Another weird, wild, wacky day at Wrigley
Why is it not surprising that there was an abundance of weird, wild stuff going on Saturday at Wrigley Field?
I guess when it's the lowly Pirates and even lowlier Cubs going at it in the final month of the season, any kind of distraction is welcome.
And man, there were plenty of those on a day that featured a little bit of everything ... including a surprise ending.
Where to start?
How about a first inning where all six Cubs batters reached first base but none scored?
Then there was the park's speaker system suddenly falling victim to a malfunction and producing an exceedingly loud — and exceedingly annoying — static-like sound, similar to snow on a TV. When team officials finally figured out how to silence the culprit, they were rewarded with a huge cheer from the 36,628 on hand.
But wait, that's not all:
There was Alfonso Soriano looking like he'd be the offensive hero after knocking in 4, almost knocking himself out on defense when he took one off the noggin on a double off the wall.
There was Casey Coleman being surprisingly effective through 6 innings (6 hits, 1 earned run, 6 strikeouts) en route to what looked like his first victory since May 19, against Florida.
There were the Cubs up 5-3 when the rains came.
There were a couple of members of the grounds crew getting lost under the tarp, but eventually finding their way out during the downpour as the dwindling crowd cheered them on.
There was the 1 hour, 31-minute rain delay and a near-empty park suddenly so quiet that when it was finally decided to play again, you could actually hear the sound of the tarp sliding along the grass.
There was a super quick finish to the seventh and eighth innings.
Then there was the ninth ... and closer Carlos Marmol on the mound.
There was Marmol loading the bases with two out and his former teammate Derrek Lee at the plate.
There was the same Lee who was making his first appearance in nearly a month since injuring his wrist launching a majestic shot to left for his 12th career grand slam, giving the Pirates a 7-5 lead, one they wouldn't relinquish.
“I actually thought it was going to go a little further,” said Lee, who had 5 RBI. “It barely made it over.”
But it did, and there, after nearly 5 hours, was an end to the wackiness.