I was at this game tonight, and boy was it humid. Made me feel like I was back home in Philly, or in a game at Baltimore. It was really bad. Of course, I was out there to see Sosa hit his 600th. I actually bought the ticket back in March, so it wasn’t a “600 only” thing. There were a lot of Cubs fans, and they were pretty well behaved, unlike Yankees fans, or Red Sox fans (since they won the Series). I spent most of the game talking to a Cubs fan who was sitting behind me about old teams, baseball books – it was nice.
Robinson Tejeda started off the game not too bad – had 29 pitches through two innings, and had the lead 1-0, on a first inning home run by Ian Kinsler. He then gave up the lead, although not completely of his own doing after two unearned runs that scored after Gerald Laird botched Alfonso Soriano’s bunt attempt. OK. We’re down 2-1. No problem. Brad Wilkkkkkkkerson hit a home run into the upper deck in the home run porch, and tied it at two.
Tejeda gave it back in the fourth – one of which was a bases loaded walk. At this point, Tejeda looked out of gas, or out of control or just out of it, as he had nothing. He was just all over the place. Didn’t look good at all, except for the first inning or so. He did go back out for the fifth, which was a suprise, and did get out of that inning without scoring a run, but it was QUITE shaky.
In the bottom of the fifth, Ian Kinsler homered for the second time in the game, this time a two run shot, which made the score 4-4 again. That was, however, the last scoring the Rangers did. In fact, it was the last baserunner at all, because the Cubs bullpen was PERFECT. They didn’t allow anything at all. It was quite a surprise. After the second Kinsler home run, it broke down like this:
Cubs bring in Chris Marmol who struck out the side (Young, Sosa, Byrd). Marmol comes back out for the sixth, Diaz struck out (fourth in a row for Marmol), Laird flied out, and Wilkkkkkkerson fouled out. Marmol again for the 7th, and Metcalf flied out, Lofton grounded out, & Kinsler struck out. Bobby Howry came in, got Young to fly out, Sosa to fly out, and Byrd to strike out. Ryan Dempster came in and closed it out, getting Catalanotto to strike out, Laird to strike out, and Wilkkkkkkerson to strike out. Gah. In all we struck out 13 times this game. over half of them were from the 5th inning on. Gotta tip your hat to the Cubs bullpen. Not much we can do when they’re perfect against you.
Ron Mahay looked quite good out of the bullpen. Didn’t realize he’s been here 5 years, and is only beat by two players for seniority here (Mike Young & Joaquin Benoit). There was a lot of talk on the radio post game show about him being showcased. I know we need help, but our bullpen is good again. With CJ Wilson we have two decent/good left handers, I’d hate to give ’em up again.
Sosa 600 watch: Three strikeouts and a flyout. No home run. After the first three strikeouts, I actually found myself wishing if he didn’t get the home run that he’d strike out so I could use my golden sombrero image I used for Victor Diaz a few games back. :)
One thing that pissed me off after the game, and really made me angry is that someone had dumped about half a dozen empty beer cans in the back of my pickup truck – plus two giant empty glass bottles (of beer). I didn’t realize it until I got home what was in there (I could hear rattling while I was driving home), but I’ve never had that happen to me at the Ballpark before. Are we turning into f’in bums where we use any old receptable (like my truck) for a trashcan? What the heck is up with that?
