by Scott Fennessy
Chicago, IL
10/1/1905
The Phillies play the Cubs in game one of a double header. The Phillies send Ralph Caldwell, who has been lit up pretty well, but does have an X to face Jake Weimer. The Cubs are getting stronger as the season nears its end and I am looking forward to this as the Giants smoked the Reds to force a tie atop the NL.
Neither team can muster much at the start of this game as Weimer looks extremely dominant retiring the first 11 hitters faced, and had struck out three in a row when John Titus gets the first hit of the day. On a team that has not done much offensively, Titus has been the big star, hitting over .300 and playing solid defensively. Weimer does get out of the inning with no runs allowed and the Cubs come to bat in the bottom of the 4th with a 0-0 tie.
The Cubs finally get to Caldwell as Frank Chance hits a fly ball into the left field corner that very narrowly misses clearing the fence. Sharwood Magee does not play the bounce off the wall very well and Chance is in with a stand up triple. The Phillies bring in the infield to try and cut the run down, but it does not matter as Johnny Evers hits a solid single into right and gets the first run of the day home. Evers moves to second on a ground out and scores as Joe Tinker slips a single just past Bill Gleason and Evers scores. Caldwell settles down and the inning ends with the Cubs on top 2-0.
Weimer continues to dominate and the score is still the same as we head to the bottom of the sixth inning when Evers leads off with his second hit of the day and moves to second on the hit and run when Tinker hits a tailing fly ball that drops into the right field corner for a run scoring triple. Joe has been on an incredible tear over the last week or so and it has really helped the bottom of the lineup that has been desperate for production all year. Johnny Kling hits a fly that sends Hugh Duffy to the warning track in right for a sacrifice fly and the lead is now 4-0. Weimer grounds out to end the inning, and the game looks well in hand right now.
Weimer really is overpowering right now and strikes out two of the three hitters in the 7th and in the bottom of the inning the Phillies seal their fate as Jim Casey draws a one out walk and steals second shortly afterward. Moving to third on a ground out and Chance at the plate Caldwell’s 1-1 slider gets past Charles Dooin for a run scoring passed ball that allows a run to score. Caldwell then strikes out Chance to end the inning.
And that was the ballgame. Weimer gets another scoreless inning to complete his utter domination of the Phillies with a 2 hit shutout. Jake is not a “strikeout guy” but he did fan 7 for his season high today. The bottom of the lineup continues to need help, but Tinker had 3 hits today. This gives the Cubs a 100-34 record as we near the end of the road.
