The trials and tribulations of being a Cubs fan...

 
On September 14, 2008, something pretty awesome happened. Enough of that. I want to tell you the story of a sober night at Wrigley Field in 1995. The day was a Monday. The date was September 25.

I remember a fairly sparse crowd. According to the box score, fewer than 19,000 folks showed up to watch a (barely) .500 team take the field. Such stars as Sammy Sosa and Mark Grace were to be joined by other present and future greats as Luis Gonzalez, Howard Johnson, and Scott Servais.

However, this night would belong to an upstart 26 year old from El Paso, TX. This night would belong to Frank Castillo.

Castillo was a 6th round draft pick in 1987. He showed a good arm and rose through the minor league system. When he debuted in 1991, his star was rising. As a 23 year old, he threw over 200 innings. He was never really the same. I don't know what happened to him in 1994, but I'm sure the strike didn't help.

There was one exception. His 1995 turned out to be an outlier on an otherwise mediocre career. He tossed 188 innings of 128 ERA+ ball. He only gave up 179 hits and had a pretty good 135/52 K/BB ratio. His 3.21 ERA and 1.23 WHIP only earned him a 11-10 record for a 73-71 Cubs team. He would never be anywhere near this good again. His last regular year in the bigs was 163 IP in 2002 for Boston.

But to go back to that cool, September night. The Cardinals were in town. They were not a good team. They would finish the year 62-81. The outfield wasn't too bad. Brain Jordan was a two-sport "star". Ray Langford was still 28 and in his prime. Bernard Gilkey was near the end of his best year with the Cardinals. The following year he'd have a breakout year for the Mets. By breakout, I mean fluke.

The rest of the lineup featured two-time All-Star Scott Cooper. I shit you not. John Mabry was putting the finishing touches on an absurdly mediocre rookie season. He finished 4th in RoY voting. I shit you not. David Bell was a 22 year old up and comer. He never did up nor come. In 1995, however, he was still seen as a future All-Star. No, I didn't type that with a straight face.

Facing this formidable lineup, Frank Castillo would bravely take the mound. The Cubs were certainly not going to win anything, and most of the 19,000 paid customers stayed home.

I was at the game with 3 friends, all of us just out of college. We were young and naive. We had no idea what we were about to see.

The game started out innocently enough. The Cardinals were mowed down in the top of the first, just a 2 out walk to Langford kept the inning from being a perfect one.

The game was really over by the end of the first. Luis Gonzalez scored on a two-out wild pitch by Alan Benes to put the Cubs up 4-0. The game never got close. Benes only lasted 3.2 innings, as the Cubs scored three more in the fourth.

I'm not sure when I first noticed what was going on. I would guess it was around the 5th inning or so. For certain, none of us were making any kind of a big deal about it.

By the middle of the 7th, it was no longer a joke. Frank Castillo was throwing a NO HITTER. Frank Castillo. No hitter. Going into the 8th inning, Castillo had already struck out 10 Cardinals. I can only assume that the two walks he gave up, to Langford in the 1st and Trip Cromer in the 7th, were on blown calls by the ump. No Cardinal had even sniffed 2nd base.

In the top of the 8th inning, Castillo was to face the Cardinals' 5-6-7 hitters. Castillo got Mabry and Bell to ground out on 7 pitches, before striking out 2-time All Star Scott Cooper for his 11th K. He would go to the ninth, looking for three outs for a no-hitter. And I am there.

The Cubs would go quietly in the bottom of the eighth. It doesn't matter. This is Frankie Castillo time, bitches.

Castillo took his warm-ups sitting at fewer than 100 pitches. He was dealing and showed no signs of letting up. He was facing the bottom of the order, plus Bernard Gilkey. Stupid Bernard Gilkey.

The first guy he faced was Terry Bradshaw. What? No, seriously. I have no idea who he is, but I assume it's not the annoying hick who was almost a Bear. Castillo made short work of the 54 year old, striking him out looking on 4 pitches. D'ur. 2 out left.

Next came Mark Sweeney. The less talented, slightly more retarded of the flying Sweeneys. Sweeney, staring history right in it face, made the Great Castillo work a bit, before feebly striking out on 6 pitches. Castillo now had 13 strikeouts. He was one out away from the first Cubs no-hitter in 23 years.

Along came Bernard Gilkey. I hate the St Louis Cardinals. They are the sucks of suck. Here was Frank Castillo, about to no-hit these fuckers. Sometimes, it's just not to be. I don't remember, but I think Gilkey worked the count to 3-1 against Castillo. Castillo then made the only bad pitch of the night. Gilkey didn't miss the fastball, hitting the ball as far as one could without leaving the park. He didn't stop running until he made it to third. The NO-HITTER was not to be.

I have seen the Cubs play the Cardinals more than any other team. I saw Kerry Wood strikeout 9 Cardinals in a 7 inning win in his fourth start, 5 days before he struck out 20 Astros. I saw all three games of an opening weekend sweep that included two come from behind wins, including a Derek Lee grand slam in 2005, well before the wheels flew off.

And, I saw Frank Castillo throw 8.3 innings of no-hit ball.

Thank you to baseball-reference.com for filling in the blanks.

posted by Oleg at 7:45 PM

 
My favorite quote from this article...

In the sixth inning, for his chef's special, Wood even struck out Chipper Jones on a split-fingered changeup he almost never throws -- but "he's been working on that," said catcher Paul Bako. Which was news that will no doubt thrill hitters across the globe.
posted by Oleg at 2:00 PM

 
The Curse of Coming Close...

The Cubs are up two games to one on the Braves. Matt Clement will be trying to go pitch for pitch with Wood and Prior, because, well, we'll kick Russ Ortiz's ass...

But here's what I really want to talk about...the Boston Red Sox.

Being a Cubs fan, I'm almost guilted into having some sort of sympathy for the Boston Red Sox. Screw the Boston Red Sox.

HBO's Real Sports just did a piece on what would happen if the Red Sox were to win the World Series. All these people were talking about how great it would be, but...what would happen the next day? They think that somehow the mystique of the Red Sox would be worn off. Some would have nothing to root for. What would happen next? Screw that...

Since 1945, the Red Sox have won 4 pennants and 2 division titles. 2003 is their 3rd wild card appearance. Everyone knows about 1975 and 1986...Somehow, I'm supposed to feel sorry for a bunch of chumps who have come within a few mere outs of winning the World Series? Screw them.

If I taste the World Series, I want the whole damn thing...lovable losers tag be damned. The Red Sox fans have no perspective. I'd trade the rest of Sammy Sosa's career for a World Series. I'd trade the Bulls 6 championships for a World Series. I'd trade Wrigley Field for a World Series.

Screw the Red Sox. They can keep feeling sorry for themselves, I'll be celebrating the World Series on the northside for about 3 1/2 months...till pitchers and catchers report again...and then, we'll do it again.

Go Cubs!!!
posted by Oleg at 12:15 PM

 
I've been trying to come up with something to write here for a while. I taken on the idea of going through the Cubs minor league system and doing a mid-season report, but with the exception of a few pitchers (Bobby Brownlie, Justin Jones, Jak-kuk Ryu, some others), the minors are pretty depressing. The players hitting well are not great prospects and the great prospects aren't hitting well (with the exception of David Kelton, who was sent down because 2-8 with a double and a run is not enough to get playing time away from Troy O'Leary [today's grand slam notwithstanding] and Tom Goodwin).

So, I've been playing GM in my head. This is about as interesting to anyone else as watching paint dry...but it's damn fun for me. So, I'll put some of my trade thoughts on paper.

Trade Antonio Alfonseca to the Red Sox. We wouldn't get much in return, but they do need a 'closer'. The downside is that Theo Epstein is exactly the type of GM who wouldn't take someone like Alfonseca. But who knows. The real coup may be to put this problem on the Yankees. They've had all sorts of issues in the pen, and Alfonseca is exactly the kind of high priced closer they need to set up Mariano Rivera. Maybe, to relieve some of their salary burden, we take Robin Ventura off their hands in exchange. This has many advantages...Ventura makes only 5 mil, and he'll be gone after this year. The 5 mil balances nicely with Alfoinseca's 4. The downside is that the Yanks don't have a replacement for Ventura, unless someone can convince them that Todd Zeile is an everyday 3B. Both of these options are definitely long-shots...but they're worth thinking about. For that matter, any team out there who wants/needs a reliever ought to be on Jim Hendry's speed-dial.

Just a thought...
posted by Oleg at 9:50 PM

 
As Mike corrected me, the event I spoke of about the American flag happened at Dodger Stadium...taking away a bit of ammunition from the White Sox fans...
posted by Oleg at 7:25 PM

 
Hating the White Sox is being made easier and easier everyday. Normally, I wouldn't write negatively about another baseball team, I'd rather spend my time and energy on trying to figure out how exactly I came to the Cubs being are my favorite team. But jeez...

First, the White Sox trade one of the 3 best relievers in baseball for Billy Koch. I think, great! Keith Foulke is easily the better pitcher...look it up. Then, Billy Koch decides to fit into the White Sox clubhouse by ripping on the Twins. The Twins!!! Here's a team with payroll somewhere around what a good dinner on Rush Street costs. Here's a team that was on the contraction chopping block 2 years ago. Stirring the fire with these guys is sort of like making fun of St Mary's School for the Blind after they win the state championship or something. Here's a team full of overachievers and hard-workers who have defied all logic to be one of the best teams in the majors over the past 2 years. Nicely done...

Next comes Spring Training. In the new collective bargaining agreement, there stipulations for drug testing. At first, the testing is done once, and, if 5% of the league tests positive or refuses to take the test, the testing becomes random year-round. So 17 White Sox players decide to boycott the test. A show for the absolute unfairness and paranoia such a test would elicit? A protest against the ownership trying to put a slightly tighter noose on the union and the players? Nope...this group of backwards Neanderthals decides to boycott the testing because they WANT random drug testing in thye league. And, sure, anyone who is on the side of fair play would say, "Testing, good...Steroids, bad...we need to randomly test the players to insure that everyone is on the same playing field." Without getting into reasons why drug testing is a bad thing, I'll focus on another issue.

Here is a CBA that the union has negotiated with the owners. It took the threat of a strike and a unification of the players to come up with a system that may or may not do the trick to stem the tide of steroid use. But the point is that the union, the same union that's ultimately responsible for these players being paid the money they are, put its approval on this CBA. And these primadonna players want to uindermine that negotation? They dare bite the hand that feeds them? Who the hell do these morons think they are? This is at least on par with crossing a picket line (something I used to hold against Rick Reed and Damian Miller and others, but no longer really do). Sure the union has its share of problems, but this is still the only recourse players have against the owners. This si still the only body that can negitiate collectively, for the overall good of the major league players. If it wasn't for the union, players would still be indentured servants to the owners, with no ability to make their grievences heard, and no way to insure fair salaries, punishments, and many other issues. And a group of players dares undermine that? I wish the Players' Association could have told them to go stick it up their collective...never mind. Of course an irony here ius that many of the fans of the White Sox are supposed to be blue-colar workers from the south side. Chicago is a big union town, and many of the fans are undoubtably in unions. I wonder what they think about this...

And then there was 4/15/03. There has been a lot of national attention written and talked and shown about what happened last night at Sox park. Fans running onto the field attacking umpires. Billy Koch giving up runs in bunches in the ninth inning. Things are good down there, huh? In the mean time, Shawn Estes throws 8 innings and the Cubs score 11 runs to win. Karma...

Sox fans will remind me that at Wrigley Field, 2 fans ran onto the field and tried to burn an American flag. At least that was an act of protest that didn't hurt anyone. And a couple of morons decided to steal a hat off a Dodger player. At least they didn't run on the field and bloody up a coach or try to mug an umpire.

Carlos Zambrano goes today for the Cubs. I'll be at the game, maybe I'll report on it afterwards.
posted by Oleg at 10:32 AM

 
Well, what an Opening Day. Yes, that phrase, when talking about baseball, should be capitalized and considered a proper noun. Today is the first day of a very, very long season. As Mike has heard me say way, way too often, the season is a marathon, not a sprint.

But what a great first quarter of a mile!!! 15-2. I'll assume that if you're reading this, I don't need to go through what happened today.

Today is the reason I read about baseball in January. Today is the reason I wanted to start this blog. Opening Day.

I'm a big fan of players I've never seen play. I get excited about Luke Hagerty and Andy Sisco and Brendan Harris. Whatever. The 25 guys who are on the current active roster are the guys who now count the most Today.

I also love to read about numbers and on-base pecentage and sabermetrics. I like the Oakland A's for the same reasons that Baseball Prospectus likes them. I wish The Cubs had a philosophy more similar to the A's. But what makes baseball so much fun is Today. The reason I like all those numbers is Today.

Today, the Cubs are in first place. The great thing about Today is that the Cubs will also be in first place tomorrow. There is so much to like about Today.

I ducked out for lunch today at noon. I ducked back in at 2, disappointed that I only got to see 4 innings. I heard more on the radio, even more on the net...although I don't have the internet in my office. I missed Corey Patetrson's two home runs. But I saw Wood pitch. And I got to hear Stoney for a few innings. Today was a very good day.

Frankly, today would have been good no matter what, because it's Opening Day. Happy Opening Day to everyone.
posted by Oleg at 7:10 PM

 
I read today, in Baseball America, that the Detroit Tigers have four Rule V players on their 25-man roster: third baseman Travis Chapman, lefthander Wil Ledezma, righty Matt Roney, and Chris Spurling, for whom they just traded.

I'm not sure exactly how a player becomes Rule V eligible, but the basic thing to know in this case is that a Rule V player cannot be sent to the minors by the club that selected him. He must first be offered back to the original club, and then he must pass through waivers -- or something along those lines. Rule V players are generally players who are not ready to be on major league rosters. Jason Dubois, a decent enough outfielder in teh Cubs system, was selected in this draft by the Blue Jays. He played last year in high-A Daytona. The Cubs recently got him back from the Blue Jays.

Anyway, having 4 Rule V picks on a major league roster is basically fielding a minor league team. These players will have to play at some point, assuming they stay on the Tigers 25-man roster, or are hurt (a team can keep a Rule V pick on the DL, however, the player must still spend a certain number of consecutive days on the active roster, or be offered back to the original club). I'm not sure that has ever happened before in the majors.

The Tigers will also have a starting rotation that will feature 20 year old Jeremy Bonderman, a player they traded Jeff Weaver for last year. Also, it'll have Nate Cornejo, who was considered one of their top prospects.

Of course their manager is Alan Tramell, with both Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish on the coaching staff. I'm sure Chet Lemon and Wille Hernandez are hanging around somewhere.

I'm not sure if the Tigers will be any good...strike that, I am sure they won't be very good. But they may be fun to watch. It all depends on how you look at it.

I also noticed this story in Baseball America.

It seems that Josh Hamilton, a top draft pick, has left the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The dude has 26 tatoos!!!
posted by Oleg at 9:00 PM