From the time Sammy Sosa’s bat split into pieces Tuesday night until Joe Borowski picked off Charles Gipson for the final out in Sunday’s 8-7 win over the New York Yankees, the Cubs spent six straight days in the spin cycle.
They survived the corked-bat controversy, Hee Seop Choi’s scary concussion and the Roger Clemens road show with barely a moment to contemplate the big picture.
After taking two of three from the Yankees, the second-best road team in the majors, have the Cubs reached a turning point in their season?
“You don’t know if this is a defining moment or a turning point until down the road,” manager Dusty Baker said. “It’s hard to say it’s a turning point when you’re in the middle of chaos. When you’re in the middle of chaos, man, all you see is that chaos. It’s like being in a whirlwind. You try to slow it down and you’re trying to keep your ship pointed in the right direction.”
The Cubs finished the 12-game homestand with a 6-6 record, taking the final two series against interleague opponents Tampa Bay and the Yankees. With Houston beating the Devil Rays Sunday, the Cubs remained one game behind the Astros in the NL Central.
Mark Prior (7-2) was Sunday’s winner, allowing three runs on seven hits in six innings, striking out 10 and walking one. Moises Alou’s three-run homer off Andy Pettitte in the first and Sammy Sosa’s 2000th career hit in the seventh capped off one of the wackiest weeks in Cub history.
“I looked at the moon [Saturday] and like a half-moon,” Baker said. “I’m a full moon man. Things seem to go well with me when the moon is full. I’m trying to find any reason for the week and it was like, `Oh, that’s why–we’re on the dark side of the moon.’ Maybe this new moon is going to be great. I’m trying to find anything I can.”
The Yankees bounced back from an early six-run deficit to pull to within a run on Jorge Posada’s two-run single off Borowski in the ninth. But Borowski got Robin Ventura, who had homered earlier, on a fly to right and then picked off pinch-runner Gipson with two strikes on Raul Mondesi, sending the crowd of 39,341 into delirium. Gipson, who is very fast, had been with the Cubs in spring training but was cut in favor of Tom Goodwin.
The Cubs knocked Pettitte out after only 1 2/3 innings, bombing him from the outset. It was the earliest he had been pulled for non-injury reasons since May 29, 2000 against Baltimore.
With two outs in the first, Pettitte (5-6) gave up a single to Corey Patterson and walked Sosa, bringing up Alou, who had been 7-for-36 on the homestand. But Alou sent a Pettitte fastball screaming onto Waveland Avenue, giving the Cubs a quick 3-0 lead. They knocked Pettitte out in a three-run second, but the Yankees slowly chipped away after Prior began tiring in the sixth.
Prior wasn’t dominating, but he allowed only four hits until the Yankees’ two-run sixth, his final inning. Prior has worked at least six innings in all 13 of his starts and has allowed three or fewer runs in nine of those starts.
So what happens next for the Cubs after the emotionally draining week at Wrigley? Baker said their recent two-week, four-city trip would be a turning point after they went 10-7 without Sosa.
“We came home thinking, `Man, it’s going to be smooth sailing now, everything’s going to be cool, no problems,’.” Baker said. “But that’s not life. My life hasn’t been like that. The only thing you learn from going through tough times and problems is how to deal better with them.
“Every time you go through a tough time, you think that’s the toughest time of your life. You think, `Man, it can’t get any worse than this. It’s got to be great from now on.’ And then something else comes up. That’s what maturity is all about–how you deal with the tough times. Anybody can deal with the good times.”
