This game had some crazy things happen, and not all on the field. Joe Girardi, who wasn’t hitting much around that time, was just a pinch-hitter as he walked this game off.
Let’s begin at the beginning.
The Cubs entered this day with a 63-47 record and led the NL Central by 1.5 games over the Astros. They’d lost four of their last five on a West Coast trip and this game against the Rockies was the first of a six-game homestand.
The Rockies led 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh and that’s when the fun started. The late Steve McMichael, a Bears Super Bowl hero, was there to sing the seventh-inning stretch, and got into it with home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Here’s a WGN-TV clip announcing Hernandez’ retirement last year showing what happened:
Maybe that energized the Cubs — they put together a three-run rally right after that in the bottom of the seventh and took a 4-2 lead. But the Rockies came right back with a pair in the top of the eighth off David Weathers and Jeff Fassero to tie things up.
In the bottom of the ninth, Ricky Gutierrez and Sammy Sosa singled. After Fred McGriff struck out, Girardi was sent up to bat for pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.
Then this crazy play happened:
Unfortunately, that was about the peak for that overachieving Cubs team. They’d fall out of first place a week later, and wound up finishing 88-74, five games behind the Cardinals and Astros, who tied for the division title, with Houston getting the title on a tiebreaker with St. Louis getting a wild card spot.
Girardi was on his second stint with the Cubs after being part of their 1989 division championship team. He wound up as an expansion draft pick by the Rockies, then moved on to the Yankees, where he won three World Series rings.
In that second Cubs stint, Girardi showed off the leadership skills that would eventually make him a manager on the day Darryl Kile died and a 2002 Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley Field had to be postponed:
Girardi managed the Marlins in 2006, the Yankees from 2008-17 and the Phillies from 2020-22, winning a World Series in New York in 2009. Overall his teams made the postseason six times and he recorded 1,120 managerial wins in 14 seasons. When not managing he’s been in various broadcast booths, primarily for the YES Network in New York, but also doing some work for Marquee Sports Network.
