"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, August 09, 2003 ::

Tourist! Tourist!

My son Mark turns 8 soon.

So, we tried to figure out a cool thing to take his friends to for his birthday. With the Cubs out of town, and most of the kids away for his actual birthday later this month, today was the day.

We decided on the Wrigley Field Tour, which is sponsored by Cubs Care and given on most weekends when the Cubs are out of town.

Even for someone like me who's there nearly every day, the tour is pretty cool. They take you through the stands, up into the mezzanine suites, into the press box, both clubhouses, the security office, the bleachers (sat quickly in my regular seat, as did my son) and the dugouts, and you can walk on the warning track behind home plate, which of course, was the highlight for 10 rambunctious 8-year-olds.

Tour guides on things like this can vary in quality, but this guy was good. He started out reading from a script, telling the "story" of Babe Ruth's "called shot", and I started thinking, "oh, no, not this". But then he quickly debunked the whole thing, which I thought was pretty cool, and he hit all the highlights right-on, not missing a beat, and including some things that I would have thought of myself.

In the Cubs' clubhouse, which of course we couldn't go far into, just far enough to see all the uniforms hanging, ready for Monday's game with Houston, you could clearly see Sammy's boom box, which is located right next to his locker, speakers pointing toward the entire room (as you walk in, Sosa's locker is the first one on the right side, right next to his "assistant" Julian Martinez'). One other thing I noticed right away -- Carlos Zambrano's locker, first on the left as you walk in, has several baseballs in it, not noting pitching accomplishments, but his batting heroics, including the ball from the 2-run HR in Houston a couple of weeks ago, which I guess the club recovered for him.

I highly recommend this 90-minute (ours ran a little longer due to the size of the group) tour, whether you're in town or just visiting, if you can't get to the Yard for a ballgame, you get quite a bit of the flavor just being there.

Then we took the ten 8-year-olds to Sweeties, about a block or so north on Clark, to fill them up with sugar (birthday cake & ice cream), and then give them back to their parents (heh-heh-heh). A visit to Sweeties is also highly recommended -- a very nicely-done, old-fashioned ice cream parlor where Noelle, the woman who owns the place, organized the entire birthday party with signs, tablecloths, etc. at the same time she was working behind the counter. And, they even had some "no-sugar-added" ice cream so I could stay on my low-carb ways.

:: posted by Al at 3:59 PM [+] ::
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Grrrrrrr....

And that's not even about the Cubs' frustrating 3-1 loss to the Dodgers.

That's about some of my least favorite people, the Illinois Department of Transportation. Add another "I", in an appropriate spot, to their acronym and you'll see how I really feel about them.

[rant]

In their infinite wisdom, they decided to cut I-90, the Northwest Tollway, down to what was really only 3/4 of a lane for over ten miles between about Marengo and Randall Road last night, causing over an hour of backups on a busy night around 10:30 (when jobs like this resurfacing ought to be taking place after midnight), making our trip back from Rockford last night take 2 1/2 hours rather than about 80-85 minutes, as it normally would.

[end rant]

Other than that, the nine of us (me, my wife, my kids, my nephew, Carole, Howard, his wife, and his daughter) had a terrific evening watching the Rockford Riverhawks defeat the Evansville Otters 3-1. The Riverhawks are owned by my friend Dave, and right now his son Jake is serving as their infield/first base coach. We spent about half the game trying to get Jake's attention (we were sitting down the 1B line); finally we did, and what's the first thing he asks? He needs a bleacher ticket for Monday. So I'll try to find this for him. He did wind up giving the kids a ball, which they tossed around so much that they got it almost completely dirty in the wetness underneath the stands (it had rained pretty hard in Rockford earlier in the day and the stands were pretty wet -- and the Riverhawks have a guy walking around with towels wiping off your seat).

The game was actually pretty good -- Tod Ewasko, the Otters (and where do they get these nicknames??) pitcher, took a perfect game into the fifth and a one-hitter into the 8th, before a solid single and two walks loaded the bases. Then there was a play which shows the difference between minor league and major league baseball... a soft line single into CF. Normally, a hit like this ties the game and leaves the bases loaded... but the Otters CF let it get by him and it cleared the bases and that was the ballgame.

The Riverhawks had a really nice promotion -- they gave away bobbleheads depicting members of the Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which played in the 1940's and 1950's and was depicted in the terrific 1992 film "A League of Their Own". A couple of members of the team were on hand signing autographs, and were brought onto the field during the 7th inning stretch to a warm ovation from the crowd of 2,103, which is a very nice turnout for independent league baseball.

So we wound up listening to the Cubs' 3-1 loss to the Dodgers (is there something about Friday nights and 3-1 games?) on the radio on the way home. I rarely listen on the radio, and while I enjoy Pat Hughes, I wanted to call up WGN management and have them fire Ron Santo on the spot... gosh, is he awful. At one point he lost track of the game and had to ask Pat on the air, "What did Karros do?" I mean, the guy is there watching the game, and is supposed to add to our enjoyment of it, and he forgets what the last batter did? (Here, Ron, I'll help you -- it was Karros' at-bat in the 7th that he couldn't remember. He flied out to right.)

This is yet another game in which the Cubs couldn't get any opportunities against a pitcher they should have handled easily. Shawn Estes threw pretty well -- seven innings, only two earned runs, and basically, one mistake -- throwing a ball to Adrian Beltre that he managed to hit for a two-run HR, and that was the game.

I see that the Rafael Palmeiro rumors are starting up again. Frankly, I don't want this guy. The Cubs are doing OK without him; he's acting like a spoiled brat; and he is, after all, 39 years old and the Cubs cannot hide him at DH (he's split his time with Texas this year, playing 53 games at 1B, and 54 at DH so far this year). Please, Jim Hendry, find left-handed hitting help elsewhere. Like on the Cubs' bench, where Hee Seop Choi is languishing.

One more note from yesterday's review of "Seabiscuit": I forgot to mention that the fine actor William H. Macy is absolutely hilarious as a racetrack announcer. His character is one of the few things in the film that isn't part of the true story, but he does add color and humor to the film.

:: posted by Al at 10:11 AM [+] ::
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Movie Review: "Seabiscuit"

You'll cry when the horse wins.

No, I haven't ruined the whole movie for you, because why would they have made a movie like this unless the horse won?

You probably already know the story, or have heard of it recently, of the 1930's and 1940's era race horse Seabiscuit, who was rescued from almost certain destruction and lovingly trained into being a winning racehorse by several people who themselves had overcome adversity. The author of the bestselling book on which this film is based, Laura Hillenbrand, herself battled a debilitating disease for over 16 years, and the story she tells, and lovingly directed by Gary Ross (who also directed "Pleasantville" and "Mr. Baseball", among others), is a joy to watch.

The first half hour or so, which sets up the film, shows how the main characters (the owner, played by Jeff Bridges; the trainer, played by an almost-unrecognizable Chris Cooper ["Adaptation"], and most memorably, the jockey played by a red hair-dyed Tobey Maguire) come to meet during the Depression, which notably affected the lives of the latter two, especially the jockey, Red Pollard, who the movie portrays as a child first growing up in wealth and luxury, only to see his family lose it and be torn apart during the depths of the Depression. Ross uses very little dialogue during these scenes, which makes them even more powerful. In fact, the Bridges character, Charles Howard, doesn't say much during the entire film, using facial expressions, including a wry smile, to express himself.

Anyway, I won't spoil your enjoyment of this film by revealing much more, only to say that the way that all three of these characters reclaim their lives and triumph by their training of Seabiscuit; it's victories over and over for the underdog, and of course all of us love to root for people, and by extension, horses like that. There's the inevitable setback, but even that is overcome, and you'd shake your head in disbelief if you didn't know this was a true story.

I especially loved the way the film was shot -- it's rich in browns, reds and greens and captures perfectly the feel of the era. So many period pieces fail in this way, but Ross is nearly perfect. The only character in the film who really didn't belong was Elizabeth Banks as Charles Howard's wife -- she doesn't really do much besides provide a bit of eye candy. And I also was a bit puzzled when a redheaded teenager (Michael Angarano) suddenly turned into the Maguire character -- took me a minute or two to figure out this was the same person.

Even so, those are just a couple of quibbles. This is the movie of the summer, and ought to be high on the list of Oscar contenders, although sometimes big summer movies tend to be forgotten come nomination time.

AYRating: *** 1/2

:: posted by Al at 11:39 AM [+] ::
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Sweep!

Here's how confident I was:

With the Cubs leading 9-1 in the sixth, I figured the lead was safe enough, and was off to a showing of "Seabiscuit", and I'll post a review of that terrific (OK, there's a sneak preview of the review) film tomorrow.

That confidence proved to be justified, as the Cubs finished off an easy 9-3 blowout of the Padres, gaining their first sweep in San Diego in ten years, and running their current streak to 9 of their last twelve and four in a row, the longest winning streak in almost two months, since a five-game streak ended in Baltimore on June 11.

This game had everything: another solid pitching performance by Carlos Zambrano, who won his tenth and lowered his ERA to 3.25; home runs by Sammy Sosa (now twelfth in the NL and only two away from seventh), Moises Alou and Eric Karros; and a balanced 13-hit attack that even featured two hits from Paul Bako, of all people.

Most important is the runs-allowed total, only three. In the current 12-game run, the Cubs have allowed only 32 total runs, 2.67 per game. This team was built on pitching, and as long as the staff continues to throw consistent games like this, as I've been saying for quite some time, they could run up a long winning streak. This could be the beginning of such a streak. In the three losses, the only game in which the club was really not in the game at all, was the July 30 6-2 loss to the Giants; the 3-1 loss to Houston on July 26 was a case of simply being outpitched, and the 4-3 loss to Arizona can be chalked up to bullpen failure, and I'd think any team is entitled to one bullpen implosion every twelve games.

At this writing the Mets are trying to hang on to a 5-4 lead over Houston in the 9th; if they can do so the Cubs will cut the lead to only a game and a half.

I like the pitching matchups in L.A. this weekend: the Cubs ought to be able to hit Andy Ashby and Wilson Alvarez, and though Kevin Brown has a 2.13 ERA and has been tough on the Cubs in his NL career, at least the club has Mark Prior to match up with him.

Tomorrow night, my entire family, plus Carole, and Howard and his family, are heading out to Rockford to see Dave's team, the Riverhawks of the Frontier League, play. I'll post on that game, as well as the Cub game, probably Saturday morning, and tomorrow morning, the review of "Seabiscuit".

Late update! The Mets hung on to beat the Astros! Gosh, am I glad I don't have to root for the Mets this weekend, but I thank them for taking two of three at Houston. This weekend, the Astros host the Expos and the Braves will be at St. Louis.

Night, everyone!

:: posted by Al at 10:09 PM [+] ::
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Correction Section

Chad Savage e-mailed me this morning to remind me that if the Cubs win today, it will be their second sweep of the season, the first one being the four-game sweep in Milwaukee from May 12-15.

I ought to remember that one, considering I was actually at the 17-inning win on the 15th.

:: posted by Al at 10:39 AM [+] ::
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Controlling Yourself

If Kerry Wood is ever going to become the #1, dominant, Roger Clemens/Nolan Ryan-type starter that we've all expected him to be since his stellar rookie season... he is simply going to have to stop letting umpiring calls get to him.

This is happening with alarming frequency. I didn't see this, since I had to sleep last night, but apparently Wood took it far enough to start having words with plate umpire Larry Vanover, who took off his mask to talk to Kerry, and then Kerry told him to "put that mask back on".

It's not only childish, but counterproductive. Everyone knows, though umpires will never admit it because they're supposed to just call everything by the book and not play favorites, that umpires do play favorites. It's why Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine used to get the strike calls on balls that were a foot outside -- now with the QuesTec system, umpires can't do that.

But if you have a reputation as someone who constantly bitches about ball and strike calls -- and sadly, Kerry Wood has been doing that -- what do you think is going to happen? Of course, the borderline calls are going to go against you.

Luckily, Kerry got his composure back before he either got tossed or blew up and blew the 3-0 lead, and even though he allowed two runs, he did strike out ten and the bullpen finished up well.

Now, the Cubs have a chance for their first sweep of the season. That sounds odd in a year where they've been over .500 for all but a few days last month, but this has been a year where there has been neither a very long winning streak, nor very long losing streak. I've been saying for a while that if the starting pitching could keep throwing the way they have, this club could reel off six or eight in a row, and it may be not far off -- this win now makes seven of the last ten, and the only game in those ten (starting with the Houston series the last weekend of July) where the pitching really broke down, was the middle game of the Giants series.

Carlos Zambrano throws against Kevin Jarvis today in a game that begins at 2:05 PDT, so by the time it's over, hopefully with a win, the Astros and Cardinals, playing night games, will already know the result. I remain optimistic.

:: posted by Al at 7:43 AM [+] ::
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Overnight Update

Last night I made it through the top of the sixth, and went to sleep with the Cubs leading 3-0, and before I crashed to the pillow, said to the TV, "Hold 'em right there."

The Cubs did -- well, barely -- and beat the Padres 3-2 for their third win in a row.

Kerry Wood nearly had another of his famous meltdowns on the mound, and I'll have a lot more to say about that later this morning.

The win, coupled with the Cardinals' loss to the Marlins, put the Cubs in second place, though they remain 2 1/2 games out, since the Astros beat the Mets.

:: posted by Al at 4:02 AM [+] ::
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Sleeping With The Enemy

That's the title of a 1991 thriller film starring Julia Roberts.

It's also how I felt walking into the Ballmall this afternoon to see the White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 to move to within one game of first place in the AL Central.

Why did I do this? Well, my nephew is visiting from Canada, and I'd have taken him to a Cub game, but of course, they're not in town. So with the White Sox playing a weekday afternoon, I figured this would be a nice "Chicago event" to go to, especially since the game has actual meaning, being between the top two teams in their division. Lest you think I do this alone, Howard joined my nephew, Torey, my son Mark, and me there. Fact is, we're all baseball fans as well as Cub fans, so seeing a ballgame, no matter where, on a nice summer day (though we just barely beat a pretty good downpour home) is really nice for me.

It was probably the first time in ten years that I walked out of that place without hearing the words "Cubs suck" being yelled by anyone. Yes, even when the Cubs aren't playing there. Maybe the Sox fans are focusing on their playoff chances and not thinking of their inferiority complex. There seemed to be a few Cub fans there too -- the people seated behind us down the RF line were discussing last night's Cub game, in which the bullpen made it exciting before Joe Borowski closed the door.

That's pretty much how Jerry Manuel managed this game too. Bartolo Colon had allowed only one harmless single through seven innings, and though he did give up two more in the 8th, they were hardly hard-hit, and he had thrown only 99 pitches. Thus, I am absolutely in disbelief that he yanked Colon, rather than let him try for his sixth complete game of the year. Tom Gordon promptly proved me right by allowing two singles and a monstrous home run by Carlos Beltran, which reached the concourse in right field, a shot that had to be at least 480 feet. This forced Manuel to bring in Damaso Marte, and even he wasn't that sharp, allowing the tying run to reach base before he struck out Desi Relaford to end the game.

How many Cub bullpen meltdowns have we seen like this, after a Cub manager yanked a starting pitcher who was doing fine? I felt right at home.

Unfortunately, that "right at home" feeling got worse when I spotted He Who Shall Not Be Named (you know, the human air-raid siren from the RF bleachers), one section over from us, wearing his Cubs uniform. I mean, what is he doing there? Howard and I gave him the evil eye and he left. I only wish Jeff had been there; he'd have run away so fast it would have made our heads spin.

It being a Sox-Royals game, I almost expected a few idiots to run out on the field, as that seems to have become tradition when KC is in town. It didn't happen, but today, last year's idiot (who I won't dignify here by naming him) was was sentenced to 30 months probation for his drink- and drug-induced attack on Royals coach Tom Gamboa, who was quoted as saying: "I just think it's a poor message to get sent to the public. My fear is should this happen again to another player, coach or manager in any sport, that there's been a precedent set that I think is a bad one."

Gamboa's right. A sentence of a prison term, even a short one, would have sent a clear message to the morons who think it's their right to "get on TV", or whatever, by running onto a professional sports field.

My bet's on this guy not making the 30 months on probation. Apparently he "impressed" the judge by dressing nicely and speaking politely. That's a step, but a little time served would have made a better impression.

:: posted by Al at 5:46 PM [+] ::
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Cool!

Yesterday I got a new cellphone that has a built-in camera.

OK, yeah, I know for years I said I just wanted my phone to be a phone. But they threw in free Web access along with the cell plan, so why not?

If I can ever figure out how to post a picture here right from the camera, perhaps I will!

:: posted by Al at 9:17 AM [+] ::
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More Game Thoughts

Mark Prior threw only 79 pitches in his efficient six shutout innings; Dusty Baker had said earlier that he was going to limit Prior to 85-90 pitches, which implied he could have gone another inning.

All's well that ends well, of course, since the bullpen did a great job and Aramis Ramirez gave everyone some breathing room in the 9th.

But something like this brings up the question of why managers baby today's professional athletes so much. There are so many people, including in particular The Cub Reporter, who keeps a "Pitcher Abuse Watch" on his site, who say that Dusty lets pitchers go way too long, and in some cases, that's true.

79 pitches is hardly too many for an athlete like Mark Prior, whose injury was not muscular. I also commend Prior for resisting (I presume he had to resist) a rehab assignment. Frankly, I think those are a waste of time. If a player on the DL is healthy, what purpose would it serve to send Prior down to face Triple-A (or worse, Double-A) hitters? What is the point of sending a hitter to Iowa, for example, where he serves as DH for a couple of games and goes 5-for-8 or something like that against mediocre pitching? How do those kind of things get anyone ready to face major league competition?

I like the competitive fire of Prior -- he clearly wanted to pitch even a week ago, and the Cubs wouldn't let him. The other side of this coin, of course, is the fact that by missing all this time, Prior might be stronger down the stretch, and that can only help the team. Last night was his 20th start, and with 51 games remaining, he'll probably make ten more. That would put him right around 200 innings for the season, rather than the 230 that he was on pace for before the injury.

For a 22-year-old in his second professional season, that's probably not a bad thing. His next matchup will be against Kevin Brown on Sunday. That ought to be terrific -- and with both the Dodgers and Cubs playing four-game series next Monday through Thursday, we should see a repeat performance in Wrigley Field on Friday the 15th.

:: posted by Al at 7:48 AM [+] ::
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Late Sports Final

That's the title the Chicago Sun-Times puts on its latest edition, the one that you can buy in the newspaper boxes in the city. It is usually "put to bed" (that's newspaper lingo I learned from a friend of mine who was a copy editor there) around 1:30 am.

That happens to be a lot later than I can stay up when I have to get to work in the morning, so I only got to see five innings of Mark Prior's masterful return last night; he threw about as efficient a six innings as he's thrown all year, and the Cubs beat the Padres 3-0, with Aramis Ramirez accounting for the extra two runs (it was 1-0 when I fell asleep) with his first Cub HR.

I'll write some more on this game later this morning; with the Houston and St. Louis losses, the Cubs pick up a game on each and are only half a game behind the Cardinals and 2 1/2 out of first place.

:: posted by Al at 3:50 AM [+] ::
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In Memoriam, Meigs Field, 1948-2003



Today, the Butcher of Meigs Field ordered his bulldozers to start ripping up the runways at the Little Airport that Could.

As I've said before, reasonable people could disagree about whether a park is needed at that site, or whether an airport is more valuable to the city's economy. Richie Daley keeps saying he wants to create jobs. Well, chasing business executives away from downtown isn't the way to do it). But sneaking out and closing this airport in the middle of the night, lying about the reason he did it (terrorist attacks? Come on!) and reneging on agreements made with state officials, isn't the way to do it.

The future seems bleak for Meigs as an airport, but the Friends of Meigs Field are still hopeful that some court, somewhere, will let them reopen the field, or effect some kind of compromise to reopen general aviation to the lakefront. Even the closed Meigs might have saved a couple of lives since March, as two planes made safe emergency landings there. And sad to say, Microsoft's Flight Simulator, which used to use Meigs as its default airport, has replaced it for the 2004 edition, just out this week.

The city is now going to refer to Meigs as "Northerly Island", the original name of this land when it was created with landfill for the 1933 World's Fair, with the thought that four other islands would be built, this one being the most "northerly". It's clearly a misnomer for that reason, plus, of course, it's no longer an island, but a peninsula.

Daley, in his press conference today, said the bulldozing made this the "greatest day in the history of Chicago." I think it's a sad day, myself. He also said, in reference to the problems with security at Midway Airport, that soon people wouldn't be able to carry anything on board, because "people could hide weapons in their teeth".

:: posted by Al at 1:17 PM [+] ::
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Off-Day Musings

* After nine hours at the ballpark, I came home to learn that I had to go into work an hour early because one of my co-workers took the weekend off and got stuck in an airport unable to get back in time due to the storms. Oh well -- all part of the job, not a problem!

* This week, since the Cubs are on the Left Coast, I won't get to see most of the games. Waking up at 3:30 kind of takes a lot out of trying to stay up till midnight to watch 9 pm CT starts. So Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll see the first couple of innings; should get to see most of Thursday's game; Friday, since I'm off Saturday, I'll catch all of that one (if I can stay up!)

* Peter Gammons says that the Cubs might still get Rafael Palmeiro. Frankly, I hope not. Not because they can't use a left-handed bat -- they can -- but Palmeiro seems to have a really bad attitude about coming here, and I sure don't want to see this turn into another McGriff dog-and-pony show. If he really wants to play his career out on a bad last-place team, let him go right ahead. Plus, from the Cubs' point of view, they can't hide him at DH. I'd like to think that Hee Seop Choi's good game yesterday would get him some more starts, particularly against the three righty starters (Lawrence, Eaton, Jarvis) that San Diego is throwing. Unless, of course, the rumored Padres/Pirates deal is made and Jarvis may be part of that deal. It'd be just the Cubs' luck to have Brian Giles arrive in SD in time for the series. Giles wears us out.

* Bobby Hill is due off the DL Wednesday. Iowa finishes a series at Tucson tomorrow -- if Hill is with the club, it'd be a short hop over to San Diego. Iowa has Wednesday off.

* You can tell I'm bored if I'm browsing the Iowa Cubs' website, especially since I'm on a dialup line -- my DSL line has been down since Saturday. They promised to send someone out to fix it tomorrow.

:: posted by Al at 4:28 PM [+] ::
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How To Pass The Time During A Rain Delay

First of all, I'm supposed to tell you that Carole said "The rain sucked." That's a direct quote.

But really, after leaving during Friday's rain delay and missing the remarkable comeback win, I was determined to stick this one out. You know, it wasn't supposed to rain till much later in the day, so when a very heavy shower started about 1:00, I figured it'd last half an hour or 45 minutes and then end.

As you surely know, it didn't. There were some very impressive lightning displays; at one point Paul Friedman, the PA announcer, came on and said that we in the bleachers might want to take cover (this very different from a couple years ago when Wayne Messmer ordered all of us in the bleachers down below. Well, that day Jeff & I stayed in our seats and by the time they came to make us leave, the aisles were so crowded that we couldn't) -- and after a while, we did.

Today we knew they'd wait a long time, as both teams (and the entire NL) have tomorrow off, and they didn't want to lose the sellout Sunday crowd again.

It was just Carole, Mike, Phil & me at game time; Jeff & Krista were househunting and were going to arrive late anyway (when he finally got there, Jeff said he was on his third change of clothes), and stayed at home watching the Weather Channel, and Brian & Kristy, who had brownies for Jeff's birthday (and it did get the scoreboard mention, though we just got a glimpse of it since it was first on the list), stayed in their truck and never did show up.

First to leave was Phil, who never dresses for the weather; he had shorts and a t-shirt and no rain gear. We didn't see him again. So the three of us sat under our umbrellas (Carole brought a fashionable purple one) until the lightning started about 2:15. At that point I gave up on trying to save the Sunday Sun-Times I had brought (luckily, I had already read it). It did stay on the bench, though, and some of it stayed dry, so we used it to sit on when we came back.

They let us down the stairs for shelter which they don't normally do. One sight seen: there are a number of vendors who are Orthodox Jews; I believe the Cubs have an "in" with one of the yeshivas to hire these young men. I saw one of them studying a Hebrew text, sitting downstairs just behind where the batting cage is under the RF bleachers.

When we finally came back upstairs two very drunk people tried to sit down next to us; I explained that we were expecting someone (which we were -- I knew Jeff & Krista were coming), and that's when they started something which has become an annual event -- the profanity-laced tirade from the once-a-year bleacher fan. Two years ago it was the woman who sat down in my seat when I got up in the fifth inning for a couple minutes, and when I came back she called me a "dickhead"; last year it was more amusing, the 30-something guy who said we should stop booing Todd Hundley because "He's my dad!"

Anyway, they sat across the aisle and after four innings they asked someone to save their seat and they never came back. I figure they just forgot the way.

So that's how you pass more than six hours before the game even started. And then it was well worth the wait, as Matt Clement threw his second terrific game in a row, and Sammy Sosa's 2-run HR was all the Cubs needed in their exciting 2-1 win over Arizona, and for the third straight series the Cubs have taken two out of three, which is a nice building block going into the West Coast trip on Tuesday. With Prior, Wood and Zambrano throwing against San Diego, the Cubs surely ought to win at least 2 of 3.

The game took on near-legendary status when it started raining again just after Sammy's homer, and it rained hard through the bottom of the 8th and top of the 9th. I give tremendous credit to Damian Miller for throwing Raul Mondesi out stealing (and what was he thinking? Or maybe there was a missed hit-&-run sign), with a wet ball and poor visibility.

The final called strike three on Junior Spivey looked low, and Pat Hughes on radio even called it low, but for the umpires who were getting soaked, I guess it was close enough.

It's been a memorable weekend, and the deficit is still only 3 1/2 games. If the Cubs can pick up even one game on Houston in the next week, they can really make something happen in the four-game series against the Astros starting on August 11.

And finally, best news of all: Lenny F. Harris is no longer a Cub. You surely know this by now, but I said before that I wanted to see his name with the words "unconditionally released" next to it, and my wish was granted.

Correction on yesterday's post: the bug swarms yesterday were not in fact aphids, but fungus gnats, which though disgusting, are pretty harmless. Luckily, the rain kept them away today.

:: posted by Al at 8:18 PM [+] ::
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