Sun 09/16/2001 Game 1
The Cubs beat the Phillies 3-1 in the first game of the National League Championship series. Earl Carpenter was the
star of the game for the Cubs again, pitching his second straight complete game 6 hitter. Earl allowed just 1
unearned run and collected two more hits.
The Cubs won the the first game of the National League Championship Series with a 3-1 win over the Phillies.
Once again, pitching and defense led the way to the Cubs victory. Earl Carpenter pitched his second
straight dominating complete game 6 hitter. Earl fanned 8 and walked just one. He was even better in
this game than he was against the Braves last week. The Phillies had runners reach third base in just
two innings all game!
Defensively, the Cubs turned in some gems. The eighth inning saw one great play after another. This was a
crucial inning as the Cubs had scored two runs in the top of the eighth to take their first lead 3-1. After
a routine groundout to third (Kujo with the play at third), the Phillies hit a triple. This was the first
Phillie runner to reach even second base since the first inning. The next batter hit a shallow pop just off
the Phillies first base dugout. Paul Sonnett cruised in from his catcher's position and slid on a knee to
come up with the critical second out leaving the runner at third. The next batter put down a great bunt on
the first base chalk. Earl quickly charged the ball and while falling down whirled and threw the ball to
first. Tom Barnes crossed the bag at first with the runner closing in, caught the ball, and tagged the bag
with his right foot for the final out. There was also the crucial double play in the first after the first
two batters reached base. The DP went Dennis to Bruce to Tom Barnes. Tom Jette also made a nice play at
third leaping to snag a rope of a line drive to end the fifth.
The Cubs bats were quiet for 6 innings as we trailed 1-0 after 6. We had gathered just 5 hits and no leadoff
batter had reached. However, Tom Jette lead of the 7th with a clutch hit down the third base line.
Mark Grogan followed with a sac bunt and then Andy Schultz smashed a ball that the first baseman couldn't
come up with to put runners at first and third with one out. Rich Schwarz followed with a grounder to second
that the Phillies didn't turn the double play on to tie the game. In the 8th, Eddie and Earl started with
singles to put runners on with no one out. Tom Barnes followed with the play of the game, a great bunt that
the catcher rushed to first and threw into right field. That allowed Eddie to score and put runners at second
and third with no outs. With the infield in, Paul Sonnett followed with a bullet that got through the
second baseman. Those were all the runs the Cubs would need with Earl pitching.