The Game that almost killed Ron Santo

The odds of what happened in the Cub's game last night are almost improbable. The Cubs not only experienced their lowest point of the season, the luckiest point of their whole season, and the most exciting point of their whole season in one game....it all happened in the same inning. And, it almost killed Ron Santo.

THE WORST
I went to bed after the 8th inning with the Cubs up 8-3 vs the Colorado Rockies. I figured even the Cubs bullpen couldn't blow this. Within minutes of crawling in bed, my phone alerted me of a text message from my cousin. The words were: "Another Cubs disaster..." I had to jump up, run downstairs, open MLB.TV on my computer (since my cable company won't give me CSN). By the time I got it opened, I had just missed a 3-run homerun by the Rockies that made it a 9-8 game in favor of the mountain men. The worst part about it? The 6 runs happened in about 7 minutes (serious) and there were no outs. We were lucky to only be down 9-8.

THE LUCKIEST
Bottom of the 9th, with Cubs runners on 1st and 2nd base and 2 out, Ryan Theriot hits a routine ground ball up the middle to end the game. Kaz Matsui however makes one of the worst boots on one of the easiest balls I have seen. All runners are safe....bases loaded, 2-outs, down 9-8. Audio of the play below:

Matsui's Booted Ground Ball (mp3)

THE BEST
Alfonso Soriano. After all, he had basically won all 3 games by himself against the White Sox with his 3 HRs and his great outfield assists. Once again we would call on him to deliver. He does not disappoint. He hits a sharp flare to right center field. The runners did not have to wait to see if it dropped with 2 outs and both runners scored. CUBS WIN 10-9! I didn't get to hear the radio call until this morning and it was absolutely classic. Listen to Ron Santo faintly in the background. Does it get any better than that? I think he almost died.

Soriano's Game Winning Audio (mp3)

THE FUTURE
Could this be the day we look back and determined the Cubs arrived? Maybe. Maybe it was the Zambrano/Barrett fight. Maybe it was the Pinella explosion. Maybe it was trading Barrett. But maybe, just maybe, it was being pushed to the limits, and coming through with a despeartely needed 9th inning rally.

GO CUBS GO!