by NeilT
My dad was a pork belly magnate, and I grew up in Lincoln Park. On Saturdays we’d leave our humble home, just me, Mom, Dad, Sis and the driver, and head to Wrigley, where we had tickets behind one of the steel supports just back of third base. Dad would buy us each an Old Style and we’d sit in the stands shivering as the wind whipped in off the lake. I couldn’t see, because as the youngest I had to sit behind the column, but Sis told me that it was Cubs baseball and watching it didn’t matter.
I still wear my baby blue Cubs sweatshirt with a hoodie and a baby bear, the one that looks just like Sis, to every game. I love me some Cubbies. But I love this Astros club too—they remind me so much of my great Cubs teams, now and forever. They share that mix of random performance coupled with spunky inconsistency. Take me out to the ballgame! Buy me an Old Style!
I couldn’t see the game today, I was behind a column, but I did look at the box score. The Cubbies carried a one-hit shut-out into the 8th, and the Astros gave up 4 runs on 3 home runs, 9 hits. Norris, who returned to the mound for the first time since June something or other was pulled after 6 innings and 80 pitches. And of course 4 ER. On 3 home runs. My favorite reliever, Abad, got through an entire inning without any ER, which means he has an ERA for the season of 3.14. Who’d have thought? There were Astroducks on the pond in the 9th, but Myers wasn’t the pitcher so nothing happened. 6 LOB.
Castro had a throwing error, so all’s right with the world. We’ll get ’em next time.