The Cubs -and likely every banca and colmado in the
Dominican Republic – were on the edge of their seats late last night. With only
five outs to go, Sammy Sosa’s Cubs were on the brink of their first World Series
berth since 1945. Incredibly, what seemed a sure thing quickly came crashing
down on the Cubbies. Oddly enough, it was a Chicago fan that changed the
momentum of a game the Cubs had seemingly won. With one out in the decisive
eighth inning, a Cubs fan along the left field line attempted to catch a foul
ball and interfered with Moises Alou, who was preparing to make the catch – and
the second out of the fateful inning. Alou stated later that he would have
definitely caught the ball and video replays indicated it to be possible as
well. Adding to the heartache moments later, Alex Gonzalez failed to glove a
grounder to his right for an error. While the potential double-play ball could
have ended the inning, it instead loaded the bases and Derek Lee followed with a
double that gave the Marlins the lead and eventually the game. Kerry Wood goes
up for the Cubs against Florida’s Mark Redman tonight at 8pm. Meanwhile in the
American League’s Red Sox-Yankees game, Alfonso Soriano knocked in the decisive
run in a second inning rally and made a great defensive play to quell a Boston
recovery, putting the Yankees within one win of their 39th American League
pennant. Manny Ramirez drove in Boston’s first run with his second homer of the
series (16th career post-season HR), shuffling him ahead of Babe Ruth into fifth
place all time. Today’s game starts at 4pm.