Filed:September 11th, 2008
Watching last night's Cubs-Cardinals game -- a 3-2 win by the Cubs to take the series -- I was reminded of John Carpenter's cult classic, Escape from New York. A bruised and battered Snake Plisken running around prison city New York, doing whatever he can to collect his prize -- the President -- before time runs out, and he's left to die on the side of the road. Oh, and all the while, with an oversized black man chasing him; *cough*, Prince Fielder, *cough, cough*. Sounds about like the Cubs in September.
Well, the Cubs did their best Snake impression, getting the win in almost Hollywood-like fashion, with six innings of two-run work from Rich Harden, then turning it over to the bullpen to hang on for dear life.
The Cubs took the lead in the fifth, when a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Theriot scored Geovany Soto, sending the Cubs up 1-0. Derrek Lee would later ground out to third, allowing Reed Johnson to score. Yet another instance of pulling an average fastball outside to kill a rally. I miss the days when Lee would smack that ball to the right field gap for a double. Sigh. Now we just get weak grounders.
The Cubs would add another in the sixth, when back-to-back doubles by Mark DeRosa and Mike Fontenot plated DeRosa. The Cardinals would come back quickly though, snagging a pair when Albert Pujols hit a double to left to score Aaron Miles, and Felipe Lopez hit an RBI-single in the bottom of the frame.
But the Cubs managed to have the lead hold up, using a little luck, and great plays all around. With the cardinals rallying, Alfonso Soriano makes a diving stab in the eighth of a Albert Pujols fly to help Carlos Marmol escape the jam. But not before Kosuke Fukudome bests that play by reaching up to steal what appeared to be a homer in the making from Lopez two batter later. Carlos would strike out Josh Phelps after intentionally walking Adam Kennedy to end the Cardinals rally. IBB to Kennedy? Bet you won't see that again.
But the best was in the ninth inning, when a yet again shaky Kerry Wood took advantage of a Derrek Lee throw to third on a sacrifice to get Brendan Ryan. Ryan, who overslid the bag, was tagged out on the second swipe by Aramis Ramirez. Kerry would end the game later, when he forced Pujols to pop up to second. The save was his 30th of the season.
Every championship teams needs a little luck along the way. Eventually, the Cubs are going to have to find a way to score more runs, and while Lou thinks that Kerry's problems are simply a matter of needing more work, that remains to be seen. But no one is going to remember next year -- or even next month -- how the Cubs got their wins in September. Only that they got them. And if the baseball gods step in fa few times for an assist, well, we're owed some good luck after 100 years, yes?
Well, with the next few games postponed, I guess I'll see you in a few days.