Congratulations, You Are A Winner!

Once again, not for the Cubs, though they did have a stirring 6-4 comeback victory over the Astros this afternoon.

No, this one's for me, as for the second time this year, I drew a winning card in the random-draw-for-a-genuine-autographed-ball giveaway the Cubs have been doing on occasion this summer. Today's prize was a Kerry Wood autographed ball, and now the Cubs are 2-0 in games in which I have won a ball (the other, July 7, when I got a Dusty Baker ball, was a very similar 6-3 win over the Marlins). It was also the very first card off the stack that they were handing out when we came in.

So, you can root for me to get a winning card on the two such occasions that are left -- Sept. 13 vs. the Reds, when they are giving away 200 genuine Wrigley Field seats, and Sept. 14, when the prize is a Fergie Jenkins autograph. I'd especially like to have one of the seats, though I do already have an original seat, one of the folding chairs that were used prior to the permanent seats being installed after 1945. These were stored below the stands for years and then in the early 80's, after the Tribune Co. bought the team, they were put out on the street and sold for $1 each.

Today was "hooky day" for quite a few in our group, as they do on an annual basis, and Sue brought several family members as well, so our group swelled to 15, about as large as we've had all year. We were rewarded with Moises Alou's timely three-run homer, a bomb off Jeriome (and how do you get the pronunciation "Jeremy" out of that?) Robertson, who didn't make it out of the fifth inning, quite a difference from June 1 at Wrigley Field, when he beat the Cubs easily 9-3.

Shawn Estes was just as shaky for the Cubs, and he had to be yanked in the fifth as well, throwing 93 rather ineffective pitches, and thanks to a very stupid error by Alex Gonzalez (throwing the ball away when trying to get a force at third, when the best play was really at second), only allowed two earned runs.

Luckily, after Alou's home run, the bullpen shut things down, allowing only three harmless singles over the last 4.2 innings, and once again, the staff totalled 10 strikeouts for the day. Joe Borowski made it interesting, giving up two hits after two out, then getting Jeff Kent to pop up to short right to end it.

The Cubs are now 7-5 against the Astros for the season, and I have great optimism about tomorrow's game, which would put the club 1/2 game out with a win -- and then there will be three more in Houston next week, where the Cubs are already 4-2 this year, and where Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou hit like crazy. Furthermore, a win tomorrow will get the Cubs even with Houston in the loss column.

Stupid sign seen: OK, I have to describe this one. We puzzled over it for six innings. It said, in black letters:

"KENNY LOFTON".

Then right next to it in red letters:

"E HERE".

Finally Krista went over and asked. I get it now, it's supposed to say: "KENNY, LOFT ONE HERE". But with the different colored letters, it just looked stupid. And, though he did have another single, going 1-for-3, he didn't come close to a home run.

We also played HR derby, and I had last pick, by the time it got to me the only decent player left was Richard Hidalgo. OK, I took him, I'm not proud, and I did collect the $. Well, geez, it was either him or Augie! (Who has gone 0-for-14 since his recall from Iowa) Then I paid out gladly when Moises hit his own HR.

Note from last night: the club handed out "transportation surveys" asking detailed questions on how we got to the ballpark. I decided to answer truthfully since they are entering these in a drawing for autographed balls.

Carole is babysitting tonight while we head out to the Bruce Springsteen concert at the Cell. See ya!