Sun 07/29/2007, Game 1
For the second time this season, the Cubs faced an early 7-0 deficit and came back to win the
game! This time it was a 15-9 win over the Brewers.
In game 1, the Cubs fell
into a 7-0 hole after 2 and a half innings (which was interesting because it was the second
time this season the Cubs trailed in a game by a 7-0 score and came back to win. Remember the
Mariners game in week 3 where Paul Sonnett's 2 out 9th inning homer to left led to the Cubs 10-9 win?).
The Cubs fought back valiantly in this one scoring 6 in the bottom of the 3rd and then 3 in the 4th
to take a 9-7 lead. The Brewers tied it with 2 in the top of the 5th and then the Cubs took the game
over with a 5 spot in the bottom of the 5th. The Cubs scored a single run in the bottom of the sixth
for the 15-9 win.
Tom Barnes started game 1 and struggled a bit in the second and third innings, although the defense
really let him down in those innings too. Tom went 4 innings and struck out 4. Billy Bracken
went the last 3 innings and after walking the first three batters he faced, settled down very
nicely. Billy allowed 2 unearned runs and struck out 5.
This was not the purest defensive game the Cubs have played this year. Despite making 5 errors in
game 1, some strong plays were made. Alex Scott had his typical solid game at short but made
a nice leaping catch to snare a liner for the first out of the game. Thanks to PJ O'Toole
for catching the game in the aweful heat and humidity.
You might think that there would be a lot of offensive stars when the team piles up 27 runs in a
double header. In this case you would be right, in true Cubbie fashion, despite missing 3 key
cogs in the batting order (Earl Carpenter, Eddie Murray and Paul Sonnett), the Cubs battled for
runs all day. In game 1, all 13 players in the lineup scored at least 1 run!
The biggest day was had by Kenny Hamm who tripled, homered and walked for 5 RBIs
in game one and followed that with a double, walk, sac fly and a single for 2 more RBIs in game 2.
Tom Barnes only played game 1 but was 3-3 with a bomb of a double and 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored.
Alex Scott, Rich Schwarz, Dennis Fontecchio and Tim Shaver all scored 3 runs on the day.
In a rather strange box score line, Chris Ricker had 6 at bats on the day and was
0-1. He walked 3 times and was hit by 2 pitches and scored twice. Billy Bracken also drew
3 walks on the day and was 1-3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored.