Game 162: Cubs 8 – Rockies 5

box
Rockies finish 76-86
Cubs finish 66-96

30 under. Knew it.

POTG: SS Ronny Cedeno (3B, 2 H, 3 RBI, R)
Runners Up: 3B A Ram (HR, RBI, nice knowing you), CF Juan Pierre (2 H, RBI, but CS, nice knowing you), RP Les Walron (2.1 IP, B, 4 K, 0 R, nice knowing you), RF Jacque Jones (2B, R, SB, BB, nice knowing you)

This one’s about the game on the field. I’ll wait to talk about the game elsewhere when it feels like there’s time for perspective.

Got tickets someone else couldn’t use – they were going to the Bears game and didn’t want to do both – for the game. Free tickets were good, and I just had an urge to go one more baseball game while I still could.

Which is weird, because I really didn’t get all that into this. Didn’t score the game (don’t know why I didn’t think of it), and paid more attention to my cell phone’s internet browser for NFL scores and MLB scores elsewhere than I did the first few innings on the field. (My mind was not with me on Sunday, either – if 1 is good and 10 is bad, I like to think I operate in the 3-4 usually of late, but I was a solid 8 yesterday.)

The late inning heroics made it a bit more exciting, and it was just a unusually nice October day, so everyone had fun by the end. It got a little chilly in the shade with the cold wind blowing, but it must’ve been an awesome day for the bleachers. I figure about 30,000 of the announced 39,000 actually showed, including at least two guys in Seahawks jerseys. (Despite the jerseys, I’m pretty sure they weren’t Hasselback and Alexander.)

It sure seemed like Clint Hurdle made every bad pitching choice he could possibly make (why did he bring in a lefty to face Cedeno?), while the Cubs bullpen was pretty solid (though Ohman probably didn’t want to end the season with a walk.) Both teams were sloppy in the field, as you’d expect from last place teams on the last day of the season, Pierre got caught (and easily) for the 20th time (making his 58 SB that much less valuable) and I think everyone was pretty happy to have the game over to move on to whatever was next – the Bears games for the people in the crowd, who knows for the people on the field.

I was discussing the game on the way out of the park, and I think we reached the same consensus – we were sad this game was over, because it meant no more baseball, but we were happy this game was over, because it means they can start trying to get better tomorrow.