If not for the man on the mound, the Cubs ninth inning comeback yesterday against the Rockies would have simply been fun. Â After going 0-79 last year in games they trailed in the ninth, it only took the Cubs three attempts this year to mount a successful comeback.
When Dexter Fowler homered to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead that the Cubs would hold onto, it was another reminder that these aren’t the same old Cubs. Â Nobody knows where this season will take us (maybe nowhere), but the scenery will be more interesting than it’s been a for a while.
No, an April homer won’t erase memories of Victor Diaz’s homer in the final week of 2004 or of LaTroy bouncing a throw off of Jose Offerman’s helmet and into the stands in another humiliating loss earlier that year.
But LaTroy hanging on 0-2 slider with two outs in the ninth sure felt good.
If nothing else, the 2015 Cubs figure to capture and keep our attention. Â It sure was worth it yesterday.
The Offerman play actually happened in 2005.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200505060.shtml