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Sep. 14th, 2008 10:46 pm
ZAMBRANO-NO!!!
I know you're probably tired of my posts where I show that I live and die by the Baby Ursine, but I have to do this. If not now, then when?
After going through withdrawal, doing without Cubs baseball for most of the weekend, what a way to break the fast--Carlos Zambrano with a no-hitter!
Wow.
I'm still waiting for it to sink in, and it's been over three hours since I saw the last inning. For the unenlightened, the Cubs' last no-hitter was Milt Pappas' in 1972, 36 years and two weeks from now. I was in seventh grade at the time. And a Twins fan. Ah, the ignorance of youth.
Now, due to the poor job of the media in reporting this, and the Astros' seeming indecision in the matter, it wasn't known where the Cubs-Astros series would be made up, due to Hurricane Ike. They could have had it in St. Louis, Atlanta, maybe even Cincy...but when push came to shove, the series ended up in...Miller Park, in frikkin' Milwaukee. Sweet. There's a reason why we call this field Wrigley North, and it showed tonight.
And an additional 'Screw you, ESPN' to blocking coverage of the game to everyone but those in the immediate WGN9 Chicago area, since ESPN is the only one allowed to show Sunday baseball on TV. The rest of us, without access to mlb.com, had to follow it on snail net, sometimes waiting several minutes for plays to happen. I really hope WGN can find the means to re-broadcast the game so the rest of us who don't have Tivo can see it as it happened.
Some observations:
1) Z faced 28 batters, one short of a perfect game. He struck out 10, walked one, hit one with a pitch, and forced a double play. Only two outs were on balls hit out of the infield. He threw 110 pitches, quite a bit coming off rotator cuff tendonitis, but he also had two weeks' rest.
2) Z outhit and outscores the entire Astros team. That was an amusing stat in itself.
3) Despite batting as the home team, the Astros wore road uniforms; their own little passive-aggressive statement of not liking to go to Miller Park.
4) This was the first no-hitter thrown at Miller Park, and it was thrown by arguably the most loathed Cub pitcher of all by the Brewer faithful.
5) White Sox haters pretty much loved that ESPN cut into the Tigers/ChiSox game to show their cross-town rivals doing the no-no.
6) The first ones out on the field to congratulate Z, besides the catcher Soto? The late-season sign-ups from the minors. I've said this is a team effort before, and this show of team unity backs that claim. Nice.
7) Cubs magic number is 7 to repeat at NL Central champs, and 6 to clinch a playoff spot. Thanks, Brewers, for losing that doubleheader to the Phillies today. If we just play .500 ball our last 14 games, we take the NL Central for certain...if all goes right, it could happen by the weekend. If we win only 4 games, Milwaukee will have to go 10-2 just to catch us.
8) The second out of the 9th inning scared the hell out of me, because that same kind of grounder ate up Ronnie Cedeno in last Sunday's Cincy game, leading to a blown save and a Cub loss.
9) I thought sure that with the Brewers breathing down our necks, we'd be facing the Diamondbacks again in the playoffs. The way they and the Brewers are losing, we may end up facing the Phillies or the Astros, if the Suds can't hold their wild card lead.
10) Magic number for having the NL's best record and, thus, home field, up to the World Series: 9.
11) To be honest, I don't think the outcome would have been any different if the game was at Minute Maid Park. Hell of a way to end a 6-game losing streak, though. And if I was an Astro fan, I would have been pissed at the selection of Miller Park as the neutral site.
Hopefully I can get the HTML right and embed the youtube of this bit of history:
On the reality check side, we still have a game tomorrow, and thirteen more after that. It ain't over yet. To be continued. But, oh, this is one hell of a ride, and an awesome time to be a Cub fan!
After going through withdrawal, doing without Cubs baseball for most of the weekend, what a way to break the fast--Carlos Zambrano with a no-hitter!
Wow.
I'm still waiting for it to sink in, and it's been over three hours since I saw the last inning. For the unenlightened, the Cubs' last no-hitter was Milt Pappas' in 1972, 36 years and two weeks from now. I was in seventh grade at the time. And a Twins fan. Ah, the ignorance of youth.
Now, due to the poor job of the media in reporting this, and the Astros' seeming indecision in the matter, it wasn't known where the Cubs-Astros series would be made up, due to Hurricane Ike. They could have had it in St. Louis, Atlanta, maybe even Cincy...but when push came to shove, the series ended up in...Miller Park, in frikkin' Milwaukee. Sweet. There's a reason why we call this field Wrigley North, and it showed tonight.
And an additional 'Screw you, ESPN' to blocking coverage of the game to everyone but those in the immediate WGN9 Chicago area, since ESPN is the only one allowed to show Sunday baseball on TV. The rest of us, without access to mlb.com, had to follow it on snail net, sometimes waiting several minutes for plays to happen. I really hope WGN can find the means to re-broadcast the game so the rest of us who don't have Tivo can see it as it happened.
Some observations:
1) Z faced 28 batters, one short of a perfect game. He struck out 10, walked one, hit one with a pitch, and forced a double play. Only two outs were on balls hit out of the infield. He threw 110 pitches, quite a bit coming off rotator cuff tendonitis, but he also had two weeks' rest.
2) Z outhit and outscores the entire Astros team. That was an amusing stat in itself.
3) Despite batting as the home team, the Astros wore road uniforms; their own little passive-aggressive statement of not liking to go to Miller Park.
4) This was the first no-hitter thrown at Miller Park, and it was thrown by arguably the most loathed Cub pitcher of all by the Brewer faithful.
5) White Sox haters pretty much loved that ESPN cut into the Tigers/ChiSox game to show their cross-town rivals doing the no-no.
6) The first ones out on the field to congratulate Z, besides the catcher Soto? The late-season sign-ups from the minors. I've said this is a team effort before, and this show of team unity backs that claim. Nice.
7) Cubs magic number is 7 to repeat at NL Central champs, and 6 to clinch a playoff spot. Thanks, Brewers, for losing that doubleheader to the Phillies today. If we just play .500 ball our last 14 games, we take the NL Central for certain...if all goes right, it could happen by the weekend. If we win only 4 games, Milwaukee will have to go 10-2 just to catch us.
8) The second out of the 9th inning scared the hell out of me, because that same kind of grounder ate up Ronnie Cedeno in last Sunday's Cincy game, leading to a blown save and a Cub loss.
9) I thought sure that with the Brewers breathing down our necks, we'd be facing the Diamondbacks again in the playoffs. The way they and the Brewers are losing, we may end up facing the Phillies or the Astros, if the Suds can't hold their wild card lead.
10) Magic number for having the NL's best record and, thus, home field, up to the World Series: 9.
11) To be honest, I don't think the outcome would have been any different if the game was at Minute Maid Park. Hell of a way to end a 6-game losing streak, though. And if I was an Astro fan, I would have been pissed at the selection of Miller Park as the neutral site.
Hopefully I can get the HTML right and embed the youtube of this bit of history:
On the reality check side, we still have a game tomorrow, and thirteen more after that. It ain't over yet. To be continued. But, oh, this is one hell of a ride, and an awesome time to be a Cub fan!
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