Wednesday, June 29, 2005
This summer's bloggery has been blissfully free of baseball commentary, but today some notes are warranted based on the pleasantly surprising performance of the Chicago Cubs last night in a game I attended with my fiancee, aunt and two uncles, among some 39,500 others.
There's nothing quite like unexpected bleacher seats at Wrigley, is there? After an afternoon email Monday led to UP and Red Line plans Tuesday night, Laura and I found ourselves in my uncle Mike's standard leftfield bleacher seats at 6:45. The stultifying weather was mitigated somewhat by a very slight breeze off the lake, and more completely by Carlos Zambrano's dominant performance against a team that had shelled him for eight runs the last time they'd met.
Last night's game was a prime example of a close, low-scoring game whose outcome had not much at all to do with the "little things" of baseball announcer lore. Announcers have long trumpeted the need in baseball for laying down sacrifices, running the bases aggressively, hitting behind the runner, and always throwing to the cutoff man. While a few of these things are advisable, what really bothers me is the way close games are often portrayed as paeans or fables to the Little Things, and woe betide the team that does not abide them, for that team will surely be the loser.
Well, unless you count spectacular defense as a "little thing," the Cubs' win last night was basically a product of the normal Cub things: the solo home run and dominating starting pitching. Big Z is still working through his control issues--and frankly many pitchers are at his age--but he was really dealing last night, allowing just 3 hits and zero runs in 8 strong innings. After a few too many flyball outs in the early going, he settled in and seemed to feature his changeup most prominently, consistently producing awkward and delightfully stupid-looking swings from the Brew Crew.
The only real drama of the night came in the top of the eighth, when El Toro started to fade and allowed two men on with nobody out. After a failed sacrifice (courtesy of a gorgeous play by D. Lee) made it first and second with one away, Brady Clark ripped a sinking liner to the gap in left-center. I personally thought Corey Patterson would catch it without much incident, but I'm glad I was wrong: he was forced to make an amazing diving catch just off the grass, then got up and gunned the runner down at second as he slid back in. It was a big moment in a close game, and it was nice to see Corey come through, especially since he struck out a few moments later on his third (!) 0-2 count of the contest.
In terms of offense, Derrek Lee provided all that was necessary with a solo blast that landed not far from where we sat. Ho hum.
In all, the Cubs have allowed zero runs in their last 25 innings pitched, and just four hits in their last two games combined. They've only scored 4 runs since Saturday, but it's been enough to win. And the winning's really the thing, isn't it?
Kerry Wood starts tonight, his first since his DL stint started 4/30. If he gets the win, it may be THE FIRST TIME the vaunted Prior-Wood-Zambrano-Maddux monster records consecutive wins in consecutive starts. My hopes are not raised, but last night was great. This season, so far at least, that's really enough.
There's nothing quite like unexpected bleacher seats at Wrigley, is there? After an afternoon email Monday led to UP and Red Line plans Tuesday night, Laura and I found ourselves in my uncle Mike's standard leftfield bleacher seats at 6:45. The stultifying weather was mitigated somewhat by a very slight breeze off the lake, and more completely by Carlos Zambrano's dominant performance against a team that had shelled him for eight runs the last time they'd met.
Last night's game was a prime example of a close, low-scoring game whose outcome had not much at all to do with the "little things" of baseball announcer lore. Announcers have long trumpeted the need in baseball for laying down sacrifices, running the bases aggressively, hitting behind the runner, and always throwing to the cutoff man. While a few of these things are advisable, what really bothers me is the way close games are often portrayed as paeans or fables to the Little Things, and woe betide the team that does not abide them, for that team will surely be the loser.
Well, unless you count spectacular defense as a "little thing," the Cubs' win last night was basically a product of the normal Cub things: the solo home run and dominating starting pitching. Big Z is still working through his control issues--and frankly many pitchers are at his age--but he was really dealing last night, allowing just 3 hits and zero runs in 8 strong innings. After a few too many flyball outs in the early going, he settled in and seemed to feature his changeup most prominently, consistently producing awkward and delightfully stupid-looking swings from the Brew Crew.
The only real drama of the night came in the top of the eighth, when El Toro started to fade and allowed two men on with nobody out. After a failed sacrifice (courtesy of a gorgeous play by D. Lee) made it first and second with one away, Brady Clark ripped a sinking liner to the gap in left-center. I personally thought Corey Patterson would catch it without much incident, but I'm glad I was wrong: he was forced to make an amazing diving catch just off the grass, then got up and gunned the runner down at second as he slid back in. It was a big moment in a close game, and it was nice to see Corey come through, especially since he struck out a few moments later on his third (!) 0-2 count of the contest.
In terms of offense, Derrek Lee provided all that was necessary with a solo blast that landed not far from where we sat. Ho hum.
In all, the Cubs have allowed zero runs in their last 25 innings pitched, and just four hits in their last two games combined. They've only scored 4 runs since Saturday, but it's been enough to win. And the winning's really the thing, isn't it?
Kerry Wood starts tonight, his first since his DL stint started 4/30. If he gets the win, it may be THE FIRST TIME the vaunted Prior-Wood-Zambrano-Maddux monster records consecutive wins in consecutive starts. My hopes are not raised, but last night was great. This season, so far at least, that's really enough.
