Last night I went to the Cubs/Reds game with Lippy. I scored seats earlier in the day, and invited him to come along (since he’s a big baseball guy, plus, he’s fun). Our seats were not spectacular (upper upper deck, right field, and a handy pole blocked the view of 2nd base), but still, it was in the park, as Heather likes to say.
The game was very up and down, but I honestly think that more people were watching the scoreboard than the game on the field. The Astros were laying down for the Brewers, and every one of the 39,000 fans (plus every single Cub) were well aware of it. I counted the Cubs out several times – some really fundamental silliness on the part of Soriano (um, when the ball is hit in front of you, you don’t run…I learned that in Little League) and a couple of blown DP’s.
Sitting in front of us were three couples (looked to be college kids, but definitely under 21, since they were not drinking beer). The girls were all wearing Cubbie blue, but their fellas were cheering for the Reds (although clearly they didn’t know much about the game, as one of them continually referred to the Reds scoring “points”, and another didn’t realize that the Reds were beating the Cubs at one point). It was definitely good-natured, though – one of the girls kept telling her boyfriend to quiet down when he cheered the Reds, for fear of him being “murdered”. Heh.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs were down 4-6. Ryan Theriot (my favorite Cub of late) comes to the plate to lead off. I turn to Lippy, and said, “Here’s what’s going to happen. The Riot singles. D-Lee singles. Then Aramis walks off.”
Theriot walks.
Derrek Lee singles.
Ramirez comes to the plate. Dave says “well, you got the first two parts right. Let’s see if you predicted the third correctly.”
I said “Yes, the third part is kind of the key.”
I was wrong.
Ramirez did not homer.
He TRIPLED.
Tying the game.
Wrigley Field went INSANE. I started yelling at the Reds “fan” in front of me “Ninety FEET! The winning ‘point’ is NINETY FEET AWAY. THREE OUTS TO GO 90 FEET!”
End of story? The Reds IBB the next batter (Dave’s theory was that they did it to calm down the excitement, because a DP wouldn’t help them), and then DeRosa hits a little comebacker to the pitcher, who flubs it, and Ramirez scores, winning the game.
The Cubs flooded the field like they just won the pennent. It was a beautiful thing. Walking down the ramp to leave, I told Dave “I remember what this feels like”. He agreed. “Yup. Cool air, Cubs winning…it feels good.”
Indeed it does, Lippy.
Indeed it does.