September 23, 2015: Back On The Hook

It really couldn’t have been any better.  Our first trip to Wrigley this year was a loss to the Reds.  The second, a loss to the Rockies.  The road trip to Pittsburgh started with a rainout.  Not having any wins in person, I arrived Tuesday night… hoping to see Jake’s #20…  I wasn’t disappointed.

As the crowd filed in on this beautiful late September night, it was a festive type atmosphere.  Check the calendar again.  Check the standings again.  There was no need to… you just knew.  You felt it.  Everybody did.  Everybody gathered this night wanting to see something special… wanting to see not only Jake’s try at 20, but this Cubs team.. this team that is playoff bound… this team that is special.  I kind of thought these games vs Milwaukee… these last home games of the regular season… even more so than the Pittsburgh series that will end it… are for the true die hard.  The fans that deserve to see this.  A weekday game against an inferior opponent leads to cheaper available tickets, even this year, the return to the playoffs.  Another thing I noticed that was very telling to me, was the absence of Milwaukee fans at this game.  Now normally, a Cubs Brewers game with cities separated only 90 miles apart, would have plenty of Milwaukee fans; I didn’t see a Milwaukee fan until the 6th inning… no joke.  It was 99.9% Cubs fans… nobody else.  There were no Brewer fans making this trek down to see their toilet bowl of a team…  This wasn’t a planned summer trip for some people to Chicago.  This was late September.  This was a great Cubs team.  This was OUR game.  You know, the games in Milwaukee next week… yeah, they’ll be ours too…

As the game started, Jake gave up a hit to the first batter; the no hitter alert was over.  Yeah, he got out of the inning.  The excitement really started when Kris Bryant cracked the home run.  A home run is big enough in late September at home for team closing in on the playoffs.  It was even bigger than that.  I remembered hearing he was tied with Billy Williams for the Cubs rookie record, but didn’t realize he just broke it until the guy next to me mentioned it.  Seconds later, it was shown on the scoreboard.  Seconds later, Bryant was out for the curtain call.  Fricking awesome!

Jake went about his business… mowing them down.  He finished with 11 Ks and only gave up 3 hits total on this night.  Funny moment when he fielded a groundball close to the 1st base line and tried to tag the runner; the runner backed up down the 1st base line, and Arrieta said screw it, and just turned and flipped to Rizzo.  The way the Cubs scored their last 2 runs was awesome too.  A 2 out pop fly that was botched by the Brewers led to Dexter scoring from first.  He was running all the way, and turned it on as he hit 3rd… sliding ahead of the tag at home.  The place erupted.  The final run, was when Bryant doubled in Schwarber from 1st base… Yeah, that was the one where Kyle didn’t slide… and only scored because of the bobble on the relay throw.  Honestly, I just think Kyle was too gassed to even slide.. he was barreling around those bases.  It was awesome to see the big kid move like that; we were cheering him on the whole way.

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And yes, as Cubs fans, we always think the worst.  We remember all the bad things that have happened over the years.  These things are brought to the surface now.  The way the Cubs are playing… knowing we’ll have another crack at this… you think about all the other times, and how we’ve been crushed.  The Leon Durham ground ball, the Alex Gonzalez error, the best team in baseball getting swept in 2008, the last time the Cubs made the playoffs.  You worry… we worried on this night about a line drive that went into the Cubs dugout.  Not being able to see into the dugout, everybody on the 3rd base line was standing… waiting… no, not now… a line drive injures somebody… no… then, Schwarber jumps up and waves his hand in the air.  He was OK.  Whew…  not now, not on this night, not yet…

So we worry about Jake’s too many pitches… we worry about Rizzo who has been one of the best fielding first baseman in the league until lately… we worry about Starlin’s boneheaded defensive plays from time to time…  We are back on the hook.  We are all in again.  Our pockets are empty.  Our heart is on a platter.  We are exposed again.  We are vulnerable again.

Will this Cubs team disappoint again?  I don’t know.  All I’ve been doing is enjoying the ride thus far, but after a night like this, I realized just how much this all means.  I remembered how much I love the Cubs.  I know how bad I want to see just one.  Magic number 3.