2000s

2000-05-06 — Our first game of the new millennium (depending on who you ask), but we start right where we left off as the Bucs score 6 runs in the 9th to "pirate" a victory. Note the tribute on the cover to Gracie. This would be his last year as a CUB (in 2001 he earned a World Series ring with the Snakes).

2000-06-05 — Another thriller, as the Snakes score 2 in the 10th off Aguilera (after 9 strong innings by Valdes), but 2 hits and a walk followed by a 2-out double in the bottom of the inning scores 3 and sends the crowd home happy!

2000-08-25 — Our first empty-nester (post-college) game. It's 2 - 2 going into the 8th, but Van Poppel coughs up a 3-run homer to Beltre. CUBS get 1 in the bottom of the 9th and have the winning run at the plate, but it was not to be.

2001-05-18 — Once again Grace is the Player of the Game, but this time it is for the Snakes, in his return to Wrigley. Johnson, Kim, and Prinz combine for 16 K's and hold the CUBS to 1 hit (a first inning single by Coomer)!

2001-07-12 — A close game until Gutierrez' Grand Slam in the 8th.

2001-07-15 — CUBS manage only 4 hits, but win!

2001-07-24 — A steamy July night! Everyone had at least 1 hit! Sammy goes 4 for 5 with a homer and 5 RBI's.

2001-08-07 — Wildest finish ever! Most baseball "plays" (i.e., ball put in play) last less than 5 seconds. The last play of this game took over 20 seconds! An eternity in baseball! See back of scorecard for complete details.

2001-08-26 — Once again, Sammy carries the day. He goes 3-for-4 with 4 RBI's and 2 home runs! They are numbers 50 and 51 giving him 4 straight years of 50 homers, something no one else has ever done. Also, the CUBS hit for the cycle in the first (Young - single, Tucker - double, McGriff - triple, and Sammy - homer!)

2001-08-30 — A rare "ladies day" game: Wendy and Gramma Paulie! McGriff goes 2-for-3 with a home run and 4 RBI's.

2001-09-29 — Fan Appreciation Weekend and Em's 19th birthday! In the 1st inning, McGriff, White, and Hundley hit home runs on 3 straight pitches! Also, note the appeal to help victims of 9/11.

2001-10-03 — Sammy….again…2-for-4 with 4 RBI's and home run #61!!!!! Lieber wins his 20th! (First time since Maddux in '92!)

2002-05-22 — Sammy homers and scores 3 runs, but the story for this game was the 1st start for rookie phenom Mark Prior. He went 6 innings, gave up 2 runs, and struck out 10! Note the great tribute to Scorecards of the Past on the cover.

2002-06-24 — Bill Buckner Night! One of the great CUBS of all time!

2002-09-02 — Moises Alou hit a 2-run homer in the 1st for the CUBS. The Brewers hit 4 solo home runs (2 by Ronnie Beliard) into the basket! The starting (and losing) pitcher was Steve Smyth, who appeared in 8 games for the CUBS in 2002 and then was never heard of again. A bitter cup of coffee indeed.

2003-05-26 — How can there be a Player of the Game in a 10 - 0 shellacking? Well…it was 1 - 0 when Wood came out after 7 innings. Then 3 relievers combined to give up 9 runs in the 8th! Ugly with a capital U.NOTE: This is our 162nd CUBS game!!! So at the end of our "first season" (spanning almost 40 years) the CUBS record was 96 - 66 (a .593 winning percentage); probably good enough for FIRST PLACE in most years!"

2003-07-09 — A complete game 3-hitter for Wood! Sosa and Hernandez each hit 2-run homers in the 8th to break open a tie game!

2003-07-13 — A big Sunday Night Besbol telecast; last game before the All-Star Break. Em and I shouted "We love Jon and Joe!", and Jon Miller waved back and blew us a kiss!

2003-08-16 — Wood: 2.2 innings, 5 hits, 4 walks, 5 runs! BUM! Rami 2-for-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI's. 90 degrees, with jets buzzing over from the Air Show. CUBS in 1st place! A real nice cover, too!

2003-09-02 — Second game of a day-night double-header (after Sammy won the 1st game with a 15th inning homer!). Cubs start the game 1/2 game behind the Cards, and eventually win 4 out of 5 in this series (of course, this was their only loss!) and never look back!

2003-10-03 Playoff — CUBS are Central Division Champs! Despite 50 degrees and light rain, it's a complete game 2-hitter by Prior as he beats Maddux!

2003-10-08 Playoff — We're deep into October as the CUBS advance to the League Championship Series! Down 1 game to none against the Wild Card Fish, the CUBS explode for a 12 - 3 win to tie the series.

2004-04-18 — Wind blowing straight out at 30 mph. Maddux gets pounded. Sammy hits 2 home runs to pass Ernie on the career HR list. It's 9 - 9 after 9; Borowski gives up 2 in the 10th. CUBS get 1 back, but fall short.

2004-05-07 — Carlos faces 29 batters as he throws a complete game, 2-hit shutout. The first hit came with 2 outs in the 5th; the 2nd with 1 out in the 9th.

2004-06-02 — Clemens bests Clement.

2004-06-06 — This was the year the CUBS added 3 rows of seats from dugout to dugout. So of course, we had to sit there for a game! We were directly behind home plate! Excellent seats! We paid more at face value for these seats than I did for scalped tickets for Opening Night!Our personal attendance goes over 5 million!!!!

2004-07-31 — Game 104 of the season marks the earliest the CUBS season attendance has passed 2 million! The bum who cost us the 2003 NLCS Game 6 victory (Alex Gonzales) is traded for Nomar Garciaparra!

2005-05-29 — Aramis and Jeromy each have 4 RBI's. Another very good scorecard cover. How many CUBS Hall of Famers can you name? (Cover in honor of Sandberg's election).

2005-09-25 — Burnitz hits a 2-out 2-run homer in the 7th to put the CUBS up 3 - 2 on a rainy (1 hour delay) last home game of the year.

2006-07-14 — CUBS take a 1st inning 2 - 0 lead, but can't hold it as Maddux gives up 4 in the 4th. Then, a 45 minute rain delay right after the CUBS are retired in the 5th (so it was an official game at that point!). We are 20 games under .500, in 5th place! A nice scorecard cover gives a tip of the hat to the guys in the scoreboard.

2006-07-29 — Maddux's last game (again) as a CUB. A very strange game featuring a steal of home (Pagan), a pickoff at 2nd by the catcher, a 9-6-1 double play, and the CUBS not striking out for the entire game for the first time since 5/21/02!

2006-08-19 — Mom, Dad, Em, and Poppy saw a thriller! Nevin put the CUBS up by 1 after 8. The Cards tied it in the 9th and it came down to bases loaded, 2 outs and guess who was up?! Yup: Pujols. He crushed the ball to straight away center and Pierre leaped as high as he could go and came down in a shower of ivy WITH THE BALL! WHEW!!! Then, Nevin won it in the 10th with a bases-loaded single!

2007-05-28 — CUBS are down 5 - 0 until the bottom of the 9th when they string together 4 of their 8 hits and score 3 runs, but Ramirez strikes out with the tying runs on base.

2007-06-14 — A combined 3-hitter by 5 pitchers including the major league debut (and only CUBS appearance) of Clay Rapada.

2007-06-25 — Em's first game in the bleachers in 20 years!!! Fontenot goes 5-for-5. CUBS led 8 - 3 after 8 and then Eyre and Howry combined to give up 6 runs in the 9th! The big blow was a 3-run homer by Tulowitzki, after which a fan rushed out to the mound and asked Howry "What are you doing?" right before he was tackled by the security guard. Can you imagine how the crowd felt? But then, the CUBS miraculously scored 2 in the bottom with 2 outs. The winning hit was a single to center by Soriano! WHOA! (Note the similarities to the 9/7/88 first family night game!)

2007-08-16 — A big 7 run 7th (with NO home runs) put this one away. Also the MLB debut of Carmen Pignatiello.

2007-08-20 — CUBS at 62 - 59, in 1st by 1 game over the Brewers. Game rained out in the 7th, but not before Pignatiello comes in and throws 1 pitch to Ankiel - which he deposits over the left field wall.

2007-08-31 — CUBS still in 1st place.

2007-09-01 — CUBS still in 1st place.

2007-10-06 Playoff — After losing the first two games in Arizona, the CUBS came back to Wrigley. It was 80 degrees (!) and about 110% humidity; it was stifling! One of the hottest times ever at the ballpark. After his 1-hit gem on Saturday, we were expecting a lot from Rich Hill. But his first pitch left the yard and the game, series, and season were over all too soon.

2008-04-21 — A big birthday game! Felix Pie hits a pinch-hit 3-run homer to cap off a big 5 run 8th!

2008-06-10 — 9th straight home win as the CUBS continue to have the best record in both leagues!

2008-08-05 — CUBS in 1st by 5! Uncle Dan and Dina in attendance! We take an early 6 - 1 lead. Astros pull to 6 - 5 in the 7th. Two outs, man on 2nd, Carlos Lee up. Lou ASKS Howry if he wants to pitch to him! Are you kidding? First pitch ends up in the seats! But the CUBS come right back and score 5 in the bottom of the inning! Note: Sudoku on the scorecard.

2008-08-09 — 20th anniversary (!) of the first "complete" night game at Wrigley. CUBS still in 1st by 5; Cards in 3rd, 7 GB. Wind blowing out at 15 mph. Zambrano hits a home run, but gives up 4 and gets pounded for 10 hits and 9 runs.

2008-08-21 — Just like the last game, Zambrano hit a home run, only this time it turned out to be the game winner. The CUBS had one hit in each of the first 6 innings, but could only push across 3 runs. They were then hitless for the last two. The Reds, meanwhile, could only get one solo shot off of Carlos #1 and another off of Carlos #2 (Marmol).

2008-08-23 — CUBS leave 8 on in the first 3 innings, even though the wind is blowing out. But in the 4th they break through on a couple of hits and Ramirez' 3-run homer! Dempster holds the Nats at bay through 7. In the 8th, a couple of hits and Ramirez hits ANOTHER 3-run homer to make it a true laugher!

2008-09-03 — CUBS look flat in their 5th straight loss; longest streak of the season, and all at home!

2008-10-01 — Our 2nd straight crushing playoff game in a row. Dempster was wild; walked 7 in 4.2 innings. The worst was in the 5th when he walked the bases loaded and gave up a grand-slam to Loney. This put us down 0 - 1 in the series and took away home field advantage. Only the 3rd time in our history with 42,000+ in attendance.

2009-05-31 — The game was over early as Marshall gave up hits (and runs) to the first 5 batters of the game!!

2009-07-07 — Zambrano started because Dempster broke his toe jumping out of the dugout in celebration of the previous day's victory! This just after Ramirez returned from 2.5 months on the DL! Another case of missed opportunities. Our 200th Cubs game, and it puts us over 6 million in attendance!

2009-08-13 — A beautiful anniversary day (even though the Cubs lost their 5th straight and were swept in the series).

2009-09-02 — Ted Lilly throws a 5-hitter and D-Lee hits a 2-run homer. That's all it takes for a 2 - 0 victory over the Astros.