They fell out of contention long before the ivy began to bloom last year, losing their first 13 games and turning into a punchline on late-night talk shows.
One season and thousands of queasy stomachs later, the Cubs are taking their playoff quest to the very last game.
Gary Gaetti’s bat, Mark Clark’s arm and Eric Gregg’s thumb helped the Cubs hang on for 3-2 victory over Houston on Saturday that kept them in a tie for the wild-card lead with the San Francisco Giants.
The Mets lost to Atlanta to drop one game back, so all the Cubs need is a victory Sunday to ensure their season will continue at least one more day. If the Cubs and Giants win, they’ll play a tiebreaker Monday at Wrigley Field. If the Cubs and Giants lose and the Mets win, a three-way tiebreaker will force a Mets-Giants tiebreaker game Monday with the Cubs visiting the winner in its home park Tuesday. If the Cubs lose and the Giants win, the Cubs go home and the “what ifs?” begin on the North Side.
Sammy Sosa was held without a home run and fell two behind Mark McGwire in the Great Home Run Chase 68-66. But he singled and scored on Gaetti’s clutch, two-out, two-run single in the eighth that broke a 1-1 tie and helped the Cubs to their 49th come-from-behind victory.
With the home run chase and wild-card race proving to be good to the last drop, the Cubs have experienced one of the more intense and eventful seasons in recent memory.
“Lots of stuff going on,” Gaetti said. “Lots of stuff. Every day.”
As usual, it didn’t come easily. After Jeff Bagwell homered off Rod Beck leading off the ninth, Moises Alou doubled and went to third on a groundout. Beck struck out Tony Eusebio and induced pinch hitter Dave Clark to tap one back to the mound.
Cubs fans breathed a huge sigh of relief when Beck speared the ball, but as they learned Wednesday in Milwaukee, it isn’t over till it’s over. Beck thought he tagged Clark out, but when home plate umpire Gregg didn’t make a call, he hurriedly threw to Mark Grace at first. The ball hit Clark in the back and rolled away as the tying run crossed the plate.
But eventually Gregg thrust his thumb in the air, and all of a sudden the game really was over.
“I called him out for running out of the baseline when (Beck) tried to tag him,’ Gregg explained.
“Once I saw his fist up in the air, I got the hell off the field,” Grace said. “I wasn’t going to wait around.”
Beck wasn’t exactly sure what the final call was.
“I thought I had tagged him,” Beck said. “I felt I got his jersey anyway. I didn’t hear a call of any sort so I thought I’d better throw it too. I don’t know. A highly paid professional umpire called him out.”
Clark (9-14) pitched in the designated Kerry Wood slot and came up big in the most important start of his life. He gave up one run on five hits in eight innings, quieting his many critics.
“There was a ton of pressure on me,” Clark said. “I kind of felt there was some second-guessing of (manager Jim Riggleman) for starting me today. To go out there and throw a game like this, it gives the club a huge boost, and hopefully it will carry on till tomorrow.”
Clark gave up three straight singles with one out in the first, handing the Astros a quick 1-0 lead and worrying Riggleman so much he got Kurt Miller warming up in the bullpen. But Clark escaped with no further damage and allowed only two more harmless hits over the next seven innings.
Cubs hitters were clueless against Shane Reynolds’s forkball, striking out 11 times in the first six innings. But Gaetti doubled leading off the seventh, advanced on a wild pitch and scored the tying run on pinch hitter Orlando Merced’s sacrifice fly to short center.
After Sosa and Grace singled off Jay Powell in the eighth, Gaetti’s two-run double gave the Cubs a lead they didn’t throw away.
“Gary Gaetti has been big for us ever since he got here,” Beck said. “He has been our MVP down the stretch.”
