Cubs 1998 Season-Game 159
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Brewers 8, Cubs 7
- WP: Chad Fox (1-3)
- LP: Rod Beck (3-3)
This late-season loss by the Cubs is considered one of the most painful regular season losses in franchise history. Even though the Cubs still managed to still make the playoffs, the manner in which they lost this game--the final out of a Cubs victory was dropped by left-fielder Brant Brown, and the three winning runs for Milwaukee scored instead--had fans convinced that it was not their season.
The Setup
The Cubs were reeling. After coming up big in San Diego, taking three out of four games from the eventual National League pennant-winning Padres, they came home and got swept by the Reds. Fortunately for the Cubs, their main competition for the Wildcard--the Mets--were also scuffling. The Cubs got a big win the night before in the first game of this two-game set and, coupled with a New York loss, had moved back into a tie with the Mets. Playing the Brewers in an afternoon tilt in Milwaukee's old ballpark, the Cubs had a chance to sweep the two-game set and get a jump on the Mets, who were to play later that evening.
The Cubs were sending Steve Trachsel to the hill. 10 days earlier, Trachsel had trouble protecting an 8-3 Cubs lead against the Brewers at Wrigley Field. Though the Cubs had won the game, Trachsel was hoping to pitch much better against the Brewers this time around.
Cubs Take Control Early
In the second inning, the Cubs scored two runs against Milwaukee's starter Rafael Roque, who had been the starting pitcher in another memorable game 11 days ealier. Roque was having difficulty on this day, as the first two runs he allowed came on a base-loaded walk and a bases-loaded balk. The Cubs, in fact, had scored two runs in the inning without the benefit of a hit.
The Cubs added to their lead the following inning when Gary Gaetti drove home Sammy Sosa with a single off of Roque.
We Interrupt This Important Game For Sammy's Circus Sideshow
The mainstream media at the time, with the full blessing of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, had gone to great lengths to glamorize the individual pursuit of Roger Maris' home run record. As a result, although a Cubs' team striving for a pennant was certainly a rare thing, the pursuit by the Cubs' Sosa and St. Louis' Mark McGwire at taking down the 47-year old record dwarfed all other accomplishments. And so it was in the 5th inning of this game that Sosa led off the inning by homering off of Roque. The home run was his 64th. The Cubs added 2 more runs in the inning to take a 6-0 lead.
In the following inning, Sosa again homered, this time off of Milwaukee's Rod Henderson. In addition to making the score 7-0, this home run--Sosa's 65th--put him in a short-lived tie with his rival, McGwire. More significantly, McGwire and Sosa continued to command the spotlight in spite of the fact that, at this moment in time, more players had hit over 60 home runs since 1945 than Cubs teams had won pennants.
The Lead Slowly Disappears
Delivered a 7-0 lead with 12 outs to go, Trachsel went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 7th, however, Trachsel was unable to close the deal. He loaded the bases with nobody out before Milwaukee's Jose Valentin, a notorious Cub Killer, drove in two runs with a double. A sacrifice fly made the score 7-3, and then Milwaukee's Brian Banks delivered a two-out, RBI single off of Trachsel, making the score 7-4 and ending Trachsel's day at 6 2/3 innings.
Felix Heredia relieved Trachsel and gave up a single. Heredia was releved by Matt Karchner who got the Cubs out of the inning without incurring any further damage.
After the Cubs went scoreless in the top of the eighth, Karchner took the pitching mound in the bottom of the inning hoping to protect a 3-run lead. He maintained the lead, but made Cub fans nervous by giving up another run to make the score closer, 7-5.
The 9th Inning
The Cubs had threatened to extend their lead by putting at least one runner on base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but failed to bring the runner around in all three innings. Heading into the final frame, they were clinging to a 7-5 lead, and sole possession of the Wildcard.
The first batter to face Cubs' closer Rod Beck was Fernando Vina who grounded out to second base. Beck, however, was not so successful with the next three batters--Mark Loretta, Jeff Cirillo, and future Cub Jeromy Burnitz-- who reached on a single, double, and an intentional walk, respectively. The decision to intentionally walk Burnitz was a curious one for Cubs' manager Jim Riggleman to make, as conventional wisdom has always warned against putting the winning run on base.
Beck rewarded his manger's faith by inducing the next hitter--Marquis Grissom--to pop out to third base.
The next hitter was rookie Geoff Jenkins. After a lengthy at-bat, Jenkins lifted a high fly ball toward the corner in left field. The ball was hit well and looked like it had a chance to be an opposite-field, lead-changing, walkoff grand slam. Eventually, though, Cubs left-fielder Brant Brown, a late-inning defensive replacement for Glenallen Hill, drifted along the warning track toward the left-field corner, and then settled under the ball and appeared to be in position to make the game-ending catch. Instead, the ball bounced off of Brown's glove for an error. Because there were two outs when the play began, the baserunners had been running when the ball was put in play. Brown vainly attempted to get the ball back in to the infield, but it was a lost cause--Burnitz easily trotted across home plate with the eighth--and winning--run. The outcome of the game had been decided in one precise moment. One painful, precise moment for Cubs fans.
The Postscript
The Mets continued to give the Cubs new life, losing for the second consecutive time against Montreal that evening. At the close of play, both the Mets and Cubs had 88-71 records. However, because of both teams' inability to put one another away, the Giants had quickly gained on both teams, and trailed the Mets and Cubs by merely 1 1/2 games. Eventually the Cubs and Giants would finish the season tied, and would play a one-game playoff at Wrigley Field, which the Cubs would go on to win, and take the Wildcard.
Trivia
Milwaukee's old ballpark--Milwaukee County Stadium-- was one of the few parks whose home plate was located in the southeast part of the of the stadium. In most parks, home plate is more commonly in the south west corner of a park. Because of the decision to put him plate in the southeast corner, left-field would become a "sun field" in later inings of a day game, an unusual condition for players more accustomed to the more tradtional field. Although Brown should have made the catch--and, in fact, he made no excuses for the drop--he was also fighting off an unusual circumstance for a left-fielder.
The following Friday, in the first game of a critical, season-ending three game series in Houston Brown got the start in the centerfield. Early in the game, a black crow, which had somehow gained entry into Houston's Astrodome began circling around Brown's head. This reminded many Cub fans of an incident in 1969 at Shea Stadium with a black cat. However, this particular case was even eerier due to the fact the teams were playing indoors and the bird seemed to focus on Brown, who was still fresh in everyone's mind for his unfortunate gaffe in the most previous game.
Even though Brown's error did not prove to be fatal to the Cubs' chances for the postseason, he was traded the following offseason to Pittsburgh for right-handed pitcher Jon Lieber. Lieber would go one to be the best Cubs pitcher over his roughly four seasons with the club. It was one of General Manager Ed Lynch's finest acquisitions in an otherwise dreadful tenure.
Brown returned to the Cubs in 2000, in a trade for Dave Martinez. His second go-around was not very productive, and he never played in the big leagues again after the 2000 season. He will always be known in Cubs fans' minds for this error, as it has been memorialized in the oft-played call of the game by Ron Santo on WGN Radio: (OH NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!). This, in spite of rhe fact that the Cubs still overcame the error to make the playoffs and that Brown was, in fact, in the midst of his finest season as major-leaguer.
External Links
Game information courtesy of retrosheet
