Cubs Retro Recap: August 7, 2001

I remember watching this game live on WGN and thinking the Cubs definately had luck on their side in 2001.

Eighty-eight wins — the same regular-season total the Cubs had in 2003 — sandwiched between two teams that lost 90-plus games?

Obviously, Sosa and Lieber had great years, and Wood was very good. But Hundley was a complete bust, Tapani, Bere and Tavarez weren’t exactly stellar and Ricky Guitierrez ranked second on the team in RBI (with a whopping 66).

Granted, Gutierrez and Young both were pretty decent, there were some guys (Rondell White, Bill Mueller) who did well around some injuries and Fred McGriff was actually pretty freaking good after he finally approved the trade (though the Cubs didn’t play that well in the final month while he was on the team). But around them were guys like Ron Coomer, Matt Stairs and Gary Matthews Jr. Hardly world beaters.

Did this team have an incredible record in 1-run games?

Maybe the issue was that the 2002 team underachieved so much and fell off a cliff when Gordon and Lieber got hurt and when Sosa came back to earth.

Thanks, Al, for bringing up this game. I went to see 16 games at Wrigley that year, including Big Z’s miserable debut against the Brewers a couple of weeks after this one. It remains one of my fondest memories of The “Friendly” Confines…

Here’s what I wrote on August 14, 2001:
“Last week I was privileged to see a charged-up, fight-to-the-finish Cubs game. It was packed, so packed that I had trouble finding a decent SRO space to watch from, but I managed. We were playing the Rockies, the beginning of an important homestand, and found it difficult to believe they’d jumped out by a couple heading into the bottom of the sixth. Third baseman Ron Coomer led off with a double, and advanced to third on a groundout, but when he tried to score on a wild pitch, umpire Angel Hernandez called him out on the play. It sure looked like the tag had been late to me and the other 40,000-plus fans in attendance, and a chorus of boos showered upon Hernandez, and further WGN replays on the monitors throughout the stadium sure made it look like he made the wrong call.

“From then on any called strike or ball not in the Cubs’ favor netted more boos. For the seventh-inning stretch, former Bear Steve "Mongo" McMichael did something I’ve never heard anyone do at a game: taunt the ump from the press box, which encouraged another eruption of boos. McMichael said a couple other things that earned him an ejection after he led the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," which I have since learned may be the first time in major league history anyone has gotten ejected from the press box. The fired-up crowd really got into it the rest of the way as the Cubs rallied with three runs on newly-acquired Fred McGriff’s clutch hit. The bullpen surprisingly let the Rockies tie the game back up in the eighth, when meant an exciting finish.

“In the bottom of the ninth, shortstop Ricky Gutierrez and Sammy Sosa reached on consecutive base hits before McGriff struck out swinging. Veteran catcher Joe Girardi came on to pinch-hit, with just the one out, and hit a sharp hit to center that looked like an easy RBI single. But one problem: Gutierrez slipped rounding third and would’ve been a dead duck if he hadn’t scrambled back toward the bag. The Rockies catcher fired to second and nearly nailed Sammy sliding headfirst into the base; Girardi was now certainly caught up in a pickle. But he didn’t give easily, forcing them to chase him down—meanwhile, Gutierrez alertly scampered to the plate. With a rifled throw, it was closer than it should have been, but Hernandez had no choice but to call Gutierrez safe with the winning run. A deafening roar of elation ensued from the crowd. I was slapping fives with many others, whom I only knew in that thrilling moment. As the throngs poured out onto Sheffield and Addison, the sentiment was that this was the Cubs’ year, and I felt proud to be a part of it.”

It was a fun year, with all the wins Liebs racked up and the numbers Sammy piled up, and I think the combo of EY and Gutierrez did a better job of setting the table than nearly anybody else since (maybe Lofton-Grudzielanek at the end of 2003?).