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Message #: 15351
Although the standings hardly reveal it, the difference between the Cubs and the top contenders in terms of talent is, as usual in recent past season, practically non-existent and often actually superior. But that talent has been negated in 1946, as a look at the relevant teams' records in one-run games illustrates (where the Cubs are as luckless as ever) or road games (ditto), and in certain home games -- notably ones against perennial penthouse dwellers Brooklyn and St. Louis, and the occasional sweep at the hands of otherwise sub-.400 teams. In the recent past, the seemingly eternal lofty perch of BRN and SLN has been achieved with great assistance from the Cubs in games at Wrigley Field. Over the past 9 seasons (30 series at home) against those two, the Cubs have managed a whopping 5 series wins out of 30, a mere 5 splits, and an astonishing 20 series losses including 10 SWEEPS. This week's series at Ebbets Field could have been a sweep for the road team -- as it so often is when the Cubs are at home -- but we came up utterly luckless twice and settled for a mundane split. ========================================================== Game 1: The Cubs LOBbed 7 runners in the first 3 innings alone, on our way to a massive total of 14, and naturally trailed thanks to Brooklyn getting oodles of clutch hits, including not one but *two* of the '$' variety. The Cubs missed a chance to score -- or at least strand a 15th runner -- when we had 2 on with 0 out in the 3rd and Marty Marion had a slender 1-19 chance at continuing the rally. But these are the Cubs; of course he drew one of our plethora of 20's (see also, baserunning chances). After it was far too late, Chicago did manage to rally in the 8th when we got 5 baserunners, plated a pair, and failed to add more to the LOB count by rapping into a timely DP. The belated effort cut the BRN lead to just 2 runs, but then the bullpen let our opponent bat .750 in their half of the 8th and also threw in a walk, to make the final score 6-3. ========================================================== Game 2: The Cubs crossed home plate in each of the first 4 frames (just once per frame), but still LOBbed way more than we scored and then proceeded to bleed the lead down to 4-3. The always reliable Cubbie bullpen erased the lead entirely in the 7th but, after a multi-inning siesta, the CHN offense resumed in the 8th when Elmer Singleton replaced Hank Behrman on the hill for the Dodgers. Behrman had permitted 14 baserunners in 7 IP, but the always efficient Cubbie attack registered only those 4 early tallies and would LOB 10 for the day, plus a pair of timely DPs, including the requisite 6-2-3 rally-killer with the bases loaded in the CHN 3rd. Singleton endured an inning which began with a pair of walks and an RBI double, and 2 Brooklyn errors gave us 2 unearned runs which didn't affect the outcome. It you want to see *costly* unearned runs, scroll down to game 4. A pair of extra-base hits in the 9th made it an 8-4 final. Tiny Bonham's 6th blown save of 1946 cost Emil Kush the win as Bonham vultured it for himself; Murry Dickson contributed a terrible bottom of the 9th but finally retired the side for his 14th non-blown save of 1946. ========================================================== Game 3: We avoided double figures in LOB today only by hitting into 2 more DPs and adding a CS but, exciting as that was, the real story for the Cubs was the showing of two players whose names haven't appeared in many boxscores this year. Pitcher Russ Bauers made his first start and was outstanding until wearing down late and permitting 5 of the last 6 batters he faced to reach base. Incredibly, only 1 of those 5 scored. The Cubs generated very little offense (aside from LOB, DPs, etc.) against Vic Lombardi (5 IP, 8 baserunners, only 3 scored) and witnessed a fantastic performance by reliever Bill Dietrich (4 IP, 6 baserunners, 0 scored). What offense we *did* generate came mainly off the bat of seldom-used OF Frank Secory. Secory has very little usage, but a super-loaded card, and he had charitably avoided rolling on it all season long in his role as Ineffective Pinch Hitter. But today he doubled and homered, scoring twice and leading the visitors to a 3-1 win. Bauers took a shutout into the 9th before needing help from Dickson to finish the job. ========================================================== Game 4: Another LOB-a-thon for the Cubs, and a very costly one. Despite hits galore for one team (9), and almost none at all (4) for the other, the more-limited team emerged with a win thanks to another luckless performance by the Cubs and some brilliant surgery from HAL. Every bit of today's scoring took place in inning #1. Chicago loaded the bases with just 1 out, but settled for a sac fly and nothing more. Neither team had even had a *chance* at a ball park homer for 3 games, but the Dodgers got one with 2 outs in the first. Of course they got the good split card. The next batter kept the ball inside the confines of the playing field, but HAL decided that he would get a "home run" too -- having a solid '2' fielder for the Cubs botch a freak x-play double into a fatal 4-base howler. And that's the ballgame. Cubs choke up yet another unearned, undeserved 1-run loss, this time by the count of 2-1. Brooklyn got a masterful outing from somebody named Art Herring, who entered today's contest having allowed teams other than the Cubs to bat about .650 against him: 14.1 IP and 26 (!) hits allowed. Although the hits were there today for the Cubs (but only 9), HAL's laser-like focus on Herring's empty 4 column whenever necessary ensured that those hits (plus 3 walks) became nothing but LOB. In our pair of defeats in this series, the LOB count was CHN - 23, BRN - 11. Alan |
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