September 15, 2008

• With Hurricane Ike reeking havoc upon south east Texas, the Cubs
  games against the Astros in Houston was moved to Miller Park in
  Milwaukee, a domed stadium and probably the only place in the bigs that
  could guarantee a game without a rain delay and good sized crowd. Sure,
  it wasn’t fair that it was at a place that was close enough for us Cub
  fans to travel too, but that is topic for another conversation. On
  Saturday night when it was decided the game would be played up there, I
  briefly tried to talk Mark into going to last night’s game. We are 2
  hours from Milwaukee and Mark felt (and probably rightfully so) that we
  would get back too late and since he went to Cincinnati for the games
  last week and is going to Milwaukee at the end of the month for a game
  it would probably be too much money. I thought about asking Mason if he
  wanted to go but decided not to. I will always regret not going. Here
  is why:

  
  

  Chi Cubs
  	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
  A. Soriano lf	4	1	2	1	0	0	2	.290
  R. Theriot ss	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	.307
  D. Lee 1b	4	1	1	2	0	2	0	.292
  A. Ramirez 3b	4	1	1	1	0	1	0	.279
  G. Soto c	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	.288
  M. DeRosa rf-2b	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	.283
  R. Johnson cf	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.302
  F. Pie cf	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.227
  R. Cedeno 2b	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	.286
  K. Fukudome ph-rf	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.261
  C. Zambrano p	3	1	1	0	0	2	0	.354
  Totals	34	5	7	5	1	6	7

  Batting 2B – D Lee (37, R Wolf); G Soto (34, R Wolf). HR – A Soriano (28, 1st inning off R Wolf 0 on, 0 Out). RBI – A Soriano (71), D Lee 2 (84), A Ramirez (104), G Soto (81). 2-out RBI – D Lee 2, A Ramirez, G Soto. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – R Johnson 1. Team LOB – 3.

  Fielding DP – 1 (R Cedeno-R Theriot-D Lee).

  Houston
  	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
  D. Erstad lf	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.282
  M. Bourn cf	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	.221
  M. Tejada ss	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.286
  L. Berkman 1b	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.326
  G. Blum 3b	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.233
  H. Pence rf	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.272
  D. Newhan 2b	3	0	0	0	0	2	1	.250
  H. Quintero c	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.224
  R. Wolf p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.130
  F. Nieve p	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
  D. Borkowski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
  M. Saccomanno ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.333
  J. Cassel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.286
  J. Castillo ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.246
  Totals	26	0	0	0	1	10	2

  Batting GIDP – M Tejada. Team LOB – 1.

  Fielding E – M Tejada (10, throw).

  Chi Cubs
  	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
  C. Zambrano (W, 14-5)	9.0	0	0	0	1	10	0	3.41
  Houston
  	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
  R. Wolf (L, 10-12)	2.2	6	5	4	1	2	1	4.58
  F. Nieve	2.1	0	0	0	0	3	0	7.36
  D. Borkowski	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7.20
  J. Cassel	3.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	5.88

  HBP – H Pence (by C Zambrano).

  Pitches-strikes – C Zambrano 110-73; R Wolf 60-39; F Nieve 36-24; D Borkowski 12-8; J Cassel 33-22.

  Ground balls-fly balls – C Zambrano 13-4; R Wolf 1-5; F Nieve 0-4; D Borkowski 0-3; J Cassel 4-4.

  Batters faced – C Zambrano 28; R Wolf 15; F Nieve 7; D Borkowski 3; J Cassel 10.

  Game Details

  Umpires: HP–Tim Tschida. 1B–Jim Joyce. 2B–Jeff Nelson. 3B–Mike Estabrook. Time: 2:17. Attendance: 23,441. Weather: INDOORS

  Game Notes

  THE HOME RUN BY CHICAGO LEFT FIELDER ALFONSO SORIANO LED OFF THE GAME.

  CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH SIX INNINGS.

  CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH SEVEN INNINGS.

  CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH EIGHT INNINGS.

  CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH EIGHT AND 1/3 INNINGS.

  CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH EIGHT AND 2/3 INNINGS.

  CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS THROWN A NO-HITTER. Now I do realize that some of you might not baseball fans, but you still might understand the significance of a no hitter. First of all, I should explain that a no hitter is when a pitcher does not allow a hit to the opposing team for the entire game. The chance to see one live is pretty much a once in a lifetime event. I have waited my whole life to see a no hitter thrown by a Cubs pitcher. The last one was in 1972 by Milt Pappas which was before my time. I have seen a ton of close calls. I remember Jamie Moyer taking one into the 8 or 9th inning circa 1987 or 88. Jose Guzman was within 1 or 2 outs of throwing one in his first start as a Cub the second day of the 1993 season. Frank Castillo took one into the 9th in an August 1995 game at Wrigley against the Cards. Julian Tavarez took one into the 9th in a late season start in 01 or 02. Zambrano himself came within 1 or 2 outs in a game in Arizona back in 04. I even was at a game in 2003 in which Matt Clement took one into the 7th inning until Enrique Wilson of the Mets ended the bid with a home run. So, with so many teases, you can see how hard it is to actually see one. There have been over 100.000 baseball games in Major League history and only 257 no hitters. I was pretty exited that I finally got to see a Cub do it, even if I wasn’t at the game. About an hour and 15 minutes into the game I sent Mark a text saying “we could have been at this game, what if Z pitches a no hitter?” By the time the 8th inning started I was on the phone with Mark and we were on the phone together until it ended. Zambrano is Mark’s favorite player, so I know he must have hated to miss it in person. Still, its very exciting, I’m still buzzing about it. And today, the Cubs Ted Lilly took a no hitter of his own into the 7th inning. I swear, its not this easy.

  • 11:15 pm
  • 1 Comment