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Message #: 16359
The Cubs are back to our totally luckless ways, failing to take any advantage at all of an extremely easy schedule so far in 1944 and underachieving on all cylinders. By losing 2 more costly 1-run contests in this series, we now sport a league-worst record of 1-5 in that important category (while winning 75% of other games).... Game 1: Chicago amassed 21 total bases to Pittsburgh's 13, but it took an error by the Buccos to put 5 unearned runs on the board for the Cubs in order for our complete lack of clutch hitting not to do us in today. Final score: 8-3. CHN starter Hank Wyse was below average as usual, but reliever Bill Fleming dodged bullets for 4 scoreless innings and recorded his second save of the year. Phil Cavarretta stole the show offensively, driving in 4 runs with 4 hits including a triple and his first home run. The Pirates led 3-0 early thanks to some surgical split cards and former Cubbie Andy Pafko's 2 quick hits & 2 RBI, but an error off the glove of Howie Schultz opened the door at long last in the CHN 6th and Cavarretta's bases-clearing triple was the key hit. ========================================================= Game 2: Today it was the Cubs on the short end of our first unearned decision of the series. One critical unearned run plus one low-probability split-card gopher made all the difference as CHN starter Tiny Bonham took his first loss of 1944. The unearned run which gave the home team a late 5-2 lead was magnified when Chicago slugger Bill Nicholson notched his 8th home run in the 8th inning which narrowed the gap to 5-4. The Cubs loaded the bases with 0 outs in the 9th and were set to pull this one out of the fire. But these are still the Cubs after all -- final score: 5-4. Nicholson had a chance to deliver at least the game-tying run, but he whiffed on 3 pitches after slumping Jim Russell's ultra-timely DP erased a runner at the plate. PIN's Bob Muncrief pitched not one iota better than Bonham, but got the win while Tiny took the hard-luck loss. ========================================================= Game 3: Jesse Flores finally had a good outing (6 IP, 0 runs) and combined on a 3-hitter with Paul Erickson. But Flores came away with zilch to show for his fine effort because the Cubs were doing everything possible to avoid victory despite a massive 12-3 advantage in hits to go with our 5 walks (10 LOB, 2 timely DPs). The game was scoreless after 7 innings when PIN starter Max Butcher ran into trouble. Butcher has always pitched superbly against the Cubs (not so much against everyone else), posting an ERA of less than 1.00 against us in 20+ innings in 1945. We were way overdue for some success against this guy, and got a little when Ival Goodman came through with a bases-loaded 2-run single in the 8th after dangerous pinch-hitter Frank Secory was intentionally walked. One of our countless timely DPs rescued the Buccos from further damage but we repeated the script in the 9th (bases-loaded 2-run single after an IW; sure could have used that last game instead of here) to extend the superfluous lead to a final score of 4-0. In addition to their solid 3-hit performance on the mound, Flores & Erickson combined to fan 8 Pirate hitters and went 1 for 2 at the plate. ========================================================= Game 4: Preacher Roe, another Pittsburgh hurler who specializes in tying the Cubs in knots (0.60 ERA vs. CHN in 1945), looked to get back on track after a somewhat slow start to 1944. CHN's Claude Passeau, the unluckiest pitcher in the majors, looked to do the same. At most one of the two pitchers could succeed, and it sure wasn't our guy. Neither starter was impressive, but both did OK. It was especially tough in Passeau's case since he got no assistance whatsoever. A super-surgical split card single innocently began Pittsburgh's 5-run second inning, a blown x-play followed, and then another. When the dust settled, 4 unearned runs had scored. Each and every one of them was costly; a mere 3 unearned runs would have been insufficient. The Cubs came back to compile a significant 15-9 advantage in total bases, but we found 2 more critical rally-killing DPs at the worst possible times and combined that with our typical goose-egg in the clutch hitting department, and took another unearned, undeserved loss. Final score: 5-4. Russell tripled in the CHN 8th with one out and the heart of the order coming up. Of course he was LOBbed. Mike Guerra had tripled earlier, with 0 outs in the CHN 4th. Of course he was LOBbed too. It takes a lot of effort to choke away these close ones, but our hitters (and the defense today) are nearly always up to the task. Alan |
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