I spent most of the afternoon watching baseball today, something that I don’t ordinarily find myself doing until later in the season, like June or July. But I didn’t have very much work to do, so I figured what the heck.
Anyway, it turned out to be a great baseball day for Chicago, as the Cubs beat the Pirates 10-8 in 12 innings and the Sox came from behind to top the Twins 7-4 in their home opener.
The Cubs managed to blow a 7-run lead along the way (which is pretty much par for the course for them) as starter Ted Lilly struggled in his 3.2-inning outing, but then scored two runs in the 12th off rookie Evan Meek — without getting a hit.
Carlos Marmol then came on to work the bottom of the 12th and close it out for his first save of the season as manager Lou Piniella decided to rest regular closer Kerry Wood.
After the Cubs game ended, I flipped over to the Sox just in time to see them put together a rally in the bottom of the 7th inning. Trailing 3-2, Jim Thome drew a walk with one out, and then Paul Konerko singled him over to third. Jermaine Dye followed with another base hit to score Thome and give the Sox runners at first and second with one out.
A.J. Pierzynski went down on strikes for the second out of the inning, but Carlos Quentin kept things alive by lining a hard single into left to load th bases. Next up came Joe Crede, who drilled a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for his fifth career grand slam.
The Sox then held on to win 7-4 and improve their season record to 5-2. The Cubs are now 4-3.
The day would have been perfect if my other favorite team, the Seattle Mariners had won….