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Message #: 17232
The Pirates tried to keep it close but the Cubs won by the count of 25-16. That's LOB of course, not runs scored, and our record pace continues with just 4 weeks to go! But now that the Cubs have been obviously eliminated from the pennant race, we were permitted to enjoy a pointlessly perfect (or would that be perfectly pointless?) 7-0 week against the 6th & 7th place teams in the N.L.... Game 1: A 10-2 "advantage" in LOB kept the Cubs from blowing this one apart, and the offense went entirely dormant as far as scoring runs after a 3-spot in the first frame. The Buccos chipped away at Claude Passeau and narrowed their shortfall to a single marker as we LOBbed runner after runner. But the Cubs finally woke up again and established some breathing room in the 9th when defensive substitute Woody Williams knocked in a run and new catcher Danny Doyle collected his 3rd RBI of the day. Closer Mike Naymick slammed the door with a 1-2-3 9th and the Cubs eked out a 5-2 win that didn't quite reflect the dominance on the field. =================================================================================== Game 2: The Cubs picked a far more dangerous (and nearly fatal) way of disguising dominance today. Naturally there was our usual daily LOB-a-thon and a couple of timely rally-killing DPs, but now we added an overwhelming dose of sabotage defense to the tune of 5 unearned runs, all of which were crammed into one unfortunate inning. Hiram Bithorn had a 1-0 lead at the time of the 5th inning disaster, but new catcher Doyle (an alleged improvement over Dahlgren behind the plate), having already given up the rarely-seen "single in front of home plate" compounded the damage by flubbing an easy bunt with the opposing pitcher at the plate. A sac fly tied the score and then all hell broke loose with 2 outs (natch) when Mickey Witek threw one deep into the stands for a 2-base error which plated a run which a simple 1-base error would not have. The extra base tuned out not to matter when a pair of singles followed and the Cubs' former 1-0 lead was suddenly a 6-1 deficit. Peanuts Lowrey reduced the margin to 6-3 in the next half inning before we LOBbed a couple more. Lowrey came through again with 2 RBI in the 8th which made the score 6-5 and ended Pittsburgh starter Rip Sewell's day. Stan Hack greeted reliever George Caster's first offering with that most rare of things for the Cubs -- a good split card draw! -- and the 2-run homer capped the rally which erased the totally unearned deficit and gave the visitors a 7-6 lead, which became the final score. Cubbie reliever Ed Hanyzewski (8-1, 1.60) was the beneficiary of the cardiac comeback, and earned the win with 3 innings of nearly perfect relief. =================================================================================== Game 3: Another 3-run first put the Cubs quickly in front, and then it was back to hibernation again. Another key unearned run delivered on a platter by a Chicago catcher (Dahlgren this time) assisted the Pirates, as did HAL's laser-like focus on Bonham's 5 column, and they rebounded immediately to tie the score at 3-3. Tiny Bonham stopped being sabotaged quite so much, and Pittsburgh's Max Butcher regained his effectiveness during the CHN offense's nap time and nothing but zeroes went up on the board for a long stretch. The lone run left to be scored in this series came in the top of the seventh when #8 hitter Hack got his second good split card of the series (setting a Cub record) and tripled leading off the frame. Jimmy Brown, probably sporting the lowest batting average of any non-pitcher in baseball and lower than 80% of pitchers as well (he's down to .114 now) was sent up to pinch hit for Bonham and everybody in the house knew what he was there for as the entire Pirate infield took several steps towards home plate. So Brown fouled off 2 bunt attempts, but he managed to execute the safety squeeze at last and Hack came home with what proved to be the winning run. Keeping it uncomfortably close, the Cubs LOBbed 4 runners, 3 of them in scoring position, in the 8th and 9th innings but Naymick replaced a shaky Murry Dickson and nailed down his 14th save by getting the final out after issuing a complementary pass to Frankie Gustine. The pair of 1-run victories evens our season mark at 21-21 in that category, which is a remarkable achievement for a luckless team which has failed to exceed the .500 mark in these closest of contests 11 times in the past 15 seasons. Alan |
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