RMJ 131 June 26

THURSDAY, JUNE 26 ● Chicago, vs Cubs

I arose at 9:00 this morning, feeling better. At 9:10, the phone rang, and it was Gerry. We had talked about sending Donne Wall down and bringing up Tommy Greene. Gerry wanted me to discuss it with Vern and call him this morning. Vern and I talked on the airplane, and neither of us had a problem with the move.

Donne just isn’t pitching well now, and the report is that Tommy Greene has added some velocity — which is what we were hoping for when we sent him back at the end of spring training. 

True to form, Gerry wants to get on with it. He asked me to call Donne up to my room and give him the news, then have Donne call Barry Waters and make his travel arrangements, then call Rob Matwick to arrange the press release.

Tommy Greene will be here in the morning, and he will take Donne’s turn in the rotation on Sunday. Gerry wants Donne to pitch on Sunday in New Orleans.

I hope Donne takes it well, but I’m not optimistic. He has not pitched well, but like most players, he feels that he will get back on track. He will likely think that he didn’t get a good-enough chance. He may decide not to report to New Orleans right away.

Funny how that works: when you call a guy up, he gets there the same day. When you send him down, it sometimes takes a week to complete the journey.

 

I got Judy and Ryan up, and rushed them out of the room. I called Vern to come up and assist me. Then I called Donne, and he wasn’t in his room, so I left him a voice message to call me. It was about 9:45 at the time.

Vern came up, and we reviewed what we would tell Donne. When he still hadn’t called at 11:00, I told Vern to take off.

“I’ll call you when he calls me,” I said. “If you’re not in, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it myself.”

           

I waited around until 1:30, hoping there would be something resembling lunch at the ballpark. The phone rang, and it was Donne. I called Vern, and he arrived with Donne about 1:35.

Sometimes, these guys slay you with their tenuous grasp of reality.  Sometimes, though less often, they face the facts and don’t make excuses. Donne was a true professional.

When we cut him at the end of spring training, he was mad. He didn’t think Sid Fernandez should make the team ahead of him. He was right: Sid made one start and then headed for the disabled list. Who knows what would have happened to Donne if we had picked him instead, and put him in the rotation?

All we know now is that he pitched well for the Zephyrs and then made one good start for us before he pulled a hamstring. After that, he just couldn’t get it together.

“I know I’ve been horseshit,” he said. “I was sort of expecting this. I just wish it could have happened in Houston, before I came all the way up here.”

We told him what we thought he needed to do to get back. It pretty much jibed with what he knew he had to do: get command of his fastball and changeup. He asked when and where to report, expressed interest in making his next start, and vowed to be back.

Why is it that guys like this are seldom blessed with great ability?

 

What a ballpark! The weather was perfect, and so was Wrigley. Built in 1916 for the Chicago Whales of the Federal League, it is still the best park in the league. Hippo Vaughn and Fred Toney pitched the only double-no-hitter here. Gabby Hartnett hit his “homer in the gloamin’.” Ernie Banks hit his 500th home run.

And then there were lights.

This was a night game, and much more. It started at 7:05 ,with right field bathed in sunlight. It ended 3 hours and 45 minutes later, in darkness for the Cubs and in hopeful victory for the Astros.

 

As with most great games, you never could have predicted it at the beginning. Chris Holt started for us, Frank Castillo for them.

They grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second. We bounced back in the third. At the time, Bill asked me if I wanted to do anything with Tim Bogar on first with one out.

“No,” I said. “I want Bidge to pick a pitch to hit. I think we’re going to launch one off this guy.”

Three pitches later, Biggio hit one onto Waveland Avenue. 

Chucky Carr, in his first game wearing Astros livery, walked and stole second and came home on a single by Luis González.

The Cubs came back to tie the game in the fourth. They had runners on second and third, and Scott Servais due. Scott has hit us hard since we traded him to the Cubs. The next hitter was Castillo, one of the weakest-hitting pitchers in the league. The Cubs’ leadoff man, Brian McRae, was 0-for-his-last-25 at-bats.

Normally, I don’t walk the 8th hitter in this situation; I try to get him out so that we can face the pitcher leading off the next inning. In this case, I was sure Holt would get Castillo out, and I didn’t mind McRae leading off the next inning, so I ordered an intentional pass. Castillo lined Holt’s first pitch into right for a two-run single.

We went up 4-3 in the fifth on Carr’s RBI double. We added a run in the sixth on a homer by Ausmus, and another in the seventh on an RBI single by Bell.

Holt was scuffling through the game, as he often does. In the seventh, he just couldn’t find the plate. He got behind pinch-hitter Dave Hansen, who singled. Then he walked McRae and hit Brant Brown.

I brought José Lima into the game and he pitched well, allowing only one of the runs to score.

Ryne Sandberg and Dave Clark singled off Lima to open the eighth. When the count went to 2-2 on Servais, I had an ominous feeling. We were leading 6-4 when I went to the mound and brought Billy Wagner into the game. Servais fouled a few pitches, then hit a looping single to center. Now it was 6-5, and the Cubs had runners at first and third.

Back to the mound I trekked.

The infielders wanted to know where to play. Ausmus wanted to know whether to throw through on a steal attempt. I said to play back and throw through.

Well, what do you know? My instinct was right. Biggio didn’t complain about playing back, especially after McRae hit a high chopper to short for a double play. If we had been playing in, the ball might have bounced over Bogar’s head.

But this was a day when Wagner didn’t have it. The Cubs got an RBI double from Mark Grace in the ninth to tie the score.

We were three-and-a-half hours into the game as we turned to the tenth inning. Luckily, we scored a run on four consecutive singles. The last one was a shot by Bagwell that got to leftfielder Glanville in a hurry, giving him time to throw home. He was so deep in left that I thought Biggio would score easily, but the throw was strong and true. Bidge slid in, and seeing that he was out, popped up and hit Servais with a forearm shiver. Servais not only held the ball, he miraculously sat up and threw to third to get Carr on a tag play. It was the best and most-exciting play of the year so far.

We were up 7-6 now, but Wagner was finished. I held my breath while Blas Minor closed out the victory.

 

We didn’t get back to the hotel until almost midnight, and with a day game tomorrow, there was scant time for celebration. I did meet Rick and Susan, Judy, and Ryan for a beer and a snack. They seemed to enjoy Wrigley. 

It was quite an introduction to this ballpark — a park that has seem some of the wildest games on record.