by Scott Fennessy
8/21/1905
Brooklyn, NY
The Cubs move across town from New York to Brooklyn to face the lowly Dodgers after a stunning and much needed sweep of the Giants and the Cubs are now on a serious roll. Oddly enough other than Frank Chance, most of the bats have been slumping, although the team seems to have a different person chip in to help the peerless leader every day. Their defense has saved more than one lead lately, and finally the pitching has recovered from several injuries and is beginning to jell again as a staff.
Today Mordecai Brown faces Bill Scanlan, a cagey right hander who has given the Cubs fits this year. Despite his terrific efforts, the week hitting Dodgers and their almost nonexistent defense has prevented him from getting better results. Brown has been hot and cold all year, but he is starting to be more consistent of late.
Right from the start this is a tale of two defenses as the Cubs waste a one out single by Johnny Evers and end up with no score, and with two out in the bottom of the inning Harry Lumley, who has finally started to hit as expected drills a 1-1 curve ball deep to right field. Frank “Wildfire” Schulte lives up to the title as he races back and makes a stunning over the shoulder grab at the warning track and the Dodgers are turned away and the inning ends scoreless.
Scanlan continues to baffle the Cub hitters with a perfect second, and Brown gets more stellar defense as Johnny Evers makes a great save on a Tom Owens grounder that hits a pebble at the last second and he sticks his glove out in desperation and makes the stop and fires over to first to end the inning by just over a step and we still have no score.
The bums tried very hard to give the visitors the lead in the third when Brown hits a tailing liner just over second and right fielder Bob Hall kicks this one and is charged with the error that allows the slow footed pitcher to take second. Billy Maloney, who has been coming around a bit hits a soft single up the middle, and the third base coach waves Brown around to try and score. Jimmy Sheckard is up to the challenge though and his throw one hops right into catcher Lou Ritter’s glove and Brown is out by a mile. Once again Sheckard proves why he is the best player on this team. Evers fans to end the inning and the threat ends. Brown gets a 1-2-3 inning and I just realized he has a no hitter going after three and there is no score.
Not much happens through the middle of the game as Scanlan works through a couple of jams in the 5th and 6th with no score for the Cubs. The Dodgers don’t do anything either, although Lumley does break up the no hit bid with two out in the 4th with a solid single, but as Hall grounds out to end the 5th inning we still have no score and this reporter is expecting bad things to happen for the Cubs .
Finally the Cubs take the lead, and the Dodgers do most of the work for them. Schulte rips a double with one out in the 6th, and was still there with two out. Chance is at the plate with a 0-1 count, and Frank is off for a steal of third. Ritter gets the throw off, and it sails into left field and Schulte pops up and comes in to score the first run of the game. The Dodgers commit two more errors in the frame, but fortunately the Cubs cannot pad the lead. Brown gets a perfect 6th inning and it’s still 1-0 Cubs.
The Cubs waste a golden opportunity in the 7th inning as they get runners on the corners with two out and Schulte hits a weak grounder to Jim Casey at third. The Cubs defense shines again in the 7th inning as Sheckard hits a smash that looks like it is going to the corner but Chance makes a great diving stop. From his knees he flips to Brown covering first and the inning ends with the Cubs still leading by a narrow 1-0 score.
The Cubs once again blow another big chance in the 8th inning, and I am still waiting for fate to punish them for letting a bad team stay close, as runners on first and second with one out and they got nothing again. Meanwhile Brown continues to dominate although Bob Malay gets a leadoff single, but goes nowhere as Brown is in top form today.
The Cubs finally make the Dodgers and their terrible defense pay in the 9th. Evers slaps a two out single to right and moves to third on Schulte’s second hit of the day and then with Chance at the plate when Scanlan’s pitch somehow gets past Ritter for a run scoring passed ball moving Schulte to third. Chance then hits a Baltimore chop and Emil Batch tries to hurry the throw and it gets past first baseman Harry Gessler for another run scoring error. Thankfully for the Dodgers the ball bounces right back to him keeping Chance on first. Chance then is off with the pitch, and Casey gets a fastball up and outside, but he goes with the pitch and this one bounces off the wall and Chance scores the third run of the inning, and the game is finally in hand for the Cubs. Jimmy Slagle draws a walk, but Tinker fans to end the inning with the Cubs on top 4-0. And that’s how it ends as Brown gets more great plays from Casey and Schulte.
The Cubs are now just a half game behind the Giants who are in Pittsburgh today and have yet to play. In other news Indians third baseman Bill Bradley is due to come off the DL in another two days. Bill Bradley and Braves third baseman Harry Wolverton continue their competition to see who can spend the most time on the DL. Over two replays both of them have over 20 trips each.
Giants 68 28 .708
Cubs 69 30 .697
