Because the first one was so exciting, we’re back with another ‘classic’ Cubs Live. Hey, it’s February, what the hell else do you have to do? Thanks to woefully inadequate “Chicago Cubs Legends Great Games Collector Edition” DVD set (inadequate mostly on the part of the Cubs, not necessarily the fine folks at A&E and MLB Video), we’re going to sit down today and re-enjoy the infamous “Sandberg Game.”

No, not the one where Ryne stood solemly between first and second bases, thought about how his wrist still throbbed, his wife was humping anybody with a deep tan and the Cubs sucked and then decided to retire. No, this is a little happier time for Ryne, and for us.

It was June 23, 1984, the Cubs weren’t yet good, the Cardinals were at their Whitey Herzog-led best, men were proudly sporting perms and pornstaches, and NBC was in town for the game of the week with Bob Costas and Tony Kubek.

Actually, that morning, the standings looked like this:

	W	L	GB
New York Mets	36	28	–
Philadelphia	37	31	1
CUBS	36	31	1.5
Montreal	34	34	4
St. Louis	34	36	5
Pissburgh	28	39	9.5

But the Cubs had gotten off to half-decent starts before and still managed to be floating, lifeless by mid-July. So Cubs fans weren’t sure what to make of their team full of every Phillies cast-off Dallas Green could get his hands on.

The lineups looked like this:

Cardinals

Lonnie “Which way is first?” Smith, lf
Ozzie “May my next backflip result in my paralysis” Smith, ss
Willie McGee, cf (Ugilest man of all-time)
George “Token ‘power hitter'” Hendrick, rf
David “I have a job because Keith Hernandez likes coke” Green, 1b
Tommy Herr, 2b (Nice girl’s name, sissy)
Art Howe, 3b (Even then, looked like he was 57 years old)
Darrell Porter, c (Still snorting Keith’s stash–or maybe stache)
Ralph Citarella, p (Whitey’s favorite assclown)

Cubs

Bob Dernier, cf (Blonde afros are awesome)
Ryne Sandberg, 2b (Maybe you’ve heard of him?)
Sarge, lf (If only he’d never come back to lick Dusty’s scrotum for four years)
Keith Moreland, rf (Always a defensive ace no matter where you put him)
Jody Davis, c (Always looked like he was late for a nap)
The Penguin, 3b (His teeth could blind rodents)
Larry Bowa, ss (Another awesome perm)
Steve Trout, p (Like Matt Clement, only lefty)

The umpires prove that you really have to work to lose a job in baseball. Home plate umpire is Doug Harvey, first base is Joe West (guh), second is Jerry Crawford (NBC spelled his name Gerry) and third base is Bob Davidson (who, inexplicably is back in the big leagues).

Costas reminds us that the Cubs pounded the Cardinals yesterday with three homers and a fine performance by Rick Reuchsel.

Kubek tells us that Steve “Rainbow” Trout is the Cubs’ ace. And actually he was -3 with a 2.30 ERA and two complete games coming in. And Costas talks about how Trout nearly no hit the Braves in May with Albert Hall breaking it up with two outs in the eighth. Albert Hall? A building got a hit off of him?

Moreland, Davis and Cey all homered on Friday and NBC is showing us the homers. I’m almost ashamed to admit how cool I thought that was.

The Cardinals are dressed clownlike. Baby blue shirts and pants, red hats, red shoes and a huge red white and blue elastic waist band on the pants. Hilarious. What a complete embarassment those uniforms were. Only in Missouri…

Lonnie Smith grounds out to start the game, and Costas is talking about the struggles of the Cardinals and it’s hard not to enjoy.

Kubek says that Trout’s dad “Dizzy” pitched in the 1945 World Series for the Tigers. How fucking old was Dizzy when he fathered Steve? 60?

Trout walks Ozzie with one out. I just checked on the Trouts. Dizzy was 42 when Steve was born. Aren’t you glad you know that?

Willie McGee grounds to Cey who goes to first, allowing Ozzie to reach second with two out. Hendrick is up, leading the Cardinals in homers with five. Five?

Costas says the Cubs are worried that with Mel Hall gone (traded to the Indians for Sutcliffe along with some hack named Joe Carter) that Dernier is their only speedy outfielder, but Kubek gives us the great news that Henry Cotto will be up tomorrow!

Hendrick singles and Ozzie scores, Costas says it’s the first first inning run for the Cardinals in a month. Yikes.

When should I tell the story about how close I was (physically) to attending this game? Ahh, let’s save it for a little later. I know, you are all fascinated.

Kubek says that Trout is into “Zen Buddhism and hynotism.” Hey, it beats Rich Hill reading “I’m OK, You’re OK” in the dugout.

Trout hypnotizes Green for strike three and after one, it’s 1-0 Cubs.

Ralph Citarella is making his first big league start. Many years later, Whitey Herzog will tell me (seriously) what an asshole Ralph Citarella is. Good times.

Art Howe is getting the start at third over Andy Van Slyke because of the lefty starter.

Dernier comes up hitting .313 on the season. Costas says that while Citarella didn’t impress Herzog in the spring, he went 9-0 at AAA Lousiville ‘forcing’ the Cardinals to call him up. Nice.

Holy shit. Costas says that Dernier’s on base average in the first at bat of games is .600. That’ll do, Bob. That’ll do.

Citarella looks like Tony Orlando, now all we need is him holding up some 52 inch waist pants and talking about how great NutriSystem is.

Dernier ups that on base average with a rope to left to leadoff the game with a single.

Sandberg digs in hitting .321 with 7 homers and 38 RBI. Kid’s got a future, I think.

Sandberg has seven hits in his last two games.

You want to see how the game has changed? On June 23, Dernier’s 26 (26!) stolen bases rank him FOURTH in the National League.

NBC is using the latest in video technology and showing us a split screen of the pitcher-batter matchup and Dernier leading off second. Something Comcast gets right about 40 percent of the time, some 24 years later.

Dernier steals second on a 2-0 pitch.

On a 3-2 pitch, Sandberg singles to left, Lonnie Smith’s throw home is way late and it’s 1-1, Sandberg ends up on second. The best part? When Lonnie overthrew the cutoff man you could hear Kubek yell, “Ack!” Nowadays if you hear Tim McCarver yell “ack” chances are he’s choking on a Clif Bar.

Sarge is up and he’s ahead in the count 2-1, and already you can see why the 1984 Cubs were good. All three guys at the top of the order know the strike zone and make pitchers throw strikes. What a novel goddamned concept.

Sarge walks to bring up Durham. He rips one down the line, and Green makes a nice play on it to force Leon at first with Sandberg and Sarge advancing to third and to second.

Kubek is talking about what a booze bag Darrell Porter is. He might have said it nicer than that, actually.

Here’s Moreland, and Costas is talking about how deep the Cubs’ lineup is. (NBC shows that Moreland is hitting .189 with runners in scoring position.) Kubek says the Cubs have “great hitters on the deck, like a red hot Richie Hebner, and Johnstone and Hassey.” Something tells me that our definitions of “great” are not the same.

Kubek also says that Dick Ruthven just had surgery for “blockage in his right shoulder.” Huh?

Moreland gets ahead of Citarella 3-1. He then flies to left and Don Zimmer holds Sandberg at third. Why? Running on Lonnie is like running on Matt Murton. Do it early and often.

Jody’s up with two out. He caught 151 games in 1983–starting 135 of them, and Kubek says having Ron Hassey around will change that number. Yeah, make it go up.

Jody hits one up the middle and Ozzie makes a great play on it and saves two runs. Bastard.

Costas orgasms “Oh, what a magician!” Tone it down, Bob. The good stuff hasn’t even happened yet.

Herr leads off the second with a single through Trout’s legs. Art How is up hitting .219. Trout balks Herr to second. Then he walks Howe.

Billy Connors jogs out to the mound and he’s not sloppy fat yet. Just fat. He’s got a Cubs’ jacket on that is about two sizes too small. Not a good look.

Porter grounds to Sandberg who can’t turn two, and can’t even get the lead runner, so there are runners at second and third for Citarella. Citarella chops one over Cey’s head, that Bowa gets to, but has no play. It’s an infield hit for the pitcher, a run is in and runners at first and second with only one out. Cey’s got no range to either side, and especially not up.

It’s proven again, as Lonnie Smith singles past Cey who can’t even fall down fast enough to knock it down. Another runner in, it’s 3-1 Cardinals with two on.

Then he walks Ozzie to load the bases. The great Rich Bordi is throwing up in the bullpen and thousands of Cubs fans are throwing up at home.

McGee hits one into the right field corner and his speed and that of Moreland combine to turn it into a bases clearing triple. Five runs in, it’s 6-1 St. Louser and Trout’s day is done.

Bordi (2-1, 3.10 ERA, 2 saves) comes in and gets Hendrick to ground to Bowa, and Larry has to settle for the out at first, allowing McGee to score. 7-1.

Guh. Bordi, a longtime admirer of Jackie Robinson is wearing 42. He gets Green to ground to Sandberg to end the inning. The Cardinals score six times and send nine men to the plate.

Cey leads off the second for the Cubs and he’s covered in dirt from all that flopping around on the infield. I’d almost forgotten what a rangeless disaster he was on defense. How do you win 90 games with statues like Cey and Bowa making up one half of your infield? When you factor in Durham at first, Sarge in left and Moreland in right, the Cubs defense was abysmal.

Frey is getting into it with Harvey on balls and strikes and Harvey starts yelling into the dugout at him. What he basically said was “That one was a strike and this one’s going to be, too.” The next pitch is, predictably called strike three. Cey leaves his bat in the batter’s box as he walked back to the dugout.

Bowa’s up and he’s wearing aviator sunglasses with a little elastic band holding them onto his head. Kubek says that Larry says he can “really see the ball now.” That’s great. He sees it fly harmlessly to McGee in center for the second out. Now, we all have a moment to treasure…a Rich Bordi at bat.

Bordi hits what should have been a single to left, but Ozzie goes into the outfield grass and throws him out.

Tommy Herr and his permed mullet are up for the Cardinals to start the third. Kubek and Costas are talking about good double play combinations, saying that Herr and Ozzie are one, and so are Whittaker and Trammell, but Kubek wonders how the Blue Jays and their manager Bobby Cox can get Tony Fernandez worked into their infield with Alfredo Griffin and Damaso Garcia already there.

Herr flies to Sarge.

Costas is comparing Bowa’s defense to Ozzie’s. I’m even cringing 24 years later. Bowa didn’t make a home error in 1983 and made only 11 errors all season. Ozzie made 21 errors, and 140 more putouts. 140! Proof that Ozzie was great and Larry was…not.

Howe, on cue, grounds to Larry. Up next on NBC a 10 round Jr. Lightweight bout between Eusebio Pedrozo and Gerald Hayes, live from Panama with Dr. Ferdie Pacheco! Now that’s TV.

Bordi walks Porter, who is apparently too hungover to swing. Costas thinks that Citarella’s second inning infield hit was the hit of the day. That might change. A few times.

Good stuff at the bottom of the third. In NBC’s other game, Costas tells us, that Fernando Valenzuela has perfect game through four against the Braves with nine strikeouts. Thousands of baseball fans just swore at their TV for having to watch this 7-1 blowout. Kubek also says that a Dodger scout claims Mets’ rookie Dwight Gooden is the best first year pitcher he’s ever seen.

I had forgotten how loaded the NL East was in the mid ’80s. The Phillies were always good, so were the Cardinals, the Cubs and Mets were getting better and the Expos had Dawson and Raines. The ‘bad’ team, the Pirates would be the best of the bunch when the ’90s started.

Dernier gets hosed by Harvey and strikes out. Sandberg singles to left, and Ozzie dives and knocks it down, but he’s got no chance to make a throw. Sandberg now has 9 hits in his last 12 at bats.

Sarge hits a grounder to short, and it’s an easily turned double play to end the inning. After three, it’s 7-1 Cardinals.

Lonnie flies to Dernier, Ozzie grounds to Durham and McGee singles. Bob informs us that Fernando’s perfect game, no hitter and shutout are gone as former Cardinal and Afro-donner Ken Oberkfell singles in Dale Murphy.

Henrick grounds to Cey who thinks there is only one out and fires to Sandberg for the force at second, not throw to first is necessary and Rich Bordi is cruising.

Durham leads off the fourth with a hard single to right. Kubek says that Hendrick is “taciturn.” Wow. A Cubs’ hat falls out of the bleachers and Captain Taciturn pretends he’s going to keep it. Bob and Tony talk about George’s 6’6 son, who just graduated from GRADE SCHOOL. What they didn’t mention is that he’s 24 years old.

Moreland flies to left. The crowd chants Jo-dy, Jo-dy for Davis, who responds by cranking one to center…only to have the wind knock it down and Willie catches it at the wall. One more biscuit for breakfast.

Tony’s giving a dissertation on how to play the outfield at Wrigley. This is the same guy who asked Bob in the first inning, “Which one is Waveland?”

Cey is up and Bob says that the Penguin has gone 57 games without an error, closing in on the Don Money record of 86 in a row. There’s a difference, Ron gets to nothing. He grounds to Howe to end the fourth. Still 7-1.

The fifth starts with a closeup of Bruce Sutter sitting in the dugout. Costas says that Citarella hopes he won’t need Sutter’s help later on.

Bob and Tony talk about how ‘many’ compare David Green to Roberto Clemente. Really? I wonder if it’s fans who hope he’ll die in a plane crash?

Little Clemente singles to center, Dernier boots it (it had almost completely stopped rolling) for his first error of the season. Green goes to second.

Bordi strikes out Herr looking. I’m fascinated by Herr’s curly mullet. He looks like every stripper in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Howe grounds to the Penguin, who holds Green at second. Bob and Tony are talking about how Cey is valuable because he’s got power (10 homers and 40 RBI) even though is batting average sucks (in the .230’s). Kubek says “he’s done that his whole career.” It could be enlightened talk of the lack of importance of batting average, except that a quick look at Cey’s career stats show she usually hit at or over .270 with the Dodgers.

Bordi falls behind Porter and they intentionally put him on to face “Key Hit” Citarella, who strikes out. Still 7-1 Cardinals.

Since getting his glasses, Bowa has hit in 8 of the last 10 games hitting .309 over that span. Blind squirrel. Nut.

Bowa chops to Herr who just gets him at first. Jay Johnstone will hit for Bordi. Kubek says that Herr is “still one of the best, even after three knee jobs.” I do not want to know a knee job is.

Jim Frey’s least favorite Cub, Johnstone (who had an actual idea that Frey was a turd right away) singles to left center.

Dickie Noles (Porter’s AA sponsor) is warming up in the bullpen for the Cubs.

Dernier drops a perfect bunt that Howe just has to eat. Runners at first and second and only one out. Just a great bunt. Dernier didn’t show it until the pitch was on its way. Baseball’s fun to watch when it’s played well. Wonder why we watch the Cubs, though?

Costas is amazed by Sandberg’s power increase from 1983 to 1984. The 2008 version of Bob would have then treated us to a 14 minute steroid lecture. Citarella throws a wild pitch and Dernier and Johnstone move up. Still only one out.

Dave Von Ohlen (of the famous Flying Von Ohlens) is warming up for the Cardinals. Sandberg grounds to Ozzie, Johnstone scores. 7-2 now. Make a mental note of that. The Cardinals got him out and he still got a run home.

Sarge hits one down the line that Art Howe probably should have gotten a glove on, he wouldn’t have thrown Sarge out, but he’d have kept him to a single, because Matthews hustles in for a double, his helmet laying between first and second. Dernier scores and it’s 7-3. Von Ohlen has sat down and Neil Allen is warming up. But Durham flies harmlessly to left to end it.

NBC is showing a rooftop with three drunk, shirtless guys on it. No bleachers, no corporate assholes drinking Seven and Sevens. Ahh, a more innocent time.

Noles, who has walked more than he has struck out is in to pitch. His ERA is 5.12 and about to go up. Lonnie Smith flies to Dernier. Ozzie bunts to Cey, who makes up for his lack of speed with a lack of arm. Ozzie beats it.

Costas and Kubek are talking about McGee who has 15 walks on the season. Kubek likes that it’s showing McGee’s starting to draw more of them. Costas says, “The most overlooked stats in baseball are walks and on base average.” Honest to God. In 1984. Dusty must have been telling a Hank Aaron story and didn’t hear it.

Noles throws a wild one past Jody, advancing Ozzie. Then McGee homers to the strangely seat-less “family area” in right. It’s 9-3 and Cardinals fans are even more sweaty and obnoxious than normal.

Noles walks Hendrick. You can actually see the shit piling up in his pants right there on the mound. Bob and Tony are talking about how in 1982 McGee became only the third rookie to hit homers in a World Series game when he hit two off of Pete Vukovich in game three. He joined Charlie Keller and some hump named Tony Kubek.

Warren Brusstar is up in the Cubs’ bullpen. Green flies to Moreland in right. Herr singles to center and Dickie Noles needs a change and a nap. Brusstar is coming in. Art How and Warren Brusstar? Now there’s a marquee matchup. Let’s just hope neither one of the spikes themselves.

Brusstar strikes Howe out looking. Warren Brusstar can not be stopped!

NBC is playing an interview of Darrell Porter takling about his book, “Snap me perfect! The Darrell Porter Story” which details that Darrell liked booze and coke. Maybe it’s a how-to story?

Moreland leads off the bottom of the sixth. It’s 9-3 and it’s quiet at Wrigley.

Citarella throws one about three feet over Moreland’s head. NBC’s stat line on Citarella says he’s pitched six innings, but he hasn’t. Because the sixth just started. Maybe it’s a jinx?

He walks Moreland and Kubek says “It’s still too early for Sutter.” Gee, ya think? Mike Roarke the Cardinals pitching coach comes out to talk to Ralphie while Allen warms up again in the bullpen.

Jody takes a called third strike. Apparently he’s never heard of protecting with two strikes. Cey gets hit on the forearm and heads straight to the dugout. Doesn’t he have to run to first? The great Tony Garofalo comes out to check out Cey. Meanwhile, Ralph Citarella’s day is over and so is Art Howe’s. Neil Allen is in to pitch and Andy Van Slyke will play third.

I’m still curious as to whether or not Cey has to go to first base before they can pinch run for him, assuming he leaves the game.

Cey stayed in the game (so my question goes unanswered) and Bowa’s up. Let’s hope the little moron doesn’t ground into a double play.

Bowa walks, bringing up Richie Hebner to pinch hit for Brusstar. Cardinals fans are now bemoaning the fact that they traded Keith Hernandez to get Neil Allen.

Hebner digs in hitting .368 with two homers and seven RBI, and some douche is blowing a whistle in the stands.

Hebner gets ahead 2-0 and the Wrigley crowd is starting to make noise. They have reason to as Hebner dumps one just in front of Hendrick in right. 9-4 now.

Dernier gets it past Van Slyke at third, Cey scores, Bowa scores, Hebner to third, Dernier at second. It’s 9-6 and Wrigley has come to life. Kubek can’t understand why Van Slyke would be so far off the line. Cubs’ fans are just glad he was.

Sandberg singles to left, Hebner scores and Smith hits the cutoff man for once, allowing Dernier to make it 9-8, but Sandberg is out by a mile trying to get to second. Kubek’s impressed that the Cardinals eschewed a close play the plate to keep the tying run off second. I’m impressed that I just used eschewed in a sentence. Sarge strikes out to end the inning, but the Cubs score five times in the in sixth and it’s 9-8.

Tim Stoddard is in to pitch the seventh for the Cubs. He’s looking bigger and sweatier than I remembered. But then, I see him every year at Kitty O’Shea’s and he looks older and sweatier every year.

He gets Porter to fly to Moreland in right and Bob Davidson rings Van Slyke up on a check swing third strike. Kubek thinks third base umps just enjoy ringing guys up on any check swing.

With two out Stoddard walks Lonnie. Costas reminds us that Stoddard played forward on the 1974 NC State national championship men’s basketball team. I’m not sure why I felt the need to write men’s basketball. Tim would make one ugly fucking woman, wouldn’t he?

Smith steals second and goes to third when Jody’s throw ends up in center. Not a good job by Bowa of digging out a bad hop. Bonus points for Kubek for referring to Lonnie Smith as Skates.

Stoddard cleans that mess up by striking out Ozzie to end the inning.

Oh, those inventive Cubs fans, they’ve stuffed beer cups in the Tru Link fence to spell out NBC Cubs #1. Leon flies to deep center for the first out.

Oh, the story about how close I was to going to the game? It just so happens that the day of this game, Saturday, June 23, 1984, I was an 11 year old punk kid starting a long car trip to Washington DC with my parents. My older brother and sister managed to beg off, so it was just the three of us.

Moreland strikes out for the second out.

Wrigley wasn’t on our way, but dad made a detour and about 10 o’clock that morning we were parked not too far from the McDonald’s and dad was at the ticket booth trying to see if he could find us anything decent. Getting Cubs tickets back then was nothing like it’s been for the last decade or so. So it didn’t seem absurd to find something the day of the game.

Jody walks with two out and Ron Hassey is going to hit for Stoddard. Whitey’s going to bring Tito Landrum (and his impressive Jheri curl) in for Lonnie and Bruce Sutter is going to pitch.

All dad could manage were some standing room tickets, and we milled around for a while trying to find some decent scalped tickets. Finding two was no problem, getting three was (damned mom). Finally, we figured we’d be smarter to get going on the vacation (I went to seven games in ’84 anyway, it’s not like I was deprived). So we got in the car about twenty minutes before first pitch and headed east.

Hassey grounds out to end the seventh, still 9-8.

George Frazier is in to pitch for the Cubs. He’s trying to hold the game at a run, and hold Willie a double short of the cycle. Willie hits a chopper to Sandberg who makes a great, quick, strong throw to just get him.

Anyway, we started driving east and felt pretty good our decision when it was 7-1. Then we felt bad as the Cubs came back. Then just desperate to keep the WGN signal as history unfolded late in the game. So we didn’t see it, but we sure did live it. And hey, we got to hear Harry, Lou and Vince, so that’s something, right?

Frazier strikes out Hendrick and Green grounds out.

Bowa leads off the eighth and almost beats a little chopper to Green. He could have at least spiked Sutter while he was over there. Richie Hebner stayed in to play third when Cey got hit by the pitch, so he’s up now. He grounds to second and Sutter is looking invincible.

NBC shows us that so far Dernier and Sandberg are a combined 6-8 with 6 RBI. Costas says that over the past three they were 17-28. Not too shabby.

Dernier grounds to third to end the inning.

Frazier is famous, of course for losing three games in the 1981 World Series when he was with the Yankees. If that doesn’t qualify you to pitch for the Cubs, I don’t know what does. Hey, Calvin Schiraldi only lost two in ’86.

Herr leads off the ninth with a single off of Frazier. Tony says tomorrow’s game is Joaquin Andujar against the new guy the Cubs picked up in a “controversial” trade, Rick Sutcliffe.

Tito Landrum is up and Kubek is mocking the White Sox by reminding everybody of the 10th inning homer Tito hit off Sox starter Britt Burns the year before. I know I enjoyed the homer, I’m sure Tito did, too.

Tito hair is so impressive it looks like his helmet is in his hair, not on it. Tito and his hair admire a called strike three for the first out.

As Richie Hebner chases a foul ball over by the Cubs’ dugout, I can’t help but notice that–not just him but a lot of guys–don’t look like athletes at all. No wonder we all made fun of baseball players. There are plenty of bad bodies in the big leagues now, but most of these guys look like schlubs.

After a long at bat, Porter grounds to Sandberg with Herr running so Sandberg has to go to first for the second out with Herr on second. The Cubs are going to walk Van Slyke intentionally and that will force Bruce Sutter to bat, or Herzog to pinch hit for him. What do you think Whitey will do?

Tony and Bob are talking about a triple steal the Cubs pulled off earlier in the year. I’m pretty sure it’s the first time in baseball history that three guys all missed the same sign.

Bob tells us that on the same day (June 23) in 1917 that pitcher Babe Ruth of the Red Sox was tossed from a game after walking the first batter of a game and Ernie Shore came out of the bullpen to get a double play and then retire the next 25 in a row.

Sutter grounds to Sandberg.

Bob just thanked Ned Colletti, Cubs front office flunky for helping them out with stats during the game. Yes, the same Ned Colletti who is wasting lots of money on dopes like Juan Pierre in LA.

Sandberg is leading off the ninth against the mighty, unhittable, unstoppable Bruce Sutter. Sandberg gets ahead 1-0, a bad call makes it 1-1 on a pitch that looked outside. The third pitch? Planted deep into the left centerfield bleachers as Wrigley goes nuts. Sandberg has tied it with his eighth homer of the year, he’s got five of the Cubs nine RBI and four hits.

Sarge singles to right before the fans can start to quiet down so they just get louder. Nothing sounds as good as a happy Wrigley Field, does it?

Kubek was talking before about how even winning a game when you fall behind early can be a Phyrric victory (don’t hear that kind of vocabulary these days do you) because you can burn through your bullpen and screw up your staff for a week. The Cubs have already used six pitchers and Lee Smith is up in the bullpen now. Something tells me the benefits of this one would be worth the risk.

Durham flies to Tito for the first out. Matthews takes off for second and should have been out, but Tommy Herr couldn’t hold the throw. Now all Keith Moreland needs is a single to send the crowd home happy.

Moreland hits one up the middle that is a single if a mere mortal plays short. But Ozzie gets to it and easily throws him out.

Kubek and Costas claim that Whitey Herzog thinks Ozzie saves 100 runs a season with his defense. That’s ridiculous but he’s saved three today. Sutter intentionally walks Jody to get to the pitcher’s spot. Thanks to some weird waiver rule thing that kept Sutcliffe from being able to pitch for several days, and also affected the Cubs ability to make roster moves, they are playing with 24 guys. So when Gary Woods pinch hits for Frazier the only bench player left will be Dave Owen.

First and third, two out. Woods falls behind Sutter 1-2 and hits a more routine grounder to Ozzie. Bad idea. Inning over. Lee Smith is coming in to pitch the tenth at Wrigley.

Steve Bartman’s really fat dad comes into play during Ozzie Smith’s leadoff at bat. Ozzie hits a Luis Castillo-esque foul ball just over the railing in left field and Sarge jumps up reaches over the railing and would have had it but a very large fan knocks the ball away. Sarge reacts, exactly the same way Moises did. Unbelievable. I’ve never noticed that before. Lee Smith helps the fan out just the way Mark Prior did. He can’t get Ozzie out. Ozzie singles, then steals second on the first pitch.

McGee, needing a double to hit for the cycle, doubles to left. Sarge makes a nice play to keep it out of the corner and Larry Bowa doesn’t bother to come out to cutoff the throw so it rolls into the infield. Ozzie scores easily and McGee is into second standing up. Larry’s not having a great day. Hendrick hits a grounder to him, and instead of throwing to third to get McGee who had taken off, he just throws to first. One thing I can’t tell from the replay is if Hebner remembered to cover third. He may not have.

So it’s 10-9 Cardinals, with one out in the tenth and a runner at third and Steve Braun pinch hitting for David Green. Wrigley is deadly silent again.

Braun grounds to first, McGee scores without a throw, so Durham tags Braun and it’s 11-9. Kubek wonders if Willie McGee has ever been timed in a 100 yard dash.

Herr fouls one back and Marla Collins appears to pick up the ball. She’s not wearing pants. Shorts. Not pants. Right Harry?

Herr flies to right and it’s going to take some heroics to keep this one going. To the bottom of the tenth where the hitters will be Bowa, Hebner and Dernier. And yes, if you’re wondering we’re still waiting to see the exciting Jr. Heavyweight fight from Panama!

Costas says that Willie McGee is the player of the game. After all he’s hit for the cycle and he’s got 6 RBI. What could top that?

Bowa grounds to second. Jeff Lahti and Dave Rucker are warming up in the bullpen and Cardinals fans are thinking, why bother? Bruce isn’t going to blow a two run lead, especially now that Hebner has grounded out to the new Cardinals’ first baseman Mike Jorgensen.

Bob Dernier is up to keep things alive. Costas is reading the credits, you can practically hear him adding up the totals in the scorebook. Sutter falls behind 2-0 to Dernier. Kubek thinks he’s been told to take two strikes before even thinks of swinging. Maybe, he takes ball three. The crowd starts to buzz. He takes a borderline strike to make it 3-1. Then he takes a second strike. Full count. Two out. Cardinals fans up and cheering and being booed by the Cubs fans. Dernier check swings and it’s ball four. So here’s Sandberg, who just one inning earlier homered to tie the game off Sutter. Nobody ever homers off Sutter. Ever.

Sutter’s first pitch is a splitter outside for a ball. The next one just nips the corner, 1-1. Costas is finishing up the credits. But he’s interrupted by a bomb to the back row of the left center bleachers and all Kubek can do is yell, “Ooooooohhhhhh!” Wrigley is a madhouse. Shirtless fans are up on the dugout, and somewhere in Ohio a 1983 Chrysler New Yorker is honking and it’s passengers are screaming like maniacs.

Costas says, “Well, it’s time to pick a new player of the game!” Five hits for Sandberg, two homers and SEVEN RBI.

Sarge grounds to short to end the inning and we’re going to the 11th.

Mark Salas pinch hits for Landrum and pops to second. Cubs fans go nuts at anything Sandberg does so they make a routine pop-up seem like Willie Mays’ Polo Grounds over the shoulder catch. Lee Smith is still in to pitch for the Cubs. Somewhere a nascent rotisserie league baseball owner has gone from pissed that he blew a save to excited that he can get a win. Porter grounds to Bowa for the second out. Cubs fans can feel it. Sometimes, long before a win actually presents itself you know it’s coming. Wrigley has that feel about it.

We take the atmosphere for granted, but remember how bad the Cubs had been for so long before 1984. They’d been largely terrible for more than a decade. The buzz, the packed house, all the stuff we’re used to was infrequent back then, if hit happened at all. To say that it all turned on this day, probably isn’t that ridiculous.

Bob and Tony are musing that if the game goes to the 12th that the Cubs would have to use Chuck Rainey to pitch. Guh.

Van Slyke walks, because Lee Smith is a douche and wants to spoil the moment. Doug Henning…I mean Tom Ramsey is in to hit for Sutter. Sutter pitched three and a third and to non-Sandbergs he gave up one hit, no runs and two walks. To Sandberg he gave up two hits, both homers and three RBI.

Smith falls behind Henning…I mean, Ramsey 2-0, but rallies back to 2-2 and another thing we take for granted, the standing, cheering crowd on two strike at bats starts. Ramsey grounds to Sandberg and mothers are throwing babies out of the upper deck with excitement.

Lefty Dave Rucker coms in to pitch and he immediately walks Durham to start the inning. A pissed off Whitey Herzog takes him out in favor of Jeff Lahti. While Lahti warms up, NBC shows Sandberg sitting in the dugout and Kubek says, “It’s not too early to start talking MVP with this kid, is it?” Nope. Not all, Tony.

In a day full of offense the Cubs 1-2-3 hitters are 10-16 with two homers, 10 RBI and two walks. The rest of the team has three hits and one RBI.

Durham takes off on a 1-1 pitch, Moreland swings and misses and Porter’s throw goes into center. Durham pulls into third and the Cardinals are going to have to walk Moreland intentionally, then walk Jody Davis and deal with the last man on the Cubs’ bench, Dave Owen. If Owen fails, it’s Larry Bowa, after Bowa is Hebner.

Whitey comes out to talk to Lahti and to pull the infield in. On a day when Willie McGee and Ryne Sandberg starred, it’s up to Dave Owen?

Owen hacks at the first pitch and is way late and slices it foul over third base. In his career Dave Owen is 0-5 with runners in scoring position. He’s due. The next pitch is inside and Owen jumps out of the way. Why? Take a bruise and a win, Dave!

We find out why on the next pitch. Owen rips it into right, Cubs win! Cubs win! 12-11 Cubs. Costas announces that Sandberg and McGee will share the player of the game award. Then says, “I can’t remember the last time I saw a better one.”

What you take away from watching it again…though, actually, I’d never seen it. I heard it on the radio when it happened, of course, and on the 20th anniversary of it WGN Radio played it in it’s entirety one night…is that a lot of things changed that day at Wrigley.

The Cubs went to 37-31 and for the first time all year felt like they weren’t just off to a good start, they were a good team. Sandberg wasn’t just a good player, he was a guy with a chance to be great.

And the fact that it happened against Bruce Sutter and the Cardinals only made it that much better.

Next up (and probably last up) game one of the 1984 NLCS, the first postseason game at Wrigley Field since World War II.