With the first game of the year between last year's championship series participants on tap,
there was suspense all night long.

The suspense started before the game even started. At about 4:00 pm there was a pop-up rain storm that
hit Watervliet hard. When I was on the way to the field to check it out, there were huge puddles everywhere in
Watervliet, right up to one street away from the park. When I took that last turn toward the park and the field came into view,
I could plainly see that storm had not hit the ballpark. Whew! Dodged that bullet. The big guy upstairs seemingly
wanted this game played on this night.

The Yanks got off to a flying start with a leadoff single by Lex Herlett followed by Bob Altobelli reaching on an error.
Tony Parella followed with a RBI double and Darrell Duncan pitched in with a RBI single. Suddenly, it was 2-0 with runners at 1st and 2nd
and nobody out, looking like a possible blow out. Mark Marshall then hit a grounder to 3rd, for what looked like a routine double play,
but the Cub's third baseman just threw directly to first (a mental error), resulting in just one out and two runners in scoring position.
Cubs' starter, Mike Girard, picked him up by getting a grounder to short that Carlos Espada fielded and threw home to get Parella by a wide
margin. Another fielder's choice ensued and the Cubs were out of the inning with giving up just 2 runs.

The Cubs answered with a quick run in the bottom of the first. Espada walked and stole second, and a wild pitch got him to third.
One out later, Chris Dunn stroked a sacrifice fly to left, and at 2-1, the game was on. The Yanks would rally again in the 3rd inning, scoring
3 runs on a walk and 4 very well placed singles by Bob Altobelli, Mark Marshall, Dave Smitherman, and Kevin Higgins. They came out of
the 3rd inning with a 5-1 lead.

That 4-run lead looked like a 10-run lead as Doug Duell was dealing on the mound for the Yanks. He limited the potent Cubs attack to just 4 singles
through the first 6 innings. Using a sharp breaking pitch and a plus fastball, it looked like this was going to be a very good win for the Yanks.
Remember though, how I told you there was lots of suspense, well that all came in the bottom of the 7th.

The inning looked like it was going to go the way that the first 6 had gone when Espada grounded a ball between 3rd and short that looked like it was going to be a single,
but Smitherman made a great backhanded play in the hole, and threw out Espada at 1st. One down, two to go. Paul Miles stirred things up when he walked and stole second.
Chris Dunn followed by reaching on a wild throw by the Yanks 3rd baseman after a nice play on the grounder, and Miles scored on the play.

The Yanks decided to lift Duell at this point and bring in Herlett. Jerry Rosen greeted him with a RBI single and Girard followed with a well placed single to short left center.
With the score 5-3, a wild pitch moved the two runners into scoring position and the drama was on. Ron Lochner drilled a hard grounder to second base, but the ball caromed
off the second baseman's glove and into short center field; and by the time the ball was returned to the infield, both runners came around to score and the game was suddenly tied
at 5. Lex got PJ Martone to ground into a fielder's choice and it looked like the game might go to extra frames. With 2 outs Ron Massaroni singled, and Martone was running
on the pitch so he got all of the way around to third. With the winning run just 90 feet away the Yanks decided to walk veteran Jim McQuade to load the bases and
face 55+ rookie, Mark Myers. Myers took the first three pitches to result in a 2-1 count. Herlett then missed with the next two pitches and Myers was the proud
owner of walk-off RBI walk. Cubs win 6-5!

On a night when Doug Duell pitched great, and the Yanks outhit the Cubs 12-7, the Cubs still found a way to win. Outstanding effort and grit shown by the defending
champs and a very tough loss for the Yanks. The Cubs improve to 6-0 on the season, while the Yanks drop to 4-2. These two teams will meet quite a few more times
as the season rolls along, and both teams are looking forward to each one of those meeting. They are always a good time!


-- Edited by mgirard11 on Friday 20th of June 2025 10:25:44 AM