‘Babe’ Maddux connects
CHICAGO — Greg Maddux got shoved out of the dugout for a curtain call after a rare home run, a strange sight for sure at Wrigley Field.
But this was not like any other regular-season game, even though it was. It was the Cubs meeting the Red Sox for the first time since the 1918 World Series, and there was an electric feeling all day.
Everyone could feel it. Even the 39-year-old Maddux, known for his no-big-deal shoulder shrugs, was soaking it up.
“It’s always fun. There’s not a lot of history between these two teams, and I think that’s what made it a little bit special today,” Maddux said after the Cubs erupted for 20 hits – four homers – to rout the World Series champions 14-6 Friday in Red Sox’s first visit to Wrigley.
Maddux (5-3) got career win No. 310, allowing seven hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings, including David Ortiz’s sixth-inning homer. Ortiz also homered in the ninth for Boston.
A buzzing crowd of 39,215, including a noisy contingent of red-clad Red Sox fans, withstood a sweltering 89-degree day of high humidity.
“It had sort of a playoff atmosphere,” Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. “Other than the Cardinals series, rarely do you see as many fans on their side as our side.”
Jeromy Burnitz hit two of the Cubs’ homers.
“It was nice and loud. I loved when Maddux got his curtain call and after he was done. A lot of noise and a lot of energy,” Burnitz said.
The 39-year-old Maddux connected off reliever John Halama in the sixth inning, collecting his first homer since May 1999.
“I hit it high enough for the wind to blow it far enough,” Maddux said of his fifth career homer and first in six years.
The teams, known more for their curses than their postseason success until the Red Sox broke through and won the World Series last season, were meeting in the regular season for the first time.
The last time they faced off, Babe Ruth was pitching the Red Sox to the world title in six games. Boston didn’t win another one until last season, so one of the teams with a so-called curse is off the hook.
The Cubs still haven’t won a World Series since 1908 or been in once since 1945 when, according to legend, a local bar owner put a hex on the team because his goat was barred from Game 4.
The agony for long-suffering Red Sox fans may have ended, the “The Curse of the Bambino” over with a victory over the Yankees and then the Cardinals last fall.
In Chicago, it continues.