Being a third base coach is a lot like being the vice president of the United States.
No one wants to hear from him until something goes wrong, and then he has to explain his actions to a media throng.
So Cubs third base coach Tom Gamboa calmly explained his crucial decision to wave Sammy Sosa home in the ninth inning of Thursday’s loss, saying Sosa shouldn’t be faulted for being thrown out at third.
“I was thinking that hopefully with Sammy’s speed, that we can tie up the ballgame right there,” Gamboa said. “So I got down the line and had Sammy coming, coming, right up until the time (Ruben) Amaro let the relay throw go. If the relay is off line or short-hops the infield, I’m going to send him.
“But when it was a perfect throw, by the time I read it was perfect throw, I knew he couldn’t score and I put my hands up. But Sammy was barreling around third and I was too late giving him the sign. He tried to stop, but got hung up in no-man’s land. Unfortunately, I ended up taking us out of the inning. Sammy did everything right. He was aggressive and just following my lead. I was trying to let the play develop, and I waited too long to make the call.”
Manager Jim Riggleman refused to blame Gamboa for putting up the late stop sign.
“I think it’s just a matter of the whole timing of the whole thing,” Riggleman said. “It’s baseball, and it happens. We win ballgames as a team, we lose them as a team, and that was one play in the ballgame.”
One big play.
Those aren’t Lous: Even during 1997, their worst season in recent memory, Cubs fans seldom booed their team with as much emotion as they did Thursday after it had blown a six-run lead.
Mark Grace said they deserved it.
“You blow a 7-1 lead–you don’t expect them to pat you on the back and say, `Way to go,’ ” Grace said. “We blew a 7-1 lead. If I was a Cub fan, I wouldn’t have been very pleased either.”
The Phillies have come back to win six games this year in which they had to make up five-run deficits.
Breakdown, Part IV: For the fourth time in six games, the Cubs’ bullpen came up short in key late-inning situations. Bob Patterson and Rod Beck gave up some big hits in Thursday’s loss. Are the struggles of some of its members having a cumulative effect on the rest of the bullpen?
“I don’t think so,” Beck said. “That’s more of an individual thing. Every now and then the timing was just right, or just wrong, however you want to look at it. Different people struggle together. But it’s not really anything like we’re following suit. That’s just the way it has been going lately. The law of averages says we’re the only guys with the odds in our favor, so if we keep throwing the ball over the plate and not walking guys, we will get the outs.”
Burned again: Mark Clark was removed after 6 1/3 innings with a 7-3 lead after loading the bases on three singles. All the runners scored with Clark on the bench. In his last two starts covering 12 2/3 innings, Clark has given up five runs while he was on the mound and watched five more score after he was removed. Patterson was responsible for four of the runs. Clark declined to comment after Thursday’s loss.
