Cubs 6- Brewers 5

Recap can be found here.

I got to go today on the way back from a crazy weekend. A couple of things to note. The fans in Chicago love Garciaparra. He got the loudest cheers of any Cub, even going 0-5 with a HBP. Hopefully Nomar will return the love by breaking out of his slump. Some interesting managerial decisions today. The first was with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 6th and a RHP (Bottalico maybe?), Dusty decides to bring Perez up to pinch-hit. I didn't post last week how upset I was when Perez pinch hit over both Dubois and Hairston late in Wednesday's game. This one was about as bizarre. Perez did about as well as he could without majorly screwing up by chopping one to the right side for an out and an RBI. An even more bizarre play happened in the bottom the 12th. Burnitz tripled, bringing up Lee and Hollandsworth. I immediately motioned to the official father of Interstate 94, that the walk sign was coming not once, but twice. But Yost, only walked Lee, which was strange because he was the right handed batter with Holly a left hander up next. I didn't see the splits, so I wasn't sure how they worked out. I'm not even sure who was pitching for the Brewers then. Yost again does something bizarre by playing his infielders in. If you want to set up the double play, move your fielders back, which I think he wanted to do by walking Lee. If you walk Holly, then you can play your fielders in and throw home to get the lead runner. Barrett was the next batter and as Al said it best, "Michael Barrett having just about the worst at-bat I've seen a Cub have under Dusty Baker." It reminded me of the Todd Hundley at bat from 2002. Most Cub fans remember him coming up, needing only a run to win, with the bases loaded. Hundley swung at 3 pitches out of the zone to stike out. As my uncle put it, all he had to do was stand up there with the bat and the Cubs win. I digress.

The fans today were harsh on Walker when he didn't make a play up the middle, the one that Nomar tried to stop with his foot. I told them to be quiet, there was no way he was throwing the runner out. Speaking of Walker, he got leg whipped by Carlos Lee. Expect some retaliation for that one. I would be surprised to see an ACL injury. It's more likely he has a PCL sprain or tear. A PCL injury is also characterized with a "dashboard" injury, in a car accident. The tibia is stopped against the dashboard, while the femur continues forward, causing a PCL tear. My favorite moment of the day was when Nomar got hit and everybody booed. I was ecstatic. Nomar wasn't hurt and the best hitter with 2 doubles already was up. Great win for the Cubs today.