Sun 09/09/2001
The Cubs beat the Braves 6-3 in the first round playoff game. This marks the fourth time in the
last five seasons that the Cubs have ended the Braves year. Earl Carpenter was the star of the game
for the Cubs pitching a complete game for the victory and collecting 3 singles.
The Cubs won the right to go to the National League Championship Series with a 6-3 win over the Braves.
The Cubs are the first third place team to win their first round playoff game since the current playoff
format was adopted 5 years ago!
The story of this game was the complete game pitched by Earl Carpenter. He was on top of his game allowing
just 6 hits and 1 earned run which was a controversial run. Earl was also incredible defensively with
6 assists from the mound! The Cubs defense thoroughly outplayed the Braves defense. The Cubs only made
1 error which could have been ruled a clean hit. The Braves committed 5 errors and several of them were
costly. Eddie Murray had a great game in right with 4 putouts and Dennis Fontecchio had 5 assists and one
great catch of a line drive to his right. Bruce Sher made a nice play ranging far to his right from
his second base position and then throwing out the Braves runner.
The Cubs had knocked the Braves out of the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years and it seemed like the Braves
might be due for a playoff victory. The first inning started with a bang as Dan Gould hit the first pitch
deep to center only to have the Braves centerfielder make a nice over the shoulder catch. The next two
batters struck out and things looked a bit bleak for the Cubs. The Braves first two batters reached before
Earl turned it up a notch getting a 1-5 forceout, a K and a 6-3 grounder to end the threat.
The second inning
turned out to be the critical inning of the whole game. The Cubs plated 4 runs which would turn out to be
enough to win. The inning started with Earl hitting a high fly to shallow right that fell for a hit. Then,
with Earl stealing second, Tom Barnes hit a roller to short that was thrown away putting runners on second
and third with no outs. Paul Sonnett hit a clutch game breaking two run single to center. Then with two
outs, Rich Schwarz hit a soft one hopper that the shortstop booted allowing Rich to reach and Paul to score
from second. Tom Jette followed with a grounder to third that was thrown away allowing the fourth run of the
inning to score. The Braves second had a flyout to right, a walk, and then a tremendous 1-6-3 double play.
The third inning was quiet for both teams as the Cubs had Dan Gould reach by walk and three outs while Earl
threw a 1-2-3 inning. In the fourth, Eddie reached by an error followed by a single to right from Earl.
Tom Barnes then smoked a liner to third that was caught and thrown to second for a double play. Earl threw
another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth.
The Cubs extended the lead to 6-0 in the fifth with two runs. Kujo led off with a single to right center and
then Dennis Fontecchio hit a hard grounder in the shortstop hole that the third baseman made a great diving
stop on. The thirdbaseman then threw the ball away putting runners at second and third. Rich Schwarz
followed with a popup that landed just behing the mound for an infield single loading the bases. Tom Jette
hit a grounder to the pitcher who went home to force Kujo, but the throw from the catcher to first hit Tom
in the back allowing Dennis to score. A walk to Andy Schultz loaded the bases and set up a great at bat
for Chris Greig. Chris got two strikes quickly and battled back with several foul balls before drawing the
RBI walk. The Cubs would not score again as they collected hits from Earl, Eddie and Bruce Sher over the
last 4 innings.
The Braves put runners on first and third with one out in the fifth. On a ground ball in the shortstop hole,
Dennis Fontecchio made a great play to field the ball and throw home to keep the shutout in tact! The sixth
was another 1-2-3 inning for Earl. The Braves finally broke through for 2 runs in the seventh when they put
runners on second and third with one out. Earl struck out one batter before the next batter hit a single
to center to drive in two runs. In the eighth, Earl got two quick outs and then a walk and single before
striking out the last batter. In the ninth, leading 6-2, Earl retired the first two batters with a K and
a lazy fly to center. A walk on a wicked 3-2 knuckle ball gave the Braves some life. A pinch runner came
in and stole second and then third (pretty odd when trailing by 4 with 2 outs in the last inning). The
batter then hit a high foul ball behind the plate that Paul Sonnett was trying to camp under when he had to
dive towards the infield to catch. Paul ended up deflecting the ball in the air and a hustling Earl dove to
catch the ball and end the game with an amazing catch. However, the umpire made a horrible call and said
the ball had hit the backstop so there was no catch. Where that call came from I'll never know, the ball
almost came down in fair territory! With a new life, the batter hit a squibber just past the mound that no
one could get driving in the third run. The next batter hit a fairly deep line drive to right that Eddie
Murray made a nice catch on to finally end the game.