Bang! Bang!
You’re out!
The Cubs’ best opportunity to seize momentum in the rubber match of the three-game series with the White Sox went up in a cloud of dust Sunday.
With the Cubs trailing 2-1 with a runner on first and two outs, Sammy Sosa lined a single to left-center field in the seventh inning. Gary Matthews Jr., who had reached first on a two-out walk, rounded second and looked to third base coach Gene Glynn, who signaled Matthews to keep motoring for home plate.
“I knew right from the go that [Glynn] was probably going to send me,” said Matthews, one of the Cubs’ fastest players.
Center fielder Chris Singleton pegged the cut-off throw to shortstop Royce Clayton, who relayed a one-hopper to catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. Matthews attempted to bowl over the 6-foot-5-inch, 235-pound Alomar.
“Alomar is a big boy, yeah,” the 6-3, 210-pound Matthews later said.
The former All-Star catcher held onto the ball after a backward somersault, and plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt called Matthews out.
“What made that play so exciting was that Singleton made a great throw to Royce Clayton and Clayton made a great throw to me–a low throw right in front of the plate,” Alomar said. “The two perfect throws allowed me to block the plate. I wasn’t looking at [Matthews], I was just looking at the ball. I wanted to make sure I had a great grip on it. It was a great, exciting play. I was low to the ground and able to avoid the hard impact.”
Matthews said he thought about sliding, “But it looked like a slide was going to get me. I could see Sandy setting up for the throw. I wasn’t quite sure if he was going to drop down on me and block the plate or if I was going to be better off trying to bowl him over. If I had to do it again, I would take my chances again to try to bowl him over.”
Matthews felt he might have beaten the tag. “But obviously he held on to the ball and there was contact,” he said. “They’re going to call you out on that play. The play can’t get any closer.”
The Sox, who took two out of three against the Cubs in the series, were victimized by poor execution of fundamentals in Saturday’s loss. But Sunday’s gunning down of Matthews proved to be critical in the 3-1 victory.
“It was one of those feelings like when you hit a grand slam, you get a great rush from it.” Clayton said of the decisive play.
“It was a play that fired everybody up,” said Singleton, who hit a home run in the fifth to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. “You work on that play so much in spring training, and it seems like it’s very rare that it actually makes a big difference in a game. But today it made a huge difference. It turned the momentum back our way.”
