It was a gorgeous day. Sunny and breezy. Wrigleyville -- America’s greatest block party -- was in perfect form. We took our usual walk around the park, taking in the festivities and sights of the neighborhood. We downed some Old Styles at the Cubby Bear, and then decided to head inside the ballpark for the 12:05 start.
We settled into our seats along the third base side, under the overhang. We couldn’t have asked for a better view …
Got to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus throw out the first pitch. A high school choir sang a beautiful National Anthem. And then it was game time -- The Cubs had been on a roll and with Carlos Zambrano on the mound for the Cubs and Chris Young for the Padres, it had all the makings of a good one …Through the first four innings, neither team could do anything offensively. Zambrano gave up one walk in the first, and Young walked Cubs batters in the first and second, but that would be it. The game was flying …
Then came the fireworks in the fourth. Derrek Lee was the first batter in the bottom of the fourth; Chris Young threw at his head … The home plate umpire immediately stepped in front of the catcher as the two began an exchange while Lee just kind of stood at the plate… Then, after a few seconds passed, with the crowd starting to come alive, Lee slowly started moving toward first, but kept his eyes on Young who was starting to approach Lee …
Now, I’ve never seen a live, in-person baseball brawl before. In fact, I can’t recall ever seeing one live on television. I think Sportscenter highlights are my only references. But as I’m watching this one fester, I certainly wasn’t expecting Lee to boil over. C’mon, it’s D-Lee. He’s one of the good guys in the game, right!?
But Lee and Young kept talking, and before anyone knew it, Lee was throwing a punch at Young, the two were wrestling, the benches were clearing and the crowd was on its feet, roaring and popping flashbulbs all over the stadium …
Both teams ended up in a ball of white and navy blue around home plate, and it was several minutes before they could be separated. After awhile, both teams backed up to their respective baselines, and several more minutes passed as the umpires tried to sort out the situation.
Zambrano, whose uniform was all out of sorts, was escorted toward the dugout, as was Lee. Lou Piniella paced around home plate and one of the coaches was still trying to hold back Jacque Jones who hadn’t been in the lineup, but appeared more fired up about the fiasco than anyone on the field …Unbelievable.
Being at Wrigley, we didn’t have the advantages of a jumbotron or a modern scoreboard to tell us what the umpires had decided. And we weren’t listening to the radio (but, man, I would’ve loved to hear how Pat and Ron called the whole darn thing!), so we could only assume Lee was done for the day. And it took a few minutes, but the umpires eventually tossed Young, too, with a little encouragement from the crowd. Reading the game summary tonight, we learned that Jake Peavy and Gerald Perry, the Cubs hitting coach had been thrown out too. And for awhile we wondered if perhaps Zambrano had been tossed, until he came out and took the mound again for the fifth …
Afterward, Zambrano appeared to be throwing better and harder. He was throwing a no-hitter after all! … albeit an ugly one. Hiram Bocachica got on for the Padres in the fifth when Ryan Theriot let a routine ground ball get through his legs, and Mark DeRosa booted a ball in the sixth. Add to those two errors, three more walks thrown by Zambrano …
But the Cubs somehow held the Padres scoreless with a couple bang-bang-bang double plays to end both the fifth and sixth innings. And in the seventh, Bocachica hit a dribbler just off the mound to Zambrano’s right; it looked like a sure infield single, but somehow Zambrano barehanded it and made a weak, off-balance throw that had DeRosa stretching and gloving the ball in just the nick of time! Big wow!! It was the play of the game …
By the end of the seventh inning and into the eighth, the crowd was on its feet and cheering for every out. For a little bit, I was pretty sure I was going to be watching my second no-hitter of the week …
But it was not to be. Marcus Giles singled with one out in the eighth for the first Padres hit. And oh, by the way, the score was still 0-0. The Cubs had only notched two hits -- a double by DeRosa in the fifth and a double by Theriot in the sixth.
Finally, in the top of the ninth, the Padres got on the board with a solo homerun to left by Russell Branyan. It was one of those no-doubters …
And then! As if this game couldn’t get any odder, after Branyan’s homerun, it started pouring rain! And the sun was still shining! … We laughed as the fans not sitting under the overhang ducked for cover and the Padres made the last out in the top of the ninth. And then the rain stopped as fast as it started in the bottom of the ninth …
And the Cubs were done too. Starting with Soriano, who had a horrible day (0-4, two strikeouts), the Cubs went one-two-three in the ninth ...
Cubs lose 1-0. UN-forgettable ...
Now we wait to see how long Lee will be suspended ...
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