Dateline 26 October 2006, Fox Mill District Park Bill Smith Field.
It was a clear crisp evening as the Cubs were playing their last away game of the fall season. Manager Grossman was out of town scouting for new talent for Spring training. Coach Goldstein stepped into the manager position.
Conor led off with a solid base hit. Two wild pitches later Conor was on third. Justin walked and so did Greg. On a bad throw back to the pitcher Conor took home. Dylan took a hard pitch into the back to load the bases, but alas the next two struck out. This reporter would like to mention that the umpire seemed to have a wide outside strike zone.
The Cubs went with a new starter Danny Kehrer and a new starting catcher Robbie Kehrer. Danny struck out the first, walked the next caused a Short to First put out, but then walked the next. Two hits later and the Dodgers had 4 runs. After 1 it was 1 – 4 Dodgers.
The Cubs went down 1-2-3 in the second inning. Manager Goldstein went to the bullpen and brought in Kazuya, who put on a masterful pitching clinic and struck out the Dodgers 1-2-3. after 2 the score was still 1-4.
In the top of the 3rd the Kehrer brothers were the lead off hitters and although they did not get on they both hit the ball into play. The next up was Conor. Conor took an outside strike, and then a high pitch for a ball. At this point he stepped out of the box and pointed to right center. Conor stepped back in and put bat on ball and sent a shot to the Right Center fence. When the dust settled Conor had run the circuit and was heading back to the dugout: Home Run. Sadly that would be the end of the Cubs scoring for the night. In the bottom half of the inning Manager Goldstein again went to his Bullpen and called in Greg. Greg started with 2 quick strike outs, a walk and single placed runners on 1st and 2nd. Then Greg induced the lead off batter to pop up to Christian at second for the 3rd out.
In the 4th Greg got a base hit eventually made it to third on one wild pitch and a pick off attempt. While on second the pitcher threw the ball to the Short Stop, Greg jumped back to Second but the throw went into left field. Greg got up and tore third where he slid in safe. But again the side struck out. In the bottom of the 4th Coach Goldstein again went to that very deep bullpen and brought in Justin. Justin Struck out 3 but not before3 runs scored. So after 4 it was 2-7 Dodgers.
In the 5th the Cubs went down swinging and again Manager Goldstein went to the Bull pen and called in the Ace Closer Conor. Conor was all business and struck out the Dodgers looking 1-2-3. Again the Kehrer brothers lead off the 6th with Robbie hitting a nice shot and almost beating the threw by ½ a step. Danny went down swinging and Conor smashed another 1 bagger. But that wide outside strike zone got the cubs in the end for out 3.
This reporter asked Manager Goldstein how he felt the team played? “I was very happy with the team as a whole. We had some injuries that the players played threw, and some battle scars to talk about. Every one gave a full effort and stayed awake during the whole game. I really enjoyed the Monkey cheers while we were at bat.”
Coach Grossman was reached for a phone interview and he was asked if he was interviewing for new positions seeing how well Coach Goldstein did in his place. Coach Grossman said, “Well Coach Goldstein is routinely offered head coaching positions and we’re just lucky that our ownership is able to treat him well enough that he remains on our staff. We couldn’t do it without him and I knew the team would be in great hands tonight. We played a very tough Dodgers team and it looked like our pitching did wonderfully. Conor clearly had another great day at the plate. I’m sorry to see the season come to an end, but our guys made a lot of progress and I hope we can get many of them for our coming Spring campaign.”
