Happy Father's Day loyal Cub followers! Father's Day was very kind to the Cubs
as the Cubs defeated the previously unbeaten Orioles 10-8! It was a seesaw battle
that had a couple lead changes. There was a lot of offense, but the biggest blow
came from Earl Carpenter who hit his second homer at Algonquin this year, a three
run game winning blast in the bottom of the sixth.
The Cubs fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first. However, from that point on the
Cubs played better baseball than the Orioles. A 5 run first immediately wiped
out the Oriole lead. Clutch hitting and some sloppy Oriole defense helped the
Cubs score 4 of those 5 first inning runs after two were out. Dan Gould led of for
the Cubs with a walk. Using his incredible speed he raced all the way to third
on a groundout to short. Eddie Murray promptly singled Dan home. Eddie was
3-3 with 3 runs scored and the one RBI. Eddie has been awesome this season. He
is hitting 14-25 or .560 with 9 RBIs and 11 runs scored in eight games. Earl Carpenter followed with a single.
Earl was also 3-3 on the day with the monster homer (more on that later), 4 RBIs
and 3 runs scored. Earl is now hitting 10-24 or .417 with 9 RBIs and 11 runs scored
in eight games (very similar to Eddie's stats). The Orioles botched a force at third to load the bases with one
out. After the second out left the bases loaded 4 consecutive Cubs reached. Chris
Greig, Tim Shaver and Dennis Fontecchio singled. Mark Grogan walked to force
in the fifth run of the inning. Mark continued his torrid start to the season
with a single later. Mark is hitting 8-15 or .533 in his six games.
The Cubs picked up two more runs in the third when Eddie drove a bomb of a double
to left, Earl smashed a single to center and advanced to third on an error, and then
Tom Barnes followed with a single. Tom is having a great year at the plate going
11-26 or .423. He has also reached base on 5 errors for a great on base percentage of .629!
After three the Cubs led 7-3.
The Orioles fought hard though and managed to score three in the fifth and one
in the sixth to tie the score at 7. That set up Earl's dramatics. In the bottom
of the sixth, Rich Schwarz had a one out single and then Eddie singled to right
putting Rich on third. Earl then deposited a low inside 2 strike fastball into the
shrubberies in left field. This was an incredible high shot that barely stayed fair.
It was a no doubter and put the Cubs up 10-7.
The Orioled continued to fight however and managed to load the bases with one
out in the top of the seventh. The next batter hit a ball back to the pitcher
Earl who threw the ball to second base to start a double play. Unfortunately
the throw to first was not in time and a run scored. However, Tom Barnes made a
great play to end the game. The runner rounded third too far thinking Tom had forgotten
about him. Tom ran a textbook rundown trapping the runner between third and home.
Tom got the runner to commit towards third base and a single throw to Eddie
Murray at third tagged out the runner for the last out of the game!
That play by Tom was just one of many great defensive plays by the Cubs on this
day. Tom also made a great over the should catch on a soft liner in foul territory
off the first base bag in the sixth. Eddie Murray made a nice catch in shallow right center to make the last out
of the first inning and also made a great play at third base to get the first
out of the sixth inning. Dennis Fontecchio made two nice plays at third. On one
play in the fifth there were runners at first and second and he stopped a bullet
with his shoulder and still collected the ball in time to get the force at third.
Tony Leary, or The Package, made a nice play in right on a solid liner to end
the sixth inning. Rich Schwarz also made a diving catch in right center to get
the first out of the seventh inning.
Tom Barnes pitched the first five innings giving up just one earned run. Earl
pitched the last two innings and picked up the win.
The Cubs are starting to click now. This is two straight wins and certainly the
two best played games of the season. The Orioles are a great team, but the Cubs
showed today that they are a team to be reckoned with this season! Also, the five
run first was quite a feat for the Cubbies. The Orioles had not allowed more
than 4 runs in any of their previous 7 GAMES let alone a single inning. The
Cubs also went on to score another 5 runs. Quite a game for the Cubbies!