Here is the list of my most memorable games that I have attended in the last 10 years. (you'll notice a lot of these revolve around the 2003 and 2008 seasons. I wonder why?)
5. Mark Prior! Wednesday, April 9, 2003
The best pitched game I have ever seen in person. Period. I don't know if people realize how absolutely dominating Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were at the beginning of the 2003 season. It would be the last season that the two of them were fully healthy for the Cubs.
In this game against the Expos, not only was Mark Prior pitching lights out, but Javier Vazquez was pitching for Montreal...and pitched damn well. Vazquez gave up a homer to Damien Miller in the 2nd inning...and that was about it! Vazquez struck out 14 Cubs in 7 innings of work.
Prior pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 12. He threw 112 pitches in this gem. This was Prior at the top of his game. I really miss him. What could have been....oh well.
Another awesome fact about this game...no walks and no errors.
For Miller, it was probably his best game of the season going 3 for 3...and a triple shy of the cycle.
At that point of the 2003 season, only about 15,000 people were showing up at the ballpark. After 2003, almost every game (with some exceptions in 2006 and 2007) was a packed house. But only a small number of people actually witnessed this gem from Mark Prior and Javier Vazquez.
4. The Brewers collapse. Thursday September 18, 2008
One of a number of comebacks I witnessed in 2008...including #2 on this list and the first game versus the White Sox. But this one was great as it came near the end of the season as the Cubs were marching on to the playoffs to ultimately end the 100 year drought. (But we all know how that ended!)
This game kinda sucked until the 9th inning. Then the Brewers, who were up 6-2 and they decided to bring in Sosa killer, Salomon Torres. The Cubs tied the game up with 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth topped with a 3 run homer by Geovany Soto.
The game went into extra innings and Derrek Lee won the game in the bottom of the 12th with an RBI single off of Carlos Villanueva. The Cubs looked almost unstoppable as the season neared its end. Yet the year ended far too quickly.
3. Game 3 of the NLDS. Friday, October 3rd, 2003
Mark Prior vs. Greg Maddux. I doesn't get much better than that! I took my father to this game for his birthday and it was my very first playoff game. The 5 game series was tied 1-1 at this point, and a strange thing happened around the 5th inning. Cub fans actually started to believe that they could win the series!
With the Cubs just squeezing into the playoffs at the end of the season, many people thought that they may be a 3 and out victim to Atlanta just like in 1998. But they won game 2, and with Greg Maddux on the mound the Cubs scored two runs early in the game. And with Mark Prior pitching great on the mound, a buzz started to build around the crowd.
By the end of the game, which ended with a Cubs 3-1 victory, the atmosphere around Wrigley was like nothing I had ever seen before. A giant party with 60,000 people broke out on the streets of Wrigleyville with people singing, fans cheering, women flashing. It was quite the scene. I haven't been at the stadium when the Cubs have clinched anything...but I imagine the scene would almost be the same except the players would be running around the field.
What a great birthday present for my father.
2. Greatest comeback of the decade. Friday, May 30, 2008
My fiance was trying to get me to think positive thoughts as the Cubs were replacing a number of their regulars in the line-up being down by 8 runs. Little did I know, as I moped in my seat, that I was going to witness a comeback of historic proportions.
The Rockies scored early and often. After 1 inning it was 4-0. After 3, 7-0. By the end of the 5th inning, it was 9-1.
Carlos Zambrano was used as a pinch hitter in the 3rd inning. Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto were taken out of the game in the 6th inning and replaced by Henry Blanco and Micah Hoffpauir.
Well...it sounds like a good time for a comeback, eh? Back to back homers by Jim Kosuke and Jim Edmonds woke up the crowd a little bit. 9-4
Then the next inning after Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito sang the seventh inning stretch, the comeback becomes complete.
2 run homer by Hank White (Henry Blanco for those of you who might not know the lingo.)
2 run double by Jim Edmonds
2 run homer by Mark DeRosa
And we all went crazy!!!!
Carlos Marmol came in and threw 10 pitches...9 strikes and struck out the side...all 3 looking!
Kerry Wood closed the game in the ninth. Cubs win 10-9. It was this game that I first remember Cub fans staying in the stands singing "Go Cubs Go" after the game. No one would leave.
Even though the playoffs were a bust, 2008 was a magical season.
1. Game 1 of the NLCS. 7th, 2003
Yes, the Cubs lost that game. But, my goodness, was that a great time. I have never heard the ballpark as loud as it was when Sosa tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was a back and forth all game. The Cubs took a 4 run led by Moises Alou's first inning homer. The Marlins took the lead in the 3 scoring 5 times off of Carlos Zambrano. The Marlins added to their lead making it 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth when future goat, Alex Gonzalez hit a two run homer to tie it up. And the crowd went crazy! The Marlins once again took the lead in the top of the ninth off of Joe Borowski with a two run single by Ivan Rodriguez.
Then Sammy Sosa batted in the bottom of the ninth with a man on, two outs down 8-6. Sosa jacked a shot. I have no clue where it landed. My ears didn't recover for a long time from the thunderous noise that erupted when Sosa hit that homer.
The Cubs later lost the game in the 11th inning after pinch hitter Mike Lowell (yes, that Mike Lowell) hit a solo shot off of Mark Guthry.
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Honorable mention: The Red Sox come to town! Friday, June 10, 2005
The Red Sox and their fans came to town...and they were great fun to hang around with. (not sure if that's the case anymore)
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