Cardinals turn the tables on the Cubs, reversing Wrigley Field devil magic
For at least a game, the Wrigley horror show don't steal more Redbird hope.
Sept. 2003. Wrigley Field. A place and time where St. Louis Cardinals fans’ dreams went to die, only to be born again the following spring. The first four days of that September came in a five-game set in Chicago. The playoff race was boiling, and each team had a fair stake in the race.
After splitting the first two games, St. Louis would lose the next three to the Cubs, tilting the postseason chase in a new direction and basically burying the Birds a few weeks early before the fall could arrive. An awful series all around, it also brings back sweet yet sore memories of my late friend, Troy Siade. It was his last hope to see the Cards in the playoffs again, because he was gone the following April. That series was a kick in the nuts.
It’s the first moment in time I think about when someone asks me about Wrigley Field, and watching the Cardinals play baseball in it for close to four decades. If memory isn’t fooling with me, I became an avid fan right around 1988. This season puts me at 36 years and counting of adoring this team; thanks, Pete Guerrero. For about 34-35 years of that chunk of life, I have hated Wrigley.
The ivy outfield wall. The way that fly outs become home runs if the wind is blowing out. The Waveland Avenue gathering of home run balls is full of swings from games between the Cards and Cubs. Big Mac and Sosa trading bombs during the chase of Maris’ record is mixed with the sad swells of a Cardinals pitcher being unable to find the strike zone. This is how a lot of Cubs fans most likely feel when visiting Busch Stadium.
Before a pitch is thrown, you think everything’s going against your team. The wind, mood, outfield grass slickness, strike zone consistency, and general lack of well-cooked eggs at the bed and breakfast that morning. All of it blends together into a brew of bad ideas.
Against those odds, the Cardinals fought back Saturday. After Ryan Helsley blew a save and the game on Thursday, Erick Fedde dropped a deuce in the second inning of his first Redbird start on Friday en route to a 6-3 loss. Chicago was up 4-1 late in Saturday’s contest, threatening to win the series before Sunday could breathe. But the Cards turned the tables, cashing in on some lucky hit placement and Cubs pitching flakiness.
The sad part of manager Oli Marmol’s defenseless move to pinch-hit for the red-hot Michael Siani on Friday is that it halted a rally in its tracks. Chicago couldn’t find the strike zone like a visiting Cubs fan couldn’t find their way out of downtown St. Louis after dark, but the Cardinals let them off the hook thanks to Brandon “not right now” Crawford.
Saturday offered redemption. Nolan Arenado, who hooked an outside pitch into left for a bases-left-loaded flyout the previous afternoon, dropped a dying quail into the Bermuda triangle between the centerfielder and the middle infielders. Pete Crow-Armstrong may have three names, but what he doesn’t have are three feet to run down notoriously well-placed bloops.
Ryan Helsley set the Cubs down in order, and the Birds made off into the deep dish pizza night with a 5-4 victory. With all that’s gone wrong so far in this four-game set with the last place Cubs, a split seems awfully sexy right now. Thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers-who are having a free auction of first place with their recent run of play-the division is wide open.
How wide open? The last place Cubs are only six games back of Milwaukee. There’s an incentive for every National League Central team right now not to suck, because this division is up for grabs. The Cardinals made the biggest deadline moves of either three, but Chicago bitch-slapped Fedde out of the gate. However, the Cubs have felt the not-missed sting of Mr. Tommy Pham this weekend.
Pham is all over the place. He’s providing solid outfield defense, and finding any way but loose to get on base. What I did miss was Pham’s ability to work a count, bleed a pitcher’s arsenal down to the pitch he wants. It’s not someone who just draws a bunch of walks. An inch or two in the other direction makes a hit more desirable than merely waltzing to first base.
Before tonight’s ESPN nationally telecast finale, the Cardinals are 57-54, good for second place. However, a loss coupled with a Pittsburgh win could put them in third place by bedtime.
Like I said, buy more bourbon. The turbulent excitement continues for the St. Louis Cardinals.