did just that, shutting all three batters down via weak contact and quick throws, allowing us to come out with the 3-2 11th inning win.

Poor Bob Friend pitched an 11-inning complete game with nine hits and three earned runs but came out with his 10th loss of the year. Vern Fear pitched 2.1 two-hit innings with two strikeouts to secure the win, improving to 3-1 with a 1.77 ERA. Diehl lasted 7.2 innings while giving up seven hits and two runs (one earned) with a strikeout, improving his ERA to 2.91. And Harry Dorish got his third save of the season, improving his ERA to 1.41. Each team had nine hits in the game, with Cavarretta leading the way for our Cubs, hitting three times and batting in a run while Banks hit twice and scored two runs and Al Rosen got a hit and an RBI. Elston Howard also had a good night, improving his average to .277 with a pair of hits as he scored a run and batted in that 40th RBI. He’s having a hell of a rookie season,

Hy Cohen has been named the NL’s Rookie of the Month, having put up a 5-3 record in July with 35 K’s and a 1.50 ERA, holding opposing batters to a miniscule .166 average! I am glad we have him locked up on that four year free agency deal from earlier this year -- our owner originally said I was insane for offering him $84,000 over four seasons, but it looks like I made the smart call.

AUGUST 1, 1954 . . . It doesn’t look to me like any major deals have gone down at the deadline, just some minor housekeeping moves for teams across the league -- I’d say honestly our deal with Baltimore for Bob Turley is likely to be the biggest deal of the summer, a blockbuster that should benefit both sides. Today we’ll get to see how Turley looks, as he’s taking the mound in game one of our Pittsburgh doubleheader, facing Pittsburgh’s Stu Miller (0-1, 40.50 ERA, 0.2 IP, 0 K’s, 9.00 WHIP), who looks to be a sacrificial lamb out there because they simply don’t have starters ready for the two-game situation. I’m being merciful by sending Turley out instead of Hy Cohen, who we’ll use in the second game.

Both pitchers acquitted themselves well early, but Willie Mays broke things open in the top of the second, getting a hit into right with the bases loaded, driving two runs in with a single to put us up 2-0. Ernie Banks tripled to start the third inning, and Gene Baker hit a blooper into right field to drive in the run with a double, and Turley kept striking batters out left and right! Al Kaline batted in two more runs in the top of the sixth with a single, and Willie Mays singled to drive in a sixth. Maris hit a line drive to right to make it 7-0, at which point Banks finally hit into an out to end the inning. Turley finally gave up a run to the Pirates in the bottom of the sixth, a run-scoring triple for Jim Finigan, but that was all he let them have. He got his 10th strikeout in the bottom of the seventh, and in the top of the ninth Clyde McCullough batted in another run to make it a seven-run lead. Al Kaline got a blast into left to extend the lead to 10-1, the lead Turley defended when he came in to close out the game, dominating the remainder as we completed the blowout win.

Turley was exceptional, and I can’t wait for Cubs fans at Wrigley to get to see him! In the complete game victory, Turley threw 13 STRIKEOUTS, setting a Cubs regular season single-game record! He gave up just seven hits, one earned run and two walks through 128 pitches, earning a 1.00 ERA and a 1-0 start as a Cub. We outhit them 15-7, led by Kaline (three hits, one run, four RBIs), Mays (two hits for three RBIs) and Baker (three hits, three runs, one RBI). And to think, these fans get one more game out of us today ... let’s make it a Cubs win.

Hy Cohen (12-6, 2.95 ERA, 161.2 IP, 89 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) pitched the second game, throwing against Pittsburgh’s Dick Hall (8-10, 2.76 ERA, 189.1 IP, 88 K’s, 1.15 WHIP). We went up quickly 1-0 in the top of the first thanks to a sac-fly to center by Mays that brought Al Kaline around to score from third. But Pittsburgh tied it up quickly in the bottom of the first as Cohen struggled a bit to find his control. Roger Maris hit a two-run blast to center in the top of the third, scoring two runs via his ninth homer of the season, and with Cohen shutting everyone down in the bottom of the inning we headed into the fourth leading 3-1. Cohen gave up a second run in the bottom of the fourth inning, But Willie Mays got his 24th homer of the season, a two-run thunderbolt that built our lead up to 5-2 in the top of the fifth. Rocky Nelson hit a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to pull Pittsburgh back to within two runs, but they left a man stranded on third and weren’t able to complete the rally. Willie Mays added another homer, another two-run blast to center, giving him 25 on the year, which was quickly followed by a two-run blast by Al Rosen, his 17th of the year, putting us up 9-3 heading into the stretch. Al Kaline added a solo homer in the top of the eighth, his 13th of the year, and Willie Mays then slugged his THIRD TWO-RUN HOMER OF THE GAME, extending our lead to 12-3 and giving him his 26th of the season. Cohen completed a double play in the bottom of the eighth that conceded a run to be scored by Rocky Nelson, pulling the Pirates to within eight runs, but he ended the inning with a strikeout, and he stayed in to complete the game as we beat Pittsburgh soundly 12-4 for the series sweep.

Cohen improved to 13-6 with a 2.95 ERA, thanks to an 11 hit six strikeout four run (three earned) complete game, throwing 125 pitches in the effort. We outhit them 18-11, including an absolutely insane SIX HOMERS, with Willie Mays being King of the Mountain with three homers, scoring four runs and batting in seven! Roger Maris added two hits for a run and two RBIs, and Al Rosen hit once for a run and two RBIs as well. Leadoff man Al Kaline hit twice to score two runs and bat in another as well.

We have a day off, and then a three game set against the bottom-dwelling New York Giants (30-77). At 77-30, the sweep of Pittsburgh gives us a 12.5 game lead on the Redlegs (64-42) with Brooklyn (62-44) right behind. In the AL, Cleveland (64-38) still holds a 7.5 game leadon the Senators (57-46) with the Yankees trailing half a game back at ten games over .500. Though the White Sox remain, at 54-51, slightly above .500, they will have to perform exceptionally if they exect to contend.

In contract news, we’ve committed to making Bob Turley a critical part of our rotation for years to come, inking the 23-year-old fireballer to a long-term nine-year deal with a total value of $875,000. Earning $46,200 this year, he’ll get a bump next season to $60,000, with annual increases eventually providing him with a salary of $125,000 per year in 1961, 1962 and 1963. If he keeps pitching like he did in his Cubs debut, that contract is going to look cheap in the end, I guarantee it. And our fans and the local press agree, as we continue to see fan interest going through the roof. We now have Mays, Turley and Kaline locked up through at least 1960, with Hy Cohen, Saul Rogovin and Johnny Klippstein locked up through the 1956 and 1957 respectively. My job is to make sure we keep this strong foundation -- there’s no reason Chicago can’t build a national fan base to rival the Yankees in the coming decade.

But first we have to prove it over the next seven weeks that we’re truly worthy to be World Series bound.

jksander · 09-23-2023, 12:56 PM

AUGUST 3, 1954 . . . For game one against the Giants on the road, Robert Diehl (9-3, 2.91 ERA, 133.0 IP, 63 K’s, 1.08 WHIP) took the mound against Larry Janson (2-0, 1.69 ERA, 16.0 IP, 7 K’s, 0.69 WHIP), the 34-year-old veteran starter from Brooklyn who the Giants picked up off waivers on July 22nd. He’s red hot right now, coming off a two-hit shutout against the Cardinals on July 29th. But we dinged him up quickly -- Willie Mays hit a two run homer, his 27th of the season, out at center and quickly gave us a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The Giants didn’t wither and die, however; in the bottom of the second they added a run off a line-drive single by Nico Escalera that drove home Ed Bailey from third, and we went into the top of the third with a tighter 2-1 lead in front of a quiet 8,500 person crowd at the Polo Grounds. And in the bottom of the third they tied it up 2-2, thanks to a Jim Gilliam homer to right. Willie Mays tripled in the top of the fifth to drive home Diehl to make it 3-2, and in the top of the sixth Al Rosen hit a solo blast to center (his 18th this year!) to make it a 4-2 lead. The Giants got a run back in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a wild throw on a pick-off play at home, but Diehl got us through the eighth inning with our 4-3 lead intact. We weren’t able to add any ninth inning insurance runs, so Consuegra came in for the bottom of the ninth with a one run lead ... and promptly gave up two hits in a row to right field, the second being an RBI double that tied the game for another surprising blown save. A third hit to right, but then he finally secured the final out and we’re headed for extra innings against the worst team in major league baseball.

Ernie Banks reached base on a single to start the 10th inning, and he successfully stole second with Al Rosen facing a 1-1 count. Rosen then got off an RBI single as Banks made it around to give us a 5-4 lead. Elston Howard hit into a 6-4-3 double play, and Gene Baker grounded out to first to end the frame. Consuegra, after 20 pitches, was pulled for Harry Dorish to face the bottom of the Giants’ order. Strikeout, groundout, strikeout and he got us out of the game with a 5-4 victory!

Robert Diehl had eight innings of five-hit baseball, giving up three runs (two earned) with four strikeouts and a walk. Consuegra blew his fifth save but came up with his fifth win, improving to 5-1 with a 2.54 ERA despite a ho-hum three-hit performance that was well below his standards. Harry Dorish came in and was clutch, with two strikeouts and no hits, saving his fourth game of the year and improving his ERA to 1.38 on the year as we won our 78th game. We outhit the Giants 13-8, led by Al Kaline with three hits and a walk with a run scored. Mays had two hits and a welk, scoring a run and batting in three, while Al Rosen added two hits for a run and two RBIs.

AUGUST 4, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (7-1, 2.35 ERA, 65.0 IP, 36 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) took on the Giants’ Dave Koslo (6-7, 3.92 ERA, 108.0 IP, 29 K’s, 1.42 WHIP) in this afternoon’s game at the Polo Grounds, in front of a dwindling crowd of 7,600 Giants diehards. But those who showed up got to enjoy themselves in the bottom of the third, when Dusty Rhodes hit his 15th homer of the year, a two run blast that gave the Giants an unexpected 2-0 lead on us. That was immediately followed by a solo blast by Ed Bailey to make it 3-0 before Dobson was able to finally get the third out. Dobson then melted down, losing all his confidence -- in the bottom of the fourth he gave up a three-run blast to lead-off batter Jim Gilliam, and I had to start warming up Vern Fear. Dobson got us out of the fourth but we were in a 6-0 hole. Bill Serena pinch hit for Dobson in the top of the fifth, legging out a triple that scored two runs to put us on the board, and Al Kaline got an infield hit that the shortstop couldn’t glove, driving in a third run. Mays added an RBI double to the mix, pulling us to within two runs with two outs and a man now in scoring position. But Roger Maris batted out to center, ending the rally with New York still leading 6-4 heading into the bottom of the inning.

Vern Fear was efficient through five outs on just 11 pitches, but with two outs in the bottom of the sixth he gave up a triple to pinch hitter Bill Verdon, who scored when Gilliam beat out an infield single to make it 7-4 Giants. Fear got us through the seventh with the same three-run deficit, and Harry Dorish threw a brilliant eighth inning, sending us into the top of the ninth needing three runs to tie. Al Kaline hit an RBI double with two outs that allowed Elston Howard to score a run having walked earlier in the inning. Cavarretta got a ball out into right field on a sharp line drive, sending Kaline over to third, but Mays hit a high ball straight to the shortstop, ending the game with the Giants up 7-5, just their 31st win of the season and our 31st loss.

Joe Dobson took the loss, falling to 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA, giving up seven hits and six runs (five earned) with three strikeouts and no walks during his 81 pitch four inning effort. Vern Fear lasted three solid innings with just three hits and the one earned run, notching a strikeout and keeping his ERA at 1.81 through 43.2 innings of relief. And Harry Dorish was perfect, three up and three down over just eight pitches, dropping his ERA to 1.36 on the year through 53 innings and 31 appearances. We had 12 hits to their 10 but the Giants fought harder to do something with the men they got on base. Al Kaline was exceptional, with four hits and a walk, scoring a run and driving in two, while Willie Mays hit twice and batted in a run.

In contract news, Elston Howard has signed to stay with us as our catcher for at least the next seven years, ensuring he’ll be here through his 32nd birthday! I fully believe he’s got the potential to become the best fielding catcher in the National League, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is. He is making $36,000 this year, but will get an immediate bump to $50,000 next season, rising by $2,500 per year in 1956 and 1957 before jumping $5,000 per year for the remaining years of the contract. By 1961 he’ll be making $75,000. His family is well settled here, and he made it clear he wants to stay a Cub, so no further incentives were required. He’s not a flashy presence on the team, so this isn’t the kind of deal that gets the fans all excited, but I believe games are won and lost by good fielding and defense from the catcher and his ability to work well with pitchers -- and it isn’t like Howard is a slouch with his bat either, having hit .230/.283/.397 so far this year with 40 RBIs and a 1.2 WAR.

AUGUST 5, 1954 . . . Time for the last game against the Giants on their field! We’re saving Hy Cohen for our upcoming series, so Bob Turley (1-0, 1.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 13 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) will be getting his second start for us since the trade at the deadline. He’s facing Giants starter Jack Harshman (4-12, 4.05 ERA, 177.2 IP, 95 K’s, 1.45 WHIP). Al Kaline wasted no time hitting a ball right over the center field wall to put us up 1-0 via his 14th homer of the season, and Roger Maris hit a two-run blast to right moments later, his 10th of the year, to make it a 3-0 lead. Turley gave up a homer of his own in the bottom of the first to narrow our lead to 3-1, Turley got into a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the third, walking in a run to make it 3-2 with no outs, but he locked in and got a strikeout, then got Nico Escalera out via an F7 flyout, and when the runner on third tried to score, we got the quick 7-2 throw for the third out, protecting our one run lead! Turley threw a lot of pitches to get us there, but we were hopeful we could get a couple more good innings out of him before having to go to the bullpen -- some insurance runs would obviously help with that.

Ernie Banks did his part with a solo blast to left that made it 4-2, his 16th four-bagger of the season, and Al Rosen stuck a dagger in the home-fans’ hearts with a stunning display of running skills, beating out a throw to home to score on an INSIDE THE PARK HOMER to make it 5-2, at which point the Giants went to their bullpen with one out in the bottom of the fourth. That was Rosen’s 19th homer of the year, but in spectacular fashion! Their reliever got them out of the inning but Turley now had a three-run lead to work with. Elston Howard added a run in the top of the sixth with a solo blast to center, his sixth of the year, Ernie Banks scored a run in the top of the seventh on a sac-fly to right with the bases loaded, driving in Al Kaline to score, and Al Rosen hit a line drive to deep left that quietly made it 8-2 Cubs heading into the stretch. Turley gave up a third run in the bottom of the seventh, but Bob Porterfield came out to get the final out of the inning -- and Porterfield was brilliant, staying in to close out the game, striking out two batters in the ninth inning to ice the 8-3 victory!

“Bullet Bob” Turley’s bullets weren’t shot as straight today but he still improved to 2-0 with a six-hitter, giving up three earned runs while striking out three and walking seven. The walks aren’t something I’m happy with at all, but he stayed in and threw 133 pitches to prevent this from becoming a bullpen game, and his ERA is still solid at 2.30. Porterfield earned a save by staying in for 2.1 innings, giving up no hits and no walks with the two strikeouts, throwing 34 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 6.00 in his third relief effort of the season. We outhit the Giants 10-6, with Kaline, Rosen and Howard each getting two hits, and Maris, Rosen and Howard each driving in a pair of runs, Kaline and Mays each scoring a pair themselves.

On to face the Phillies for four games over the next three days! These should all be winnable games if we want to maintain our 12.5 game lead over the Redlegs. The Phillies (54-53) have been just clinging to above .500 status, and at 23.5 games back they’re all but out of the race. The Giants became the first team in the majors to be officially eliminated, at 48 games back. Cleveland is still in control in the AL, seven games up on the Yankees with Washington (8.5 GB) and the White Sox (9.5 GB) still nipping at their heels.

jksander · 09-24-2023, 07:03 PM

AUGUST 6, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (13-6, 2.95 ERA, 170.2 IP, 95 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) started tonight against Philly’s Bob Lemon (8-7, 3.52 ERA, 166.1 IP, 84 K’s, 1.42 WHIP) in the first of four games we’ll have against them in Philadelphia. Philly played aggressively, scoring on a ground-out at first when we expected the runner at third was going to hold with two outs, giving them an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Lemon was also very quick on his pickoff throws, twice erasing runners just as we started to get any momentum. We outhit them 6-2 through six innings but had nothing to show for it. Their shortstop, Granny Hammer, committed an error that allowed Ernie Banks to reach first to start the top of the seventh, and Al Rosen took a walk, giving us a man in scoring position for the first time all game! Elston Howard took the opportunity to hit one deep, the ball rolling to the wall and allowing Howard to eke out a triple that scored the tying and go-ahead runs at long last, putting us up 2-1 with no outs! Hy Cohen hit a sac fly to left that scored Howard to make it 3-1 with two outs before Kaline batted himself out to end the inning. Roger Maris hit his 11th homer of the season, giving us a 4-1 lead in the top of the eighth, and Hy Cohen got his 100th strikeout of the season in the bottom of the inning, but started the bottom of the ninth by giving a solo blast up to Granny Hammer, his 17th of the year, pulling the Phillies within a pair. Consuegra, who had not expected to be needed, started warming up in the bullpen -- Hacker gave up a base hit to Del Ennis, but Smoky Burgess batted into a fielder’s choice and Cohen chose to throw out Ennis at second to get our first out. Red Schoendienst hit a fly-out at center, and Cohen got our final out safely on an infield grounder by pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell, protecting our 4-2 victory without Consuegra having to come in after all.

Cohen improved to 14-6 with a 2.91 ERA, giving up just five hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts and a pair of walks through 110 pitches in the complete game effort. We had ten hits to their five, led by Mays and Maris who each had a pair. Maris’ home run was the highlight of the night, though Elston Howard was also impressive with his clutch two-run triple that drove in two runs to put us in the lead in the first place. Kaline, Banks and Cohen each doubled in the game. We improved to 80-31 with the win, extending our NL pennant lead to 13.5 games over the Redlegs and 14.5 games over the Dodgers.

AUGUST 7, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (9-3, 2.87 ERA, 141.0 IP, 67 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) started today against Philly’s Bob Rush (5-5, 4.38 ERA, 78.0 IP, 35 K’s, 1.47 WHIP). And pitching ruled the day early. We had a single in the top of the first and Al Kaline hit a triple in the top of the third, but we got nothing out of either. Willie Jones gave Philly their first hit and first baserunner of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, via a single off a hit that just barely was out of Ernie Banks’ reach at shorstop. Jones advanced to second on a wild pitch, and reached third on a groundout to first that gave the Phillies two outs. But a grounder to first ended the inning still scoreless. Phil Cavarretta got a hit into the outfield with two outs in the top of the sixth, and Willie Mays came through in the clutch with a two-run blast to right field, giving us a 2-0 lead with his 28th homer of the year. Maris walked, and then Ernie Banks slammed his 19th home run of the season into the same area as Mays’, making this a 4-0 lead out of nowhere! Diehl and Kaline got on base in the seventh inning, both with two outs, amd Cavarretta got a hit into the outfield but Diehl got excited and tried to leg out a run instead of staying at third, so the inning ended with no scoring. Elston Howard got a triple in the top of the ninth, his 13th of the season, but Baker and Diehl struck out swinging to keep him from adding to the margin. Diehl came out and preserved the 4-0 shutout with three quick groundouts, all to Kaline with throws to Cavarretta, capping an impressive performance and preserving our bullpen for tomorrow’s doubleheader.

Diehl improved to 10-3 with a 2.70 ERA, giving up just two hits and two walks, with six strikeouts through 115 pitches! We had ten hits for the second game in a row against the Phillies, led by Al Kaline who had three (including a triple) without managing to score at all. Cavarretta had two hits and scored a run, Mays and Banks each batted in a pair with their homers, and Maris scored a run without a hit.

AUGUST 8, 1954 . . . Time for another double-header day! Joe Dobson (7-2, 2.87 ERA, 69.0 IP, 39 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) faced Philly’s Curt Simmons (12-7, 2.63 ERA, 198.2 IP, 86 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) in the first game. Philly got on board first in the bottom of the third with an RBI double by Granny Hammer, but Dobson avoided any further damage though he allowed multiple baserunners. Baker doubled for the 13th time this year, giving us a runner in scoring position in the top of the fourth with two outs, but Bill Serena hit straight to the third baseman for our third out so we stayed scoreless. We brought Vern Fear in with one outs and a man on base in the bottom of the sixth, and he got us through the inning without the runner leaving first, score still 1-0 Phillies heading into the seventh. Vern Fear got a hit in the top of the seventh with two outs, bringing up the top of the lineup, but Kaline hit to third and the out was quickly made at second to end the frame. Fear got into a touch of trouble in the bottom of the eighth, allowing runners quickly at first and second, and a base hit for Willie Jones scored a second run for Philadelphia before we could secure the final out. We came up in the top of the ninth needing to find a way to score SOMETHING. Joe Collins came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker, getting a hit into right field to reach first safely. Grady Hatton came in to hit for Bill Serena, and he too got a hit, this one just past the second baseman and into the outfield, giving us two on base and bringing up Clyde McCullough as the potential go-ahead run! He batted into a double play, but Joe Collins made it to third giving us at least a chance ... Al Rosen came in to pinch hit for Vern Fear, but he struck out, game over, we lose 2-0. What a letdown of a game. Thankfully we have a second one to salve the wounds.

Joe Dobson took the loss, falling to 7-3 with a 2.78 ERA with just six hits, one earned run and a strikeout with three walks, which led to his early exit. Vern Fear got us through the remaining 2.2 innings, giving up three hits with an earned run, to go with a strikeout and a walk. We had nine empty hits as well, Kaline and Baker each getting a pair, but we couldn’t make anything pop.

For game two we started Bob Turley (2-0, 2.30 ERA, 15.2 IP, 16 K’s, 1.40 WHIP) against Philly’s Gordon Jones (12-11, 3.36 ERA, 208.2 IP, 116 K’s, 1.18 WHIP). Turley gave up an RBI double in the bottom of the first to put Philly up 1-0, as he struggled to find his control, throwing 30 pitches in that first frame before finding ways to get the remaining outs. A second RBI double in the bottom of the third put us down 2-0, and a third run scored on a sac fly to right field, and Turley and McCullough seemed extremely rattled, McCullough making several botched catches that threw both their rhythms off. I tried to keep Turley out in the fifth inning, to give him some confidence, but he walked his seventh batter and gave up a hit without an out, and I had no choice but to bring in Harry Dorish. Sometimes it’s just not your day, Turley, nothing against you. But his WHIP is skyrocketing, and if you’re walking seven guys against three hits and two strikeouts, sometimes it’s time to cut your losses and try again next time. Part of it was McCullough’s piss-poor catching, and if I had someone else I could put in for him to allow Howard to still rest, I would. Instead, I had to leave his aging ass in there and hope for the best.

Dorish got out of the fifth inning but gave up both of Turley’s runs thanks to a McCullough error. Trailing 5-0 and with Howard, Rosen and Mays resting, I conceded this was not a game we were going to make a massive comeback in. Better to move on and just get through it so we can focus on the next series. Carmen Mauro hit an RBI double in the top of the seventh to at least put us on the board, and Dorish got us through the bottom of the inning. Phil Cavarretta hit a towering solo homer to right in the top of the eighth to make it 5-2, giving him a dozen homers this year. Vern Fear came in to finish the game out, and he gave up a home run in the bottom of the eighth with one out to make it 6-2 before getting the remaining outs, and we quickly finished the final frame without a fuss as the Phillies beat us by four and split the series.

Turley took the loss, falling to 2-1 with a 4.12 ERA, giving up four hits, five earned runs and striking out just two batters against seven walks, one of the most inefficient efforts I have seen from any Cubs pitcher all year (92 pitches in four innings). Harry Dorish threw 53 pitches through three innings, giving up two hits with a strikeout and two walks, and Vern Fear had two hits and a home run scored in his one inning of action. They outhit us 8-6, with Cavarretta’s three hits and a homer being the lone bright spot on our offensive roster. And things won’t get easier, with three games against the Redlegs (66-46) and three against the Braves (50-60) before we finally get to head back to Wrigley. The Redlegs are in third now at 14 games back, but only a game behind the Dodgers.

Makonnen · 09-26-2023, 03:11 PM

Big fan of the play every game model, as I think you really do feel more of the day to day and week to week narratives. Congrats on that!

Taking over the GM role makes the whole thing much easier--you can't help but know what Maris or Kaline do eventually. Like Luckymann, you'll have to figure out how to make it a challenge after your first 7 or 8 championships. Or, not--like, dynasties are fun, too.

One request: maybe at the end of each in-game month, an update to the standings to help us track the Cubs' march towards the pennant? Keep it up!

jksander · 09-26-2023, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makonnen

Big fan of the play every game model, as I think you really do feel more of the day to day and week to week narratives. Congrats on that!

Taking over the GM role makes the whole thing much easier--you can't help but know what Maris or Kaline do eventually. Like Luckymann, you'll have to figure out how to make it a challenge after your first 7 or 8 championships. Or, not--like, dynasties are fun, too.

One request: maybe at the end of each in-game month, an update to the standings to help us track the Cubs' march towards the pennant? Keep it up!

I'll post more regular updates on the standings ... it gets where I mention some stuff in passing, because I don't want things to get too repetitive, but any extra information you guys need I'm willing to put in here

Sorry I can only get through games on my weekends ... the fun thing about playing in the 1950s is the winner-takes-all nature of the pennant races. Year one I finished with 95 wins and still didn't make the playoffs. We've been dominant this year, but are still only a dozen games up or so, so I can't help but worry we'll fall off a cliff. There have also been quick drop-offs as certain players age -- McCullough in particular has gone from being an above average catcher to now having rock bottom fielding ability. It's similar to how quickly Dee Fondy dropped off early in the 1954 season. It's definitely going to keep me on my toes

I appreciate that anyone is reading through all this ... 135,000 words and counting, it's like a long novel already!

jksander · 09-30-2023, 12:52 PM

AUGUST 10, 1954 . . . Current standings heading into our final six game stretch of this road trip, with three-game series against the Redlegs and the Braves:

Chicago (81-33) ... Run Dif +204
Brooklyn (67-45) 13 GB ... Run Dif +84
Cincinnati (66-46) 14 GB ... Run Dif +57
Philadelphia (56-55) 23.5 GB ... Run Dif +25
Milwaukee (50-60) 29 GB ... Run Dif +14
Pittsburgh (51-66) 31.5 GB ... Run Dif -89
St. Louis (48-65) 32.5 GB ... Run Dif -75
New York (32-81) 48.5 GB ... Run Dif -220 - eliminated

Over in the AL, meanwhile:

Cleveland (68-41) ... Run Dif +77
New York (62-50) 7.5 GB ... Run Dif +94
Washington (59-51) 9.5 GB ... Run Dif +55
Chicago (59-53) 10.5 GB ... Run Dif +52
Detroit (54-54) 13.5 GB ... Run Dif +35
Boston (52-58) 16.5 GB ... Run Dif -50
Philadelphia (49-62) 20 GB ... Run Dif -95
Baltimore (38-72) 30.5 GB ... Run Dif -168

Tonight against the Redlegs we’re starting Hy Cohen (14-6, 2.91 ERA, 179.2 IP, 100 K’s, 0.99 WHIP) against Redlegs starter Bobby Shantz (18-6, 2.65 ERA, 213.2 IP, 93 K’s, 1.26 WHIP). We took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, after Al Rosen (who reached base on a throwing error and then made it to second on a blown pick-off throw to first) scored via an Elston Howard single, the first hit of the game for either team. Moments later Hy Cohen walked the bases loaded, and Al Kaline should have been an easy third out, but he reached base on another throwing error, scoring a run and keeping the bases loaded! Two more runs scored on a Cavarretta single, and Willie Mays again walked the bases loaded, at which point they walked Maris to score a fifth run. Ernie Banks batted out to first to end the inning, but we’d built a 5-0 lead, thanks to three hits and three Redleg errors. Al Kaline hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth, his 15th of the year, to make it 6-0, and Roger Maris added his 12th homer in the top of the seventh, making it a 7-0 lead. Cohen stayed in to complete his 11th game in a row, but he blew the shutout, giving up a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth. But with the final out he capped his 15th win of the year as we beat the Redlegs soundly 7-3.

Cohen’s record now stands at 15-6 with a 2.91 ERA, thanks to a four-hit three run game during which he threw six strikeouts and walked only one batter through 120 pitches. We notched nine hits as a team, led by Al Kaline with three hits for two runs and an RBI. Cavarretta and Maris each had two RBIs, with Maris hitting 40 RBIs for the season.

jksander · 10-01-2023, 05:41 PM

AUGUST 11, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (10-3, 2.70 ERA, 150.0 IP, 73 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) is up in the rotation, taking on Cincy’s Tom Poholsky (12-9, 3.14 ERA, 203.2 IP, 80 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in another evening game. Early on it was a tightly fought pitcher’s battle -- we finally got a solid hit in the third, a double by Baker, but then got three outs in a row to keep us scoreless. But Roger Maris hit one sharply in the top of the fourth, getting it over the center-field wall for his 13th homer of the year, giving us a 1-0 advantage. Cincinnati answered in the bottom of the fourth with a solo blast to left by Ted Kluszewski to tie it 1-1, but Diehl got us back ahead thanks to a sac-fly to center in the top of the fifth which allowed Elston Howard to score from third. Al Kaline followed it up with a run-scoring single, giving us a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. Ernie Banks squeezed out a hit with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth to drive in a run to make it 4-1, and Al Rosen got a hit into the outfield that scored two more! With a five-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Diehl stayed in to finish the game, but two hits and a walk later and we had to warm up Consuegra. We got one out on a fielder’s choice that scored the Redlegs a second run, and a flyout to left held the remaining runners to their corners. And Diehl managed to get the third out with Consuegra ready to come in for the save, as we completed the 6-2 victory.

Diehl improved to 11-3 with the win, giving up nine hits with three strikeouts against three walks over 118 pitches, giving up two earned runs to keep his respectable 2.66 ERA. We had nine hits as well, led by Kaline, Mays and Baker who each had a pair of hits, and by Maris, who scored two runs and drove in another with his homer. We’ve gained more ground in the pennant race as Brookyln has lost two in a row to the Phillies, so we now lead our nearest competitors by 15 full games, our magic number now sitting at 25!

It is also appropriate that on the day he hit his 13th homer for us, Roger Maris has finally signed the contract extension we’ve been working on since before the All Star break, a ten year deal which will keep him in a Cubs uniform through at least 1964’s season! He’ll make just shy of $610,000 through the length of the contract, which will give him a raise to $44,800 for the next three seasons, followed by two years at $50,000 and then incremental raises, eventually peaking at $80,000 each year for the final three years of the contract.

AUGUST 12, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (7-3, 2.78 ERA, 74.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Redleg starter George Susce (5-3, 3.84 ERA, 91.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.31 WHIP) in the third game of the series. The Redlegs took an early lead, going up 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Ted Kluszewski hiting into a 5-4-3 double play that still allowed Whitey Lockman to score from third. They added a second run in the botom of the second, and a great pickoff play at home plate saved us from going into the third inning trailing by more. The Redlegs scored a third run in the bottom of the fourth, and we struggled to get anything out of the infield. Vern Fear came in to pitch in the botom of the sixth, the score still 3-0 Redlegs. Harry Dorish came in for the eighth inning and immediately gave up a triple. But he got us out of the inning with the runner still stranded on third, giving us one last shot to do something in this game. Mays flew out to left but Maris took a walk, bringing up Ernie Banks, who flew out to right -- Al Rosen came up with two outs, blasting a two-run homer to deep right, putting us on the board at last. Joe Collins came in to pinch hit for Elston Howard, but he flew out to deep left, ending the game as a 3-2 loss.

Dobson took the loss, falling to 7-4 with a 2.84 ERA, thanks to seven hits and three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and two walks through five innings. Vern Fear pitched two innings with two hits, two strikeouts and a walk, improving his ERA to 2.01 on the year, and Harry Dorish gave up the one triple but then struck out a batter and gave up a walk, improving his ERA to 1.26 through 57 innings. We just struggled to hit -- the Redlegs outhit us 10-5, Al Rosen batting in our two runs, with Cavarretta leading the way with a pair of hits with nothing to show for it. Next up: a three game set against Milwaukee (52-61, 29 GB) on the road, and then we can head back to Chicago where we’ll be at Wrigley through the second day of September.

jksander · 10-01-2023, 07:28 PM

AUGUST 13, 1954 . . . Bob Turley (2-1, 4.12 ERA, 19.2 IP, 18 K’s, 1.68 WHIP) had his fourth start as a Cub today, going up against Milwaukee’s Johnny Antonelli (12-10, 3.13 ERA, 198.2 IP, 122 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) in this evening’s game against the Braves. Gene Baker hit his seventh homer of the season in the top of the second, scoring two runs to put us up 2-0 on the Braves! Kaline scored in the top of the third off a Willie Mays sac-fly to right, and we held the Braves scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when they finally got on board with an RBI double by Sid Gordon making the score 3-1 Cubs heading into the top of the fifth. Willie Mays hit a two-run blast to center in the top of the fifth, his 29th homer of the season, putting us up comfortably 5-1. Harry Dorish came in to pitch with two outs and a man on in the bottom of the seventh with the score still 5-1, getting a strikeout to end the inning, and he got us through the eighth unblemished as well. Dorish gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, pulling the Braves within three, but he got three quick outs immediately thereafter, closing out the 5-2 win in style!

Bob Turley improved to 3-1, lasting 6.2 innings with just four hits and one earned run. Had he not walked so many batters he might have lasted longer -- he struck out four and walked four, throwing 100 pitches. Dorish put in 2.1 solid innings to close things out, giving up three hits and the one earned run, striking out one batter through 38 pitches of his own. His ERA dipped ever-so-slightly to 1.37 overall, while Turley’s improves to 3.42. The Braves outhit us 7-4 but we made ours count. Mays, Maris, Banks and Baker each got a hit, Mays batting in three and scoring one while walking once as well, his homer proving to be the difference-maker in this one.

AUGUST 14, 1954 . . . Tonight we brought out Hy Cohen (15-6, 2.91 ERA, 188.2 IP, 106 K’s, 0.96 WHIP) to pitch against Milwaukee’s Bob Buhl (8-12, 3.70 ERA, 167.2 IP, 93 K’s, 1.50 WHIP). Cohen was a bit wild early, allowing the Braves to take a 1-0 first inning lead. A flyout to center allowed a second run to score, and a third scored on a wild pitch before Cohen finally got us out of the first inning trailing 3-0, having thrown 31 pitches in the frame. Hy Cohen got a base hit in the top of the third and then stole second, advancing to third on a Kaline groundout to first. Phil Cavarretta came up with two outs and got a hit into right field, allowing Cohen to score a run, and Willie Mays hit one into center right, a standup double that advanced Cavarretta to third. But Roger Maris struck out, ending the rally with us still trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third. Ernie Banks hit a solo blast over the center field wall in the top of the seventh, a 436-footer that was his 18th of the year, pulling us to within a run, and in the top of the eighth Kaline hit his 16th homer of the year, tying the score 3-3! Cohen kept it tied, allowing a runner on base but then stranding him with a pair of flyouts and a strikeout to send us into the ninth inning knotted at three runs. In the top of the ninth, with a man on and two outs, Bill Serena pinch hit for Cohen, and he hit a towering homer into the left field stands, putting us up 5-3! Sandy Consuegra came in to close it out, getting three outs in quick fashion to ice the two run victory!

Hy Cohen had to work harder for that one, improving to 16-6 while throwing a seven hitter, giving up three runs (only one earned) with five strikeouts and three walks through eight innings and 121 pitches, improving his ERA to 2.84. Consuegra saved his 18th game of the year, improving his ERA to 2.49 with no hits. We outhit the Braves 11-7, with every player who came up to bat getting at least one hit (Consuegra never batted). Cavarretta had two hits and batted in a run, and Bill Serena’s second homer of the year proved to be a difference-maker, giving him two RBIs.

AUGUST 15, 1954 . . . One last road game and then we can head back to Wrigley in style! Robert Diehl (11-3, 2.66 ERA, 159.0 IP, 76 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched this afternoon, up against Milwaukee’s Warren Spahn (8-14, 3.69 ERA, 212.0 IP, 106 K’s, 1.36 WHIP) who has fallen a long way from last year’s 24-7 form. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Diehl gave up an ill-timed fastball to Eddie Matthews, who hit it out of the park and put the Braves up 1-0. Milwaukee scored a second run in the bottom of the fifth, and we brought Tom Ferrick in for the bottom of the sixth, still trailing 2-0. Ernie Banks got a hit into left field in the top of the eighth with men on the corners, driving in a run via Kaline from third to pull us within a run. Ferrick gave up a solo homer to Johnny Logan in the bottom of the eighth, but he got us through the rest of the inning without incident, sending us into the top of the ninth trailing 3-1 against the Braves. Bill Serena came in to pinch hit for Baker, getting a hit into left field for a base hit. Joe Collins batted for Carmen Mauro, and he got a hit into deep left, an easy double that allowed Serena to safely reach third and hold. With Consuegra warming in the bullpen, we brought Grady Hatton in to pinch hit for Ferrick, but he batted out to first and the runners held. Kaline was a quick out as well, bringing up Cavarretta with two outs, two men in scoring position, and the game on the line. He hit it straight to the shortstop, who threw to first and ended the game as a 3-1 loss for our Cubs. We had our chances, but we just couldn’t deliver.

Diehl took the loss, falling to 11-4 having thrown 96 pitches in five innings to take himself quickly out of the game. He gave up six hits and only two earned runs, amassing five strikeouts against two walks, but he threw too many pitches in the process. Tom Ferrick was very solid, however, lasting three innings with just two hits and an earned run, throwing 21 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 3.14 on the year through 28.2 innings.

We return to Wrigley with an 85-35 record and a firm 13.5 game lead on the Dodgers in the pennant race. Cincinnati remains in third, with a 69-49 record, just a game and a half behind the Dodgers. Philadelphia, at 61-56, is 22.5 games back and needs a miracle if they think they can crawl back into this race. In the AL race, Cleveland (73-43) now has a 10 game lead on the Washington Senators (63-53), with the Yankees (63-55) just a game behind them. Chicago and Detroit are within 15 games, but their chances of catching the Guardians look weak at best -- and Cleveland, despite their +5 Pythagorean differential, are looking less and less like a fluke and more like a legitimate postseason team.

This week we have four games against Cincinnati (including a Tuesday doubleheader) followed by a three game weekend set against Milwaukee. This stretch of games in late August gives us a long stretch against the bottom of the division once we get past Cincinnati, so we have a really good shot at putting the division away for all intents and purposes by the time we reach Labor Day.

jksander · 10-02-2023, 09:31 PM

AUGUST 17, 1954 . . . Today we play two games against the Redlegs, but back in the friendly confines of Wrigley. Cincinnati, at 69-49, remains 15 games back of us in first, but they’re only a game and a half behind Brooklyn, so we can really put them out of the race via this four-game series. Joe Dobson (7-4, 2.84 ERA, 79.1 IP, 43 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) is up in the rotation for game one, facing down Cincy’s George Susce (6-3, 3.68 ERA, 100.1 IP, 36 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) -- it’s a rainy afternoon, low 70s, and just shy of 17,000 fans were here at the 12:05 p.m. first pitch. Unfortunately, Dobson started out as poorly as you possibly can start a game like this, giving up three consecutive hits and allowing a Redleg run to score, all on his first nine pitches. After a fourth hit in a row that loaded the bases, Dobson managed to pull off a double play, allowing a second run to score in the process, but a wild pitch then allowed a third run to score. The hits kept coming as the wheels fell off, and this was about the worst way a doubleheader game could start out ... by the time Dobson got his third out of the top of the first inning, we were in a 4-0 hole and he’d only thrown 21 pitches.

Dobson settled in, thankfully, and allowed us to catch our collective breath. Phil Cavarretta hit a run-scoring single in the bottom of the third to pull us within three runs, but the Redlegs’ pitching kept us on edge and hits were hard to find. Dobson gave up three hits in the top of the fifth, two of which were due to piss-poor fielding in the infield, but was able to get out of the inning without ceding more runs. And he opened the bottom of the fifth with a blistering double on the ground, through the gap, to deep center, but he got greedy and tried to leg out a triple and was tagged out. Big mistake! We’re playing desperate! Al Kaline hit a solo blast to center to make it 2-4, but that was a wasted base-runner. Roger Maris added a solo homer to right in the bottom of the sixth to make it a one-run lead, and with the score 4-3 heading into the seventh we brought Vern Fear in to keep things running smoothly from the mound. Kaline and Mays got on base in the bottom of the seventh, and with two outs Roger Maris stepped up to the plate -- and he hit a SECOND four-bagger, giving him 15 on the season and putting us ahead 6-4! Vern Fear stayed in to close out the game, setting their batters down one, two, three and conserving our bullpen for the second game of the doubleheader, the final score Cubs 6, Redlegs 4.

Joe Dobson lasted six total innings, giving up 11 hits and four earned runs, with three strikeouts and a walk. It was an entirely mediocre performance, but he did enough to get deep enough into the game that we didn’t blow the bullpen, and his ERA only slipped to 3.06. Vern Fear took the win, improving to 4-1 on the year with a 1.89 ERA, giving up just one hit with three strikeouts in a masterful performance. We and the Redlegs each had 12 hits, ours coming later in the game as the tide turned and we took control. Roger Maris had the best game of his rookie season, two homers on two hits and a walk, giving him two runs scored and four batted in. Al Kaline added a pair of hits with two runs scored and an RBI thanks to his 12th homer of the year. And Cavarretta added a hit with an RBI as well.

The rain cleared the area in time for the second game, and by the time we threw out the first pitch nearly 19,000 fans were now in attendance. Bob Turley (3-1, 3.42 ERA, 26.1 IP, 22 K’s, 1.56 WHIP) took the mound for his first Wrigley start, up against Cincinnati’s Vern Law (4-3, 4.32 ERA, 73.0 IP, 32 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). We loaded the bases quickly on a pair of hits and a walk, and Roger Maris batted one through the gap into center field, putting two runs on the board in the bottom of the first. A third run scored on a passed ball, and we went into the second inning feeling comfortable at 3-0. We picked up right where we left off, Cavarretta batting in a run via Turley with an infield single to make it 4-1, and Gene Baker batted in another in the bottom of the third via a triple, giving him his 40th RBI of the year and us a 5-0 lead. The Redlegs hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth to get on the board, but Al Rosen got it back and then some with a GRAND SALAMI in the bottom of the fourth, extending our lead to 9-1 and giving Rosen his 21st homer of the year in style. Turley stayed in to close out an excellent complete game as we blasted the Redlegs 9-1.

Turley improved to 4-1 on the year with a 2.80 ERA thanks to a nine-hit one run game with five strikeouts and two walks through 121 pitches. We outhit the Redlegs 14-9, led by Al Kaline (three hits two runs) and Ernie Banks (three hits one run) with Roger Maris batting in a pair of runs and Al Rosen’s grand slam netting him four RBIs.

After today’s double whammy win here at home, we still have a 14 game lead on the Dodgers but the Redlegs have slipped to 17 back. Meanwhile, the Cardinals (50-70, 36 GB) and the Pirates (52-70, 35 GB) have been officially eliminated from the hunt, as it were. No one in the AL has been officially eliminated yet, with five teams in realistic contention for the crown though Cleveland (73-44) still maintains a nine game lead on Washington (64-53) with the Yankees (11 GB), Tigers (13.5 GB) and White Sox (13.5 GB) still chasing.

jksander · 10-03-2023, 07:13 AM

AUGUST 18, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (16-6, 2.84 ERA, 196.2 IP, 111 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) took the mound today against Paul Minner (11-8, 4.27 ERA, 166.1 IP, 54 K’s, 1.42 WHIP). Cohen got sloppy with a fastball in the top of the first, allowing Ted Lepicio to hit a three-run homer over the left field wall, putting the Redlegs up 3-0 very quickly. But Roger Maris hit his 16th homer of the year, a three-run blast to right, tying it right up in the bottom of the first. GAME ON! Cavarretta batted in two runs with a single in the bottom of the second to make it 5-3 Cubs, and by the time they got us out again we held a 7-3 lead going into the top of the third inning. Cohen gave up a solo homer to Ted Kluszewski in the top of the fifth to make it 7-4, and a pair of doubles added another Redleg run, but Baker made an incredible catch to finally end the inning with Cincy trailing by a pair. Al Kaline added a solo blast of his own in the bottom of the sixth to make it 8-5, his 18th homer of the year, and Ernie Banks added an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to four runs. Al Kaline drove in another pair of runs with a bases-loaded RBI single and we went into the top of the eighth leading 11-5. Cincy got a run back in the top of the eighth but couldn’t muster a rally, and Vern Fear closed things out nicely as we won another blowout against the Redlegs, this time by an 11-6 margin.

Cohen improved to 17-6 on the season with the win, his ERA slipping slightly to 2.97 thanks to nine hits and five earned runs, with four strikeouts against three walks. Bob Porterfield came in with one out in the sixth and got two key outs with the bases loaded to get through with a hit and a strikeout, no runs, improving his ERA to 5.40. And Vern Fear pitched the last two innings, giving up two hits and a run, with a strikeout and a walk, giving him a 1.99 ERA now through 54.1 innings. We outhit the Redlegs 14-12 in this slugfest, led by Al Kaline (three hits two runs three RBIs) and Roger Maris (two hits two runs three RBIs). Cavarretta added two hits for a run and two RBIs, and Ernie Banks hit twice and batted in another two. Roger Maris has been strong so far in late July and the first half of August, bringing his average up to .224 and his slugging to .500, making him a key part of our lineup. He’s got a ton of potential and though he is raw, he’s also extremely talented.

AUGUST 19, 1954 . . . Time for a series sweep! Robert Diehl (11-4, 2.69 ERA, 164.0 IP, 81 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) took the mound today against Cincinnati starter Bobby Shantz (18-7, 2.83 ERA, 223.0 IP, 95 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) in the final of four games here at Wrigley. The Redlegs got on the board in the top of the fourth with a solo blast by Gus Bell, putting them ahead 1-0 on just their second hit of the afternoon. And despite the wind blowing out supposedly favoring the bats today, we found ourselves locked into a pitchers’ duel through the sixth inning, with four hits combined between the teams before Al Kaline got a single off in the bottom of the sixth for our third hit of the game. He stole second, and then Cavarretta got a hit into center field, driving in the tying run just like that, so we went into the top of the seventh knotted 1-1. Cavarretta and Mays got hits in the bottom of the eighth, and Roger Maris took a walk to load the bases, one out. Ernie Banks struck out swinging, but Al Rosen got a grounder into the outfield, driving in two runs and giving us a 3-1 lead! Elston Howard essentially duplicated his hit, driving in another run, and Gene Baker got one into right field to drive in our fourth run of the inning, so by the time Diehl flew out to center we held a commanding 5-1 lead heading into the top of the ninth. Diehl got three quick outs to complete the sweep as we beat the Redlegs by four runs!

Diehl is now 12-4 with a 2.60 ERA thanks to a four-hitter, giving up just one run with two strikeouts through 87 efficient pitches. We had nine hits as a team, led by Cavarretta and Mays with two each. Al Rosen hit once for a run and two batted in, while Cavarretta, Howard and Baker each batted in runs as well. We’re now 89-35 and in the driver’s seat in the NL pennant race heading into a three game set against the soon-to-be-eliminated Milwaukee Braves (56-63). Over in the AL, Washington continues to gun for the Guardians, having gone 8-2 over their last ten, though the Guardians have gone 7-3 and remain 8.5 games up. The Yankees have gone 3-7 in their last ten and look to be down and out, leading many to wonder how many heads are about to roll over in Yankeeland. We’ve gone 14-5 so far in August and have held tough, looking very much like a team that could win our first World Series title since 1908.

jksander · 10-07-2023, 10:32 AM

AUGUST 20, 1954 . . . Time to focus on Milwaukee and our stretch run to clinch this pennant! The Braves are all but out of contention, a few games max away from being outright eliminated, but we can’t take teams lightly -- they’re all going to want to play a part in bringing us back down to earth. This afternoon Joe Dobson (7-4, 3.06 ERA, 85.1 IP, 46 K’s, 1.28 WHIP) will go up against Warren Spahn (9-14, 3.60 ERA, 220.0 IP, 111 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) here at Wrigley in front of 23,000 screaming Cubs fanatics, with teamps in the mid 70s and the wind blowing out to right very lightly. Roger Maris got us started with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first, his 18th homer of the year, and we knew he’d be dangerous today with the wind blowing out to right -- his absolute specialty! The Braves got on the board in the top of the second when Ernie Banks couldn’t get a handle on a ball hit his way, but we only let them have the one. But in the top of the third they got a hit out to right that blew right over the wall, an Eddie Mathews two-run blast that tied the game 3-3. And Dobson was not sharp at all today, giving up way too much hard contact and giving the Braves way too much room to stay in this one. Milwaukee went up 4-3 on a a Johnny Pesky double that gave Milwaukee eight hits through four innings, and we were in for a slugfest. Dobson walked the bases loaded and then walked in a run in the top of the fifth, making it 5-3 Braves, and I had to give him the hook.

Vern Fear came in and got two strikeouts and a flyout to end the inning having given up only one of the runs Dobson left on base -- score: Milwaukee 6, Chicago 3 heading into the bottom of the fifth. Phil Cavarretta gut us two of our runs back in the bottom of the inning, a two-run homer into the left-field seats that made it 6-5 Braves, his 13th four-bagger of the season. Harry Dorish came in with one out and men on first and second in the top of the sixth, getting us out of the jam with an infield fiy-out to short and a strikeout, sending us into the bottom of the inning with more than a chance. In the bottom of the seventh, Al Kaline took a walk and then Cavarretta nailed a blistering grounder down the fair side of the left field line, a double that put two in scoring position with Willie Mays coming to the plate. He hit one right up the middle, getting a favorable bounce out of the way of the fielder, allowing both runs to score and putting us in the lead 7-6! Al Rosen got a hit into the outfield to drive home another run with an RBI single, and we went into the top of the eighth leading 8-6! They hit a solo homer to open the inning, narrowing the gap to a single run, but Dorish had only thrown a dozen pitches to that point so we kept him in and didn’t warm anoyne up -- huge mistake. He gave up a hit and two walks in a row, then threw the wrong fastball and suddenly grand slam and we’re in an 11-8 hole again. This game has been an epic moodswing, and at this point I just want it to end so we can regroup. Tom Ferrick got us through the ninth inning without incident, giving us the bottom of the inning to either pull out some runs or go the hell home. We quickly chose the latter and put this one in the books as a disappointing 11-8 loss.

In a game where we gave up 16 total hits while managing a dozen ourselves, fans got plenty of action but as a manager I got nothing but agita. Dobson lasted just four innings with nine hits and six earned runs with one strikeout and four walks through 74 pitches, only missing out on the loss because Vern Fear eventually got us into the lead. Fear threw 1.1 innings with three hits and two strikeouts, and Dorish (who was due to have a bad night) came in and lasted 2.2 innings, giving up just three hits but also three walks. The two homers, including a grand slam, in the eighth inning come off as more fluke than anything. He took the loss, falling to 4-2, but his ERA remains a very respectable 2.03 overall, so not planning to read much into it. Tom Ferrick was solid in his inning, giving up one hit and then three quick flyouts, keeping his ERA near 3.00.

On the offensive end, Cavarretta had three hits, scoring three times and batting in a pair, while Willie Mays had two hits two runs and two RBIs and Maris added his three-run homer to give him 53 RBIs this year as a Cub. Clyde McCullough had three hits but was left stranded each time.

AUGUST 21, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (17-6, 2.97 ERA, 203.0 IP, 115 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Johnny Antonelli (13-11, 3.12 ERA, 216.2 IP, 134 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). Willie Mays hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third to put us up 1-0, and Al Rosen followed it with a three-run blast to center that made it 4-1, his 22nd homer of the season! With one out and two men on, Baumholtz hit a triple to center, scoring two more runs, and Gene Baker added an RBI triple on two outs to make it 7-0! Phil Cavarretta reached first on a fielding error, but Willie Mays hit a pop-up to second, ending the inning before we could put up double digits. Del Crandall hit a solo homer for Milwaukee in the top of the fifth to make it 7-1, but the game was fairly uneventful from there. Baumholtz tripled and then made it home on an RBI flyout by Cohen to add a run in the bottom of the eighth, and then Cohen stayed in to close things out in the top of the ninth. Two flyouts and a triple, then he ended things with a flyout by the Braves’ reliever, capping the 8-1 victory without giving up any runs while bolstering his Cy Young case.

With the win, Cohen improved to 18-6, giving up eight hits and an earned run with four strikeouts against two walks, throwing 128 pitches in the complete game victory. We notched nine hits as a team, led by Gene Baker in the leadoff spot with two doubles for a run and an RBI, and Frank Baumholtz who added two hits with two runs and two batted in. Al Rosen’s homer gave him a run and three RBIs in a game completely dominated by our seven run third inning.

Baltimore (43-79) became the first AL team to be officially eliminated from contention, though being 33 games back of first made it inevitable and no one was at all shocked. The race in that league remains tight, with Cleveland still mantaining their 8.5 game lead on the Senators, with the Yankees (66-57) 11 games out and fading fast.

AUGUST 22, 1954 . . . Bob Turley (4-1, 2.80 ERA, 35.1 IP, 27 K’s, 1.47 WHIP) pitched today against Leo Kelly (1-1, 8.79 ERA, 14.1 IP, 5 K’s, 2.02 ERA). Milwaukee got a run on the board in the top of the third inning off only their second hit of the game, thanks to a hit-by-pitch and a walk that complicated things. Meanwhile, we couldn’t seem to buy a hit. The Braves added a three-run homer in the top of the fourth, and though Maris got a double in the bottom of the inning, we did nothing with it. But Serena and Rosen each walked to start the bottom of the fifth, and Clyde McCullough came up and slammed a 400-footer into the center-field bleachers, just his sixth homer of the year, to put us within a run! Turley doubled to bring up the top of the order, still no outs, and he made it to third on a Kaline sacrifice. A Cavarretta walk brought up Willie Mays, who skipped a grounder into deep right, scoring the tying run and giving us two on with just a single out! Maris drove one up the middle, an RBI single that scored Cavarretta and gave us a 5-4 lead! Grady Hatton then hit into a double play, but we’d gone from a one-hit effort to suddenly scoring five runs in the fifth, a huge illustration of why we’ve been so dominant this year.

Unfortunately Turley let them tie it back up with a grounder up the middle, and another hit to center field gave them back the lead, a two-run triple to make it 7-5 Braves. Unbelievable! Harry Dorish came in to get the final out, with Turley having thrown 111 pitches in six innings, a large chunk of them in the sixth when he’d looked reasonably sharp up to that point. But McCullough proved to be ON FIRE tonight, slamming a two-run homer to right to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, his second four-bagger of the game, and we went into the seventh inning knotted 7-7. Al Rosen hit a bases-loaded fly-out to right, but Willie Mays got greedy and tried to score on the play -- it wasn’t even close, and that ended the seventh inning still knotted up. Vern Fear came in for the top of the eighth, and he promptly gave up a solo homer to Eddie Mathews to put Milwaukee back in front, though he then got three outs in a row to end the inning. And McCullough kept things going with pure insanity, hitting a solo homer to open the bottom of the eighth, HIS THIRD OF THE GAME AND EIGHTH OF THE SEASON, to tie the score at 8-8! Joe Collins came in to pinch-hit for Vern Fear, taking a walk, and then following an Al Kaline strikeout, Phil Cavarretta came in and hit a single to right, sending Collins to second; coming around to stretch out a run to third, Collins was saved by an E8 throwing error, allowing him to come all the way around to score the go ahead run, putting us up 9-8 on a Cavarretta RBI single, with Cavarretta advancing to second on the error! They walked Mays but pitched to Maris, a fly-out to right moving Cavarretta to third while Mays held at first. But Grady Hatton couldn’t get a hit to land, ending the inning with us up one on the Braves, with Sandy Consuegra coming in to close things out. He walked the first batter, then got an out off a sac-bunt, putting a runner in scoring position with the top of their order coming up to bat. Joe Adcock hit one to Grady Hatton, who got it to Cavarretta for out number two, while putting the tying run on third and bringing Johnny Logan up to the plate. Thankfully a fly out to right ended the game as a 9-8 victory!

Vern Fear improved to 5-1 with the win, with one hit and one run dropping his ERA slightly to 2.06. Consuegra got the save, his 19th of the season, walking one batter but improving his ERA to 2.44 on the year. Bob Turley lucked out -- his 5.2 inning game, while marred by his sixth inning collapse, did not result in a loss; instead he finished with seven hits, seven earned runs and two strikeouts, with four walks. In turn, his ERA was crushed, dropping to 3.95 since coming to Chicago, though admittedly part of a small sample size. We outhit the Braves 10-8, with all hero points going to Clyde McCullough, who at age 37 had his first three homer game -- accounting for three runs scored and six batted in, nearly tripling his RBI count for the year! Roger Maris added two hits and an RBI as well.

This loss officially eliminated the Braves, who fell to 57-65 on the season as we won our 91st game, maintaining our 14 game lead on the Dodgers. Next up, a series against the bottom-dwelling Giants here in Chicago, as our magic number to clinch sits at 16.

jksander · 10-08-2023, 01:31 PM

AUGUST 24, 1954 . . . With the day off we all had yesterday, Hy Cohen (18-6, 2.89 ERA, 212.0 IP, 119 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) says he’s ready to go, so he’ll take the mound today against Larry Jansen (2-2, 4.79 ERA, 41.1 IP, 16 K’s, 1.43 WHIP) in game one against the Giants. Cohen gave up two hits in the first inning, one of them a solo homer to Walt Dropo, to give New York a 1-0 lead. And in the top of the third, with two outs, he had a chance to put the Giants away with two men on, when Al Rosen made an uncharacteristic fumble, loading the bases. The next batter, Wes Westburn, hit a grand slam to make it 5-0. All the bad luck he can handle today for Cohen, that’s the order of the day apparently. Ernie Banks hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, his 19th of the season, to put us on the board down 5-2, and in the bottom of the fifth with men on first and second, Willie Mays hit one hard into deep right, scoring two more runs with a two-out triple! Roger Maris then came up to the plate and hit a two-run blast to the left field bleachers, giving us a 6-5 lead!

We’d pinch-hit Roy Sievers for Cohen in the bottom of the fifth, so Harry Dorish came in to protect our sudden lead in the top of the sixth. Ernie Banks added an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to make it 7-5 Cubs, at which point Al Rosen bounced a hit into the left field corner, eking out a triple that scored two more runs, so we went into the top of the eighth leading 9-5! Vern Fear came in to pitch for us, getting three quick outs, and he stayed out for the ninth with us up four runs, getting an out but then giving up two hits, putting runners on first and second. We brought in Tom Ferrick, who got the second out via a pop-up to left, and the final out via a pop-up to center, closing out the 9-5 win in style. This was a game we should have dominated, so it was good to see we were able to recover from the 0-5 start to take the game firmly in hand late.

Hy Cohen wound up getting the win, improving to 19-6 with a 2.86 ERA despite giving up five runs (only one of them earned) on seven hits, with two strikeouts and a walk in five innings. Harry Dorish earned his sixth hold, striking out three against no hits in two innings, and though Vern Fear gave up two hits in 1.1 innings of work, he didn’t give up any runs. Coming in with two on base, Vern Fear earned his fourth save of the season, throwing nine pitches to get the two outs, improving his ERA to 2.97. We out-hit the Giants 11-9 in our 92nd win of the year, with the heart of our order (Mays, Maris, Banks and Rosen) contributing six hits, six runs and nine RBIs. Banks was the team leader, with two hits for two runs and three RBIs.

AUGUST 25, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (12-4, 2.60 ERA, 173.0 IP, 83 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) took the mound today against Ted Abernathy (2-12, 4.26 ERA, 116.1 IP, 54 K’s, 1.58 WHIP). Ernie Banks got off an RBI single in the bottom of the first to put us up 1-0. Diehl picked up a double in the bottom of the second to keep our inning alive, but Al Kaline denied him a run by hitting one straight to the right fielder for our final out. New York came out hard in the top of the third, going up 2-1 on us thanks to a triple by Bobby Thomson, but they left Thomson stranded as the game ramained close. The Giants added a run in the top of the fourth to go up by two, but Gene Baker hit a fly ball out to right for our second out in the bottom of the inning, allowing Ernie Banks to score from third, pulling us back to within a run. And Diehl got off his second hit of the game, a grounder into left field, moving Al Rosen into scoring position with Kaline back up to the plate! Kaline snuck one right by the ear of their third baseman, staying inbounds to drive in two with a double, putting us back ahead 4-3 heading into the fifth inning. Willie Mays hit his 30th homer of the year, a 420 yard blast to center, to add a run immediately in the bottom of the fifth, and in the bottom of the sixth he came up again and hit a blast down the left field line, coming out with an RBI double. Roger Maris got a hit into right field, scoring two more runs on a single, and we went into the top of the seventh leading big, up 8-3 on the hapless Giants. New York picked up a run in the top of the seventh, Vern Fear came in to pitch in the eighth, getting three easy outs, and he got us through the ninth unblemished as we pummelled the Giants 8-4.

Robert Diehl improved to 13-4 on the season, giving up nine hits and four earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk, his ERA slipping to 2.70 overall. Fear pitched two innings with two hits and two strikeouts, bringing his ERA back down to 1.95 through 60 innings of relief this season. We outhit the Giants again 15-11 tonight, led by Al Kaline with four hits, two runs and two RBIs and Willie Mays with three hits, two runs and two RBIs. Banks, Rosen and Diehl each had a pair of hits as well.

AUGUST 26, 1954 . . . For our final game against the Giants, Joe Dobson (7-4, 3.53 ERA, 89.1 IP, 47 K’s, 1.37 WHIP) took on Jack Harshman (5-15, 4.45 ERA, 198.0 IP, 109 K’s, 1.49 WHIP). Dobson has been struggling to come out of a slump of late, and we’ll be happy if he gets through five innings before we go to the bullpen. But the first inning made that look unlikely -- 18 pitches in, only one out notched, and the bases were loaded. He got the second out at second base, with Ken Aspromonte batting in a run by Jim Gilliam from third, and he got the final out to avoid giving up more than a single run -- which to be honest, was better than I’d expected, so maybe he’d settle in. It’s not like we’ve been great in the first inning this year. Amd with Al Kaline blasting a solo homer to right on the second pitch of his at-bat, it didn’t matter much anyway. That was his 19th homer of the year and it tied things up 1-1. And Dobson did settle down as the game remained knotted heading into the fourth inning. A second run scored for the Giants in the top of the fourth when Ernie Banks dropped an easy out with a man on third and two outs, getting charged with an error in the process. Willie Mays dropped a rare catch in the top of the fifth, putting a runner in scoring position with just one out, giving him a rare error, but Dobson got a key double play to keep the game a one-run affair.

Dobson stayed in and had a quality start, getting off a hit to start the bottom of the seventh, and though he was thrown out at second moments later, Roger Maris eventually loaded the bases with a walk, sending up Ernie Banks with a chance to really do some damage. Unfortunately he struck out, leaving us still trailing 2-1 heading into the eighth inning. Dobson stayed in and completed the eighth inning with three quick outs, and in the bottom of the inning we started out with an Al Rosen walk and an Elston Howard double, giving us two runners in scoring position with no outs! Grady Hutton took a walk to load the bases for the second consecutive inning, and we brought Roy Sievers in to pinch hit for Dobson -- Sievers hit a blistering drive into center, finishing with a two-run double to put us in the lead and give Dobson a chance at the win! Hatton scored on a flyout by Cavarretta to make it 4-2, and Sandy Consuegra came in for the save opportunity in the top of the ninth, completing the sweep with three flyouts as we beat the Giants by two.

Joe Dobson was impressive in how he handled early adversity in this one, improving to 8-4 with a 3.33 ERA thanks to a five hit two-run (one earned) game, striking out three and walking three through 98 pitches. Consuegra came out with his 20th save of the year, a perfect eight pitch inning that improved his ERA to 2.39 through 49 innings this year. We again outhit the Giants 9-5, led by Elston Howard and Gene Baker with a pair of hits each, and by pinch-hitter Roy Sievers, who had a hit and two RBIs, his first runs batted in this season as a Cub!

Next up, the Phillies (67-59, 25 GB) for two games here in Chicago, followed by three games against Pittsburgh (55-75) and our last two home games against Brooklyn (76-49, 15.5 GB). Our magic number is now down to an even dozen! Cleveland’s lead in the AL has dropped to seven games over Washington, with the Yankees (10 GB) and White Sox (12 GB) still legitimately in contention. With the magic number in that league at 22, the race is likely to go down to the wire.

jksander · 10-08-2023, 02:58 PM

AUGUST 27, 1954 . . . For game one of the two game Phillies set I’m starting Bob Turley (4-1, 3.95 ERA, 41.0 IP, 29 K’s, 1.54 WHIP) against Bob Lemon (10-8, 3.23 ERA, 200.1 IP, 95 K’s, 1.38 WHIP). We dropped back to back doubles via Howard and Baker to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, and Cavarretta hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third to make it 2-0, and Ernie Banks hit a three-run blast a few minutes later to make it a five-run shutout. An error at third allowed Rosen to score from second on a single by Elston Howard, and we went into the top of the fourth with a six-run lead. Turley struggled a bit with his command today, but with this much of a lead I was able to give him some leash. Through five innings he’d thrown 83 pitches with two strikeouts against five walks, but we still led 6-0, so he stayed out there. He loaded the bases with no outs, forcing me to go to Dorish to start warming up -- but twice in a row he got outs via contact while forcing all three runners to hold their base -- and with Dorish not ready to throw yet, he faced down pitcher Bob Lemon, bases loaded, two outs, and struck him out swinging! That is what I call digging in!

With the lead still 6-0, Harry Dorish came in to relieve Turley in the top of the seventh, getting in trouble by loading the bases himself, giving up two runs to the Phillies but getting us out of the inning with a four run lead still in hand. Willie Mays hit a double in the bottom of the seventh, giving him a hit in 13 consecutive games and putting two in scoring position for Maris, who hit one into deep left and got us a run back. Ernie Banks then hit a blooper over the third baseman’s head, driving in another, and Al Rozen kept the hit parade going, singling up the gap to make it 9-2! Elston Howard loaded the bases with a single, but the lead remained at seven runs heading into the top of the eighth. Vern Fear came in for Dorish, striking out a pair and getting a third out via a grounder to first, and he struck out a pair in the ninth as he closed out the 9-2 victory.

Bob Turley gave up six hits with three strikeouts and five walks, coming out with the win as he improved to 5-1 with a 3.45 ERA since coming here from Boston. Harry Dorish gave up a pair of hits and two earned runs thanks to a pair of walks, but by then the game was well in hand. Vern Fear put in two innings of excellent work, giving up just one hit with four strikeouts, improving his ERA to 1.89 on the season. We out-hit the Phillies 13-9, led by Ernie Banks with two hits, a run and four RBIs. Elston Howard had three hits with nothing to show for them, and Kaline and Rosen each had a pair of hits as well as we eliminated the Phillies officially with our 95th win of the year. We are now on a six-game winning streak, and the Dodgers are now 16.5 games back, their loss this afternoon cutting our magic number to ten! Washington, meanwhile, won their fourth in a row as Cleveland dropped a third straight game, keeping the AL race nice and tight at just six games!

AUGUST 28, 1954 . . . With a double header against Pittsburgh coming up, I’ve decided to give Hy Cohen a bit of rest and we’re going to throw a bullpen game today. I’m giving Vern Fear (5-1, 1.89 ERA, 62.0 IP, 41 K’s, 0.95 WHIP) the “start” as our opener. He’ll pitch against Philly’s Bob Rush (5-7, 4.19 ERA, 103.0 IP, 47 K’s, 1.44 WHIP), with a plan not to have him stay out past the first time through the lineup. He sat the first three batters down via flyout, strikeout, grounder to third, and though he gave up a walk in the second inning, he did pretty much the same thing. Elston Howard got a nice hit through the gap to drive Ernie Banks around from second, putting us up 1-0 in the bottom of the second. Vern Fear kept us perfect through the third inning, getting their next three batters out without a baserunner, pretty much exactly what we’d needed from him. I brought Bob Porterfield in for the fourth inning with the lead still 1-0, and though he got a quick out to start the inning, he loaded the bases and gave up the tying run on a fielder’s choice at second. But a groundout to first ended the inning, and we headed to the bottom of the fourth knotted 1-1. Tom Ferrick sat three in a row down in the fifth to keep it that way, and Al Kaline hit his 20th homer of the season to put us up 2-1 in the bottom of the inning! Jim Konstanty came in for the top of the seventh with the score 2-1, getting three outs on just seven pitches to hold the lead! Roger Maris doubled in the bottom of the seventh but we couldn’t bring him home, but Konstanty stayed constant in the eighth, pitching around a hit to get the outs we needed to keep the one-run lead! Greg Baker doubled in the bottom of the eighth, and we pinch hit Bill Serena for Konstanty with two outs. Serena has a good eye at the plate, took the walk, and brought up Kaline with two on, a man in scoring position. But he couldn’t get a hit out of the infield and we went into the top of the ninth leading 2-1 with Consuegra coming in for the save. A fly ball caught by Kaline on the warning track got us the first out, a grounder to Cavarretta at first got us the second, and then a groundout from Baker to Cavarretta ended the game as we held tough to win this one 2-1!

Vern Fear got us going with three no-hit innings, notching two strikeouts and a walk through 39 pitches to lay the framework for a Tom Ferrick win -- Ferrick lasted two innings with just one hit, improving to 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA in a 22 pitch effort. Konstanty got a two inning hold, his first of the year, giving up one hit through 19 pitches and keeping a perfect ERA in his Cubs debut! And Consuegra was perfect in his 21st save of the year, throwing 16 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 2.34. Bob Porterfield was a bit rough in his fifth appearance, giving up two hits and a run with a walk, letting his ERA slip to 5.87. We out-hit the Phillies 10-4, Kaline and Howard batting in runs while Kaline and Banks scored runs on the ground. Willie Mays hit in his 14th game in a row, taking a walk as well.

Brooklyn lost another game, dropping to 17.5 games back as we notched our 7th win in a row, dropping our magic number to eight as we improved to 96-36! We have a double-header against Pittsburgh tomorrow, a day off on Monday, and then a third game against the Pirates on the 31st. We then have two games against Brooklyn, and it’s possible that we could have the pennant clinched before Labor Day! Meanwhile in the AL, Cleveland’s luck seems to be running out -- they’ve been playing six games above their Pythagorean average for most of the year, and now they’re the owners of a four game losing streak, with Washington (72-56) having won five in a row to pull within five games of the AL pennant lead, with the Yankees (68-60) nine games back.

jksander · 10-15-2023, 12:16 PM

AUGUST 29, 1954 . . . Double-header day! Hy Cohen (19-6, 2.86 ERA, 217.0 IP, 121 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) pitched in the first game, starting against Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend (13-12, 2.57 ERA, 245.0 IP, 92 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) with a chance to win his 20th game and add to his out-of-nowhere rookie Cy Young resume! Willie Mays hit a triple with two outs in the bottom of the first, extending his hit streak to 15 games, but we couldn’t get him around to score. But Gene Baker got a two-run homer in the bottom of the second, his eighth of the year, to give us a 2-0 lead very early in this one. The game stayed pretty much hitless from there until the bottom of the sixth, when we got back to back hits from Cavarretta and Mays to give us runners on the corners with no outs. Roger Maris took his shot, caught a fastball right on the sweet spot, and BOOM ... three runs! That was his 19th homer of the year, and we now had a 5-0 lead! The Pirates got a run on the board in the top of the seventh, and then Cohen gave up a three-run blast to left to make this one a hell of a lot tighter at 4-5. He safely got the third out, however, and it was up to our bats to start adding more run support. Cohen opened the eighth inning with a standing double, and Al Kaline got a base hit to drive him over to third. Cavarretta flew out to first for out number one, moving Kaline to second while Cohen held at third. Mays popped out to the pitcher, and Maris batted out to first, however, so the inning came to a scoreless end. Cohen stayed out and got two flyouts and a strikeout to end the top of the eighth, and Sandy Consuegra came in for the save opportunity in the top of the ninth with the score still 5-4 Cubs. He remained as much a lock-down pitcher as ever, setting three batters down in a row to end the game as a one-run victory!

Cohen bolstered his Cy Young hopes with a 134 pitch, eight inning effort, giving up seven hits and four earned runs, with six strikeouts and two walks. He improved to 20-6 with the win, with a 2.92 ERA despite the two homers. Consuegra saved his 22nd game in a 17 pitch effort that continued to improve his status as the best closer in the game with a 2.29 ERA. We each had seven hits, and despite two errors on our part, we proved to be the stronger team. Mays hit twice to bat in a run, while the remaining hits were spread throughout the lineup. Mays has struggled to hit homers of late, but his eye has been sharp -- he’s hitting .343/.427/.640 with 164 hits, 24 doubles, 14 triples and 30 homers, giving him 109 runs batted in despite taking 73 walks! He’s also stolen 11 bases this year, just one off of last year’s total, having been caught six times.

Robert Diehl (13-4, 2.70 ERA, 180.0 IP, 87 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched our second start today, facing Dick Hall (10-13, 2.76 ERA, 228.1 IP, 111 K’s, 1.14 WHIP). Diehl hit a single into right field in the bottom of the second that drove in a run, giving us a 1-0 lead, but the Pirates tied it up 1-1 in the top of the third on a sac fly by Billy Klaus. Willie Mays hit his 31st homer of the year, extending his hit streak to 16 games and giving us a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third, but poor fielding in the sixth led to a run scoring to tie the game up 2-2. Diehl got us out of the inning without giving up a lead, and he took a one-out walk in the bottom of the inning, making it all the way to third on a Kaline single! Unfortunately Cavarretta hit into a double play, ending the chance at a rally. Diehl got two outs in the top of the seventh, but with a man on third we brought in Harry Dorish to get us out of the inning safely on a grounder to first. The Pirates went up 3-2 in the top of the eighth, but Al Rosen, pinch hitting for Dorish in the bottom of the eighth, tied it up with an RBI single, and Kaline got a shot into right field that loaded the bases with just one out! Cavarretta drove in the go-ahead runs, scoring two thanks to a single into deep right, making it 5-3 Cubs! Mays batted in another run, and then Maris hit into a double play to end the inning, and Ferrick came in for the save opportunity with us leading 6-3! But Ferrick loaded the bases, and with Consuegra having played in two games in a row, we left him in to get out of his own mess. An out at first led to a run scoring, but a strikeout gave us two outs with two in scoring position, with Carlos Bernier coming to the plate. A quick out at first saved the game, and we got out of it with a 6-4 victory!

Dorish came out of this one with the win, improving to 5-2 with a 2.26 ERA with two hits and an earned run to go with a strikeout. Diehl lasted 6.2 innings with just six hits, with two runs scored to go with two walks and two strikeouts. Ferrish gave up three hits and a run but got out of the jam, notching a strikeout and keeping his ERA under 3.00. We out hit Pittsburgh 12-11, with Kaline, Cavarretta, Mays and McCullough each hitting twice.

Heading into our third game against the Pirates on the 31st, Cincinnati is now officially eliminated, and the Dodgers are 17.5 games back with the magic number standing at six. We’re 98-36 and so close to clinching we can taste it! Washington remains five games back of the Cleveland Guardins, who are currently 79-51, having won two in a row.

jksander · 10-15-2023, 12:45 PM

AUGUST 31, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (8-4, 3.33 ERA, 97.1 IP, 50 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) got the start today in our final game of the series with Pittsburgh, facing Pirates starter Gene Conley (11-10, 3.56 ERA, 205.0 IP, 109 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) as we continue to chase down the pennant here in the NL. Willie Mays got his 25th double of the year in the bottom of the first, scoring a hit in his 17th consecutive game, but we were not able to score a run. But Gene Baker rectified that with a three-run homer in the bottom of the second to give us a 3-0 lead, thanks to his ninth homer of the season, and Kaline scored our fourth run thanks to a wild pitch. Roger Maris hit a two-run blast to left, his 20h of the season, and we went into the top of the third with a huge 6-0 advantage. Dobson struggled in the third inning, loading the bases and giving up two runs, but he got us out of it without decimating our lead, sending us into the bottom of the third with a 6-2 advantage, and he made up for the runs surrendered by hitting a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the third as we continued to dominate offensively. Willie Mays added a two-run blast in the bottom of the fourth, his 32nd of the season. Joe Dobson stayed in to pitch in the eighth inning but gave up a two-run homer, so we brought in Harry Dorish to pitch with no outs. He got us through the inning without further incident, and then stayed in to close things out in the ninth with us still up by five runs. He ended the 9-4 victory with a double play as we won our 10th game in a row, win number 99 of the year!

Dobson improved to 9-4 with a seven inning six-hitter, striking out seven batters and only walking a pair, improving his ERA to 3.28! Dorish closed out the final two innings with a hit, a walk and a strikeout, improving his ERA to 2.20 on the season through 69.2 innings of relief work. We out-hit Pittsburgh 12-7, led by Willie Mays with three hits, a run scored and two RBIs and by Baker with three hits, a run scored and three RBIs. Roger Maris’ 20th homer brought his average up to .228 on the year, and he has batted in 64 runs. Not bad at all, he’s clearly getting hot at the right time.

Everyone in the NL is officially eliminated except the Dodgers, at 79-51, who remain 18 games back at this point with our magic number sitting at five. If we can sweep our two game set on September 1st and 2nd, we’ll be able to officially clinch during the three-game St. Louis series this coming weekend!

jksander · 10-15-2023, 02:11 PM

SEPTEMBER 1, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen was named player of the month in the NL, having gone 8-0 in August with a 2.84 ERA and 38 K’s through 63.1 innings of work. It’s now the first of the month and we can expand our roster from 25 to 40 players, so we’ve called up some reserves for the stretch run toward clinching the pennant and playing in our first World Series in a decade. We’re bringing up a couple fringe guys as extra pinch hitters, along with some borderline relivers I’d like to give a few potential innings once we’ve secured our spot in the postsason. We’re still sticking with a four-man rotation of Cohen / Diehl / Dobson / Turley, but we now have eight potential men in relief, which I think should give us enough depth for the stretch run while also giving additional players some time in the September spotlight. A few of them may become potential trade fodder in the offseason to help us find a legitimate backup catcher, as Al Evans and Clyde McCullough are almost certain to either retire this fall or wind up waived -- neither has the fielding ability to catch on a regular basis anymore.

Tonight, for the first of two games at Wrigley against the Dodgers, Hy Cohen (20-6, 2.92 ERA, 225.0 IP, 127 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) will be starting against Carl Erskine (19-9, 3.31 ERA, 226.0 IP, 131 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) in a battle of aces. Maris doubled to start the bottom of the second, and he reached third on an infield single by Ernie Banks, scoring on a quick single by Al Rosen to go up 1-0 in a game we all fully expected to be a low scoring affair. But Erskine struggled, Elston Howard batting in a second run with a single, and Gene Baker got anoother hit into right field, driving in a third run to keep runners on first and second with no outs! Elston Howard scored our fourth run on a sac fly by Kaline, and we went into the top of the third inning with a 4-0 lead. Elston Howard batted in a run in the bottom of the third, increasing our lead to five runs, but the Dodgers got two runs on the board with a blast by Frank Thomas (his 20th of the year), cutting our lead to 5-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth. Cohen got into some trouble in the top of the sixth, allowing two runs to score and leaving a runner in scoring position with only a single out, but he escaped the inning with our 5-4 lead still intact, and Bob Shaw came in to pitch in the top of the seventh aiming to protect it. He gave up a double, but then got three consecutive flyouts to end the inning, with Vern Fear warming up to pitch in the eighth. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, coming out of the inning with an additional run to extend our lead to 6-4, and Bob Shaw stayed in for two outs in the eighth before we brought in Fear to go up against Pee Wee Reese for the final out, achieved via flyout to left. Fear got the final three outs in the top of the ninth as we beat the Dodgers 6-4, winning our 100th game, our 11th in a row and making a clinch a virtual certainty.

Cohen improved to 21-6 with a 3.00 ERA, giving up eight hits and four earned runs while striking out four and walking one. Shaw got his first hold, giving up just one hit in 1.2 innings, keeping a perfect ERA in just his second appearance and 4.1 innings as a Cub. And Vern Fear notched his second save, throwing 1.1 hitless innings with a strikeout, improving his ERA to 1.76 through 66.1 innings. Willie Mays went hitless with a single walk, ending his hitting streak and failing to score a run. We were led by Maris and Howard who each hit twice, Maris scoring two runs on two hits and a walk, while Howard scored one and batted in two.

Our magic number is at three, but we have an 18.5 game lead on the Dodgers, with just 18 games remaining. Only the fact that we still have tomorrow’s game here at Wrigley and then a double-header at Brooklyn has kept them even slightly in the race -- a win tomorrow all but clinches, and our playoff odds are listed at 100 percent.

SEPTEMBER 2, 1954 . . . “Bullet Bob” Turley (5-1, 3.45 ERA, 47.0 IP, 32 K’s, 1.57 WHIP) is starting today against Russ “Rowdy” Meyer (12-8, 4.01 ERA, 206.2 IP, 77 K’s, 1.29 WHIP). After today we have 14 games in a row on the road before coming back to Wrigley for a game against St. Louis and two against Cincinnati, our last three home games outside the World Series. So 23,000 fans came out this afternoon to enjoy the clear sunny weather and cheer us on as we move closer and closer to that elusive thing called October baseball. Unfortunately the fans got to see Turley give up two runs via a single homer in the top of the first, gifting the Dodgers a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the first. We got our first hit in the bottom of the third, as Baker notched his 25th double of the season, but we couldn’t get him around to score. Turk Lown came in for the top of the sixth with us still trailing 2-0; the 30-year-old lefty went 4-11 with a 4.37 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP for us back in 1952, before spending the last two years playing in AAA. His return to the majors was not an auspicious one, however, as he gave up a walk and some soft contact, allowing a third Dodger run to score, while notching only one out. Tom Ferrick came in with that one out and a man on second, getting a strikeout and a flyout to get around the runner and a walk he surrendered, sending us into the bottom of the inning with a 3-0 deficit to overcome. In the bottom of the sixth, Cavarretta reached base on a single, then got to second on a passed ball, leaving room for them to walk Mays. Roger Maris then singled into the outfield, allowing Cavarretta to score, but they got quick outs to end the inning with us still trailing by a pair. Ferrick got us through the seventh, and Harry Dorish got us out of the eighth easily, bringing up Al Kaline in the bottom of the eighth to hopefully spark a rally. He was walked, then Cavarretta got a hit into deep center, driving Kaline to third and giving us runners on the corners, and Willie Mays came up at the right time to rail one into the right field bleachers and put us in the lead 4-3! Roger Maris then hit a solo blast to center to make it 5-3, Banks doubled, Rosen walked, and then Gene Baker doubled to deep center to drive in another! We batted through the order and came out of the inning with a three run lead heading into the top of the ninth. Dorish got a strikeout and then ended the game on an amazing double play as we swept the Dodgers in our 12th win in a row!

Dorish improved to 6-2 on the year, giving up one hit and striking out one through 16 pitches over two full innings. Turley lasted five innings with five hits and six strikeouts against four walks and a pair of runs. Ferrick gave us 1.2 innings of one hit, one strikeout two walk ball to pitch around Lown’s near-disaster in the top of the sixth. Each team had nine hits, but most of ours came during the key eighth inning rally -- Cavarretta was solid all night with three hits and two runs scored, while Mays’ 33rd homer batted in three more. Maris improved to .235 with two hits including his 21st homer of the year, and we’re now a win (or a Dodgers loss) away from clinching, our record now a spectacular 101-36 on the year.

Bring on the road games! We’re ready to dominate September the same way we’ve dominated the rest of the season.

As for the AL race, Cleveland (82-51) increased their lead in the pennant race from five games to six as Washington (76-57) took a loss. The magic number in the AL is 16, and Cleveland currently has a 94.9% chance to make the World Series. Everyone in the league is still in the race except for Baltimore, but New York (69-63, 12.5 GB) is the only one other than Washington with a legit shot, and it’s not much of one.

jksander · 10-15-2023, 04:11 PM

SEPTEMBER 3, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (13-4, 2.70 ERA, 186.2 IP, 89 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) takes the mound tonight in St. Louis, against Cardinals pitcher Dick Tomanek (2-3, 3.49 ERA, 38.2 IP, 20 K’s, 1.45 WHIP). Mays hit a sac fly to deep right that drove in an Al Kaline run to make it 1-0 in the top of the first, and Roger Maris followed that with a two-run blast to right, quickly giving us a 3-0 lead with his 22nd homer of the season! Gene Baker added an RBI double, and by the time Diehl even took the mound we held a 4-0 lead on the Cardinals. Bob Shaw gave up a solo homer to Chuck Kress in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 4-1 and the game stayed like that into the bottom of the ninth, when Sandy Consuegra came in to close it out. A strikeout was followed by a double by pinch-hitter Solly Hemus, but a flyout and a strikeout cinched it! We won this one 4-1, our 13th victory in a row and officially clinched the NL Pennant! The Cubs are going back to the World Series for the first time since 1945!

With the victory, Diehl improved to 14-4 on the year with a 2.62 ERA, giving up five hits with four strikeouts and two walks through 5.1 innings. Bob Shaw lasted 2.2 innings with two hits, a run and a pair of strikeouts, giving him a 1.29 ERA, while Sandy Consuegra came in for his 23rd save of the season, one hit and two strikeouts improving his ERA to 2.25 through 52 innings. We out-hit the Cardinals 11-8, led by AL Rosen’s three hits for a run scored. Roger Maris added a homer, scoring a run and batting in a pair, and Al Kaline had a pair of hits for a run scored.

The AL Pennant race remains tight, with Cleveland now only up five games on the Washington Senators, in a race which seems destined to go all the way down to the wire. We, meanwhile, at 102-36, posess a +272 run differential and an insane 41-10 record since the All Star break. We haven’t won a World Series title since 1908, and with 16 games left in the season we still have a chance to match or beat the all-time wins record for a Cubs team -- 116, set in 1906! Though unlikely ... we’d have to go at least 14-2 down the stretch to tie it ... that shows just how incredibly good this team is.

jksander · 10-15-2023, 05:38 PM

SEPTEMBER 4, 1954 . . . A quick injury update -- Saul Rogovin has at least a month left on his recovery from a sprained UCL, and Johnny Klippstein will need at least 5 to 6 weeks to return from his torn labrum, so neither are going to return this year; even if Rogovin is cleared to play, I absolutely have no intention of bringing him into a World Series situation and risk reinjury. Both should be ready to rejoin our rotation to start the 1955 season.

Tonight in St. Louis we started Joe Dobson (9-4, 3.28 ERA, 104.1 IP, 57 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) against Vinegar Bend Mizell (15-11, 2.47 ERA, 236.2 IP, 171 K’s, 1.22 WHIP). Ernie Banks took three bases on an Al Rosen single thanks to a throwing error at third, scoring a run in the top of the second to put us up 1-0, with Rosen advancing to second on the error. The Cards tied it up in the bottom of the third, taking a 3-1 lead via a two-run Wally Moon-shot to left, sending us into the top of the fourth trailing by a pair. Ernie Banks answered quickly with his 21st homer of the year to make it 3-2, but the Cards got a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth leading 5-2 and looking fully capable of ending our streak. Harry Dorish came in with one out and two on in the bottom of the sixth, getting the outs we needed and keeping the deficit at three runs. Bob Shaw came in and got three quick outs in the seventh, then stayed in and did the same in the eighth. And though we got two runners on base in the top of the ninth, Al Kaline batted out to left and ended the game as a 5-2 loss. Winning 13 in a row to get the NL Pennant seemed to leave us drained, and this loss seems like it comes at a good time for us to all catch a breath and then dig in for the September stretch before we go to the Series.

Joe Dobson fell to 9-5 with the loss, giving up nine hits in 5.1 innings for five runs with one strikeout and a walk, dropping his ERA to 3.53. Harry Dorish got us two outs with a strikeout in the sixth inning, and then Bob Shaw came in to close with two one-hit innings to improve his ERA to 1.00 since joining the Cubs. St. Louis got ten hits to our seven, with Ernie Banks leading the team with two hits for two runs and an RBI.

SEPTEMBER 5, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (21-6, 3.00 ERA, 231.0 IP, 131 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Ron Kline (5-9, 2.80 ERA, 141.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.17 WHIP) in our third game against the Cardinals. Roger Maris hit a towering blast to right in the top of the second, giving us a 1-0 lead with his 23rd homer of the season, and Willie Mays batted out to first while driving in a second run via Kaline to make it 2-0 in the top of the third. Amazingly, they kept giving Maris balls to hit, allowing a two-run blast to right that made it 4-0 and gave him his second four-bagger of the game! Ernie Banks then hit a solo blast -- again to right, loving that wind! -- giving him his 22nd homer of the season and us a 5-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third. Bill Serena hit a solo blast to center in the top of the sixth, only his third homer of the year, to make it a 6-0 lead, but St. Louis woke up loudly in the bottom of the inning, Andy Carey hitting a three run homer into the right field bleachers to narrow the gap to three runs. Cohen gave up a fourth run in the bottom of the seventh, then a fifth scored on an RBI double and suddenly it was 6-5 Cubs with one out and a man in scoring position. With arms warming up in the bullpen Cohen gave up another hit to right field, putting runners on the corners, and Vern Fear came in to put out the fire and protect the lead. But a single landed in center field, scoring the tying run before Fear was able to get us those crucial two outs. Heading into the top of the eighth all was knotted 6-6.

Elston Howard drove in a run in the top of the eighth with a single in a fielder’s choice, and Bill Serena singled to right putting Howard into scoring position with a pair of outs. Ray Sievers came in to pinch hit for Fear, and they walked him to load the bases, sending Kaline to the plate with a 7-6 lead. He flew out to left, ending the inning and sending Consuegra in for a potential two-inning save. Sandy was great through the eighth, and had two outs in the ninth before unleashing a fastball at just the wrong moment, allowing Stan Musial to tie things up at 7-7 with a blast, again to right field. He got the third out, but we were heading for extras. Harry Dorish came in with a man on first and two outs in the bottom of the 10th, still tied 7-7, getting the final out on a flyball to left, staying in fresh for the 11th with the score still tied, getting three more outs to send us into the 12th. They walked Cavarretta and then Willie Mays came in and slammed his 34th homer of the year into the left field bleachers, giving us a 9-7 lead in the top of the 12th! Dorish stayed in to close it out, setting their batters down one, two, three, ending this as a 9-7 12th inning victory!

Fear and Consuegra each wound up with a blown save in this one, costing Cohen a win in a 6.1 inning effort that saw him uncharacteristically giving up ten hits and six earned runs with just two strikeouts and a walk through 110 pitches. Consuegra was solid in 2.2 innings of work, giving up just two hits and the one run with three strikeouts. But Dorish was exceptional under pressure, coming in for 2.1 innings with a hit and two strikeouts as he improved to 7-2 with a 2.05 ERA. A 12-inning game where we only blew through three pitchers and still got a win, that’s what this team is made of! St. Louis out-hit us 14-12, but we hit five homers which proved to be the difference. Maris led the way with two four-baggers, finishing with two hits and a walk, scoring three times and driving in three more. Willie Mays hit twice to score one and drive in three more as well, giving him 120 RBIs on the year so far while batting .339 and slugging .645!

Tomorrow we have a double-header at Milwaukee, followed by a day off and then two at New York, two at Philadelphia and a double-header Sunday at Brooklyn. After that we get time to rest up, with just six games in the last two weeks of the season. Over in the AL, the Philadelphia Athletics are now officially eliminated, and Cleveland (83-53) holds a six game lead on Washington and an 11.5 game lead on the Yankees.

jksander · 10-18-2023, 10:04 PM

SEPTEMBER 6, 1954 . . . Only two double-headers left this season! In today’s first game Robert Diehl (14-4, 2.62 ERA, 192.0 IP, 93 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) took on Leo Kiely (2-1, 5.97 ERA, 34.2 IP, 13 K’s, 1.62 WHIP). Al Kaline opened the game with a solo homer to left, but Milwaukee got a two-run blast via Hank Aaron to put them ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the first. Ernie Banks tied it in the top of the fourth with a sac fly to left that drove Cavarretta in to score from third to make it 2-2. Johnny Logan jacked one out of the park to left, putting Milwaukee back up 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, but Roger Maris hit one to about the same spot in the top of the sixth to make it 4-3 and giving him 25 homers this year! Cavarretta batted in a run with a double in the top of the seventh, and Diehl got us through the eighth still leading 5-3. Vern Fear came in for the bottom of the ninth, promptly giving up a double on his second pitch, but he got a groundout to first and a strikeout, bringing up Johnny Logan with a man in scoring position and two outs. The final out came via a grounder to third, the throw to first finishing it with us beating Milwaukee soundly 5-3 in game one.

Diehl earned his 15th win of the season, improving to 15-4 with a 2.65 ERA thanks to an eight-hit eight inning effort, walking three, striking out two and giving up three earned runs. Fear got his third save of the year with Consuegra needing a bit of rest, getting a strikeout against a single hit, improving his ERA to 1.72. They outhit us 9-8, but we made the most of ours. Roger Maris hit in his 11th game in a row, homering and driving in two RBIs, while Kaline and Cavarretta each had a pair of hits and Banks drove in a run with a sac fly despite not getting anything to hit the rest of the game.

Bob Turley (5-1, 3.46 ERA, 52.0 IP, 38 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) pitched in the second game, up against Dick Hoover (0-0, 2.85 ERA, 7.2 IP, 1 K, 1.04 WHIP). Roger Maris hit a solo blast out of the park to center, his 26th homer of the year, to put us up 1-0 in the top of the first. In his last ten games he’s hit eight homers! Milwaukee got the run back in the bottom of the third, tying things on an RBI double by Hank Aaron, but Turley got a flyout to center that ended the inning without surrendering the lead despite having loaded the bases. Gene Baker hit a solo blast to right that gave us a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth, giving him 10 homers for the season, but Turley gave up a three-run homer to Eddie Mathews, his 38th of the season, and we found ourselves trailing 4-2 heading into the sixth. Bob Shaw came in for the sixth inning, getting two outs but giving up a pair of hits that scored a fifth run for the Braves. Tom Ferrick got us through the seventh without any additional runs scoring, and Bob Porterfield got us through the eighth unblemished, but we couldn’t buy a hit. In the end the Braves beat us soundly, winning 5-2 and handing us our 38th loss of the year.

It was a night of Bobs on the mound -- Bob Turley took the loss and fell to 5-2, giving up just five hits but allowing four runs to score thanks to three walks, getting just four strikeouts through 85 pitches. Bob Shaw gave up a pair of hits and a run in an inning of work, Tom Ferrick gave up a hit in his inning, and Bob Porterfield threw a strikeout and got two flyouts in a total of just six pitches to finish off the game, bringing his ERA down to 5.19 through 8.2 innings of work. We only got four hits the entire game, led by the homers of Maris and Baker. But without men on base, we were unable to string scoring opportunities together.

SEPTEMBER 8, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (21-6, 3.15 ERA, 237.1 IP, 133 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) was up in the order this afternoon, throwing in front of a paltry 6,000 fans in New York as the Giants’ ghastly season inches closer to closure. They brought Ted Abernathy (2-14, 4.76 ERA, 128.2 IP, 61 K’s, 1.64 WHIP) out to throw today as the 34-102 Giants try to at least save some face after the worst season in team history. Roger Maris homered in his fourth game in a row, putting us up 1-0 in the top of the second with his 27th homer of the season. But Hy Cohen loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth and allowed the tying run to score, but in the top of the sixth, Maris hit another dinger over the center field wall, putting us back in the lead 2-1 and giving him his second two-homer game this month! Ernie Banks got in on it by hitting his 23rd homer of the year deep into the right field bleachers, and we went into the bottom of the sixth leading 3-1. Sandy Consuegra came in for the ninth inning, promptly giving up a triple with us just hanging on to a 3-1 lead. A flyout to left and the runners held, but on a grounder to first the runner at third scored, narrowing our lead to 3-2 with two outs but with the bases now mercifully empty. The final batter went down via strikeout as we held tough to win our 105th game, beating the Giants 3-2 in a squeaker.

Hy Cohen improved to 22-6 with a 3.08 ERA, giving up eight hits and a run while striking out two and walking three through eight innings and 125 pitches. Consuegra earned his 24th save of the year, adding a strikeout to his season totals and keeping his ERA at 2.43. We outhit the Giants 11-9, Maris leading the way with his two solo homers, with Banks adding three hits with a run scored and a run batted in thanks to HIS homer. Including his short time in Pittsburgh, Maris is now hitting .236/.314/.477 with 28 homers, three triples and 18 doubles, with 104 total hits with 2.5 WAR. That’s a damned fine rookie season, and he’s got the sky as his limit.

jksander · 10-19-2023, 02:33 PM

SEPTEMBER 9, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (9-5, 3.53 ERA, 109.2 IP, 58 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Bill Connelly (2-4, 2.90 ERA, 71.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) in the final game of the Giants road series. Connelly walked three batters in the top of the first, and with one out Ernie Banks hit a sac fly into right field, driving in a run by Al Kaline to make it 1-0. But Dobson gave up three hits in the bottom of the inning, allowing the tying run to score. Dobson walked a pair in the bottom of the third but managed to pitch around it, keeping the score knotted 1-1 heading into the top of the fourth. Connelly walked two more in the top of the fifth, and Willie Mays took advantage with a triple deep into center right, driving in two runs to put us up 3-1! Maris then walked (Connelly’s eighth free runner!) and Ernie Banks hit a sac fly into deep left, driving in a fourth run! Cavarretta scored on a Maris sac fly to right in the top of the sixth, With the lead at 5-1, we brought Vern Fear in for the eighth inning, and with two outs he threw a fastball to Ed Bailey, narrowng the Giants’ gap to three runs, though he got the final out and sent us into the top of the ninth leading 5-2. Willie Mays hit a grounder into right field in the bottom of the inning, driving in a sixth run for us, and Maris did the same thing, scoring two more. Maris scored from third on a flyout by Banks, and we went into the bottom of the ninth leading by seven, with Vern Fear closing the game out. He handled it perfectly and we closed out the 9-2 victory, completely dominating the hapless Giants as we get closer to our championship chance.

Joe Dobson improved to 10-5 as a Cub, 13-12 overall this season, with a 3.39 ERA having thrown a five-hitter through seven with seven strikeouts, four walks and just one earned run. Vern Fear threw just shy of 30 pitches in two innings, giving up two hits with a strikeout and an earned run, keeping his ERA at an excellent 1.80 through 70 innings. This is by far the 30-year-old’s best season as a major leaguer. We have him on a one year extention through next season, but if he keeps playing like this, he’ll be a guy we want to lock down for longer in the offseason. Each team had seven hits tonight -- Willie Mays led our offense with three hits for two runs and three RBIs, while Cavarretta added two hits, scoring three times thanks to a walk. Roger Maris walked twice and hit once, driving in three while scoring once himself as his four game homer streak came to an end.

SEPTEMBER 10, 1954 . . . Tonight we play the first of two games at Philadelphia, a team that has been openly disappointed with its 76-64 season thus far -- they have won 87 and 85 games in the last two seasons, and felt this was going to be the year they competed actively for the pennant, and instead they’re 28 games back of us and were eliminated weeks ago. So we knew going in they were going to be gunning for us for pride’s sake. They’re 6-14 against us this season so far, and we’d like to keep the wins coming.

Robert Diehl (15-4, 2.65 ERA, 200.0 IP, 95 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) pitched this evening against Philly’s Robin Roberts (12-16, 3.65 ERA, 231.2 IP, 116 K’s, 1.20 WHIP). Willie Mays opened things up quickly with an RBI double in the top of the first, but in the bottom of the inning Ernie Banks double cluched a catch and didn’t have time to make a throw, allowing the tying run to score. Both pitchers were locked in from there as this one became a real duel. Diehl loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth but we got out of it without any damage, and in the top of the fifth Maris reached first on an infield single, keeping his hitting streak going at 15 games and loading the bases, and then the Phillies walked Ernie Banks to score a run and put us up 2-1! Al Rosen then got a hit into left field, driving in another pair, and we went into the bottom of the fifth leading 4-1. Diehl stayed in for the fifth but walked two batters in a row, and at 97 pitches to that point with four walks, we pulled him for long reliever Bob Porterfield who got three outs without surrendering a run, keeping us in our dominant position. Consuegra came in with two outs and a man on third in the bottom of the eighth, getting the strikeout to protect our 4-1 lead and send us into the top of the ninth! A double play and a groundout to first in the bottom of the ninth ended it as we beat the Phillies convincingly despite our starter not making it out of the fourth.

We haven’t had a lot of opportunities to turn to long relief, but Bob Porterfield improved to 2-0 with a solid 3.2 inning effort, giving up just four hits with a walk and a strikeout without surrendering a run, improving his ERA since the Boston trade to 3.65 through 12.1 innings. Consuegra saved his 25th game of the year, with one hit and one strikeout, giving him a 2.37 ERA through 57 innings and 46 appearances. Diehl just had bad luck, throwing 97 pitches through four innings, giving up just five hits and one earned run -- four walks against two strikeouts sealed it, he just didn’t have his usually solid movement and control tonight. Still, we matched them 10-10 in the hits department, led by Mays (three hits, one run, one RBI) and Cavarretta (two hits, two runs). Al Rosen got a hit and batted in a pair, and Maris got a hit and scored a run, bringing his average up to .242.

SEPTEMBER 11, 1954 . . . Bob Turley (5-2, 3.79 ERA, 57.0 IP, 42 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) came up in the rotation tonight, facing Philly’s ace Carl Simmons (19-7, 2.41 ERA, 261.1 IP, 123 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) in game two ahead of tomorrow’s road double-header against the Dodgers. “Bullet Bob” had his gun loaded in this one, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, going toe to toe with the more experienced hurler in Simmons through the early going. Maris took a walk and Banks got an infield single to start the top of the fourth, and Al Rosen got a hit into the outfield at left, loading the bases! Maris scored on an Elston Howard groundout into a U5-3 double play, with Rosen staying alive at second, putting us up 1-0 in a tight one. Baker took a walk, but Turley came up and struck out swinging to send us into the bottom of the inning with a one run lead. And it didn’t last, as Turley’s first pitch of the inning gave Del Ennis a solo homer to left, tying things up. Bad luck, man, bad luck. An RBI double by Willie Jones gave Philly a 2-1 advantage before Turley was able to finally get us out of the inning, having run through a good deal of gas in the process. Harry Dorish came in with one out and men on first and third in the bottom of the sixth, getting us through the inning unscathed. And Cavarretta got an RBI single in the top of the seventh to tie things up 2-2! Dorish gave up a two-run blast to Del Ennis, his second homer of the game, in the bottom of the seventh to put Philly back up 4-2. Simmons dominated us in the eighth, and we went into the top of the ninth needing some serious production in order to get back in this one. Grady Hatton pinch hit for Gene Baker to start the inning, but he batted out to first. Roy Sievers came in to hit for Dorish, taking a much needed base on balls. That brought up the top of our order. Kaline got a great hit, but their center fielder made a spectacular diving catch to steal it from us. They walked Cavarretta, giving us men on first and second with Willie Mays coming up to the plate, but Mays hit one straight to the right fielder and this one was over -- Philly 4, Cubs 2, no need to play the bottom of the inning.

Harry Dorish took the loss, falling to 7-3 on the season with a 2.21 ERA though he pitched 2.2 solid innings with three hits, a strikeout and the two earned runs. Turley lasted 5.1 innings, giving up just five hits, but he walked five and only struck out the three batters from the first inning, giving up two runs, improving his ERA slightly to 3.75. Despite Curt Simmons throwing nine strikeouts, we still matched them 8-8 on hits and 5-5 on walks, just not doing enough with the guys on base that we had. Kaline hit three times but never got anywhere. Cavarretta had a hit and an RBI, amd Maris and Baker each hit once and scored runs.

Tomorrow night we play Brooklyn (87-54) twice at Ebbets Field. They’re 9-11 against us this year, and I know they’d love to even the season series in these final two games, knowing that their season has been a huge disappointment despite the fact that they should easily win 90+ games again. In the AL Pennant race, Cleveland (86-56) still holds a six game lead on Washington (80-62). The Yankees (74-67, 11.5 GB) and Tigers (73-68, 12.5 GB) are the only others still technically in the race, but Cleveland’s magic number is now at seven, and they look likely to be our postseason opponent. Chicago and Boston have joined Philly and Baltimore among the eliminated.

09-17-2023, 09:40 PM	#141
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	JULY 29, 1954 (Cont’d) . . . This is our last chance to get a win back against the Dodgers until we play them twice at home September 1-2 and then on a doubleheader in Brooklyn on September 12. We still hold a 12.5 game lead on the Dodgers, but Cincinnati, who we still have nine games against, five of which are on the road, is now only 10.5 games back of first. So we cannot afford to take anyone lightly. Every game will count. So today I am glad to see we have Hy Cohen (11-6, 3.01 ERA, 152.2 IP, 86 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) ready to start. Brooklyn, meanwhile, is saving their big guns for future series, so we’ll be facing 24-year-old Leo ‘Kiki’ Kiely (3-5, 6.39 ERA, 4 SV, 31.0 IP, 20 K’s, 1.97 WHIP) in only his second start -- what is almost certain to be a ‘one time through the order’ situation. Cavarretta, Mays and Maris each knocked in singles to load the bases in the top of the first, sending Ernie Banks up with one out to try and drive in some runs and ding up Kiely quickly. Banks reached first safely, the Dodgers chosing to go to second for the out and allowing Cavarretta to score and make it quickly 1-0 Cubs, and they were able to get the strikeout of Rosen to end the inning. Cohen came out and got three outs on 12 pitches, and Keily got through the second inning without further incident -- but we would have the top of our order coming up for the third for their second go-round. Unfortunately, Cohen gave up a solo blast to Campanella to start the bottom of the second, tying the game 1-1, and Frank Thomas then immediately tripled. Cohen got Jackie Robinson out via a flyball to center, holding the runner at third, then got Pee Wee Reese out the same way -- though this time Thomas made the run from third and scored the go-ahead run. We got out of the inning but the Dodgers had the 2-1 lead. The best thing we had working for us was that Kiely was staying in for a third inning, though we did nothing with the opportunity. A third run for Brooklyn scored in the bottom of the third, and Kiely settled in, continuing to stump us offensively through the top of the fifth, despite throwing more than eighty pitches. The Dodgers kept Kiely out there until he had two outs in the sixth, with Willie Mays stuck on first and Al Rosen at the plate before going to the bullpen. With the count 2-1 on Rosen, Mays managed to steal second, and Rosen batted one into center field, driving Mays home and giving Rosen an RBI as we pulled within a 3-2 margin. Roy Sievers came in to bat for Elston Howard, but he flew out to right to end the inning. Al Rosen got a hit into center field in the top of the eighth with two outs and two on, driving Willie Mays home to tie the game at 3-3, and Hy Cohen got us through the eighth inning with the game still knotted, and in the top of the ninth with one out, he was able to get a hit into deep left, legging out a double! Kaline hit one over the head of the center fielder, sending Cohen around to score and give us a 4-3 lead, our first lead since the second inning. And Willie Mays capped it off with a two-run blast to right, putting us ahead 6-3 with his 23rd homer of the season! Cohen got us through the final frame with a flyout and a double play, completing the come-from-behind win as we stole one back from the Dodgers on the road by a 6-3 margin. Cohen improved to 12-6 with a 2.95 ERA, giving up seven hits for three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and two walks. We outhit them 12-7, led easily by Willie Mays who hit four times, scoring three runs and driving in two more. Kaline, Cavarretta and Rosen each added two hits as well. We now head to Pittsburgh for four games over the next three days. JULY 30, 1954 . . . For tonight’s game we’ve got Joe Dobson (6-1, 2.73 ERA, 56.0 IP, 31 K’s, 1.16 WHIP) taking his winning streak on the road against Pittsburgh’s Bob Purkey (4-11, 4.37 ERA, 113.1 IP, 43 K’s, 1.55 WHIP). Ernie Banks hit a sac-fly to center with the bases loaded in the top of the first, driving Kaline in to score the game’s first run. Elston Howard opened the top of the second with a triple, and Gene Baker managed to reach first safely on a botched catch by the defender, though Howard was smart to stay at third. Dobson hit into a double play for outs at first and second, but this time Howard was able to come around and score safely, making it a 2-0 game! Mays scored a run in the top of the third off an Ernie Banks two-out double, and an error on a throw to home allowed Banks to score on a single by Rosen, the errant throw allowing Rosen to snag an extra base. Dobson got us through the third unscathed as the sun set over the stadium, and we led 4-0 heading into the fourth. Ernie Banks hit a line drive that rolled along the foul line just barely safe, getting into the outfield and allowing him to score two runs, before Maris tried to go all the way from first to home, getting tagged out at the plate. But we went into the stretch leading by a six unanswered run margin and the Pirates’ fans were stunned silent. Dobson completed his shutout, three quick outs in the ninth to ensure we blanked the Pirates 6-0. Dobson continues to shine, improving to 7-1 since joining our rotation, pitching a five-hit five strikeout two walk shutout through 98 pitches, improving his ERA to 2.35 overall. We had 12 hits, led by Cavarretta with three hits and a walk, though he never scored. Ernie Banks hit twice and scored a run while batting in four, and Kaline and Rosen each added a pair of hits as well. JULY 31, 1954 . . . It’s trade deadline day! After today players can only be traded once they’ve cleared waivers. We’re done dealing for the year, ready to let the chips fall where they may. Our focus tonight is on beating Pittsburgh again before tomorrow’s doubleheader. Robert Diehl (9-3, 3.02 ERA, 125.1 IP, 62 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) will be pitching against Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend (11-9, 2.73 ERA, 194.2 IP, 73 K’s, 1.14 WHIP). In the top of the third, Phil Cavarretta got a line drive into the outfield, sending Elston Howard around to score and put us up 1-0. Elston Howard drove in his 40th run of the year with a single in the top of the fourth, but a run scored for the Pirates in the bottom of the inning when Billy Klaus was able to score on a Rocky Nelson flyout to right, sending us into the top of the fifth with a tight 2-1 lead to defend against Friend, 1953’s NL Gold Glove winner. Both pitchers locked in from there, until in the bottom of the eighth Diehl gave up a hit to Rocky Nelson, allowing pitcher Bob Friend to score the tying run from around second. Vern Fear came in to get us out of the jam, two outs with runners on first and second. A flyball to Mays ended the inning and sent us into the top of the ninth knotted 2-2. Unable to score, Fear came back out for the bottom of the ninth, setting the Pirates down with an infield popup out to Fear himself, a strikeout and a flyball to center, sending us into extra innings. Bob Friend stayed in to pitch in the 10th inning, and he got two quick outs before Cavarretta managed to reach first on an infield single. But Willie Mays popped up to center and ended our frame, sending Fear back out for more fun. He gave up a single, got a quick out at second, and then gave up another single on a grounder to left, putting a runner in scoring position. A quick strikeout by Rip Repulski, and we were facing Rocky Nelson with two outs and two on, knowing an outfield hit would almost certainly end it. But the batter hit it straight to Kaline over in right field for a sure out, sending us into the 11th, with Harry Dorish warming up in the bullpen. Maris popped out to short, but they walked Ernie Banks, and Al Rosen drove one deep into the right corner, sending Banks around to score and giving us a 3-2 lead. Bob Friend stayed in, nearing 120 pitches, and with Rosen on third, Howard got off an infield hit and Rosen went for it but couldn’t beat the throw -- out number two. Gene Baker popped out at first and Dorish came in hoping to end this one quickly. And he did just that, shutting all three batters down via weak contact and quick throws, allowing us to come out with the 3-2 11th inning win. Poor Bob Friend pitched an 11-inning complete game with nine hits and three earned runs but came out with his 10th loss of the year. Vern Fear pitched 2.1 two-hit innings with two strikeouts to secure the win, improving to 3-1 with a 1.77 ERA. Diehl lasted 7.2 innings while giving up seven hits and two runs (one earned) with a strikeout, improving his ERA to 2.91. And Harry Dorish got his third save of the season, improving his ERA to 1.41. Each team had nine hits in the game, with Cavarretta leading the way for our Cubs, hitting three times and batting in a run while Banks hit twice and scored two runs and Al Rosen got a hit and an RBI. Elston Howard also had a good night, improving his average to .277 with a pair of hits as he scored a run and batted in that 40th RBI. He’s having a hell of a rookie season, Hy Cohen has been named the NL’s Rookie of the Month, having put up a 5-3 record in July with 35 K’s and a 1.50 ERA, holding opposing batters to a miniscule .166 average! I am glad we have him locked up on that four year free agency deal from earlier this year -- our owner originally said I was insane for offering him $84,000 over four seasons, but it looks like I made the smart call. AUGUST 1, 1954 . . . It doesn’t look to me like any major deals have gone down at the deadline, just some minor housekeeping moves for teams across the league -- I’d say honestly our deal with Baltimore for Bob Turley is likely to be the biggest deal of the summer, a blockbuster that should benefit both sides. Today we’ll get to see how Turley looks, as he’s taking the mound in game one of our Pittsburgh doubleheader, facing Pittsburgh’s Stu Miller (0-1, 40.50 ERA, 0.2 IP, 0 K’s, 9.00 WHIP), who looks to be a sacrificial lamb out there because they simply don’t have starters ready for the two-game situation. I’m being merciful by sending Turley out instead of Hy Cohen, who we’ll use in the second game. Both pitchers acquitted themselves well early, but Willie Mays broke things open in the top of the second, getting a hit into right with the bases loaded, driving two runs in with a single to put us up 2-0. Ernie Banks tripled to start the third inning, and Gene Baker hit a blooper into right field to drive in the run with a double, and Turley kept striking batters out left and right! Al Kaline batted in two more runs in the top of the sixth with a single, and Willie Mays singled to drive in a sixth. Maris hit a line drive to right to make it 7-0, at which point Banks finally hit into an out to end the inning. Turley finally gave up a run to the Pirates in the bottom of the sixth, a run-scoring triple for Jim Finigan, but that was all he let them have. He got his 10th strikeout in the bottom of the seventh, and in the top of the ninth Clyde McCullough batted in another run to make it a seven-run lead. Al Kaline got a blast into left to extend the lead to 10-1, the lead Turley defended when he came in to close out the game, dominating the remainder as we completed the blowout win. Turley was exceptional, and I can’t wait for Cubs fans at Wrigley to get to see him! In the complete game victory, Turley threw 13 STRIKEOUTS, setting a Cubs regular season single-game record! He gave up just seven hits, one earned run and two walks through 128 pitches, earning a 1.00 ERA and a 1-0 start as a Cub. We outhit them 15-7, led by Kaline (three hits, one run, four RBIs), Mays (two hits for three RBIs) and Baker (three hits, three runs, one RBI). And to think, these fans get one more game out of us today ... let’s make it a Cubs win. Hy Cohen (12-6, 2.95 ERA, 161.2 IP, 89 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) pitched the second game, throwing against Pittsburgh’s Dick Hall (8-10, 2.76 ERA, 189.1 IP, 88 K’s, 1.15 WHIP). We went up quickly 1-0 in the top of the first thanks to a sac-fly to center by Mays that brought Al Kaline around to score from third. But Pittsburgh tied it up quickly in the bottom of the first as Cohen struggled a bit to find his control. Roger Maris hit a two-run blast to center in the top of the third, scoring two runs via his ninth homer of the season, and with Cohen shutting everyone down in the bottom of the inning we headed into the fourth leading 3-1. Cohen gave up a second run in the bottom of the fourth inning, But Willie Mays got his 24th homer of the season, a two-run thunderbolt that built our lead up to 5-2 in the top of the fifth. Rocky Nelson hit a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to pull Pittsburgh back to within two runs, but they left a man stranded on third and weren’t able to complete the rally. Willie Mays added another homer, another two-run blast to center, giving him 25 on the year, which was quickly followed by a two-run blast by Al Rosen, his 17th of the year, putting us up 9-3 heading into the stretch. Al Kaline added a solo homer in the top of the eighth, his 13th of the year, and Willie Mays then slugged his THIRD TWO-RUN HOMER OF THE GAME, extending our lead to 12-3 and giving him his 26th of the season. Cohen completed a double play in the bottom of the eighth that conceded a run to be scored by Rocky Nelson, pulling the Pirates to within eight runs, but he ended the inning with a strikeout, and he stayed in to complete the game as we beat Pittsburgh soundly 12-4 for the series sweep. Cohen improved to 13-6 with a 2.95 ERA, thanks to an 11 hit six strikeout four run (three earned) complete game, throwing 125 pitches in the effort. We outhit them 18-11, including an absolutely insane SIX HOMERS, with Willie Mays being King of the Mountain with three homers, scoring four runs and batting in seven! Roger Maris added two hits for a run and two RBIs, and Al Rosen hit once for a run and two RBIs as well. Leadoff man Al Kaline hit twice to score two runs and bat in another as well. We have a day off, and then a three game set against the bottom-dwelling New York Giants (30-77). At 77-30, the sweep of Pittsburgh gives us a 12.5 game lead on the Redlegs (64-42) with Brooklyn (62-44) right behind. In the AL, Cleveland (64-38) still holds a 7.5 game leadon the Senators (57-46) with the Yankees trailing half a game back at ten games over .500. Though the White Sox remain, at 54-51, slightly above .500, they will have to perform exceptionally if they exect to contend. In contract news, we’ve committed to making Bob Turley a critical part of our rotation for years to come, inking the 23-year-old fireballer to a long-term nine-year deal with a total value of $875,000. Earning $46,200 this year, he’ll get a bump next season to $60,000, with annual increases eventually providing him with a salary of $125,000 per year in 1961, 1962 and 1963. If he keeps pitching like he did in his Cubs debut, that contract is going to look cheap in the end, I guarantee it. And our fans and the local press agree, as we continue to see fan interest going through the roof. We now have Mays, Turley and Kaline locked up through at least 1960, with Hy Cohen, Saul Rogovin and Johnny Klippstein locked up through the 1956 and 1957 respectively. My job is to make sure we keep this strong foundation -- there’s no reason Chicago can’t build a national fan base to rival the Yankees in the coming decade. But first we have to prove it over the next seven weeks that we’re truly worthy to be World Series bound. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

09-23-2023, 12:56 PM	#142
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 3, 1954 . . . For game one against the Giants on the road, Robert Diehl (9-3, 2.91 ERA, 133.0 IP, 63 K’s, 1.08 WHIP) took the mound against Larry Janson (2-0, 1.69 ERA, 16.0 IP, 7 K’s, 0.69 WHIP), the 34-year-old veteran starter from Brooklyn who the Giants picked up off waivers on July 22nd. He’s red hot right now, coming off a two-hit shutout against the Cardinals on July 29th. But we dinged him up quickly -- Willie Mays hit a two run homer, his 27th of the season, out at center and quickly gave us a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The Giants didn’t wither and die, however; in the bottom of the second they added a run off a line-drive single by Nico Escalera that drove home Ed Bailey from third, and we went into the top of the third with a tighter 2-1 lead in front of a quiet 8,500 person crowd at the Polo Grounds. And in the bottom of the third they tied it up 2-2, thanks to a Jim Gilliam homer to right. Willie Mays tripled in the top of the fifth to drive home Diehl to make it 3-2, and in the top of the sixth Al Rosen hit a solo blast to center (his 18th this year!) to make it a 4-2 lead. The Giants got a run back in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a wild throw on a pick-off play at home, but Diehl got us through the eighth inning with our 4-3 lead intact. We weren’t able to add any ninth inning insurance runs, so Consuegra came in for the bottom of the ninth with a one run lead ... and promptly gave up two hits in a row to right field, the second being an RBI double that tied the game for another surprising blown save. A third hit to right, but then he finally secured the final out and we’re headed for extra innings against the worst team in major league baseball. Ernie Banks reached base on a single to start the 10th inning, and he successfully stole second with Al Rosen facing a 1-1 count. Rosen then got off an RBI single as Banks made it around to give us a 5-4 lead. Elston Howard hit into a 6-4-3 double play, and Gene Baker grounded out to first to end the frame. Consuegra, after 20 pitches, was pulled for Harry Dorish to face the bottom of the Giants’ order. Strikeout, groundout, strikeout and he got us out of the game with a 5-4 victory! Robert Diehl had eight innings of five-hit baseball, giving up three runs (two earned) with four strikeouts and a walk. Consuegra blew his fifth save but came up with his fifth win, improving to 5-1 with a 2.54 ERA despite a ho-hum three-hit performance that was well below his standards. Harry Dorish came in and was clutch, with two strikeouts and no hits, saving his fourth game of the year and improving his ERA to 1.38 on the year as we won our 78th game. We outhit the Giants 13-8, led by Al Kaline with three hits and a walk with a run scored. Mays had two hits and a welk, scoring a run and batting in three, while Al Rosen added two hits for a run and two RBIs. AUGUST 4, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (7-1, 2.35 ERA, 65.0 IP, 36 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) took on the Giants’ Dave Koslo (6-7, 3.92 ERA, 108.0 IP, 29 K’s, 1.42 WHIP) in this afternoon’s game at the Polo Grounds, in front of a dwindling crowd of 7,600 Giants diehards. But those who showed up got to enjoy themselves in the bottom of the third, when Dusty Rhodes hit his 15th homer of the year, a two run blast that gave the Giants an unexpected 2-0 lead on us. That was immediately followed by a solo blast by Ed Bailey to make it 3-0 before Dobson was able to finally get the third out. Dobson then melted down, losing all his confidence -- in the bottom of the fourth he gave up a three-run blast to lead-off batter Jim Gilliam, and I had to start warming up Vern Fear. Dobson got us out of the fourth but we were in a 6-0 hole. Bill Serena pinch hit for Dobson in the top of the fifth, legging out a triple that scored two runs to put us on the board, and Al Kaline got an infield hit that the shortstop couldn’t glove, driving in a third run. Mays added an RBI double to the mix, pulling us to within two runs with two outs and a man now in scoring position. But Roger Maris batted out to center, ending the rally with New York still leading 6-4 heading into the bottom of the inning. Vern Fear was efficient through five outs on just 11 pitches, but with two outs in the bottom of the sixth he gave up a triple to pinch hitter Bill Verdon, who scored when Gilliam beat out an infield single to make it 7-4 Giants. Fear got us through the seventh with the same three-run deficit, and Harry Dorish threw a brilliant eighth inning, sending us into the top of the ninth needing three runs to tie. Al Kaline hit an RBI double with two outs that allowed Elston Howard to score a run having walked earlier in the inning. Cavarretta got a ball out into right field on a sharp line drive, sending Kaline over to third, but Mays hit a high ball straight to the shortstop, ending the game with the Giants up 7-5, just their 31st win of the season and our 31st loss. Joe Dobson took the loss, falling to 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA, giving up seven hits and six runs (five earned) with three strikeouts and no walks during his 81 pitch four inning effort. Vern Fear lasted three solid innings with just three hits and the one earned run, notching a strikeout and keeping his ERA at 1.81 through 43.2 innings of relief. And Harry Dorish was perfect, three up and three down over just eight pitches, dropping his ERA to 1.36 on the year through 53 innings and 31 appearances. We had 12 hits to their 10 but the Giants fought harder to do something with the men they got on base. Al Kaline was exceptional, with four hits and a walk, scoring a run and driving in two, while Willie Mays hit twice and batted in a run. In contract news, Elston Howard has signed to stay with us as our catcher for at least the next seven years, ensuring he’ll be here through his 32nd birthday! I fully believe he’s got the potential to become the best fielding catcher in the National League, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is. He is making $36,000 this year, but will get an immediate bump to $50,000 next season, rising by $2,500 per year in 1956 and 1957 before jumping $5,000 per year for the remaining years of the contract. By 1961 he’ll be making $75,000. His family is well settled here, and he made it clear he wants to stay a Cub, so no further incentives were required. He’s not a flashy presence on the team, so this isn’t the kind of deal that gets the fans all excited, but I believe games are won and lost by good fielding and defense from the catcher and his ability to work well with pitchers -- and it isn’t like Howard is a slouch with his bat either, having hit .230/.283/.397 so far this year with 40 RBIs and a 1.2 WAR. AUGUST 5, 1954 . . . Time for the last game against the Giants on their field! We’re saving Hy Cohen for our upcoming series, so Bob Turley (1-0, 1.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 13 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) will be getting his second start for us since the trade at the deadline. He’s facing Giants starter Jack Harshman (4-12, 4.05 ERA, 177.2 IP, 95 K’s, 1.45 WHIP). Al Kaline wasted no time hitting a ball right over the center field wall to put us up 1-0 via his 14th homer of the season, and Roger Maris hit a two-run blast to right moments later, his 10th of the year, to make it a 3-0 lead. Turley gave up a homer of his own in the bottom of the first to narrow our lead to 3-1, Turley got into a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the third, walking in a run to make it 3-2 with no outs, but he locked in and got a strikeout, then got Nico Escalera out via an F7 flyout, and when the runner on third tried to score, we got the quick 7-2 throw for the third out, protecting our one run lead! Turley threw a lot of pitches to get us there, but we were hopeful we could get a couple more good innings out of him before having to go to the bullpen -- some insurance runs would obviously help with that. Ernie Banks did his part with a solo blast to left that made it 4-2, his 16th four-bagger of the season, and Al Rosen stuck a dagger in the home-fans’ hearts with a stunning display of running skills, beating out a throw to home to score on an INSIDE THE PARK HOMER to make it 5-2, at which point the Giants went to their bullpen with one out in the bottom of the fourth. That was Rosen’s 19th homer of the year, but in spectacular fashion! Their reliever got them out of the inning but Turley now had a three-run lead to work with. Elston Howard added a run in the top of the sixth with a solo blast to center, his sixth of the year, Ernie Banks scored a run in the top of the seventh on a sac-fly to right with the bases loaded, driving in Al Kaline to score, and Al Rosen hit a line drive to deep left that quietly made it 8-2 Cubs heading into the stretch. Turley gave up a third run in the bottom of the seventh, but Bob Porterfield came out to get the final out of the inning -- and Porterfield was brilliant, staying in to close out the game, striking out two batters in the ninth inning to ice the 8-3 victory! “Bullet Bob” Turley’s bullets weren’t shot as straight today but he still improved to 2-0 with a six-hitter, giving up three earned runs while striking out three and walking seven. The walks aren’t something I’m happy with at all, but he stayed in and threw 133 pitches to prevent this from becoming a bullpen game, and his ERA is still solid at 2.30. Porterfield earned a save by staying in for 2.1 innings, giving up no hits and no walks with the two strikeouts, throwing 34 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 6.00 in his third relief effort of the season. We outhit the Giants 10-6, with Kaline, Rosen and Howard each getting two hits, and Maris, Rosen and Howard each driving in a pair of runs, Kaline and Mays each scoring a pair themselves. On to face the Phillies for four games over the next three days! These should all be winnable games if we want to maintain our 12.5 game lead over the Redlegs. The Phillies (54-53) have been just clinging to above .500 status, and at 23.5 games back they’re all but out of the race. The Giants became the first team in the majors to be officially eliminated, at 48 games back. Cleveland is still in control in the AL, seven games up on the Yankees with Washington (8.5 GB) and the White Sox (9.5 GB) still nipping at their heels. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

09-24-2023, 07:03 PM	#143
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 6, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (13-6, 2.95 ERA, 170.2 IP, 95 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) started tonight against Philly’s Bob Lemon (8-7, 3.52 ERA, 166.1 IP, 84 K’s, 1.42 WHIP) in the first of four games we’ll have against them in Philadelphia. Philly played aggressively, scoring on a ground-out at first when we expected the runner at third was going to hold with two outs, giving them an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Lemon was also very quick on his pickoff throws, twice erasing runners just as we started to get any momentum. We outhit them 6-2 through six innings but had nothing to show for it. Their shortstop, Granny Hammer, committed an error that allowed Ernie Banks to reach first to start the top of the seventh, and Al Rosen took a walk, giving us a man in scoring position for the first time all game! Elston Howard took the opportunity to hit one deep, the ball rolling to the wall and allowing Howard to eke out a triple that scored the tying and go-ahead runs at long last, putting us up 2-1 with no outs! Hy Cohen hit a sac fly to left that scored Howard to make it 3-1 with two outs before Kaline batted himself out to end the inning. Roger Maris hit his 11th homer of the season, giving us a 4-1 lead in the top of the eighth, and Hy Cohen got his 100th strikeout of the season in the bottom of the inning, but started the bottom of the ninth by giving a solo blast up to Granny Hammer, his 17th of the year, pulling the Phillies within a pair. Consuegra, who had not expected to be needed, started warming up in the bullpen -- Hacker gave up a base hit to Del Ennis, but Smoky Burgess batted into a fielder’s choice and Cohen chose to throw out Ennis at second to get our first out. Red Schoendienst hit a fly-out at center, and Cohen got our final out safely on an infield grounder by pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell, protecting our 4-2 victory without Consuegra having to come in after all. Cohen improved to 14-6 with a 2.91 ERA, giving up just five hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts and a pair of walks through 110 pitches in the complete game effort. We had ten hits to their five, led by Mays and Maris who each had a pair. Maris’ home run was the highlight of the night, though Elston Howard was also impressive with his clutch two-run triple that drove in two runs to put us in the lead in the first place. Kaline, Banks and Cohen each doubled in the game. We improved to 80-31 with the win, extending our NL pennant lead to 13.5 games over the Redlegs and 14.5 games over the Dodgers. AUGUST 7, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (9-3, 2.87 ERA, 141.0 IP, 67 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) started today against Philly’s Bob Rush (5-5, 4.38 ERA, 78.0 IP, 35 K’s, 1.47 WHIP). And pitching ruled the day early. We had a single in the top of the first and Al Kaline hit a triple in the top of the third, but we got nothing out of either. Willie Jones gave Philly their first hit and first baserunner of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, via a single off a hit that just barely was out of Ernie Banks’ reach at shorstop. Jones advanced to second on a wild pitch, and reached third on a groundout to first that gave the Phillies two outs. But a grounder to first ended the inning still scoreless. Phil Cavarretta got a hit into the outfield with two outs in the top of the sixth, and Willie Mays came through in the clutch with a two-run blast to right field, giving us a 2-0 lead with his 28th homer of the year. Maris walked, and then Ernie Banks slammed his 19th home run of the season into the same area as Mays’, making this a 4-0 lead out of nowhere! Diehl and Kaline got on base in the seventh inning, both with two outs, amd Cavarretta got a hit into the outfield but Diehl got excited and tried to leg out a run instead of staying at third, so the inning ended with no scoring. Elston Howard got a triple in the top of the ninth, his 13th of the season, but Baker and Diehl struck out swinging to keep him from adding to the margin. Diehl came out and preserved the 4-0 shutout with three quick groundouts, all to Kaline with throws to Cavarretta, capping an impressive performance and preserving our bullpen for tomorrow’s doubleheader. Diehl improved to 10-3 with a 2.70 ERA, giving up just two hits and two walks, with six strikeouts through 115 pitches! We had ten hits for the second game in a row against the Phillies, led by Al Kaline who had three (including a triple) without managing to score at all. Cavarretta had two hits and scored a run, Mays and Banks each batted in a pair with their homers, and Maris scored a run without a hit. AUGUST 8, 1954 . . . Time for another double-header day! Joe Dobson (7-2, 2.87 ERA, 69.0 IP, 39 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) faced Philly’s Curt Simmons (12-7, 2.63 ERA, 198.2 IP, 86 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) in the first game. Philly got on board first in the bottom of the third with an RBI double by Granny Hammer, but Dobson avoided any further damage though he allowed multiple baserunners. Baker doubled for the 13th time this year, giving us a runner in scoring position in the top of the fourth with two outs, but Bill Serena hit straight to the third baseman for our third out so we stayed scoreless. We brought Vern Fear in with one outs and a man on base in the bottom of the sixth, and he got us through the inning without the runner leaving first, score still 1-0 Phillies heading into the seventh. Vern Fear got a hit in the top of the seventh with two outs, bringing up the top of the lineup, but Kaline hit to third and the out was quickly made at second to end the frame. Fear got into a touch of trouble in the bottom of the eighth, allowing runners quickly at first and second, and a base hit for Willie Jones scored a second run for Philadelphia before we could secure the final out. We came up in the top of the ninth needing to find a way to score SOMETHING. Joe Collins came in to pinch hit for Gene Baker, getting a hit into right field to reach first safely. Grady Hatton came in to hit for Bill Serena, and he too got a hit, this one just past the second baseman and into the outfield, giving us two on base and bringing up Clyde McCullough as the potential go-ahead run! He batted into a double play, but Joe Collins made it to third giving us at least a chance ... Al Rosen came in to pinch hit for Vern Fear, but he struck out, game over, we lose 2-0. What a letdown of a game. Thankfully we have a second one to salve the wounds. Joe Dobson took the loss, falling to 7-3 with a 2.78 ERA with just six hits, one earned run and a strikeout with three walks, which led to his early exit. Vern Fear got us through the remaining 2.2 innings, giving up three hits with an earned run, to go with a strikeout and a walk. We had nine empty hits as well, Kaline and Baker each getting a pair, but we couldn’t make anything pop. For game two we started Bob Turley (2-0, 2.30 ERA, 15.2 IP, 16 K’s, 1.40 WHIP) against Philly’s Gordon Jones (12-11, 3.36 ERA, 208.2 IP, 116 K’s, 1.18 WHIP). Turley gave up an RBI double in the bottom of the first to put Philly up 1-0, as he struggled to find his control, throwing 30 pitches in that first frame before finding ways to get the remaining outs. A second RBI double in the bottom of the third put us down 2-0, and a third run scored on a sac fly to right field, and Turley and McCullough seemed extremely rattled, McCullough making several botched catches that threw both their rhythms off. I tried to keep Turley out in the fifth inning, to give him some confidence, but he walked his seventh batter and gave up a hit without an out, and I had no choice but to bring in Harry Dorish. Sometimes it’s just not your day, Turley, nothing against you. But his WHIP is skyrocketing, and if you’re walking seven guys against three hits and two strikeouts, sometimes it’s time to cut your losses and try again next time. Part of it was McCullough’s piss-poor catching, and if I had someone else I could put in for him to allow Howard to still rest, I would. Instead, I had to leave his aging ass in there and hope for the best. Dorish got out of the fifth inning but gave up both of Turley’s runs thanks to a McCullough error. Trailing 5-0 and with Howard, Rosen and Mays resting, I conceded this was not a game we were going to make a massive comeback in. Better to move on and just get through it so we can focus on the next series. Carmen Mauro hit an RBI double in the top of the seventh to at least put us on the board, and Dorish got us through the bottom of the inning. Phil Cavarretta hit a towering solo homer to right in the top of the eighth to make it 5-2, giving him a dozen homers this year. Vern Fear came in to finish the game out, and he gave up a home run in the bottom of the eighth with one out to make it 6-2 before getting the remaining outs, and we quickly finished the final frame without a fuss as the Phillies beat us by four and split the series. Turley took the loss, falling to 2-1 with a 4.12 ERA, giving up four hits, five earned runs and striking out just two batters against seven walks, one of the most inefficient efforts I have seen from any Cubs pitcher all year (92 pitches in four innings). Harry Dorish threw 53 pitches through three innings, giving up two hits with a strikeout and two walks, and Vern Fear had two hits and a home run scored in his one inning of action. They outhit us 8-6, with Cavarretta’s three hits and a homer being the lone bright spot on our offensive roster. And things won’t get easier, with three games against the Redlegs (66-46) and three against the Braves (50-60) before we finally get to head back to Wrigley. The Redlegs are in third now at 14 games back, but only a game behind the Dodgers. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

09-26-2023, 03:11 PM	#144
Makonnen All Star Reserve Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 916	Big fan of the play every game model, as I think you really do feel more of the day to day and week to week narratives. Congrats on that! Taking over the GM role makes the whole thing much easier--you can't help but know what Maris or Kaline do eventually. Like Luckymann, you'll have to figure out how to make it a challenge after your first 7 or 8 championships. Or, not--like, dynasties are fun, too. One request: maybe at the end of each in-game month, an update to the standings to help us track the Cubs' march towards the pennant? Keep it up! __________________ Year II of the WBL on the Forums STARTS HERE. Baseball The Way It Never Was https://wbl.dmlco.com/ i9s: Curated, Bespoke MLE's for NeL Players. https://www.i9s.org/

09-30-2023, 12:52 PM	#146
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 10, 1954 . . . Current standings heading into our final six game stretch of this road trip, with three-game series against the Redlegs and the Braves: *Chicago (81-33) ... Run Dif +204* Brooklyn (67-45) 13 GB ... Run Dif +84 Cincinnati (66-46) 14 GB ... Run Dif +57 Philadelphia (56-55) 23.5 GB ... Run Dif +25 Milwaukee (50-60) 29 GB ... Run Dif +14 Pittsburgh (51-66) 31.5 GB ... Run Dif -89 St. Louis (48-65) 32.5 GB ... Run Dif -75 New York (32-81) 48.5 GB ... Run Dif -220 - eliminated Over in the AL, meanwhile: Cleveland (68-41) ... Run Dif +77 New York (62-50) 7.5 GB ... Run Dif +94 Washington (59-51) 9.5 GB ... Run Dif +55 Chicago (59-53) 10.5 GB ... Run Dif +52 Detroit (54-54) 13.5 GB ... Run Dif +35 Boston (52-58) 16.5 GB ... Run Dif -50 Philadelphia (49-62) 20 GB ... Run Dif -95 Baltimore (38-72) 30.5 GB ... Run Dif -168 Tonight against the Redlegs we’re starting Hy Cohen (14-6, 2.91 ERA, 179.2 IP, 100 K’s, 0.99 WHIP) against Redlegs starter Bobby Shantz (18-6, 2.65 ERA, 213.2 IP, 93 K’s, 1.26 WHIP). We took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, after Al Rosen (who reached base on a throwing error and then made it to second on a blown pick-off throw to first) scored via an Elston Howard single, the first hit of the game for either team. Moments later Hy Cohen walked the bases loaded, and Al Kaline should have been an easy third out, but he reached base on another throwing error, scoring a run and keeping the bases loaded! Two more runs scored on a Cavarretta single, and Willie Mays again walked the bases loaded, at which point they walked Maris to score a fifth run. Ernie Banks batted out to first to end the inning, but we’d built a 5-0 lead, thanks to three hits and three Redleg errors. Al Kaline hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth, his 15th of the year, to make it 6-0, and Roger Maris added his 12th homer in the top of the seventh, making it a 7-0 lead. Cohen stayed in to complete his 11th game in a row, but he blew the shutout, giving up a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth. But with the final out he capped his 15th win of the year as we beat the Redlegs soundly 7-3. Cohen’s record now stands at 15-6 with a 2.91 ERA, thanks to a four-hit three run game during which he threw six strikeouts and walked only one batter through 120 pitches. We notched nine hits as a team, led by Al Kaline with three hits for two runs and an RBI. Cavarretta and Maris each had two RBIs, with Maris hitting 40 RBIs for the season. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-01-2023, 05:41 PM	#147
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 11, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (10-3, 2.70 ERA, 150.0 IP, 73 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) is up in the rotation, taking on Cincy’s Tom Poholsky (12-9, 3.14 ERA, 203.2 IP, 80 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) in another evening game. Early on it was a tightly fought pitcher’s battle -- we finally got a solid hit in the third, a double by Baker, but then got three outs in a row to keep us scoreless. But Roger Maris hit one sharply in the top of the fourth, getting it over the center-field wall for his 13th homer of the year, giving us a 1-0 advantage. Cincinnati answered in the bottom of the fourth with a solo blast to left by Ted Kluszewski to tie it 1-1, but Diehl got us back ahead thanks to a sac-fly to center in the top of the fifth which allowed Elston Howard to score from third. Al Kaline followed it up with a run-scoring single, giving us a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. Ernie Banks squeezed out a hit with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth to drive in a run to make it 4-1, and Al Rosen got a hit into the outfield that scored two more! With a five-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Diehl stayed in to finish the game, but two hits and a walk later and we had to warm up Consuegra. We got one out on a fielder’s choice that scored the Redlegs a second run, and a flyout to left held the remaining runners to their corners. And Diehl managed to get the third out with Consuegra ready to come in for the save, as we completed the 6-2 victory. Diehl improved to 11-3 with the win, giving up nine hits with three strikeouts against three walks over 118 pitches, giving up two earned runs to keep his respectable 2.66 ERA. We had nine hits as well, led by Kaline, Mays and Baker who each had a pair of hits, and by Maris, who scored two runs and drove in another with his homer. We’ve gained more ground in the pennant race as Brookyln has lost two in a row to the Phillies, so we now lead our nearest competitors by 15 full games, our magic number now sitting at 25! It is also appropriate that on the day he hit his 13th homer for us, Roger Maris has finally signed the contract extension we’ve been working on since before the All Star break, a ten year deal which will keep him in a Cubs uniform through at least 1964’s season! He’ll make just shy of $610,000 through the length of the contract, which will give him a raise to $44,800 for the next three seasons, followed by two years at $50,000 and then incremental raises, eventually peaking at $80,000 each year for the final three years of the contract. AUGUST 12, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (7-3, 2.78 ERA, 74.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Redleg starter George Susce (5-3, 3.84 ERA, 91.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.31 WHIP) in the third game of the series. The Redlegs took an early lead, going up 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Ted Kluszewski hiting into a 5-4-3 double play that still allowed Whitey Lockman to score from third. They added a second run in the botom of the second, and a great pickoff play at home plate saved us from going into the third inning trailing by more. The Redlegs scored a third run in the bottom of the fourth, and we struggled to get anything out of the infield. Vern Fear came in to pitch in the botom of the sixth, the score still 3-0 Redlegs. Harry Dorish came in for the eighth inning and immediately gave up a triple. But he got us out of the inning with the runner still stranded on third, giving us one last shot to do something in this game. Mays flew out to left but Maris took a walk, bringing up Ernie Banks, who flew out to right -- Al Rosen came up with two outs, blasting a two-run homer to deep right, putting us on the board at last. Joe Collins came in to pinch hit for Elston Howard, but he flew out to deep left, ending the game as a 3-2 loss. Dobson took the loss, falling to 7-4 with a 2.84 ERA, thanks to seven hits and three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and two walks through five innings. Vern Fear pitched two innings with two hits, two strikeouts and a walk, improving his ERA to 2.01 on the year, and Harry Dorish gave up the one triple but then struck out a batter and gave up a walk, improving his ERA to 1.26 through 57 innings. We just struggled to hit -- the Redlegs outhit us 10-5, Al Rosen batting in our two runs, with Cavarretta leading the way with a pair of hits with nothing to show for it. Next up: a three game set against Milwaukee (52-61, 29 GB) on the road, and then we can head back to Chicago where we’ll be at Wrigley through the second day of September. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-01-2023, 07:28 PM	#148
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 13, 1954 . . . Bob Turley (2-1, 4.12 ERA, 19.2 IP, 18 K’s, 1.68 WHIP) had his fourth start as a Cub today, going up against Milwaukee’s Johnny Antonelli (12-10, 3.13 ERA, 198.2 IP, 122 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) in this evening’s game against the Braves. Gene Baker hit his seventh homer of the season in the top of the second, scoring two runs to put us up 2-0 on the Braves! Kaline scored in the top of the third off a Willie Mays sac-fly to right, and we held the Braves scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when they finally got on board with an RBI double by Sid Gordon making the score 3-1 Cubs heading into the top of the fifth. Willie Mays hit a two-run blast to center in the top of the fifth, his 29th homer of the season, putting us up comfortably 5-1. Harry Dorish came in to pitch with two outs and a man on in the bottom of the seventh with the score still 5-1, getting a strikeout to end the inning, and he got us through the eighth unblemished as well. Dorish gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, pulling the Braves within three, but he got three quick outs immediately thereafter, closing out the 5-2 win in style! Bob Turley improved to 3-1, lasting 6.2 innings with just four hits and one earned run. Had he not walked so many batters he might have lasted longer -- he struck out four and walked four, throwing 100 pitches. Dorish put in 2.1 solid innings to close things out, giving up three hits and the one earned run, striking out one batter through 38 pitches of his own. His ERA dipped ever-so-slightly to 1.37 overall, while Turley’s improves to 3.42. The Braves outhit us 7-4 but we made ours count. Mays, Maris, Banks and Baker each got a hit, Mays batting in three and scoring one while walking once as well, his homer proving to be the difference-maker in this one. AUGUST 14, 1954 . . . Tonight we brought out Hy Cohen (15-6, 2.91 ERA, 188.2 IP, 106 K’s, 0.96 WHIP) to pitch against Milwaukee’s Bob Buhl (8-12, 3.70 ERA, 167.2 IP, 93 K’s, 1.50 WHIP). Cohen was a bit wild early, allowing the Braves to take a 1-0 first inning lead. A flyout to center allowed a second run to score, and a third scored on a wild pitch before Cohen finally got us out of the first inning trailing 3-0, having thrown 31 pitches in the frame. Hy Cohen got a base hit in the top of the third and then stole second, advancing to third on a Kaline groundout to first. Phil Cavarretta came up with two outs and got a hit into right field, allowing Cohen to score a run, and Willie Mays hit one into center right, a standup double that advanced Cavarretta to third. But Roger Maris struck out, ending the rally with us still trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third. Ernie Banks hit a solo blast over the center field wall in the top of the seventh, a 436-footer that was his 18th of the year, pulling us to within a run, and in the top of the eighth Kaline hit his 16th homer of the year, tying the score 3-3! Cohen kept it tied, allowing a runner on base but then stranding him with a pair of flyouts and a strikeout to send us into the ninth inning knotted at three runs. In the top of the ninth, with a man on and two outs, Bill Serena pinch hit for Cohen, and he hit a towering homer into the left field stands, putting us up 5-3! Sandy Consuegra came in to close it out, getting three outs in quick fashion to ice the two run victory! Hy Cohen had to work harder for that one, improving to 16-6 while throwing a seven hitter, giving up three runs (only one earned) with five strikeouts and three walks through eight innings and 121 pitches, improving his ERA to 2.84. Consuegra saved his 18th game of the year, improving his ERA to 2.49 with no hits. We outhit the Braves 11-7, with every player who came up to bat getting at least one hit (Consuegra never batted). Cavarretta had two hits and batted in a run, and Bill Serena’s second homer of the year proved to be a difference-maker, giving him two RBIs. AUGUST 15, 1954 . . . One last road game and then we can head back to Wrigley in style! Robert Diehl (11-3, 2.66 ERA, 159.0 IP, 76 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched this afternoon, up against Milwaukee’s Warren Spahn (8-14, 3.69 ERA, 212.0 IP, 106 K’s, 1.36 WHIP) who has fallen a long way from last year’s 24-7 form. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Diehl gave up an ill-timed fastball to Eddie Matthews, who hit it out of the park and put the Braves up 1-0. Milwaukee scored a second run in the bottom of the fifth, and we brought Tom Ferrick in for the bottom of the sixth, still trailing 2-0. Ernie Banks got a hit into left field in the top of the eighth with men on the corners, driving in a run via Kaline from third to pull us within a run. Ferrick gave up a solo homer to Johnny Logan in the bottom of the eighth, but he got us through the rest of the inning without incident, sending us into the top of the ninth trailing 3-1 against the Braves. Bill Serena came in to pinch hit for Baker, getting a hit into left field for a base hit. Joe Collins batted for Carmen Mauro, and he got a hit into deep left, an easy double that allowed Serena to safely reach third and hold. With Consuegra warming in the bullpen, we brought Grady Hatton in to pinch hit for Ferrick, but he batted out to first and the runners held. Kaline was a quick out as well, bringing up Cavarretta with two outs, two men in scoring position, and the game on the line. He hit it straight to the shortstop, who threw to first and ended the game as a 3-1 loss for our Cubs. We had our chances, but we just couldn’t deliver. Diehl took the loss, falling to 11-4 having thrown 96 pitches in five innings to take himself quickly out of the game. He gave up six hits and only two earned runs, amassing five strikeouts against two walks, but he threw too many pitches in the process. Tom Ferrick was very solid, however, lasting three innings with just two hits and an earned run, throwing 21 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 3.14 on the year through 28.2 innings. We return to Wrigley with an 85-35 record and a firm 13.5 game lead on the Dodgers in the pennant race. Cincinnati remains in third, with a 69-49 record, just a game and a half behind the Dodgers. Philadelphia, at 61-56, is 22.5 games back and needs a miracle if they think they can crawl back into this race. In the AL race, Cleveland (73-43) now has a 10 game lead on the Washington Senators (63-53), with the Yankees (63-55) just a game behind them. Chicago and Detroit are within 15 games, but their chances of catching the Guardians look weak at best -- and Cleveland, despite their +5 Pythagorean differential, are looking less and less like a fluke and more like a legitimate postseason team. This week we have four games against Cincinnati (including a Tuesday doubleheader) followed by a three game weekend set against Milwaukee. This stretch of games in late August gives us a long stretch against the bottom of the division once we get past Cincinnati, so we have a really good shot at putting the division away for all intents and purposes by the time we reach Labor Day. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-02-2023, 09:31 PM	#149
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 17, 1954 . . . Today we play two games against the Redlegs, but back in the friendly confines of Wrigley. Cincinnati, at 69-49, remains 15 games back of us in first, but they’re only a game and a half behind Brooklyn, so we can really put them out of the race via this four-game series. Joe Dobson (7-4, 2.84 ERA, 79.1 IP, 43 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) is up in the rotation for game one, facing down Cincy’s George Susce (6-3, 3.68 ERA, 100.1 IP, 36 K’s, 1.27 WHIP) -- it’s a rainy afternoon, low 70s, and just shy of 17,000 fans were here at the 12:05 p.m. first pitch. Unfortunately, Dobson started out as poorly as you possibly can start a game like this, giving up three consecutive hits and allowing a Redleg run to score, all on his first nine pitches. After a fourth hit in a row that loaded the bases, Dobson managed to pull off a double play, allowing a second run to score in the process, but a wild pitch then allowed a third run to score. The hits kept coming as the wheels fell off, and this was about the worst way a doubleheader game could start out ... by the time Dobson got his third out of the top of the first inning, we were in a 4-0 hole and he’d only thrown 21 pitches. Dobson settled in, thankfully, and allowed us to catch our collective breath. Phil Cavarretta hit a run-scoring single in the bottom of the third to pull us within three runs, but the Redlegs’ pitching kept us on edge and hits were hard to find. Dobson gave up three hits in the top of the fifth, two of which were due to piss-poor fielding in the infield, but was able to get out of the inning without ceding more runs. And he opened the bottom of the fifth with a blistering double on the ground, through the gap, to deep center, but he got greedy and tried to leg out a triple and was tagged out. Big mistake! We’re playing desperate! Al Kaline hit a solo blast to center to make it 2-4, but that was a wasted base-runner. Roger Maris added a solo homer to right in the bottom of the sixth to make it a one-run lead, and with the score 4-3 heading into the seventh we brought Vern Fear in to keep things running smoothly from the mound. Kaline and Mays got on base in the bottom of the seventh, and with two outs Roger Maris stepped up to the plate -- and he hit a SECOND four-bagger, giving him 15 on the season and putting us ahead 6-4! Vern Fear stayed in to close out the game, setting their batters down one, two, three and conserving our bullpen for the second game of the doubleheader, the final score Cubs 6, Redlegs 4. Joe Dobson lasted six total innings, giving up 11 hits and four earned runs, with three strikeouts and a walk. It was an entirely mediocre performance, but he did enough to get deep enough into the game that we didn’t blow the bullpen, and his ERA only slipped to 3.06. Vern Fear took the win, improving to 4-1 on the year with a 1.89 ERA, giving up just one hit with three strikeouts in a masterful performance. We and the Redlegs each had 12 hits, ours coming later in the game as the tide turned and we took control. Roger Maris had the best game of his rookie season, two homers on two hits and a walk, giving him two runs scored and four batted in. Al Kaline added a pair of hits with two runs scored and an RBI thanks to his 12th homer of the year. And Cavarretta added a hit with an RBI as well. The rain cleared the area in time for the second game, and by the time we threw out the first pitch nearly 19,000 fans were now in attendance. Bob Turley (3-1, 3.42 ERA, 26.1 IP, 22 K’s, 1.56 WHIP) took the mound for his first Wrigley start, up against Cincinnati’s Vern Law (4-3, 4.32 ERA, 73.0 IP, 32 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). We loaded the bases quickly on a pair of hits and a walk, and Roger Maris batted one through the gap into center field, putting two runs on the board in the bottom of the first. A third run scored on a passed ball, and we went into the second inning feeling comfortable at 3-0. We picked up right where we left off, Cavarretta batting in a run via Turley with an infield single to make it 4-1, and Gene Baker batted in another in the bottom of the third via a triple, giving him his 40th RBI of the year and us a 5-0 lead. The Redlegs hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth to get on the board, but Al Rosen got it back and then some with a GRAND SALAMI in the bottom of the fourth, extending our lead to 9-1 and giving Rosen his 21st homer of the year in style. Turley stayed in to close out an excellent complete game as we blasted the Redlegs 9-1. Turley improved to 4-1 on the year with a 2.80 ERA thanks to a nine-hit one run game with five strikeouts and two walks through 121 pitches. We outhit the Redlegs 14-9, led by Al Kaline (three hits two runs) and Ernie Banks (three hits one run) with Roger Maris batting in a pair of runs and Al Rosen’s grand slam netting him four RBIs. After today’s double whammy win here at home, we still have a 14 game lead on the Dodgers but the Redlegs have slipped to 17 back. Meanwhile, the Cardinals (50-70, 36 GB) and the Pirates (52-70, 35 GB) have been officially eliminated from the hunt, as it were. No one in the AL has been officially eliminated yet, with five teams in realistic contention for the crown though Cleveland (73-44) still maintains a nine game lead on Washington (64-53) with the Yankees (11 GB), Tigers (13.5 GB) and White Sox (13.5 GB) still chasing. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-03-2023, 07:13 AM	#150
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 18, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (16-6, 2.84 ERA, 196.2 IP, 111 K’s, 0.98 WHIP) took the mound today against Paul Minner (11-8, 4.27 ERA, 166.1 IP, 54 K’s, 1.42 WHIP). Cohen got sloppy with a fastball in the top of the first, allowing Ted Lepicio to hit a three-run homer over the left field wall, putting the Redlegs up 3-0 very quickly. But Roger Maris hit his 16th homer of the year, a three-run blast to right, tying it right up in the bottom of the first. GAME ON! Cavarretta batted in two runs with a single in the bottom of the second to make it 5-3 Cubs, and by the time they got us out again we held a 7-3 lead going into the top of the third inning. Cohen gave up a solo homer to Ted Kluszewski in the top of the fifth to make it 7-4, and a pair of doubles added another Redleg run, but Baker made an incredible catch to finally end the inning with Cincy trailing by a pair. Al Kaline added a solo blast of his own in the bottom of the sixth to make it 8-5, his 18th homer of the year, and Ernie Banks added an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to four runs. Al Kaline drove in another pair of runs with a bases-loaded RBI single and we went into the top of the eighth leading 11-5. Cincy got a run back in the top of the eighth but couldn’t muster a rally, and Vern Fear closed things out nicely as we won another blowout against the Redlegs, this time by an 11-6 margin. Cohen improved to 17-6 on the season with the win, his ERA slipping slightly to 2.97 thanks to nine hits and five earned runs, with four strikeouts against three walks. Bob Porterfield came in with one out in the sixth and got two key outs with the bases loaded to get through with a hit and a strikeout, no runs, improving his ERA to 5.40. And Vern Fear pitched the last two innings, giving up two hits and a run, with a strikeout and a walk, giving him a 1.99 ERA now through 54.1 innings. We outhit the Redlegs 14-12 in this slugfest, led by Al Kaline (three hits two runs three RBIs) and Roger Maris (two hits two runs three RBIs). Cavarretta added two hits for a run and two RBIs, and Ernie Banks hit twice and batted in another two. Roger Maris has been strong so far in late July and the first half of August, bringing his average up to .224 and his slugging to .500, making him a key part of our lineup. He’s got a ton of potential and though he is raw, he’s also extremely talented. AUGUST 19, 1954 . . . Time for a series sweep! Robert Diehl (11-4, 2.69 ERA, 164.0 IP, 81 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) took the mound today against Cincinnati starter Bobby Shantz (18-7, 2.83 ERA, 223.0 IP, 95 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) in the final of four games here at Wrigley. The Redlegs got on the board in the top of the fourth with a solo blast by Gus Bell, putting them ahead 1-0 on just their second hit of the afternoon. And despite the wind blowing out supposedly favoring the bats today, we found ourselves locked into a pitchers’ duel through the sixth inning, with four hits combined between the teams before Al Kaline got a single off in the bottom of the sixth for our third hit of the game. He stole second, and then Cavarretta got a hit into center field, driving in the tying run just like that, so we went into the top of the seventh knotted 1-1. Cavarretta and Mays got hits in the bottom of the eighth, and Roger Maris took a walk to load the bases, one out. Ernie Banks struck out swinging, but Al Rosen got a grounder into the outfield, driving in two runs and giving us a 3-1 lead! Elston Howard essentially duplicated his hit, driving in another run, and Gene Baker got one into right field to drive in our fourth run of the inning, so by the time Diehl flew out to center we held a commanding 5-1 lead heading into the top of the ninth. Diehl got three quick outs to complete the sweep as we beat the Redlegs by four runs! Diehl is now 12-4 with a 2.60 ERA thanks to a four-hitter, giving up just one run with two strikeouts through 87 efficient pitches. We had nine hits as a team, led by Cavarretta and Mays with two each. Al Rosen hit once for a run and two batted in, while Cavarretta, Howard and Baker each batted in runs as well. We’re now 89-35 and in the driver’s seat in the NL pennant race heading into a three game set against the soon-to-be-eliminated Milwaukee Braves (56-63). Over in the AL, Washington continues to gun for the Guardians, having gone 8-2 over their last ten, though the Guardians have gone 7-3 and remain 8.5 games up. The Yankees have gone 3-7 in their last ten and look to be down and out, leading many to wonder how many heads are about to roll over in Yankeeland. We’ve gone 14-5 so far in August and have held tough, looking very much like a team that could win our first World Series title since 1908. Attached Images __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-07-2023, 10:32 AM	#151
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 20, 1954 . . . Time to focus on Milwaukee and our stretch run to clinch this pennant! The Braves are all but out of contention, a few games max away from being outright eliminated, but we can’t take teams lightly -- they’re all going to want to play a part in bringing us back down to earth. This afternoon Joe Dobson (7-4, 3.06 ERA, 85.1 IP, 46 K’s, 1.28 WHIP) will go up against Warren Spahn (9-14, 3.60 ERA, 220.0 IP, 111 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) here at Wrigley in front of 23,000 screaming Cubs fanatics, with teamps in the mid 70s and the wind blowing out to right very lightly. Roger Maris got us started with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first, his 18th homer of the year, and we knew he’d be dangerous today with the wind blowing out to right -- his absolute specialty! The Braves got on the board in the top of the second when Ernie Banks couldn’t get a handle on a ball hit his way, but we only let them have the one. But in the top of the third they got a hit out to right that blew right over the wall, an Eddie Mathews two-run blast that tied the game 3-3. And Dobson was not sharp at all today, giving up way too much hard contact and giving the Braves way too much room to stay in this one. Milwaukee went up 4-3 on a a Johnny Pesky double that gave Milwaukee eight hits through four innings, and we were in for a slugfest. Dobson walked the bases loaded and then walked in a run in the top of the fifth, making it 5-3 Braves, and I had to give him the hook. Vern Fear came in and got two strikeouts and a flyout to end the inning having given up only one of the runs Dobson left on base -- score: Milwaukee 6, Chicago 3 heading into the bottom of the fifth. Phil Cavarretta gut us two of our runs back in the bottom of the inning, a two-run homer into the left-field seats that made it 6-5 Braves, his 13th four-bagger of the season. Harry Dorish came in with one out and men on first and second in the top of the sixth, getting us out of the jam with an infield fiy-out to short and a strikeout, sending us into the bottom of the inning with more than a chance. In the bottom of the seventh, Al Kaline took a walk and then Cavarretta nailed a blistering grounder down the fair side of the left field line, a double that put two in scoring position with Willie Mays coming to the plate. He hit one right up the middle, getting a favorable bounce out of the way of the fielder, allowing both runs to score and putting us in the lead 7-6! Al Rosen got a hit into the outfield to drive home another run with an RBI single, and we went into the top of the eighth leading 8-6! They hit a solo homer to open the inning, narrowing the gap to a single run, but Dorish had only thrown a dozen pitches to that point so we kept him in and didn’t warm anoyne up -- huge mistake. He gave up a hit and two walks in a row, then threw the wrong fastball and suddenly grand slam and we’re in an 11-8 hole again. This game has been an epic moodswing, and at this point I just want it to end so we can regroup. Tom Ferrick got us through the ninth inning without incident, giving us the bottom of the inning to either pull out some runs or go the hell home. We quickly chose the latter and put this one in the books as a disappointing 11-8 loss. In a game where we gave up 16 total hits while managing a dozen ourselves, fans got plenty of action but as a manager I got nothing but agita. Dobson lasted just four innings with nine hits and six earned runs with one strikeout and four walks through 74 pitches, only missing out on the loss because Vern Fear eventually got us into the lead. Fear threw 1.1 innings with three hits and two strikeouts, and Dorish (who was due to have a bad night) came in and lasted 2.2 innings, giving up just three hits but also three walks. The two homers, including a grand slam, in the eighth inning come off as more fluke than anything. He took the loss, falling to 4-2, but his ERA remains a very respectable 2.03 overall, so not planning to read much into it. Tom Ferrick was solid in his inning, giving up one hit and then three quick flyouts, keeping his ERA near 3.00. On the offensive end, Cavarretta had three hits, scoring three times and batting in a pair, while Willie Mays had two hits two runs and two RBIs and Maris added his three-run homer to give him 53 RBIs this year as a Cub. Clyde McCullough had three hits but was left stranded each time. AUGUST 21, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (17-6, 2.97 ERA, 203.0 IP, 115 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Johnny Antonelli (13-11, 3.12 ERA, 216.2 IP, 134 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). Willie Mays hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third to put us up 1-0, and Al Rosen followed it with a three-run blast to center that made it 4-1, his 22nd homer of the season! With one out and two men on, Baumholtz hit a triple to center, scoring two more runs, and Gene Baker added an RBI triple on two outs to make it 7-0! Phil Cavarretta reached first on a fielding error, but Willie Mays hit a pop-up to second, ending the inning before we could put up double digits. Del Crandall hit a solo homer for Milwaukee in the top of the fifth to make it 7-1, but the game was fairly uneventful from there. Baumholtz tripled and then made it home on an RBI flyout by Cohen to add a run in the bottom of the eighth, and then Cohen stayed in to close things out in the top of the ninth. Two flyouts and a triple, then he ended things with a flyout by the Braves’ reliever, capping the 8-1 victory without giving up any runs while bolstering his Cy Young case. With the win, Cohen improved to 18-6, giving up eight hits and an earned run with four strikeouts against two walks, throwing 128 pitches in the complete game victory. We notched nine hits as a team, led by Gene Baker in the leadoff spot with two doubles for a run and an RBI, and Frank Baumholtz who added two hits with two runs and two batted in. Al Rosen’s homer gave him a run and three RBIs in a game completely dominated by our seven run third inning. Baltimore (43-79) became the first AL team to be officially eliminated from contention, though being 33 games back of first made it inevitable and no one was at all shocked. The race in that league remains tight, with Cleveland still mantaining their 8.5 game lead on the Senators, with the Yankees (66-57) 11 games out and fading fast. AUGUST 22, 1954 . . . Bob Turley (4-1, 2.80 ERA, 35.1 IP, 27 K’s, 1.47 WHIP) pitched today against Leo Kelly (1-1, 8.79 ERA, 14.1 IP, 5 K’s, 2.02 ERA). Milwaukee got a run on the board in the top of the third inning off only their second hit of the game, thanks to a hit-by-pitch and a walk that complicated things. Meanwhile, we couldn’t seem to buy a hit. The Braves added a three-run homer in the top of the fourth, and though Maris got a double in the bottom of the inning, we did nothing with it. But Serena and Rosen each walked to start the bottom of the fifth, and Clyde McCullough came up and slammed a 400-footer into the center-field bleachers, just his sixth homer of the year, to put us within a run! Turley doubled to bring up the top of the order, still no outs, and he made it to third on a Kaline sacrifice. A Cavarretta walk brought up Willie Mays, who skipped a grounder into deep right, scoring the tying run and giving us two on with just a single out! Maris drove one up the middle, an RBI single that scored Cavarretta and gave us a 5-4 lead! Grady Hatton then hit into a double play, but we’d gone from a one-hit effort to suddenly scoring five runs in the fifth, a huge illustration of why we’ve been so dominant this year. Unfortunately Turley let them tie it back up with a grounder up the middle, and another hit to center field gave them back the lead, a two-run triple to make it 7-5 Braves. Unbelievable! Harry Dorish came in to get the final out, with Turley having thrown 111 pitches in six innings, a large chunk of them in the sixth when he’d looked reasonably sharp up to that point. But McCullough proved to be ON FIRE tonight, slamming a two-run homer to right to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, his second four-bagger of the game, and we went into the seventh inning knotted 7-7. Al Rosen hit a bases-loaded fly-out to right, but Willie Mays got greedy and tried to score on the play -- it wasn’t even close, and that ended the seventh inning still knotted up. Vern Fear came in for the top of the eighth, and he promptly gave up a solo homer to Eddie Mathews to put Milwaukee back in front, though he then got three outs in a row to end the inning. And McCullough kept things going with pure insanity, hitting a solo homer to open the bottom of the eighth, HIS THIRD OF THE GAME AND EIGHTH OF THE SEASON, to tie the score at 8-8! Joe Collins came in to pinch-hit for Vern Fear, taking a walk, and then following an Al Kaline strikeout, Phil Cavarretta came in and hit a single to right, sending Collins to second; coming around to stretch out a run to third, Collins was saved by an E8 throwing error, allowing him to come all the way around to score the go ahead run, putting us up 9-8 on a Cavarretta RBI single, with Cavarretta advancing to second on the error! They walked Mays but pitched to Maris, a fly-out to right moving Cavarretta to third while Mays held at first. But Grady Hatton couldn’t get a hit to land, ending the inning with us up one on the Braves, with Sandy Consuegra coming in to close things out. He walked the first batter, then got an out off a sac-bunt, putting a runner in scoring position with the top of their order coming up to bat. Joe Adcock hit one to Grady Hatton, who got it to Cavarretta for out number two, while putting the tying run on third and bringing Johnny Logan up to the plate. Thankfully a fly out to right ended the game as a 9-8 victory! Vern Fear improved to 5-1 with the win, with one hit and one run dropping his ERA slightly to 2.06. Consuegra got the save, his 19th of the season, walking one batter but improving his ERA to 2.44 on the year. Bob Turley lucked out -- his 5.2 inning game, while marred by his sixth inning collapse, did not result in a loss; instead he finished with seven hits, seven earned runs and two strikeouts, with four walks. In turn, his ERA was crushed, dropping to 3.95 since coming to Chicago, though admittedly part of a small sample size. We outhit the Braves 10-8, with all hero points going to Clyde McCullough, who at age 37 had his first three homer game -- accounting for three runs scored and six batted in, nearly tripling his RBI count for the year! Roger Maris added two hits and an RBI as well. This loss officially eliminated the Braves, who fell to 57-65 on the season as we won our 91st game, maintaining our 14 game lead on the Dodgers. Next up, a series against the bottom-dwelling Giants here in Chicago, as our magic number to clinch sits at 16. Attached Images __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-08-2023, 01:31 PM	#152
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 24, 1954 . . . With the day off we all had yesterday, Hy Cohen (18-6, 2.89 ERA, 212.0 IP, 119 K’s, 1.01 WHIP) says he’s ready to go, so he’ll take the mound today against Larry Jansen (2-2, 4.79 ERA, 41.1 IP, 16 K’s, 1.43 WHIP) in game one against the Giants. Cohen gave up two hits in the first inning, one of them a solo homer to Walt Dropo, to give New York a 1-0 lead. And in the top of the third, with two outs, he had a chance to put the Giants away with two men on, when Al Rosen made an uncharacteristic fumble, loading the bases. The next batter, Wes Westburn, hit a grand slam to make it 5-0. All the bad luck he can handle today for Cohen, that’s the order of the day apparently. Ernie Banks hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, his 19th of the season, to put us on the board down 5-2, and in the bottom of the fifth with men on first and second, Willie Mays hit one hard into deep right, scoring two more runs with a two-out triple! Roger Maris then came up to the plate and hit a two-run blast to the left field bleachers, giving us a 6-5 lead! We’d pinch-hit Roy Sievers for Cohen in the bottom of the fifth, so Harry Dorish came in to protect our sudden lead in the top of the sixth. Ernie Banks added an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to make it 7-5 Cubs, at which point Al Rosen bounced a hit into the left field corner, eking out a triple that scored two more runs, so we went into the top of the eighth leading 9-5! Vern Fear came in to pitch for us, getting three quick outs, and he stayed out for the ninth with us up four runs, getting an out but then giving up two hits, putting runners on first and second. We brought in Tom Ferrick, who got the second out via a pop-up to left, and the final out via a pop-up to center, closing out the 9-5 win in style. This was a game we should have dominated, so it was good to see we were able to recover from the 0-5 start to take the game firmly in hand late. Hy Cohen wound up getting the win, improving to 19-6 with a 2.86 ERA despite giving up five runs (only one of them earned) on seven hits, with two strikeouts and a walk in five innings. Harry Dorish earned his sixth hold, striking out three against no hits in two innings, and though Vern Fear gave up two hits in 1.1 innings of work, he didn’t give up any runs. Coming in with two on base, Vern Fear earned his fourth save of the season, throwing nine pitches to get the two outs, improving his ERA to 2.97. We out-hit the Giants 11-9 in our 92nd win of the year, with the heart of our order (Mays, Maris, Banks and Rosen) contributing six hits, six runs and nine RBIs. Banks was the team leader, with two hits for two runs and three RBIs. AUGUST 25, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (12-4, 2.60 ERA, 173.0 IP, 83 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) took the mound today against Ted Abernathy (2-12, 4.26 ERA, 116.1 IP, 54 K’s, 1.58 WHIP). Ernie Banks got off an RBI single in the bottom of the first to put us up 1-0. Diehl picked up a double in the bottom of the second to keep our inning alive, but Al Kaline denied him a run by hitting one straight to the right fielder for our final out. New York came out hard in the top of the third, going up 2-1 on us thanks to a triple by Bobby Thomson, but they left Thomson stranded as the game ramained close. The Giants added a run in the top of the fourth to go up by two, but Gene Baker hit a fly ball out to right for our second out in the bottom of the inning, allowing Ernie Banks to score from third, pulling us back to within a run. And Diehl got off his second hit of the game, a grounder into left field, moving Al Rosen into scoring position with Kaline back up to the plate! Kaline snuck one right by the ear of their third baseman, staying inbounds to drive in two with a double, putting us back ahead 4-3 heading into the fifth inning. Willie Mays hit his 30th homer of the year, a 420 yard blast to center, to add a run immediately in the bottom of the fifth, and in the bottom of the sixth he came up again and hit a blast down the left field line, coming out with an RBI double. Roger Maris got a hit into right field, scoring two more runs on a single, and we went into the top of the seventh leading big, up 8-3 on the hapless Giants. New York picked up a run in the top of the seventh, Vern Fear came in to pitch in the eighth, getting three easy outs, and he got us through the ninth unblemished as we pummelled the Giants 8-4. Robert Diehl improved to 13-4 on the season, giving up nine hits and four earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk, his ERA slipping to 2.70 overall. Fear pitched two innings with two hits and two strikeouts, bringing his ERA back down to 1.95 through 60 innings of relief this season. We outhit the Giants again 15-11 tonight, led by Al Kaline with four hits, two runs and two RBIs and Willie Mays with three hits, two runs and two RBIs. Banks, Rosen and Diehl each had a pair of hits as well. AUGUST 26, 1954 . . . For our final game against the Giants, Joe Dobson (7-4, 3.53 ERA, 89.1 IP, 47 K’s, 1.37 WHIP) took on Jack Harshman (5-15, 4.45 ERA, 198.0 IP, 109 K’s, 1.49 WHIP). Dobson has been struggling to come out of a slump of late, and we’ll be happy if he gets through five innings before we go to the bullpen. But the first inning made that look unlikely -- 18 pitches in, only one out notched, and the bases were loaded. He got the second out at second base, with Ken Aspromonte batting in a run by Jim Gilliam from third, and he got the final out to avoid giving up more than a single run -- which to be honest, was better than I’d expected, so maybe he’d settle in. It’s not like we’ve been great in the first inning this year. Amd with Al Kaline blasting a solo homer to right on the second pitch of his at-bat, it didn’t matter much anyway. That was his 19th homer of the year and it tied things up 1-1. And Dobson did settle down as the game remained knotted heading into the fourth inning. A second run scored for the Giants in the top of the fourth when Ernie Banks dropped an easy out with a man on third and two outs, getting charged with an error in the process. Willie Mays dropped a rare catch in the top of the fifth, putting a runner in scoring position with just one out, giving him a rare error, but Dobson got a key double play to keep the game a one-run affair. Dobson stayed in and had a quality start, getting off a hit to start the bottom of the seventh, and though he was thrown out at second moments later, Roger Maris eventually loaded the bases with a walk, sending up Ernie Banks with a chance to really do some damage. Unfortunately he struck out, leaving us still trailing 2-1 heading into the eighth inning. Dobson stayed in and completed the eighth inning with three quick outs, and in the bottom of the inning we started out with an Al Rosen walk and an Elston Howard double, giving us two runners in scoring position with no outs! Grady Hutton took a walk to load the bases for the second consecutive inning, and we brought Roy Sievers in to pinch hit for Dobson -- Sievers hit a blistering drive into center, finishing with a two-run double to put us in the lead and give Dobson a chance at the win! Hatton scored on a flyout by Cavarretta to make it 4-2, and Sandy Consuegra came in for the save opportunity in the top of the ninth, completing the sweep with three flyouts as we beat the Giants by two. Joe Dobson was impressive in how he handled early adversity in this one, improving to 8-4 with a 3.33 ERA thanks to a five hit two-run (one earned) game, striking out three and walking three through 98 pitches. Consuegra came out with his 20th save of the year, a perfect eight pitch inning that improved his ERA to 2.39 through 49 innings this year. We again outhit the Giants 9-5, led by Elston Howard and Gene Baker with a pair of hits each, and by pinch-hitter Roy Sievers, who had a hit and two RBIs, his first runs batted in this season as a Cub! Next up, the Phillies (67-59, 25 GB) for two games here in Chicago, followed by three games against Pittsburgh (55-75) and our last two home games against Brooklyn (76-49, 15.5 GB). Our magic number is now down to an even dozen! Cleveland’s lead in the AL has dropped to seven games over Washington, with the Yankees (10 GB) and White Sox (12 GB) still legitimately in contention. With the magic number in that league at 22, the race is likely to go down to the wire. Attached Images __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-08-2023, 02:58 PM	#153
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 27, 1954 . . . For game one of the two game Phillies set I’m starting Bob Turley (4-1, 3.95 ERA, 41.0 IP, 29 K’s, 1.54 WHIP) against Bob Lemon (10-8, 3.23 ERA, 200.1 IP, 95 K’s, 1.38 WHIP). We dropped back to back doubles via Howard and Baker to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, and Cavarretta hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third to make it 2-0, and Ernie Banks hit a three-run blast a few minutes later to make it a five-run shutout. An error at third allowed Rosen to score from second on a single by Elston Howard, and we went into the top of the fourth with a six-run lead. Turley struggled a bit with his command today, but with this much of a lead I was able to give him some leash. Through five innings he’d thrown 83 pitches with two strikeouts against five walks, but we still led 6-0, so he stayed out there. He loaded the bases with no outs, forcing me to go to Dorish to start warming up -- but twice in a row he got outs via contact while forcing all three runners to hold their base -- and with Dorish not ready to throw yet, he faced down pitcher Bob Lemon, bases loaded, two outs, and struck him out swinging! That is what I call digging in! With the lead still 6-0, Harry Dorish came in to relieve Turley in the top of the seventh, getting in trouble by loading the bases himself, giving up two runs to the Phillies but getting us out of the inning with a four run lead still in hand. Willie Mays hit a double in the bottom of the seventh, giving him a hit in 13 consecutive games and putting two in scoring position for Maris, who hit one into deep left and got us a run back. Ernie Banks then hit a blooper over the third baseman’s head, driving in another, and Al Rozen kept the hit parade going, singling up the gap to make it 9-2! Elston Howard loaded the bases with a single, but the lead remained at seven runs heading into the top of the eighth. Vern Fear came in for Dorish, striking out a pair and getting a third out via a grounder to first, and he struck out a pair in the ninth as he closed out the 9-2 victory. Bob Turley gave up six hits with three strikeouts and five walks, coming out with the win as he improved to 5-1 with a 3.45 ERA since coming here from Boston. Harry Dorish gave up a pair of hits and two earned runs thanks to a pair of walks, but by then the game was well in hand. Vern Fear put in two innings of excellent work, giving up just one hit with four strikeouts, improving his ERA to 1.89 on the season. We out-hit the Phillies 13-9, led by Ernie Banks with two hits, a run and four RBIs. Elston Howard had three hits with nothing to show for them, and Kaline and Rosen each had a pair of hits as well as we eliminated the Phillies officially with our 95th win of the year. We are now on a six-game winning streak, and the Dodgers are now 16.5 games back, their loss this afternoon cutting our magic number to ten! Washington, meanwhile, won their fourth in a row as Cleveland dropped a third straight game, keeping the AL race nice and tight at just six games! AUGUST 28, 1954 . . . With a double header against Pittsburgh coming up, I’ve decided to give Hy Cohen a bit of rest and we’re going to throw a bullpen game today. I’m giving Vern Fear (5-1, 1.89 ERA, 62.0 IP, 41 K’s, 0.95 WHIP) the “start” as our opener. He’ll pitch against Philly’s Bob Rush (5-7, 4.19 ERA, 103.0 IP, 47 K’s, 1.44 WHIP), with a plan not to have him stay out past the first time through the lineup. He sat the first three batters down via flyout, strikeout, grounder to third, and though he gave up a walk in the second inning, he did pretty much the same thing. Elston Howard got a nice hit through the gap to drive Ernie Banks around from second, putting us up 1-0 in the bottom of the second. Vern Fear kept us perfect through the third inning, getting their next three batters out without a baserunner, pretty much exactly what we’d needed from him. I brought Bob Porterfield in for the fourth inning with the lead still 1-0, and though he got a quick out to start the inning, he loaded the bases and gave up the tying run on a fielder’s choice at second. But a groundout to first ended the inning, and we headed to the bottom of the fourth knotted 1-1. Tom Ferrick sat three in a row down in the fifth to keep it that way, and Al Kaline hit his 20th homer of the season to put us up 2-1 in the bottom of the inning! Jim Konstanty came in for the top of the seventh with the score 2-1, getting three outs on just seven pitches to hold the lead! Roger Maris doubled in the bottom of the seventh but we couldn’t bring him home, but Konstanty stayed constant in the eighth, pitching around a hit to get the outs we needed to keep the one-run lead! Greg Baker doubled in the bottom of the eighth, and we pinch hit Bill Serena for Konstanty with two outs. Serena has a good eye at the plate, took the walk, and brought up Kaline with two on, a man in scoring position. But he couldn’t get a hit out of the infield and we went into the top of the ninth leading 2-1 with Consuegra coming in for the save. A fly ball caught by Kaline on the warning track got us the first out, a grounder to Cavarretta at first got us the second, and then a groundout from Baker to Cavarretta ended the game as we held tough to win this one 2-1! Vern Fear got us going with three no-hit innings, notching two strikeouts and a walk through 39 pitches to lay the framework for a Tom Ferrick win -- Ferrick lasted two innings with just one hit, improving to 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA in a 22 pitch effort. Konstanty got a two inning hold, his first of the year, giving up one hit through 19 pitches and keeping a perfect ERA in his Cubs debut! And Consuegra was perfect in his 21st save of the year, throwing 16 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 2.34. Bob Porterfield was a bit rough in his fifth appearance, giving up two hits and a run with a walk, letting his ERA slip to 5.87. We out-hit the Phillies 10-4, Kaline and Howard batting in runs while Kaline and Banks scored runs on the ground. Willie Mays hit in his 14th game in a row, taking a walk as well. Brooklyn lost another game, dropping to 17.5 games back as we notched our 7th win in a row, dropping our magic number to eight as we improved to 96-36! We have a double-header against Pittsburgh tomorrow, a day off on Monday, and then a third game against the Pirates on the 31st. We then have two games against Brooklyn, and it’s possible that we could have the pennant clinched before Labor Day! Meanwhile in the AL, Cleveland’s luck seems to be running out -- they’ve been playing six games above their Pythagorean average for most of the year, and now they’re the owners of a four game losing streak, with Washington (72-56) having won five in a row to pull within five games of the AL pennant lead, with the Yankees (68-60) nine games back. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-15-2023, 12:16 PM	#154
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 29, 1954 . . . Double-header day! Hy Cohen (19-6, 2.86 ERA, 217.0 IP, 121 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) pitched in the first game, starting against Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend (13-12, 2.57 ERA, 245.0 IP, 92 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) with a chance to win his 20th game and add to his out-of-nowhere rookie Cy Young resume! Willie Mays hit a triple with two outs in the bottom of the first, extending his hit streak to 15 games, but we couldn’t get him around to score. But Gene Baker got a two-run homer in the bottom of the second, his eighth of the year, to give us a 2-0 lead very early in this one. The game stayed pretty much hitless from there until the bottom of the sixth, when we got back to back hits from Cavarretta and Mays to give us runners on the corners with no outs. Roger Maris took his shot, caught a fastball right on the sweet spot, and BOOM ... three runs! That was his 19th homer of the year, and we now had a 5-0 lead! The Pirates got a run on the board in the top of the seventh, and then Cohen gave up a three-run blast to left to make this one a hell of a lot tighter at 4-5. He safely got the third out, however, and it was up to our bats to start adding more run support. Cohen opened the eighth inning with a standing double, and Al Kaline got a base hit to drive him over to third. Cavarretta flew out to first for out number one, moving Kaline to second while Cohen held at third. Mays popped out to the pitcher, and Maris batted out to first, however, so the inning came to a scoreless end. Cohen stayed out and got two flyouts and a strikeout to end the top of the eighth, and Sandy Consuegra came in for the save opportunity in the top of the ninth with the score still 5-4 Cubs. He remained as much a lock-down pitcher as ever, setting three batters down in a row to end the game as a one-run victory! Cohen bolstered his Cy Young hopes with a 134 pitch, eight inning effort, giving up seven hits and four earned runs, with six strikeouts and two walks. He improved to 20-6 with the win, with a 2.92 ERA despite the two homers. Consuegra saved his 22nd game in a 17 pitch effort that continued to improve his status as the best closer in the game with a 2.29 ERA. We each had seven hits, and despite two errors on our part, we proved to be the stronger team. Mays hit twice to bat in a run, while the remaining hits were spread throughout the lineup. Mays has struggled to hit homers of late, but his eye has been sharp -- he’s hitting .343/.427/.640 with 164 hits, 24 doubles, 14 triples and 30 homers, giving him 109 runs batted in despite taking 73 walks! He’s also stolen 11 bases this year, just one off of last year’s total, having been caught six times. Robert Diehl (13-4, 2.70 ERA, 180.0 IP, 87 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched our second start today, facing Dick Hall (10-13, 2.76 ERA, 228.1 IP, 111 K’s, 1.14 WHIP). Diehl hit a single into right field in the bottom of the second that drove in a run, giving us a 1-0 lead, but the Pirates tied it up 1-1 in the top of the third on a sac fly by Billy Klaus. Willie Mays hit his 31st homer of the year, extending his hit streak to 16 games and giving us a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third, but poor fielding in the sixth led to a run scoring to tie the game up 2-2. Diehl got us out of the inning without giving up a lead, and he took a one-out walk in the bottom of the inning, making it all the way to third on a Kaline single! Unfortunately Cavarretta hit into a double play, ending the chance at a rally. Diehl got two outs in the top of the seventh, but with a man on third we brought in Harry Dorish to get us out of the inning safely on a grounder to first. The Pirates went up 3-2 in the top of the eighth, but Al Rosen, pinch hitting for Dorish in the bottom of the eighth, tied it up with an RBI single, and Kaline got a shot into right field that loaded the bases with just one out! Cavarretta drove in the go-ahead runs, scoring two thanks to a single into deep right, making it 5-3 Cubs! Mays batted in another run, and then Maris hit into a double play to end the inning, and Ferrick came in for the save opportunity with us leading 6-3! But Ferrick loaded the bases, and with Consuegra having played in two games in a row, we left him in to get out of his own mess. An out at first led to a run scoring, but a strikeout gave us two outs with two in scoring position, with Carlos Bernier coming to the plate. A quick out at first saved the game, and we got out of it with a 6-4 victory! Dorish came out of this one with the win, improving to 5-2 with a 2.26 ERA with two hits and an earned run to go with a strikeout. Diehl lasted 6.2 innings with just six hits, with two runs scored to go with two walks and two strikeouts. Ferrish gave up three hits and a run but got out of the jam, notching a strikeout and keeping his ERA under 3.00. We out hit Pittsburgh 12-11, with Kaline, Cavarretta, Mays and McCullough each hitting twice. Heading into our third game against the Pirates on the 31st, Cincinnati is now officially eliminated, and the Dodgers are 17.5 games back with the magic number standing at six. We’re 98-36 and so close to clinching we can taste it! Washington remains five games back of the Cleveland Guardins, who are currently 79-51, having won two in a row. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-15-2023, 12:45 PM	#155
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	AUGUST 31, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (8-4, 3.33 ERA, 97.1 IP, 50 K’s, 1.34 WHIP) got the start today in our final game of the series with Pittsburgh, facing Pirates starter Gene Conley (11-10, 3.56 ERA, 205.0 IP, 109 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) as we continue to chase down the pennant here in the NL. Willie Mays got his 25th double of the year in the bottom of the first, scoring a hit in his 17th consecutive game, but we were not able to score a run. But Gene Baker rectified that with a three-run homer in the bottom of the second to give us a 3-0 lead, thanks to his ninth homer of the season, and Kaline scored our fourth run thanks to a wild pitch. Roger Maris hit a two-run blast to left, his 20h of the season, and we went into the top of the third with a huge 6-0 advantage. Dobson struggled in the third inning, loading the bases and giving up two runs, but he got us out of it without decimating our lead, sending us into the bottom of the third with a 6-2 advantage, and he made up for the runs surrendered by hitting a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the third as we continued to dominate offensively. Willie Mays added a two-run blast in the bottom of the fourth, his 32nd of the season. Joe Dobson stayed in to pitch in the eighth inning but gave up a two-run homer, so we brought in Harry Dorish to pitch with no outs. He got us through the inning without further incident, and then stayed in to close things out in the ninth with us still up by five runs. He ended the 9-4 victory with a double play as we won our 10th game in a row, win number 99 of the year! Dobson improved to 9-4 with a seven inning six-hitter, striking out seven batters and only walking a pair, improving his ERA to 3.28! Dorish closed out the final two innings with a hit, a walk and a strikeout, improving his ERA to 2.20 on the season through 69.2 innings of relief work. We out-hit Pittsburgh 12-7, led by Willie Mays with three hits, a run scored and two RBIs and by Baker with three hits, a run scored and three RBIs. Roger Maris’ 20th homer brought his average up to .228 on the year, and he has batted in 64 runs. Not bad at all, he’s clearly getting hot at the right time. Everyone in the NL is officially eliminated except the Dodgers, at 79-51, who remain 18 games back at this point with our magic number sitting at five. If we can sweep our two game set on September 1st and 2nd, we’ll be able to officially clinch during the three-game St. Louis series this coming weekend! __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-15-2023, 02:11 PM	#156
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	SEPTEMBER 1, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen was named player of the month in the NL, having gone 8-0 in August with a 2.84 ERA and 38 K’s through 63.1 innings of work. It’s now the first of the month and we can expand our roster from 25 to 40 players, so we’ve called up some reserves for the stretch run toward clinching the pennant and playing in our first World Series in a decade. We’re bringing up a couple fringe guys as extra pinch hitters, along with some borderline relivers I’d like to give a few potential innings once we’ve secured our spot in the postsason. We’re still sticking with a four-man rotation of Cohen / Diehl / Dobson / Turley, but we now have eight potential men in relief, which I think should give us enough depth for the stretch run while also giving additional players some time in the September spotlight. A few of them may become potential trade fodder in the offseason to help us find a legitimate backup catcher, as Al Evans and Clyde McCullough are almost certain to either retire this fall or wind up waived -- neither has the fielding ability to catch on a regular basis anymore. Tonight, for the first of two games at Wrigley against the Dodgers, Hy Cohen (20-6, 2.92 ERA, 225.0 IP, 127 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) will be starting against Carl Erskine (19-9, 3.31 ERA, 226.0 IP, 131 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) in a battle of aces. Maris doubled to start the bottom of the second, and he reached third on an infield single by Ernie Banks, scoring on a quick single by Al Rosen to go up 1-0 in a game we all fully expected to be a low scoring affair. But Erskine struggled, Elston Howard batting in a second run with a single, and Gene Baker got anoother hit into right field, driving in a third run to keep runners on first and second with no outs! Elston Howard scored our fourth run on a sac fly by Kaline, and we went into the top of the third inning with a 4-0 lead. Elston Howard batted in a run in the bottom of the third, increasing our lead to five runs, but the Dodgers got two runs on the board with a blast by Frank Thomas (his 20th of the year), cutting our lead to 5-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth. Cohen got into some trouble in the top of the sixth, allowing two runs to score and leaving a runner in scoring position with only a single out, but he escaped the inning with our 5-4 lead still intact, and Bob Shaw came in to pitch in the top of the seventh aiming to protect it. He gave up a double, but then got three consecutive flyouts to end the inning, with Vern Fear warming up to pitch in the eighth. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, coming out of the inning with an additional run to extend our lead to 6-4, and Bob Shaw stayed in for two outs in the eighth before we brought in Fear to go up against Pee Wee Reese for the final out, achieved via flyout to left. Fear got the final three outs in the top of the ninth as we beat the Dodgers 6-4, winning our 100th game, our 11th in a row and making a clinch a virtual certainty. Cohen improved to 21-6 with a 3.00 ERA, giving up eight hits and four earned runs while striking out four and walking one. Shaw got his first hold, giving up just one hit in 1.2 innings, keeping a perfect ERA in just his second appearance and 4.1 innings as a Cub. And Vern Fear notched his second save, throwing 1.1 hitless innings with a strikeout, improving his ERA to 1.76 through 66.1 innings. Willie Mays went hitless with a single walk, ending his hitting streak and failing to score a run. We were led by Maris and Howard who each hit twice, Maris scoring two runs on two hits and a walk, while Howard scored one and batted in two. Our magic number is at three, but we have an 18.5 game lead on the Dodgers, with just 18 games remaining. Only the fact that we still have tomorrow’s game here at Wrigley and then a double-header at Brooklyn has kept them even slightly in the race -- a win tomorrow all but clinches, and our playoff odds are listed at 100 percent. SEPTEMBER 2, 1954 . . . “Bullet Bob” Turley (5-1, 3.45 ERA, 47.0 IP, 32 K’s, 1.57 WHIP) is starting today against Russ “Rowdy” Meyer (12-8, 4.01 ERA, 206.2 IP, 77 K’s, 1.29 WHIP). After today we have 14 games in a row on the road before coming back to Wrigley for a game against St. Louis and two against Cincinnati, our last three home games outside the World Series. So 23,000 fans came out this afternoon to enjoy the clear sunny weather and cheer us on as we move closer and closer to that elusive thing called October baseball. Unfortunately the fans got to see Turley give up two runs via a single homer in the top of the first, gifting the Dodgers a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the first. We got our first hit in the bottom of the third, as Baker notched his 25th double of the season, but we couldn’t get him around to score. Turk Lown came in for the top of the sixth with us still trailing 2-0; the 30-year-old lefty went 4-11 with a 4.37 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP for us back in 1952, before spending the last two years playing in AAA. His return to the majors was not an auspicious one, however, as he gave up a walk and some soft contact, allowing a third Dodger run to score, while notching only one out. Tom Ferrick came in with that one out and a man on second, getting a strikeout and a flyout to get around the runner and a walk he surrendered, sending us into the bottom of the inning with a 3-0 deficit to overcome. In the bottom of the sixth, Cavarretta reached base on a single, then got to second on a passed ball, leaving room for them to walk Mays. Roger Maris then singled into the outfield, allowing Cavarretta to score, but they got quick outs to end the inning with us still trailing by a pair. Ferrick got us through the seventh, and Harry Dorish got us out of the eighth easily, bringing up Al Kaline in the bottom of the eighth to hopefully spark a rally. He was walked, then Cavarretta got a hit into deep center, driving Kaline to third and giving us runners on the corners, and Willie Mays came up at the right time to rail one into the right field bleachers and put us in the lead 4-3! Roger Maris then hit a solo blast to center to make it 5-3, Banks doubled, Rosen walked, and then Gene Baker doubled to deep center to drive in another! We batted through the order and came out of the inning with a three run lead heading into the top of the ninth. Dorish got a strikeout and then ended the game on an amazing double play as we swept the Dodgers in our 12th win in a row! Dorish improved to 6-2 on the year, giving up one hit and striking out one through 16 pitches over two full innings. Turley lasted five innings with five hits and six strikeouts against four walks and a pair of runs. Ferrick gave us 1.2 innings of one hit, one strikeout two walk ball to pitch around Lown’s near-disaster in the top of the sixth. Each team had nine hits, but most of ours came during the key eighth inning rally -- Cavarretta was solid all night with three hits and two runs scored, while Mays’ 33rd homer batted in three more. Maris improved to .235 with two hits including his 21st homer of the year, and we’re now a win (or a Dodgers loss) away from clinching, our record now a spectacular 101-36 on the year. Bring on the road games! We’re ready to dominate September the same way we’ve dominated the rest of the season. As for the AL race, Cleveland (82-51) increased their lead in the pennant race from five games to six as Washington (76-57) took a loss. The magic number in the AL is 16, and Cleveland currently has a 94.9% chance to make the World Series. Everyone in the league is still in the race except for Baltimore, but New York (69-63, 12.5 GB) is the only one other than Washington with a legit shot, and it’s not much of one. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-15-2023, 04:11 PM	#157
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	SEPTEMBER 3, 1954 . . . Robert Diehl (13-4, 2.70 ERA, 186.2 IP, 89 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) takes the mound tonight in St. Louis, against Cardinals pitcher Dick Tomanek (2-3, 3.49 ERA, 38.2 IP, 20 K’s, 1.45 WHIP). Mays hit a sac fly to deep right that drove in an Al Kaline run to make it 1-0 in the top of the first, and Roger Maris followed that with a two-run blast to right, quickly giving us a 3-0 lead with his 22nd homer of the season! Gene Baker added an RBI double, and by the time Diehl even took the mound we held a 4-0 lead on the Cardinals. Bob Shaw gave up a solo homer to Chuck Kress in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 4-1 and the game stayed like that into the bottom of the ninth, when Sandy Consuegra came in to close it out. A strikeout was followed by a double by pinch-hitter Solly Hemus, but a flyout and a strikeout cinched it! We won this one 4-1, our 13th victory in a row and officially clinched the NL Pennant! The Cubs are going back to the World Series for the first time since 1945! With the victory, Diehl improved to 14-4 on the year with a 2.62 ERA, giving up five hits with four strikeouts and two walks through 5.1 innings. Bob Shaw lasted 2.2 innings with two hits, a run and a pair of strikeouts, giving him a 1.29 ERA, while Sandy Consuegra came in for his 23rd save of the season, one hit and two strikeouts improving his ERA to 2.25 through 52 innings. We out-hit the Cardinals 11-8, led by AL Rosen’s three hits for a run scored. Roger Maris added a homer, scoring a run and batting in a pair, and Al Kaline had a pair of hits for a run scored. The AL Pennant race remains tight, with Cleveland now only up five games on the Washington Senators, in a race which seems destined to go all the way down to the wire. We, meanwhile, at 102-36, posess a +272 run differential and an insane 41-10 record since the All Star break. We haven’t won a World Series title since 1908, and with 16 games left in the season we still have a chance to match or beat the all-time wins record for a Cubs team -- 116, set in 1906! Though unlikely ... we’d have to go at least 14-2 down the stretch to tie it ... that shows just how incredibly good this team is. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-15-2023, 05:38 PM	#158
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	SEPTEMBER 4, 1954 . . . A quick injury update -- Saul Rogovin has at least a month left on his recovery from a sprained UCL, and Johnny Klippstein will need at least 5 to 6 weeks to return from his torn labrum, so neither are going to return this year; even if Rogovin is cleared to play, I absolutely have no intention of bringing him into a World Series situation and risk reinjury. Both should be ready to rejoin our rotation to start the 1955 season. Tonight in St. Louis we started Joe Dobson (9-4, 3.28 ERA, 104.1 IP, 57 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) against Vinegar Bend Mizell (15-11, 2.47 ERA, 236.2 IP, 171 K’s, 1.22 WHIP). Ernie Banks took three bases on an Al Rosen single thanks to a throwing error at third, scoring a run in the top of the second to put us up 1-0, with Rosen advancing to second on the error. The Cards tied it up in the bottom of the third, taking a 3-1 lead via a two-run Wally Moon-shot to left, sending us into the top of the fourth trailing by a pair. Ernie Banks answered quickly with his 21st homer of the year to make it 3-2, but the Cards got a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth leading 5-2 and looking fully capable of ending our streak. Harry Dorish came in with one out and two on in the bottom of the sixth, getting the outs we needed and keeping the deficit at three runs. Bob Shaw came in and got three quick outs in the seventh, then stayed in and did the same in the eighth. And though we got two runners on base in the top of the ninth, Al Kaline batted out to left and ended the game as a 5-2 loss. Winning 13 in a row to get the NL Pennant seemed to leave us drained, and this loss seems like it comes at a good time for us to all catch a breath and then dig in for the September stretch before we go to the Series. Joe Dobson fell to 9-5 with the loss, giving up nine hits in 5.1 innings for five runs with one strikeout and a walk, dropping his ERA to 3.53. Harry Dorish got us two outs with a strikeout in the sixth inning, and then Bob Shaw came in to close with two one-hit innings to improve his ERA to 1.00 since joining the Cubs. St. Louis got ten hits to our seven, with Ernie Banks leading the team with two hits for two runs and an RBI. SEPTEMBER 5, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (21-6, 3.00 ERA, 231.0 IP, 131 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Ron Kline (5-9, 2.80 ERA, 141.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.17 WHIP) in our third game against the Cardinals. Roger Maris hit a towering blast to right in the top of the second, giving us a 1-0 lead with his 23rd homer of the season, and Willie Mays batted out to first while driving in a second run via Kaline to make it 2-0 in the top of the third. Amazingly, they kept giving Maris balls to hit, allowing a two-run blast to right that made it 4-0 and gave him his second four-bagger of the game! Ernie Banks then hit a solo blast -- again to right, loving that wind! -- giving him his 22nd homer of the season and us a 5-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third. Bill Serena hit a solo blast to center in the top of the sixth, only his third homer of the year, to make it a 6-0 lead, but St. Louis woke up loudly in the bottom of the inning, Andy Carey hitting a three run homer into the right field bleachers to narrow the gap to three runs. Cohen gave up a fourth run in the bottom of the seventh, then a fifth scored on an RBI double and suddenly it was 6-5 Cubs with one out and a man in scoring position. With arms warming up in the bullpen Cohen gave up another hit to right field, putting runners on the corners, and Vern Fear came in to put out the fire and protect the lead. But a single landed in center field, scoring the tying run before Fear was able to get us those crucial two outs. Heading into the top of the eighth all was knotted 6-6. Elston Howard drove in a run in the top of the eighth with a single in a fielder’s choice, and Bill Serena singled to right putting Howard into scoring position with a pair of outs. Ray Sievers came in to pinch hit for Fear, and they walked him to load the bases, sending Kaline to the plate with a 7-6 lead. He flew out to left, ending the inning and sending Consuegra in for a potential two-inning save. Sandy was great through the eighth, and had two outs in the ninth before unleashing a fastball at just the wrong moment, allowing Stan Musial to tie things up at 7-7 with a blast, again to right field. He got the third out, but we were heading for extras. Harry Dorish came in with a man on first and two outs in the bottom of the 10th, still tied 7-7, getting the final out on a flyball to left, staying in fresh for the 11th with the score still tied, getting three more outs to send us into the 12th. They walked Cavarretta and then Willie Mays came in and slammed his 34th homer of the year into the left field bleachers, giving us a 9-7 lead in the top of the 12th! Dorish stayed in to close it out, setting their batters down one, two, three, ending this as a 9-7 12th inning victory! Fear and Consuegra each wound up with a blown save in this one, costing Cohen a win in a 6.1 inning effort that saw him uncharacteristically giving up ten hits and six earned runs with just two strikeouts and a walk through 110 pitches. Consuegra was solid in 2.2 innings of work, giving up just two hits and the one run with three strikeouts. But Dorish was exceptional under pressure, coming in for 2.1 innings with a hit and two strikeouts as he improved to 7-2 with a 2.05 ERA. A 12-inning game where we only blew through three pitchers and still got a win, that’s what this team is made of! St. Louis out-hit us 14-12, but we hit five homers which proved to be the difference. Maris led the way with two four-baggers, finishing with two hits and a walk, scoring three times and driving in three more. Willie Mays hit twice to score one and drive in three more as well, giving him 120 RBIs on the year so far while batting .339 and slugging .645! Tomorrow we have a double-header at Milwaukee, followed by a day off and then two at New York, two at Philadelphia and a double-header Sunday at Brooklyn. After that we get time to rest up, with just six games in the last two weeks of the season. Over in the AL, the Philadelphia Athletics are now officially eliminated, and Cleveland (83-53) holds a six game lead on Washington and an 11.5 game lead on the Yankees. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)

10-18-2023, 10:04 PM	#159
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	SEPTEMBER 6, 1954 . . . Only two double-headers left this season! In today’s first game Robert Diehl (14-4, 2.62 ERA, 192.0 IP, 93 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) took on Leo Kiely (2-1, 5.97 ERA, 34.2 IP, 13 K’s, 1.62 WHIP). Al Kaline opened the game with a solo homer to left, but Milwaukee got a two-run blast via Hank Aaron to put them ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the first. Ernie Banks tied it in the top of the fourth with a sac fly to left that drove Cavarretta in to score from third to make it 2-2. Johnny Logan jacked one out of the park to left, putting Milwaukee back up 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, but Roger Maris hit one to about the same spot in the top of the sixth to make it 4-3 and giving him 25 homers this year! Cavarretta batted in a run with a double in the top of the seventh, and Diehl got us through the eighth still leading 5-3. Vern Fear came in for the bottom of the ninth, promptly giving up a double on his second pitch, but he got a groundout to first and a strikeout, bringing up Johnny Logan with a man in scoring position and two outs. The final out came via a grounder to third, the throw to first finishing it with us beating Milwaukee soundly 5-3 in game one. Diehl earned his 15th win of the season, improving to 15-4 with a 2.65 ERA thanks to an eight-hit eight inning effort, walking three, striking out two and giving up three earned runs. Fear got his third save of the year with Consuegra needing a bit of rest, getting a strikeout against a single hit, improving his ERA to 1.72. They outhit us 9-8, but we made the most of ours. Roger Maris hit in his 11th game in a row, homering and driving in two RBIs, while Kaline and Cavarretta each had a pair of hits and Banks drove in a run with a sac fly despite not getting anything to hit the rest of the game. Bob Turley (5-1, 3.46 ERA, 52.0 IP, 38 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) pitched in the second game, up against Dick Hoover (0-0, 2.85 ERA, 7.2 IP, 1 K, 1.04 WHIP). Roger Maris hit a solo blast out of the park to center, his 26th homer of the year, to put us up 1-0 in the top of the first. In his last ten games he’s hit eight homers! Milwaukee got the run back in the bottom of the third, tying things on an RBI double by Hank Aaron, but Turley got a flyout to center that ended the inning without surrendering the lead despite having loaded the bases. Gene Baker hit a solo blast to right that gave us a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth, giving him 10 homers for the season, but Turley gave up a three-run homer to Eddie Mathews, his 38th of the season, and we found ourselves trailing 4-2 heading into the sixth. Bob Shaw came in for the sixth inning, getting two outs but giving up a pair of hits that scored a fifth run for the Braves. Tom Ferrick got us through the seventh without any additional runs scoring, and Bob Porterfield got us through the eighth unblemished, but we couldn’t buy a hit. In the end the Braves beat us soundly, winning 5-2 and handing us our 38th loss of the year. It was a night of Bobs on the mound -- Bob Turley took the loss and fell to 5-2, giving up just five hits but allowing four runs to score thanks to three walks, getting just four strikeouts through 85 pitches. Bob Shaw gave up a pair of hits and a run in an inning of work, Tom Ferrick gave up a hit in his inning, and Bob Porterfield threw a strikeout and got two flyouts in a total of just six pitches to finish off the game, bringing his ERA down to 5.19 through 8.2 innings of work. We only got four hits the entire game, led by the homers of Maris and Baker. But without men on base, we were unable to string scoring opportunities together. SEPTEMBER 8, 1954 . . . Hy Cohen (21-6, 3.15 ERA, 237.1 IP, 133 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) was up in the order this afternoon, throwing in front of a paltry 6,000 fans in New York as the Giants’ ghastly season inches closer to closure. They brought Ted Abernathy (2-14, 4.76 ERA, 128.2 IP, 61 K’s, 1.64 WHIP) out to throw today as the 34-102 Giants try to at least save some face after the worst season in team history. Roger Maris homered in his fourth game in a row, putting us up 1-0 in the top of the second with his 27th homer of the season. But Hy Cohen loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth and allowed the tying run to score, but in the top of the sixth, Maris hit another dinger over the center field wall, putting us back in the lead 2-1 and giving him his second two-homer game this month! Ernie Banks got in on it by hitting his 23rd homer of the year deep into the right field bleachers, and we went into the bottom of the sixth leading 3-1. Sandy Consuegra came in for the ninth inning, promptly giving up a triple with us just hanging on to a 3-1 lead. A flyout to left and the runners held, but on a grounder to first the runner at third scored, narrowing our lead to 3-2 with two outs but with the bases now mercifully empty. The final batter went down via strikeout as we held tough to win our 105th game, beating the Giants 3-2 in a squeaker. Hy Cohen improved to 22-6 with a 3.08 ERA, giving up eight hits and a run while striking out two and walking three through eight innings and 125 pitches. Consuegra earned his 24th save of the year, adding a strikeout to his season totals and keeping his ERA at 2.43. We outhit the Giants 11-9, Maris leading the way with his two solo homers, with Banks adding three hits with a run scored and a run batted in thanks to HIS homer. Including his short time in Pittsburgh, Maris is now hitting .236/.314/.477 with 28 homers, three triples and 18 doubles, with 104 total hits with 2.5 WAR. That’s a damned fine rookie season, and he’s got the sky as his limit. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds) Last edited by jksander; 10-19-2023 at 12:45 PM.

10-19-2023, 02:33 PM	#160
jksander All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indianapolis IN Posts: 1,626	SEPTEMBER 9, 1954 . . . Joe Dobson (9-5, 3.53 ERA, 109.2 IP, 58 K’s, 1.35 WHIP) pitched this afternoon against Bill Connelly (2-4, 2.90 ERA, 71.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.32 WHIP) in the final game of the Giants road series. Connelly walked three batters in the top of the first, and with one out Ernie Banks hit a sac fly into right field, driving in a run by Al Kaline to make it 1-0. But Dobson gave up three hits in the bottom of the inning, allowing the tying run to score. Dobson walked a pair in the bottom of the third but managed to pitch around it, keeping the score knotted 1-1 heading into the top of the fourth. Connelly walked two more in the top of the fifth, and Willie Mays took advantage with a triple deep into center right, driving in two runs to put us up 3-1! Maris then walked (Connelly’s eighth free runner!) and Ernie Banks hit a sac fly into deep left, driving in a fourth run! Cavarretta scored on a Maris sac fly to right in the top of the sixth, With the lead at 5-1, we brought Vern Fear in for the eighth inning, and with two outs he threw a fastball to Ed Bailey, narrowng the Giants’ gap to three runs, though he got the final out and sent us into the top of the ninth leading 5-2. Willie Mays hit a grounder into right field in the bottom of the inning, driving in a sixth run for us, and Maris did the same thing, scoring two more. Maris scored from third on a flyout by Banks, and we went into the bottom of the ninth leading by seven, with Vern Fear closing the game out. He handled it perfectly and we closed out the 9-2 victory, completely dominating the hapless Giants as we get closer to our championship chance. Joe Dobson improved to 10-5 as a Cub, 13-12 overall this season, with a 3.39 ERA having thrown a five-hitter through seven with seven strikeouts, four walks and just one earned run. Vern Fear threw just shy of 30 pitches in two innings, giving up two hits with a strikeout and an earned run, keeping his ERA at an excellent 1.80 through 70 innings. This is by far the 30-year-old’s best season as a major leaguer. We have him on a one year extention through next season, but if he keeps playing like this, he’ll be a guy we want to lock down for longer in the offseason. Each team had seven hits tonight -- Willie Mays led our offense with three hits for two runs and three RBIs, while Cavarretta added two hits, scoring three times thanks to a walk. Roger Maris walked twice and hit once, driving in three while scoring once himself as his four game homer streak came to an end. SEPTEMBER 10, 1954 . . . Tonight we play the first of two games at Philadelphia, a team that has been openly disappointed with its 76-64 season thus far -- they have won 87 and 85 games in the last two seasons, and felt this was going to be the year they competed actively for the pennant, and instead they’re 28 games back of us and were eliminated weeks ago. So we knew going in they were going to be gunning for us for pride’s sake. They’re 6-14 against us this season so far, and we’d like to keep the wins coming. Robert Diehl (15-4, 2.65 ERA, 200.0 IP, 95 K’s, 1.06 WHIP) pitched this evening against Philly’s Robin Roberts (12-16, 3.65 ERA, 231.2 IP, 116 K’s, 1.20 WHIP). Willie Mays opened things up quickly with an RBI double in the top of the first, but in the bottom of the inning Ernie Banks double cluched a catch and didn’t have time to make a throw, allowing the tying run to score. Both pitchers were locked in from there as this one became a real duel. Diehl loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth but we got out of it without any damage, and in the top of the fifth Maris reached first on an infield single, keeping his hitting streak going at 15 games and loading the bases, and then the Phillies walked Ernie Banks to score a run and put us up 2-1! Al Rosen then got a hit into left field, driving in another pair, and we went into the bottom of the fifth leading 4-1. Diehl stayed in for the fifth but walked two batters in a row, and at 97 pitches to that point with four walks, we pulled him for long reliever Bob Porterfield who got three outs without surrendering a run, keeping us in our dominant position. Consuegra came in with two outs and a man on third in the bottom of the eighth, getting the strikeout to protect our 4-1 lead and send us into the top of the ninth! A double play and a groundout to first in the bottom of the ninth ended it as we beat the Phillies convincingly despite our starter not making it out of the fourth. We haven’t had a lot of opportunities to turn to long relief, but Bob Porterfield improved to 2-0 with a solid 3.2 inning effort, giving up just four hits with a walk and a strikeout without surrendering a run, improving his ERA since the Boston trade to 3.65 through 12.1 innings. Consuegra saved his 25th game of the year, with one hit and one strikeout, giving him a 2.37 ERA through 57 innings and 46 appearances. Diehl just had bad luck, throwing 97 pitches through four innings, giving up just five hits and one earned run -- four walks against two strikeouts sealed it, he just didn’t have his usually solid movement and control tonight. Still, we matched them 10-10 in the hits department, led by Mays (three hits, one run, one RBI) and Cavarretta (two hits, two runs). Al Rosen got a hit and batted in a pair, and Maris got a hit and scored a run, bringing his average up to .242. SEPTEMBER 11, 1954 . . . Bob Turley (5-2, 3.79 ERA, 57.0 IP, 42 K’s, 1.60 WHIP) came up in the rotation tonight, facing Philly’s ace Carl Simmons (19-7, 2.41 ERA, 261.1 IP, 123 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) in game two ahead of tomorrow’s road double-header against the Dodgers. “Bullet Bob” had his gun loaded in this one, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, going toe to toe with the more experienced hurler in Simmons through the early going. Maris took a walk and Banks got an infield single to start the top of the fourth, and Al Rosen got a hit into the outfield at left, loading the bases! Maris scored on an Elston Howard groundout into a U5-3 double play, with Rosen staying alive at second, putting us up 1-0 in a tight one. Baker took a walk, but Turley came up and struck out swinging to send us into the bottom of the inning with a one run lead. And it didn’t last, as Turley’s first pitch of the inning gave Del Ennis a solo homer to left, tying things up. Bad luck, man, bad luck. An RBI double by Willie Jones gave Philly a 2-1 advantage before Turley was able to finally get us out of the inning, having run through a good deal of gas in the process. Harry Dorish came in with one out and men on first and third in the bottom of the sixth, getting us through the inning unscathed. And Cavarretta got an RBI single in the top of the seventh to tie things up 2-2! Dorish gave up a two-run blast to Del Ennis, his second homer of the game, in the bottom of the seventh to put Philly back up 4-2. Simmons dominated us in the eighth, and we went into the top of the ninth needing some serious production in order to get back in this one. Grady Hatton pinch hit for Gene Baker to start the inning, but he batted out to first. Roy Sievers came in to hit for Dorish, taking a much needed base on balls. That brought up the top of our order. Kaline got a great hit, but their center fielder made a spectacular diving catch to steal it from us. They walked Cavarretta, giving us men on first and second with Willie Mays coming up to the plate, but Mays hit one straight to the right fielder and this one was over -- Philly 4, Cubs 2, no need to play the bottom of the inning. Harry Dorish took the loss, falling to 7-3 on the season with a 2.21 ERA though he pitched 2.2 solid innings with three hits, a strikeout and the two earned runs. Turley lasted 5.1 innings, giving up just five hits, but he walked five and only struck out the three batters from the first inning, giving up two runs, improving his ERA slightly to 3.75. Despite Curt Simmons throwing nine strikeouts, we still matched them 8-8 on hits and 5-5 on walks, just not doing enough with the guys on base that we had. Kaline hit three times but never got anywhere. Cavarretta had a hit and an RBI, amd Maris and Baker each hit once and scored runs. Tomorrow night we play Brooklyn (87-54) twice at Ebbets Field. They’re 9-11 against us this year, and I know they’d love to even the season series in these final two games, knowing that their season has been a huge disappointment despite the fact that they should easily win 90+ games again. In the AL Pennant race, Cleveland (86-56) still holds a six game lead on Washington (80-62). The Yankees (74-67, 11.5 GB) and Tigers (73-68, 12.5 GB) are the only others still technically in the race, but Cleveland’s magic number is now at seven, and they look likely to be our postseason opponent. Chicago and Boston have joined Philly and Baltimore among the eliminated. __________________ A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World -- 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) WPOBL (Cincinnati Reds)