White Sox manager Jerry Manuel can quote Gandhi all he wants.
After hitting a fifth-inning grand slam Thursday to boost the Cubs to a 7-3 victory over San Francisco at Wrigley Field, Cubs outfielder Glenallen Hill brought up a line he attributed to a movie star and former professional bodybuilder.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger has a great quote,” Hill said. ” `The reason why I was champion was because I never worried about the competition. The competition was too worried about me.’ “
So are the Mets worried about the Cubs? After Thursday, the Mets were a half-game ahead of the Cubs in the wild-card race.
The Cubs have proven they’re capable of bouncing back after heartbreaking losses. They did so again Thursday after blowing a four-run lead Wednesday in a 10-inning loss to St. Louis.
“It seems like all of our losses recently have been pretty tough ones,” Cubs first baseman Mark Grace said. “But that’s the great thing about baseball. You’ve got about 12 hours to suck on it and you’ve got to come right back.”
“We’ve got to do that all the time,” said winning pitcher Kevin Tapani. “We can’t lose two in a row.”
Tapani was joking, but with only 35 games left and the Cubs engaged in a heated wild-card battle with the Mets and Giants, every game takes on added significance. Tapani ran his record to 15-7 with a five-inning, three-run effort, coming out when manager Jim Riggleman decided to pinch-hit Hill with the Giants up 3-2 and the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth.
When San Francisco manager Dusty Baker replaced starter Russ Ortiz (1-3) with Julian Tavarez, Hill blasted a 3-2 pitch onto Waveland Avenue, his second crucial pinch homer as a Cub. It was the 22nd pinch grand slam in Cubs history, the first since Andre Dawson poked one April 19, 1991.
“I got a big hit,” Hill said. “But that’s what they expect me to do.”
Hill hit a two-run homer off John Franco to give the Cubs a 3-2 victory over the Mets on July 25 at Wrigley, also hitting for Tapani. The fact that Thursday’s slam occurred against his former team meant nothing to Hill.
“To me, the opponent has no face,” Hill said. “We’re in the race and every team is wanting to be the spoiler. I don’t buy into that `old team’ stuff. I have too much respect for the game, too much respect for the players.”
Sammy Sosa went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts.
Run-scoring singles from Jeff Blauser and Lance Johnson handed Tapani a 2-0 lead in the fourth. But when Tapani served up back-to-back homers on consecutive pitches to Bill Mueller and Barry Bonds in the fifth, the Giants took a 3-2 lead.
Hill’s slam put the Cubs up 6-3, and Grace added an RBI single in the eighth.
A crowd of 37,803 put the Cubs over the 2 million mark in attendance. It was subdued at first, but came alive after the jet fighters from this weekend’s Air and Water Show began to buzz the ballpark in the first inning. By the time Hill hit his grand slam, the crowd was so energized they stayed on their feet until he gave a curtain call.
“We’re feeding off their energy,” Grace said. “I don’t think it’s any accident that our home record is what it is (42-24). We really get pumped.”
