Faithful, Too: “Games 74L/75W/76L/77L - The Curse of Slammin’ Sammy

I write this as I wait for a flight back to Chicago after an otherwise wonderful three nights and three days in Boulder (we’re delayed 2.5 hours and counting). Yes, the same Boulder that was the final destination for all of God’s good ones in The Stand. After visiting here I understand why King chose the location.

Due to this vacay (that also included a stop over at The Stanley for a pleasant Shining tour), zero footage of live Cubs baseball was viewed by yours truly since the PCA statement game last Tuesday.. I have no regrets for baseball reasons as well as the beauty of Boulder and the aligned Rocky Mountains.

After Wednesday’s rainout, the Cubs played the Brewers Thursday afternoon during my flight to Denver. I purchased internet figuring I could listen to the game a bit into the flight (after 40 more pages of The Stand. Larry just lost a travel mate. Frannie and Harold have picked up another). I saw the Cubs were down 5-2 and immediately regretted my decision. I opted out.

The funny thing about the Denver airport is that it’s roughly the size of Denver itself. Once you depart the plane, you have to walk 237 miles (wink) to the shuttle which takes you three stops down to the end of the airport. Rent a car? You have to wait for the shuttle, then go to an additional stop before the rental car service of your choice. I say all that to say that I followed on my MLB app a near Cubs comeback.

In the bottom of the 7th, Ian Happ hit a two-run homer to cut the lead down to 8-5. After some small ball in the bottom of the 8th, it was cut down to 8-7. Was this team going to do it again? With two on and two out…Matt Shaw popped out. Alas.

One last chance. In the bottom of the 9th Ian led off with a walk. Yes. Somehow, Tucker struck out. No. Then Seiya came to the plate with a chance to win it with one swing of the bat. Sadly he did the worst thing possible and grounded into a double play. Cubs split the series and lose 8-7.

Friday! I was in the mountains all day, folks, and missed all the action. The Cubs lost to the Mariners 9-4 in a game that can be blamed on the bullpen. Those fellas came in in the top of the 6th with a 4-2 lead and gave up 11 hits and 7 runs. Not good, Bob! The Cubs didn’t score again and lost 9-4, despite another homer from Happ. I blame the “triumphant” return of legendary cheater Sammy Sosa, whom a good portion of the fanbase has forgiven despite being a rampant steroid user and achieving records disgracefully. After an unofficial banishment for being a shitty teammate, as well (oh, he also used a corked bat. Look it up), he came back to Wrigley as a guest of honor. I’ll be curious if this is a karmic twist going forward. The Curse of Slammin’ Sammy.

The curse did subside on Saturday as the Cubs got out to a 9-1 lead and held on to win 10-7. The boys hit five homers, including two more for Happ. He is officially on fire. This dude has hit 8 of his 11 homers over the past 15 days. Incredible. He’s arrived as I hoped he would. Heating up with the summer!

Sadly, the reprieve ended as the Cubs lost today in spectacular fashion. Colin Rea pitched just plain awful (11 hits, 7 runs, 5 ⅓ innings) and the team just couldn’t recover. Seiya did hit two homers as he continues to have an all-star worthy season. That’s it.

Ah. My plane has now been delayed by 3.5 hours. Maybe I’m destined to stay here in Boulder. Scary thing is it’s smelling like cordwood…

Ugh.