The Cubs have been here before. Twice.
On Sept. 8, they lost a stunner to the St. Louis Cardinals in Wrigley Field, blowing a 7-1 lead and allowing the Cards to draw within half a game of first place. The next day the Cubs won a come-from-behind victory and weren`t threatened again.
On Thursday night they mashed the Giants after being humiliated in Game 1.
The mood in the clubhouse understandably was subdued after Saturday night`s stunner, in which the Cubs blew the lead in the seventh inning. But there was plenty of brave talk nonetheless.
”We`re coming back tomorrow with our ace on the mound,” said Dwight Smith, whose fly ball to Kevin Mitchell ended the game with the tying run at first base. ”We`re looking for (Greg) Maddux to pitch like he did all year. We`re going to go after it and split this thing up again.”
”There`s no concern,” said Les Lancaster, who gave up the winning home run to Robby Thompson. ”We`ve got some young guys and some veterans and we want this bad enough. We`ll be back Sunday night.”
– Lancaster said he was surprised Thompson was swinging on a 2-0 pitch with one on and one out in the seventh inning. But Lancaster had confused the count.
”With a 3-0 pitch, I didn`t think he would be swinging, especially with
(Will) Clark up next,” said Lancaster, now 1-1 in the series.
”I looked up there (on the scoreboard) and saw a 3-0 count. Everybody else says it wasn`t,” he said. ”If it was a 2-0 count, I probably would have thrown a slider. But I can`t go back on it now.”
That made two homers for Thompson in as many at-bats against Lancaster, who has allowed four runs-and three home runs-in 5 2/3 playoff innings for a 6.35 earned run average.
The fastball wasn`t as low as it was supposed to be.
”We know he`s got a little pop in his bat,” said catcher Joe Girardi, who knew the correct count. ”Two-and-O with Clark behind him, we thought we could throw him a fastball.”
– Paul Assenmacher has faced five batters and allowed three hits and a run. He was crestfallen after giving up a one-out seventh inning single to Brett Butler, who became the tying run on Thompson`s homer.
”My job was to get Butler,” Assenmacher said. ”I fell behind 2-0 on him. I gave him a better pitch than I would have liked to.”
– Television replays twice showed Shawon Dunston wasn`t on the bag when he caught throws from Mark Grace, but second base umpire Charlie Williams called force outs on both plays.
”On both plays there was some question,” said manager Roger Craig, who put up a brief fuss the second time. ”When I talked to Charlie, I told him he was off (the bag) by four or five feet, and he said, `Well, I thought I called it right, but you might be right. So he`s telling me that he did miss it. But he can`t change his mind.”
– So much for the fickle Bay Area weather becoming a deciding factor.
Saturday`s game began with 74-degree temperatures and a high, sunny sky. Candlestick Park`s vaunted night winds never appeared and it stayed warm all evening.
Everyone appreciated the calm spell but no one could explain it. Third baseman Luis Salazar`s guess: ”Probably it`s because of the playoffs. God said, `Let`s give these guys some nice weather to play in.”
– An NBC source said Wednesday`s Game 6 would begin at 2:06 p.m. in Wrigley Field regardless of whether the American League Championship Series goes seven games. The network originally planned to move Wednesday`s Cubs-Giants game to prime time if the American League series is completed.
– With hits in Saturday`s game, Ryne Sandberg and Kevin Mitchell extended their playoff hitting streaks to eight games each. Sandberg has hit in every postseason game in which he has played.
– Giants` starter Mike LaCoss will have an examination of his sprained left knee on Sunday morning in Palo Alto. He`s questionable for the rest of the series.
