The tents and lawn chairs of those lining up for playoff tickets can’t be far off.
The National League Central Division-leading Cubs–that’s right, the band that opened 0-14 last year–ran their winning streak to four with a 3-1 victory Saturday over the Montreal Expos, with none other than Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks, officially decreeing “the Cubs will be great in ’98.”
He’ll get no argument from the 25,436 who braved 40-degree temperatures and an 18 m.p.h. wind, or from the Cub who muscled a go-ahead home run through that wind.
“We’ve got some players who know how to play,” said right-fielder Sammy Sosa, who delighted his gallery with an opposite-field blast, giving the Cubs the lead for good at 2-1 in the fourth. “We’ve got a way to go, but I like the way we’re going now.”
Terry Mulholland lasted into the sixth to pick up his first victory since July 4. He allowed no earned runs, a significant improvement from a 1-2 spring during which he was touched for an 11.35 earned-run average, and received closing help from Rob Beck’s third save in three tries.
But it is not only the Cubs’ bats and arms that are winning games early. It’s their legs. Mark Grace, who notched a rare stolen base Friday and had three of the Cubs’ eight hits Saturday, tagged up on Jeff Blauser’s medium fly to center and scored the Cubs’ first run with a headfirst slide. It was a veteran play that exploited a small weakness in the Montreal outfield.
“I could just as easily have been thrown out,” Grace said. “I know (F.P.) Santangelo is a good player but not a natural center-fielder. He’s an infielder, so he’s probably not got the greatest throwing arm because he’s got to learn so many different angles from infield and outfield.”