Take Me Out To The Ballgame (Part 2)

Okay, without further adieu here are my most memorable games for the National League teams.

Atlanta Braves April 6^th 1993 at Wrigley Field, Cubs 1 Braves 0 – I just wrote about this one a couple of weeks ago. I went to the game with Jenny and came within one out of Jose Guzman pitching a no-hitter. I still curse every time I hear the name Otis Nixon.

Florida Marlins – May 17^th 1996 at Wrigley Field, Cubs 3 Marlins 1 – I have only seen the Fish one time and this was it. I was still at IRI and the Client Services team I support was nice enough to invite me on their team outing to the Cubs game. We were in the bleachers (One of the last times I have ever sat there.) There I saw the Cubs and Jim Bullinger easily handle the Marlins. It was a scoreless game until the 6^th when Ryne Sandberg in his comeback year hit a two run homer and the Cubs never looked back.

New York Mets – August 6^th 2005 at Shea Stadium, Mets 2 Cubs 0 – Saw this one from the utterly forgettable Shea Stadium. There was a surprisingly large contingent of Cub fans sitting in my section. Sadly there was not a whole lot to cheer about as the Cubs managed only four hits. The lone highlight was watching Greg Maddox steal 2^nd base.

Philadelphia Phillies May 24^th 1978 at Wrigley Field, Cubs 6 Phillies 4 – This one was memorable for two reasons. One being that the Cubs scored 2 in the ninth on a Greg Gross triple and then won it in the 10^th on a Manny Trillo homer. You see we were the Phillies bitches for most of the 70’s and to pull a win out like this was amazing. So my Uncle’s Dan and John take me to the Sports Corner after the game to revel in the Cub victory. There the fans were still high off the win. The music was blaring when two women got on top of the bar and started to dance. The drunken men in the bar started to yell in unison “Take it off, Take it off.” My Uncle John looked at my Uncle Dan and asked what should we do with Nick. My Uncle Dan responded, he’s going to see them eventually, and both girls took their tops off and I got my first look at the female forum.

Washington Nationals – May 16^th, 2006 at Wrigley Field, Cubs 4 Nationals 0 – I got tickets to the game simply because ever since the Expos became the Nationals I could no longer say I had seen every team. So Joyce and I headed out to Wrigley and saw Carlos Zambrano pitch eight innings of shutout baseball as the Cubs won on a nice spring evening.

Chicago Cubs - June 9^th 2001 at the Cell, Cubs 4 White Sox 3 – I don’t have many good memories of the Cross-Town classic but this is one where I do. The Cubs won this one simply on the incompetence of the Sox. With the score tied in the ninth the Sox had runners on first and third and only one out. Tony Graffinino lined back to Todd Van Poppel who was able to double off Sandy Alomar who for some reason was way off the first base bag even though his run meant nothing. Then in the 10^th, the Cubs Eric Young leads off with a double. Gary Matthews Jr. attempts to bunt him to 3^rd. He bunts the ball right back to Keith Foulke who turns to third to try and nab Young. Grafanino has a brain fart and forgets there is no force and instead of tagging Young just catches the ball with his foot on the bag. Young scores one batter later on a sac-fly from Matt Stairs and the Cubs hang on to win.

Cincinnati Reds - August 29^th, 1976 at Riverfront Stadium, Reds 6 Phillies 5 – This is my earliest recollection of attending a baseball game. I was 7 and my Dad drove my brother and me down to Cincinnati from Columbus to catch a Reds game. The game would last 15 innings and we stayed for all of them. Eventually the Reds won. In looking at the box score, I would see five future Hall of Farmers on the field in that game, plus Pete Rose.

Houston Astros – April 10^th, 2007 at Wrigley Field, Astros 4 Cubs 2 – You know I have seen the Astros a ton of times but none of the games were really that memorable. This was the hardest team to look back on and find a memorable game. So, I used my most recent one which was this April. My friend Tony and I went down to Wrigley early in the morning and were able to snatch tickets six rows from the Cub dugout. Again, the outcome sucked but what great seats.

Milwaukee Brewers – August 18^th 2004 at Miller Park, Cubs 7 Brewers 5 – My friend Tony was living in Wisconsin so a bunch of us decided to head up North to catch a Cub game with him in Cheeseville. The Cubs wound up winning the game in eleven on of all things a Corey Patterson homer. Miller Park was filled with 41,000 fans of which I am betting 80% of were part of Cub Nation. After the game we hung out in the parking lot for hours knocking back some Points as the Brewers security never chased us out.

Pittsburgh Pirates – June 29^th 1985 at Three Rivers Stadium Pirates 6 Cubs 5 – My Dad and I decided to head down to Pittsburgh to catch the Cubs take on the Pirates. My Dad, being somewhat shall we say frugal, saw that he could save money on our hotel room if we booked the Honeymoon suite. So, we check in to find a bottle of champagne on the bed, chocolates on the pillows and a fruit basket. We head off to the game decked out in all of our Cubbies gear. The game winds up going 15 innings and I swear they never stopped selling beer. So, these Pirate fans that were all around us are getting drunker and angrier as the game goes on. Pretty soon they are taking that anger out on all things Cubs. I was almost thankful when Tony Pena homers to win it for Pittsburgh. The next morning when checking out my Dad decides to bring home all of the fruit and puts it in a brown paper bag. As we are in the lobby I am literally left holding the bag as it bursts and fruit goes flying everywhere to our embarrassment.

St. Louis Cardinals – June 5^th 2001 at Wrigley Field, Cubs 12 Cardinals 6 – On Monday the day before the game my friend Rob goes online and somehow manages to pull three tickets three rows from the Cubs bullpen out of his ass. So, he, I and Tony all go down to catch the game. Long forgotten Cub washout Julio Zuletta parks a grand slam on to Waveland and the Cubs smoke the Card’s 12-6. Also, it was memorable as Tony bugged Joe Giradi who was sitting in the bullpen, enough so that he got a ball to a kid sitting in the row in front of us.

Arizona Diamond Backs – August 1^st, 2006 at Wrigley Field, Cubs 9 Diamond Backs 3 – My Aunt Jennie’s husband Jim was able to score four tickets and offered them to me. So, I took Rob, Tony and Wally. The seats were right down the 3^rd base line between the bag and the Cub bullpen. It would turn out to be Rich Hill’s first major league victory as he pitched eight strong innings. After the game we were off to the Raw Bar and were having a good old time before Wally who was a little over-served nearly passed out at the bar.

Colorado Rockies – August 7^th 2001 at Wrigley Field Cubs 5 Rockies 4 – A wild, wild game. Tony had secured two tickets to the game. Joyce decided to tag along and bought a standing room only ticket. As luck would have it the seat next to me would be vacant the whole game and she wound up being able to sit with us. It was an extremely hot August night, muggy beyond belief. I was drinking these Lemonade Vodka chill things for five bucks a pop in an effort to try and stay cool. As for the game it was nutty. The umpire blew a couple of calls. So then during the 7^th inning stretch Steve McMichael asked the crowd if we wanted to wait with him after the game for the ump. This led to McMichael being thrown out of the park. The score was tied going into the ninth, Ricky Gutierrez and Sosa singled to start the inning. After a McGriff strikeout Joe Girardi came up and singled to center. Gutierrez however instead of scoring gets caught in a rundown between 3^rd and home. After it looked as all hope was lost somehow the Rockies botch the rundown and the Cubs win on a gift.

Los Angeles Dodgers – June 7^th 1981 at Wrigley Field, Dodgers 7 Cubs 0 – The 1981 Cubs if not for the strike that year were going to challenge the 62 Mets as the worst team ever. They got off to an amazingly bad 3-17 start. It was a monumentally down year even for Cub standards. My Uncle John, Uncle Dan, my brother Vince, my cousin Kevin and I all headed down to watch this one. This game was going along boringly enough, when Jim Tracy (current Pirate manager) stepped up to the plate to lead off the bottom of the fifth. He proceeded to foul a ball off of Bob Welch into the stands and my Uncle Dan was lucky enough to grab it. I personally have never gotten a foul ball at a game and this is as close as I have ever got.

San Diego Padres – August 23, 1991 at Wrigley Field Cubs 5 Padres 4 – My ex-girlfriend Jenny and I decided to catch a Cub game so we went down to Wrigley with no tickets and wound up getting decent seats in the 200 section. It was looking bad as the Padres grabbed an early 4-1 lead. After a solo Dawson homer in the 8^th the Cubs would need two in the ninth just to tie it. What happened next is why I never leave baseball games early. With one out Shawn Dunston innocently singled. Hector Villanueva then tripled. In his career the portly Villanueva would hit exactly two triples, I saw one of them. After a sac fly by Walton the Cubs had tied it. With two outs we were all expecting extra innings. Up to the plate came the immortal Chico Walker. He promptly singled. Then Mark Grace one of my least favorite Cubs of all time gave me a great memory as he doubled and Chico puffed his way home beating the throw to the plate and giving the Cubs an improbable yet memorable 5-4 win.

San Francisco Giants – September 11^th 2005 at AT&T Park Cubs 3 Giants 2 – Joyce and I were visiting her friend Marie in Frisco and I planned the trip around the Cubs being in town. At&T Park is a beautiful stadium that sits right on the Pacific Ocean. There my wife ate some sushi and garlic fries as I watched the game. It was a tight one but Glendon Rusch pitched a gem and the Cubs on the strength of a Nefi Perez double in the eighth held on to win a close one.