Today was a game you don't see very often: The Chicago Cubs defeated the Houston Astros 1-0 after 16 innings! Not only is that great pitching on both sides but it also shows a steely determination to win. Most people think games are exciting when both teams score a bunch of runs. Those kinds of games can get boring with all the pitching changes, high counts, throws to first and so on. A 1-0 game is a thriller, especially when at the ballpark. To have a 16 inning 1-0 game had to be very, very exciting especially when the box score says that they played those 16 innings in two hours and twenty-two minutes!

The game was Sammy Sosa's second game back from his toe problem that kept him out of so many games this year. Last night against Wade Miller, he struck out the first three at bats and then popped out to the catcher on the fourth. Tonight, he struck out five of his first six at bats. And so I would have been pessimistic if I had been a Cubs fan when Sosa came up in the 16th as the Cubs had mounted a rally. After all, he had struck out eight times in ten at bats. To make matters worse, Sosa's entire team had struck out twenty-three times already in the game, which is a franchise record.

So Sosa comes up with a man on first and third. Jimy (why does he only have one "m" in his name?) Williams brings Craig Biggio in from the outfied to give Sosa five infielders to look at. Sosa did hit the ball at an infielder, but it bounced out of Jeff Kent's glove and the Cubbies got the win. Moises Alou had saved the game in the ninth inning when he threw out Lance Berkman at home with a perfect throw.

The most exciting 1-0 game that I witnessed live was at Yankee Stadium on Bat Day with 55,000+ fans in attendance. I can't remember now who pitched for the Yankees or who pitched for the other team or even who the other team was (I think it was Oakland). Craig Nettles won the game in the eigth inning with a homerun. That was the best game I ever saw live.

Speaking of Craig Nettles, it is remarkable how similar his lifetime stats are to Brooks Robinson. They both played 22 seasons. They both had over 1300 RBI. Robinson hit for a higher average but Nettles hit a hundred and twenty more homers. Robinson had 70 more total extra base hits. Robinson's lifetime fielding percentage was .971 and Nettles .961. I watched them both as a kid as the Orioles played the Yankees a lot and those were the Orioles glory years. Robinson's fielding in the World Series against the Reds was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen...until I saw Craig Nettles' amazing performance in his World Series against the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. If Robinson is a Hall of Famer, which he is, Nettles just misses.


I'm still unhappy about the Kim/Hildenbrand trade between the Red Sox and the Diamondbacks. I think it was a bad trade for the Sox. I'm not surprised that they have lost four in a row after playing so well. Whenever you mess up what you are doing successfully, you aren't doing a smart thing.

But it does give us one more chance to talk about how international this game has gotten (and no, I'm not against that). Today, Korean pitcher Seo stifled the Braves as the Mets won 4-2. Shinjo, from Japan, had a key RBI in that game. Ichiro hit a homerun today and his teammate Suzuki got the save. Choi didn't do much for the Cubs today in that long game against the Astros. Matsui, of the Yankees, took the collar today against the Tigers. Ichiro is still the only superstar.

I read Peter Gammons column today at ESPN.com. The man is an amazing writer and my half hour reading his column is still one of the most entertaining times of my week. I miss him on Baseball Tonight though...

Roger Clemens goes for 300 again tomorrow. Let's hope tomorrow does it! Come on, Yankees! Score him a bunch of runs and get this milestone out of the way!