On Saturday, September 12, the Cubs played host to the Milwaukee Brewers for a day game at Wrigley Field. The National League Wilcard was a three-team race with the Cubs and Mets tied at 82-68 and the Giants just 2.5 games out with about two weeks left in the season. For the Cubs, every one of these games mattered. The Cubs sent Mike Morgan to the mound while the Brewers countered with Rafael Roque. The wind was blowing out so you could have probably expected a high scoring game. You couldn't have expected this game, and because this world is a good place, the entire thing (commercials included) is on YouTube:
I'll give a slightly quicker version below.
In the first inning, Mike Morgan cruised, using his sinker to induce three straight groundball outs for a 1-2-3 inning. Roque was dealing as well as he had himself a 1-2-3 inning.
In the second, Morgan continued his strong performance, although he gave up a double and a walk, he was able to get out of the jam by getting Geoff Jenkins to ground into a double play. Roque would not fair as well. He walked Sammy Sosa to start the inning which led the crowd to erupt in boos. Sosa was currently at 59 home runs and every at bat was an event but especially with him so close to 60 home runs. This was followed up by Roque giving up a single to Glenallen Hill to put runners at the corners as Sosa barely slid in under the tag at third. Gary Gaetti popped up to shallow left field, but it was enough for Hill to advance to second on some nifty baserunning. Mickey Morandini followed up with a single that barely got through the middle to bring in both runners for the Cubs to take a 2-0 lead.
Considering that Morgan would be facing the bottom of the order for the third inning, it seemed as if he would cruise to another scoreless inning.
He didn't.
Single, sacrifice bunt, reached on error, single, triple, double, Jeromy Burnitz home run, ground out, Geoff Jenkins home run, Bobby Hughes home run, ground out. Both the sacrifice bunt and the final ground out were done by Rafael Roque, so at least Morgan could handle the opposing pitcher. Marquis Grissom was the only other out of the inning. The Brewers were now up 8-2, and the only bright side was that things couldn't get much worse than that.
After the Cubs failed to answer in the bottom half of the inning, both teams went scoreless in the fourth as Dave Stevens came in to relieve Mike Morgan of his duties. The only other item of note is that Sammy Sosa walked again, and the crowd again erupted in boos. At this point, Sosa's 60th home run was the only reason to stick around for the hometown fans.
In the fifth inning, things got worse as the Brewers got two runners in scoring position and Fernando Vina knocked them both in with a single to make it a 10-2 score. Jose Hernandez finally gave Cubs fans something to cheer for when he hit a solo home run. Steve Stone was busy talking about how Dave Nilsson might play more catcher and gives a very matter-of-fact call when he non-emotionally states, "And there's probably a home run." Wayne Larivee brought some fire, but this game was out of hand so it was tough to get too excited.
Dave Stevens recovers to have a 1-2-3 inning for the Cubs in the top half of the sixth inning. Glenallen Hill led off the bottom half of the inning with a single. Then, Gary Gaetti swung at a 2-0 fastball and deposited it in the right field bleachers to cut the lead to 10-5.
They were still in a major hole, but Steve Stone remarked, "The Cubs aren't dead yet."
That hole got larger in the top half of the seventh inning as the Brewers strung together a two-out rally to score two more runs to extend the lead back to seven with a 12-5 lead.
Luckily, the Cubs had the ultimate rally starter at their disposal. The conductor of Take Me Out To The Ballgame that day would be noneother than Joan "Motherfucking" Cusack wearing oversized Harry Caray glasses.
Doesn't matter. The Brewers were clearly rattled and tried to combat the swing in momentum by bringing in Valerio de los Santos. Lance Johnson started off the inning by drawing a walk before Jose Hernandez struck out. Mark Grace hit a double to put two runners in scoring position for Sammy Sosa. It went ball, Sosa huge swing and foul ball, ball, Sosa huge swing and foul ball, and a ball as Sosa barely checked his swing to bring it to a full count. At this point, the entire crowd rises to its feet and Sosa barely fouls off another pitch to keep himself alive. Another pitch, another foul ball. On the eighth pitch of the at bat, this happened.
The Cubs were still down four runs, but you wouldn't know it from the fans' reaction. They erupted in cheers and simply didn't stop, even after Sosa made a curtain call. Things were even crazier outside of the stadium.
Just so you know, the man in the yellow shirt did not get the ball, and this experience must haunt him every day.
When Glenallen Hill made it back-to-back home runs, it didn't lead to any eruption, just a continuation of cheering as the Cubs were back within three runs. They wouldn't score any more in the seventh, but they had gotten themselves back within striking distance at 12-9.
Felix Heredia shut down the Brewers in the top half of the eighth inning. The Cubs had the bottom of their lineup coming up, so they started with Tyler Houston pinch hitting for Scott Servais. He paid off the decision by launching the first pitch he saw from Chad Fox into the right field bleachers. 12-10. The Cubs wouldn't score again in the eighth but a combination of Terry Mulholland and Rod Beck ensured that the Brewers would not add to their lead in the ninth.
Bob Wickman came in to get the save for the Brewers, but he would face the heart of the Cubs lineup. Both Sammy Sosa and Glenallen Hill were able to get singles to start the inning. Gary Gaetti followed by bunting them into scoring position. Wickman then walked Mickey Morandini to load the bases. Tyler Houston then came up for the second time in the game and came up big again as he chopped a ball into the hole where the second baseman could barely deflect it with his glove. That deflection slowed the ball enough that both Sosa and Hill easily scored to tie the game at 12-12.
So after nearly 1,200 words, I'm finally going to bring up Orlando Merced, the man this article is actually about. Merced spent the bulk of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates before bouncing around to the Blue Jays, Twins, Red Sox, Cubs, and Expos before playing three years with the Astros. In fact, his entire time with the Cubs was just 12 games. Is this way too high of a ranking for a guy who only had 10 at bats during his time with the team? Logically, yes, but sports are all about the memories, and I remember this game more vividly than any other game during that regular season. Yes, Orlando Merced just pinch hit during the ninth inning, but he provided one of my favorite Cubs memories ever. This memory.
With one swing of the bat, Orlando Merced had completed one of the greatest comebacks I have ever seen. The Cubs were down eight runs on two different occasions, but they just kept coming. Yeah, Sosa hit his 60th home run, but Orlando Merced's single home run for the team is more memorable than any single home run from Sosa during that entire season. I know this ranking is completely illogical, but Merced provided me a whole lot of happiness that day, and that's more important than measuring production.
In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
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