Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates 05/16/10

[DBacks]

A cool little story happened at this game that I thought I'd share with the league.

BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH
CUBS 1 PIRATES 3
2 outs, Fontenot on 1st

We have some great seats between home and 1st, and we've pretty much come to terms with the fact that we're gonna lose. The team looked flat all day (except Fukodome), dis-engaged, and a late inning comeback didn't seem likely.

Anyway, Kosuke's up with Font on 1st and this guy sitting in front of us turns around and says, "Wanna see something you've never seen before in your life?"

The girl next to me says, "Sure." (Side Note: She was hot. She kept asking for Blackhawk score updates, she was blonde, and she was wearing wanna those Pink Cubs jerseys that only hot blondes seem to be able to pull off. Moving on...) I'm a little afraid he's gonna flash us or something. I mean seeing something you've never seen before can be pretty awesome or pretty horrendous. Like the difference between walking into Wrigley for the first time vs catching your parents having sex. My point being, some stuff you're just better off not seeing.

Anyway, he turns to the girl he was sitting next to, whips out a diamond ring, and proposes. And it was weird because suddenly everybody in our section was watching this instead of the game. I quickly took a picture on my blackberry, which I later emailed to the guy, so that's something cool they'll have for the rest of their lives, or at least until they divorce.

But that's not the weird part, this is the weird part - We're all watching, and as soon as she said "Yes" the whole stadium erupted. Cheers from everywhere. We all looked around and saw that Fukudome had gotten a hit. Fontenot to third. But it happened so quick you would have thought the cheer was for them.

So the dude wants to leave, but the girl, crying at this point, wants to stay. She insists that the two of them are now the Cubs good luck charm. Which is kind of a bold statement since we were still down 2, there were 2 outs, and the hit was from Fukudome, who was the only one who had shown up to play all day. And then, the crowd erupts again.

Wild pitch from Pirates reliever Evan Meek, Fontenot scores. Fukudome moves to second.

CUBS 2 PIRATES 3

Suddenly we're down one with the tying run in scoring position. Girl looks at guy, smiles. They stay. And then...

Sterlin Castro hits a grounder to short and a collective groan is heard as it appears the inning is over. And then, by some divine intervention or what I'm starting to believe is the bride-to-be's good luck Ronny Cedeno, former Cub and current Buc, drops the ball. Error. Fukdome is safe at third and Castro is on base at first.

I looked at the guy and you could tell he was convinced, too. The Cubs were gonna win. They had to. He just got engaged. At the plate, Derrek Lee. One of the most popular Cubs, but struggling, and not hitting like we need him to...

Beautiful swing. Base hit to left. Kosuke scores, Sterlin to second.

CUBS 3, PIRATES 3.

It was a bit of a let down after that when Aramis Ramirez flied out. I really thought he was gonna blast it out of the park. It just seemed like what should happen next. But she wouldn't let us get discourages, and Sean Marshall sat the Pirates down in the top of the 8th with relative ease.

BOTTOM OF THE 8th
CUBS 3, PIRATES 3
Soriano on 1st, 2 outs.

Soto is up, but it looks like it's still gonna take an extra base hit to even have a shot at a run, so we're all not very hopeful. Still, she's confident. And son a bitch, sure enough - new Pirates reliever D.J. Carrassco throws a wild pitch, on which Soriano manages to go from 1st Base to 3rd Base. On another Wild Pitch. Unbelievable. Soto draws the walk, and Xavier Nady is called upon to pinch hit.

We've got a tie ballgame, runners at the corners, 2 outs. Nady is hitting around .180 at this point so again, not feeling great about this..... BASE HIT. Soriano scores. Wrigley erupts.

CUBS 4, PIRATES 3

The Bucs make a pitching change. She gathers up her stuff. She's ready to go now. The guy asks her is she's sure, and she says, "Yep. That's all we needed. We're gonna win." They smiled, thanked us, we got his email address to send him the picture, and they were gone before Fukudome was able to fly out to end the inning.

But, she was right. Carlos Marmol, who in person looks like he's throwing 400 MPH, came on for the save. Cubs Win. Go Cubs Go. The whole thing.

Pretty awesome day at the ballpark. If you've never been to Wrigley, despite your fandom, I'm telling you, GO. It's worth it.