It looks as if we’ll enjoy a pennant race after all this season, but on the unexpected side of town.
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As the game began the youthful Brew crew looked indomitable. Did those kids ever attack the ball during batting practice! Towering Corey Hart, six-foot-six, shot line drives in all directions, and rookie Ryan Braun seemed to be reveling in the batting cage after a painful infield practice. (He plays third base as if he were fielding with a spatula, which is why he started the season in the minors.) Hefty first baseman Prince Fielder, who’s having an MVP season, supplied his own sound effects, shouting “Wham!” each time he made contact and sending a series of rockets into the right-field bleachers and beyond. Ominously, he was the only left-handed batter in a lineup that figured to bludgeon left-handed pitchers, and the Cubs had lefties lined up to start the first two games.
The Cubs’ win streak had awakened their fans, and this game, which got the Cubs back to .500 at 39-39, confirmed that the race was on with their rivals to the north. For years north suburban Cubs fans have acted as interlopers in Milwaukee because tickets were so much easier to get there than at Wrigley Field. But interest in the Brewers has revived: they’re drawing well at Miller Park and their fans turned the tables and made the trip to Wrigley. Cubs officials announced the three-game series with the Brewers was the toughest ticket of the season–even tougher than the city series with the Sox–drawing a record 124,810 over the weekend.
Fans who figured the season had bottomed out with the Cubs sweep saw it get even worse: a brutal 9-6 defeat by the Baltimore Orioles on July 4 and two days later a doubleheader loss to the Minnesota Twins by scores of 20-14 and 12-0. Instead of “Let’s go White Sox,” fans chanted “Re-sign Buehrle.” It took plenty of such cajoling before Williams gave in and offered Mark Buehrle the kind of protection against being traded that Buehrle was insisting on. (Buehrle accepted a bargain salary in order to stay put, but a trade will trigger a big increase.)
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Felix Pie photo/Jonathan Daniel (Getty Images).
