by Boutros Boutros Ghali
To be fair, I did not see as much of this game as you might expect with it being game 2 of the NLDS. No, Danny Rockett and I went down to Wrigleyville and did a two man bar crawl to victory.
We put our livers on the line in order to help bring that victory back to Chicago. I am now sitting in Three Aces Chicago, Lyle Aker's bar, watching the Bears and getting ready for the game tomorrow night at Wrigley Field.
All of that being said, I'm still rewatching the game in order to bring you, the loyal reader, a Reckless Recap for the game last night. And what a game it was to recap. Goat damn these Cubs are good.
Bar 1 at Wrigleyville North outside of Wrigleyville, but on the way as the game was starting. The locals sitting at the bar gave us weird looks because we selfied in front of the bar to record our 9 bar endeavor. Not the best start to the bar crawl and not a good start to the Cubs game.
Hymen Garcia took the mound briefly for the woeful deadbirds in this game and in the first inning, it looked like he might be holding on to some of that devil magic from the night before. Jorge Soler hit a double into left center field for the Cubs first hit of the game, but none of the other handsome youngsters could bring the big right fielder home.
Kyle Hendricks looked like he was going to be a short timer in this game as he let a solo homer out of the park in the first inning. Matt Carpenter, the leadoff man for the Cards, took a 2-1 sinker over the wall in center field to put the Cardinals up 1-0 early. Hendricks settled in after the homer and was able to get through the next 4.2 innings without giving up any more runs.
Hymen Garcia, on the other hand, got run after giving up 5 runs in the second inning. The Cubs got easy squeezy against the infield and the Cardinals could not recover.
Bar 2: Murphy's Bleachers. The sign out front said "We don't get mad, we get even" and that is how we felt too. The bar was much more excited about the game and the game responded. Bar 2 and inning 2 were huge successes.
Starlin Castro, the Original Youngster, hit a single to start the inning. Action Jackson hit into what would have been a double play, but Kolten Wong threw the ball away and Jackson advanced to second base. Jackson then stole third base against the injured Yadier Molina who continues to hold the Cardinals back due to his injured hand.
Miguel Montero walked and then Maddon went small ball to kill the Cardinals. Hendricks laid down a bunt to the pitcher and Jackson ran for home on the squeeze play. Jackson distracted Hymen who was fielding the ball and when the pitcher threw to first, it was another error.
Montero advanced to third base and Hendricks went to second on the bad throw. Then Maddon decided to make Hymen work some more and called for another bunt. Addison Russell laid down a bunt to the first base side of the mound and was out at first, but Montero squeezed home for the first back to back squeeze bunt RBIs in the history of the playoffs. (Asstat, but seriously, has that ever happened before?)
Cubs took the 2-1 lead with two outs, but they were not done in this inning. Fowler hit a high bouncer over Garcia's head. Illiterate Jhonny tried to field it barehanded but bobbled the ball and Fowler was safe at first. Hendricks scored on the play and the Cubs had a 3-1 lead.
Fowler was on first base and Soler was getting his second crack at Garcia. The big right fielder said "SEE YA" to a 2-2 slider and the Soler Flare put the Cubs up 5-1 officially ending the Cardinals chances.
Bar 3: Corner Sports Bar. We added on another beer a piece and the Cubs added to their lead.
The Cardinals killed Garcia and brought in Loretta Lynn in relief. The coal miner's daughter could not keep the Cubs off the scoreboard either and only lasted one inning after giving up one run.
Rizzo walked to start the inning and then the Original Youngster singled to move Rizzo to third base. Jackson struck out, but Miggy grounded out allowing Rizzo to score on the play. Cubs 6/Cards 1.
Bar 4: The Dugout. A dirty downstairs bar with a great view behind the bar. Nobody scored, but everyone was thinking about it.
Bar 5: The Captain Morgan Club. The beers we had here were the most expensive of the night and the fifth inning cost the Cubs more than any other inning as well.
Kyle Hendricks rolled into the fifth with only the homer against Carpenter working against him. He struck out the first two batters he faced, but then Kolten Wong went deep for the Cardinals second run of the game.
It was not time to panic and Maddon did not pull the pitcher, but then Randall Upchuck came in to pinch hit for Charles Newhouse who had replaced Lynn in the fourth inning. Upchuck went up, Chuck and the Cardinals had cut the lead in half. Cubs 6-Cardinals 3.
Hendricks was done, and Wooderson came into get the final out of the inning and Danny and I headed around the corner to the diner for some small beers and fries.
Bar 6: The Salt and Pepper Diner. The Cubs had a good lead and were into the bullpen, so all they really had to do was maintain until the final pitch. Danny and I were also in maintain mode, so we decided to get some grub in our bellies and we grabbed short beers at the diner.
Bar 7: Red Ivy. Danny and I rolled into the most crowded bar yet and actually saw very little of this inning as we were talking with a Wisconsin football fan and his wife who had followed us from Captain Morgan's.
We also took an upside down selfie with a beer barrel girl who seriously had no clue about sports, but was really fun. The bar sang the stretch during the commercial break despite the Cards being up next. Danny and I shared a 16 ouncer to keep the game in hand and our feet underneath us.
Bar 8: Sluggers. We took a break from drinking at the bar to do some hitting at the bar. Our ladies will be happy to know we were hitting on balls and not the various drunk ladies packing the downstairs of the bar. I raked 8 of 10 and Danny boy pulled a switch hitter between pitches to slap some shots from the left and right hand batter's boxes.
Bar 9: Nisei Lounge. On the walk from sluggers we stopped to talk to Toussaint who was hawking some Cubs gear on the street. Then we stopped at Deuces, but a $10 cover charge immediately got them renamed to Douches. Luckily there is no shortage of bars around and Danny remembered the Nisei.
The Nisei Lounge is a dive bar a few blocks from Wrigley Field. There were only about 10 people in the bar, but they were diehard Cubs fans and surprisingly, Son Ranto fans. They recognized Danny and we got to ring in the victory with some fun folks who had been drinking even more than we had.
Fly the W folks, cuz the Cubs are good. We rocked the 9 for 9 and were still good to walk home. Check out our Son Ranto facebook page to see all the photos from our trip around Cub Country.
That's your Reckless Recap. Go Cubs. It's time for me to grab another beer with the Lovable Lou Sears.