The Cubs came north a few days early this year to play a rare pre-opening-day exhibition game, and the gods were well pleased. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky; it was a shorts-and-short-sleeves day, with temperatures in the 80s and the wind blowing out. I was seated with the former writer of this column in our regular seats in the upper deck behind home plate; while the shade there, under the roof, usually keeps things nippy until mid-May–even on the sunniest days–on this afternoon there wasn’t a hint of a chill. It was as if we had stepped through a time warp directly into midsummer. The only thing that brought us back to real time was the baseball: it was clearly of spring-training quality.
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The pitchers were ahead of the hitters in everything but the count. Going into the ninth inning, the Brewers had three hits and the Cubs five; even though the Cubs had issued six walks without drawing one themselves, they still held the 2-1 lead. Harkey had thrown the ball well, aside from spells of wildness. Mitch Williams, however, was simply wild in the eighth, going to a full count on all three men he faced and walking the last two, which brought manager Don Zimmer out to remove him from the game and, soon enough, from the Cubs’ roster.
The new relief ace, Dave Smith, got the Cubs out of the eighth but lost it in the ninth, surrendering a double down the left-field line (rookie Gary Scott, who had already committed the one error by the Cubs, was well off the bag), then a bunt single when he failed to cover first, then a two-run, game-winning single to pinch hitter Robin Yount, who would have been given an intentional walk in a more important game. The inning could have been worse if Dempsey hadn’t been called out on strikes before Yount came to the plate. The 3-1 pitch was so wide he began trotting to first base. It was so wide Cubs catcher Joe Girardi didn’t even bother to make a play on the runner trying to steal second. The umpire (a scab, as it’s the major-league umpires’ turn to threaten to strike this season) called it a strike, however, then showed Dempsey what professional pride he had by calling him out on a pitch that was only marginally better. The ump evened up, though, by calling out Girardi on a bad ball to end the game in the bottom of the inning with the tying run at third and the winning run at second. We all went home happy regardless, which is the charm of exhibition baseball.
With Raines leading off, and with Carlton Fisk and Frank Thomas following somewhere along the line, the Sox should score some runs. The bull pen, with Bob Thigpen supported by Scott Radinsky and others, should be solid. The starting rotation, however, is all kids in need of a leader. I like Alex Fernandez, I like Greg Hibbard, and I like Jack McDowell, but none of them is the sort of gutsy stopper a contending team needs–a Dave Stewart, Roger Clemens, or even Danny Jackson type. Hough is supposed to be great communing with younger pitchers, but he can’t stop a losing streak from the disabled list.
