Top ten 2008 Cubs moments

BY ELI KABERON -- TTCS CONTRIBUTOR

For six months, the 2008 Cubs were the best baseball team the North Side has seen since John McCain was nine years old. They won 97 games overall, 68% of their games played at Wrigley Field, and won the NL Central for the second year in a row. Eight Cubs went to New York for the All-Star Game- a team record- and for the first time in his career, Kerry Wood was only forced to the disabled list once this season. Then the season ended like a bad romantic comedy, as the Cubs got left at the playoff alter for the 100th year in a row while the entire country laughs at our misfortune. Now, instead of reminiscing on all the good moments the team had in 2008, Cubs fans are going to try and erase the four days in October that everything fell apart. Here to help are ten moments that are worth remembering from a special 2008 Cubs (regular) season.

10- Marissa Miller throws out first pitch

It’s not uncommon to see a celebrity throwing out an opening pitch at Wrigley. Every year, Chicago natives Vince Vaungh, Jeremy Piven and John Cusack participate in the honor of throwing a 45 mile- per-hour pitch to the worst player on the team from sixty feet, six inches. But when Marissa Miller, the cover girl on the 2008 SI swimsuit issue and Victoria’s Secret Angel, threw out the pitch it was a sight to behold. Granted, the toss was worse than something Latroy Hawkins used to throw, and it had no significance to the Cubs success, but for me this moment belongs on this list because I was literally ten feet from Marissa when she walked off the field up to her luxury box. That marked the first (and most likely last) time I can say I was closer to the world’s hottest woman than a pro athlete was.

9- Fukudome opening day

It seems like it was a long time ago, and with how everything turned out, it seems really stupid. But back in late March, as the season was to begin, Cubs fans were way more excited for rookie right fielder Kouske Fukudome than they were for rookie catcher Geovany Soto. And on opening day, the Japanese import showed everybody why the team paid so much for his services. Besides making a couple of great plays in the field on a cold and wet March afternoon, Fukudome went three for three at the plate, including a bunt single, a double, and the game-tying three run homer in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately the Cubs went on to lose that game, and Kouske never put together another nine innings that good the other 161 games on the schedule.

8- Rockie comeback

Normally when a Cubs team is down 8-0 in the fourth inning, the scoreboard operator can put up the L flag, crack open an Old Style and call it an afternoon. But on May 30, the Cubs- trailing by eight to the Rockies- changed that normal routine. Backed by three seventh inning home runs- Henry Blanco, Jim Edmonds and Mark DeRosa did the damage- the Cubs turned the large deficit into a big win, pulling out the 10-9 victory by holding Colorado scoreless for the game’s final four innings. Scott Eyre got the win, the last he would get in a Cubs uniform.

7- Mid-Season pick ups

People forget, but at the start of the year, Felix Pie was the Cubs center fielder, Rich Hill was the #3 starter, and Bob Howry was the seventh-inning guy out of the bullpen. Just imagine if that roster had lasted all year long. Thankfully, Cubs GM Jim Hendry realized those three players were not right for the long-term, so he went out and acquired three new pieces to put in their place. By the end of the year Jim Edmonds (free agency), Rich Harden (trade) and Jeff Samardzija (minor leagues) had all been brought to the Cubs, taking the roles of Pie, Hill and Howry, and all playing important roles in the Cubs success.

6- Reed Johnson catch

Unbelievable-catch-by-Reed-Johnson - Hosted by Putfile.com

I don’t know if they have the Web Gem’s of the Year on Baseball Tonight, mainly because I stopped watching the show when they decided to keep bringing on Steve Phillips. But if they do, this catch by Reed Johnson versus the Nationals has at least got to be in the discussion for play of the year. If you want a comparison, this is like a diving catch in football, except a) instead of a large, spiraling ball, Johnson had to find a tiny white dot up in space, b) before the play begins, nobody tells Johnson that the ball is coming to him, he has to react and find the ball the second it leaves the bat, and c) instead of a flexible orange pylon to soften the blow, Johnson crashes head-first into dirt and a hard fence. Other than that, it’s the same thing.

5- One final comeback

The Cubs made a living coming from behind to win in ‘08. One of their most memorable wins in the final at bat was in the second-to-last week of the year, versus the Brewers. Down 5-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, it looked as if the Cubs were going to give Milwaukee some momentum headed into the final stretch by allowing the team from up north to take two of three at Wrigley. But then Aramis Ramirez doubled and Jim Edmonds drove him in with a base hit, making it 5-2. Mark DeRosa followed with a double to put men on the corners, and should-be Rookie of the Year winner Geovany Soto blasted a three-run shot to the left-center field bleachers, tying the game at five. Two innings later, Derek Lee singled home the winning run, giving the boys in blue the W.

4- White Sox sweep

Octavio Dotel, meet Aramis Ramirez. Mr. Dotel, would you please introduce Mr. Ramirez to your friend Scott Linebrink? How about to colleagues Jose Contreras and Javier Vazquez? Four home runs, eight RBI, and a Cubs sweep later, Mr. Ramriez’s name changed on the North Side from Aramis to Mr. Clutch, and on the South Side to Mr. Why the Hell are we Still Pitching to this Guy?

3- Brewer beat down

By late July, the NL Central had come down to a two-team race; Brewers and Cubs. The Brewers had acquired CC Sabathia and had positioned themselves as the team nobody wanted to face down the stretch. Nobody that is, except for the Cubs. On each of the final four days in July, the Cubs and about 25,000 of their fans went up to Miller Park and embarrassed the Brewers, sweeping the four games against Milwaukee’s four best starting pitchers. The sweep set a tone for the rest of the year, and made Miller Park the place to be for great Cubs moments in 2008.

2- Clinch

Beating St. Louis on September 20 shouldn’t have been the highlight of the year for the Cubs. They possessed the deepest lineup in the National League, had four reliable starters, a power bullpen, and a manager who had excessive post-season experience. But because the Cubs failed to show up in October, the division-winning game versus the Cardinals ended up being the only time North Siders got to spray champagne and act like four-year-olds in 2008.

1- Zambrano-no

Carlos Zambrano might be the strangest athlete that Chicago has seen since Dennis Rodman left town in 1998. On some days, Z can be a complete maniac, doing everything from yell at opposing players to breaking bats over his knee after a strike out. But on other days, he’s the best pitcher in all of baseball, dominating opponents with a Ferrari-like fastball and nasty off-speed pitch. On September 14 in Milwaukee, Zambrano was the latter. Facing the Astros after a delay due to Hurricane Ike, Big Z threw the first Cubs no-hitter in 36 years, facing only 28 Houston hitters on the night, due to one walk, one hit-batter and one double play. The celebration was short-lived though. Many Cubs fans believe that the work it took for Zambrano to throw the no-no, 110 pitches after having shoulder problems earlier in the week, wore down his arm, the reason he was so inconsistent the rest of the season.