Over the last two weekends, Chicago has been the center of the sports universe. Only one of those weekends, however, met expectations. The New York Yankees came to town to face the Cubs in an interleague series two weeks ago, an event rife with talk of the 1938 World Series and Babe Ruth’s “called shot” off Charlie Root in the ’32 Series–the only times the teams had met previously in official games. Yet, above and beyond the almost playoff-level intensity in and around Wrigley Field–in fact, throughout the city and in much of the national media (two of the three games were carried nationwide)–the quality of play was exquisite. The games Saturday and Sunday, both won by the Cubs, were described by many onlookers as two of the best regular-season games they’d ever seen. People were still talking about them well into the following week, as the world’s best golfers arrived at the south-suburban Olympia Fields Country Club for the U.S. Open. With the Cubs by that time on the road, and with the maelstrom surrounding Sammy Sosa’s corked bat abating, the open had an opening. But it stepped through it like a wallflower into a kegger.
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There is no doubt, in absolute terms, that a U.S. Open being played at Olympia Fields was more historic than a Yankees visit to Wrigley. Interleague play is a contrived stunt, designed to boost interest in the sport after the 1994 strike threatened to separate baseball from its fan base; by now fans are used to the artificial, early-summer round of games between teams from the National and American leagues. Yet there was no denying the incredible energy that was building as the Cubs and then the Yanks took batting practice before the Friday-night game. It was like a gathering storm, and the players were like so many lightning rods standing around. (Appropriately enough, overhead clouds were thickening by the moment, until the skies opened up and chased the players from the field shortly before game time.) Two of baseball’s most historic franchises were entering the series in first place. There was Sosa, looking almost like Mike Tyson in his new goatee and a blue skullcap, cracking out balls with a black and apparently untampered-with bat–as if glorying in his tarnished reputation, even if his timing still looked a little off. There was a huge media contingent, both local and flown in from New York City and points beyond. An Asian journalist came up and introduced himself to the Cubs’ Hee Seop Choi, apparently in his native Korean, and Choi bowed slightly before shaking hands. Corey Patterson seemed the same player yet greatly altered from when he played for the Cubs’ Class A Lansing affiliate in Kane County four years ago. He still has that mousetrap-quick turn on the ball, but he’s much more built up in his upper body and lean in the face, finishing each fluid swing with a complete follow-through. He’s become a full-fledged pro.
That was when the raindrops began to fall, and I decided to watch the game the way the rest of the nation was watching it–on TV. The rain delayed the game’s start, but when it finally got going Giambi was still in the same groove. He bashed a two-run homer after a Jeter walk, and that gave New York starter David Wells all the cushion he needed. He cruised after Chicago starter Carlos Zambrano gave up three more runs in the third before settling down–too late. Wells gave up three runs, the last a homer by Patterson on a curve in the eighth, but Antonio Osuna came on to get the last out of the inning, and Mariano Rivera closed it out in the ninth for a 5-3 New York victory.
Pity the poor White Sox, an afterthought in their All-Star summer. They lost again Sunday to drop six games under .500 and remain seven and a half games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins. They’re set to travel to Wrigley this weekend with nothing but pride at stake. It’s when they’re most dangerous, but it figures to be a far cry from the Cubs’ series with the Yankees.
