The Cubs ended their rough 2012 season with a walk-off win against the Houston Astros as Bryan LaHair's RBI single scored pinch runner Darwin Barney for the exciting 5-4 win at Wrigley Field on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon.
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| Darwin Barney and teammates congratulate each other after ending the 2012 season with a win (photo by Karen Burchell) |
I was at the game when I saw the @Cubs tweet "We've got two dugout box seats for our final seat upgrade of the season.
First person at today's game to send their full seat location wins." I then immediately tweeted them my seat location and was pleasantly surprised to see Kevin from the Cubs show up to tell me that I had won the seat upgrade!
My daughter and I then moved to the dugout box seats right by the Cubs dugout for the rest of the game. It was definitely the highlight of my year, as we sat not even ten feet away from Dale Sveum and could always what he was doing to our left. We were also sitting amongst Todd and Tom Ricketts and Crane Kenney. Was I dreaming?
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| Our upgraded seats in the dugout box, thanks to the @Cubs on Twitter! (photo by Karen Burchell) |
Our day was topped off with a walk-off win to end the season. After the Cubs celebrated on the field, Darwin Barney entered the dugout and came out by where we were sitting and gave his bat to someone sitting behind the dugout. He then looked around and took his batting glove off and threw it to my daughter, who was so excited! We also came home with Matt Garza's bag and a baseball.
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| Darwin Barney's batting glove, Matt Garza's bag and a baseball (photo by Karen Burchell) |
I would like to give the Cubs organization, especially Kevin and his social media team my biggest thanks and appreciation for making the last game of the season such a special and memorable game for my daughter and I. It was an experience we will never forget.
I am so impressed and love how the Cubs social media team is so diligent about interacting with fans and making each one feel special. I was also touched by the tweets from fellow Cubs fans on Twitter congratulating me for winning the seat upgrade. It really meant a lot and shows just what kind of people Cubs fans really are, no matter if we have ever met in person or not.
If you're not following the @Cubs on Twitter and you're a Cubs fan, you really should follow them at
http://twitter.com/Cubs. Do it now! And if you're looking for other Cubs fans to follow and the latest Cubs news, please follow me on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/kcburchell and tweet me to say "hi!"
Anyway, onto the game recap: Travis Wood started for the Cubs and had a good outing as he allowed one run on three hits while walking five and striking out four batters over 6.1 innings pitched. Wood also had a hit and two RBIs.
The lineup consisted mainly of players that don't usually get to start, with the exception of shortstop Starlin Castro, who became the first shortstop in franchise history to play all 162 games in a season.
The Cubs ended their season with a 61-101 record, which was the third-most losses in franchise history. The Cubs lost 103 games in both 1962 and 1966.
Here are some photos I took at the game:
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| Cubs players during the National Anthem before the final game of the season (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Cubs players during the National Anthem before the final game of the season (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Cubs players during the National Anthem before the final game of the season (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Cubs players during the National Anthem before the final game of the season (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Cubs players during the National Anthem before the final game of the season (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Bryan LaHair in the on-deck circle (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Dale Sveum during the last game of the season (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Travis Wood congratulates Dave Sappelt after he scores (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Dave Sappelt after crossing home plate (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Dave Sappelt by the dugout after scoring (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Travis Wood batting with Tony Campana in the on-deck circle (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Darwin Barney between first and second base during the 9th inning of the season finale (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| Cubs win! (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| The 2012 Cubs walking off the field after ending their season with a "W" (photo by Karen Burchell) |
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| The Wrigley Field Grounds Crew sang the 7th inning stretch (photo by Karen Burchell) |
In other Cubs news, the organization fired third base coach Pat Listach after Wednesday's finale. "This is hard for me because he was one of the first people that really
saw what I had and believed in it and voiced his opinion for me a couple
of years back," Barney said. "It's tough. He's going to be fine. He has
a place in baseball and will find work for sure, but it's hard to see
him go."
Shiraz Rehman, 34, was promoted to Assistant General Manager alongside Randy Bush, both reporting to GM Jed Hoyer.
It was announced Thursday that Josh Vitters and Brett Jackson will be sent back to Triple-A Iowa to start the 2013 season in order to give them the time to better prepare for the majors.
Theo Epstein held a press conference Thursday and said, “I’m not going to sit here and say, 'Don’t worry about 101 losses
because we have a magic plan to win the World Series in 2013, (that)
it’s gonna happen, so be there now. That’s not the case.
There is a plan, there is a vision. It might be a little bit longer turn
than we all want it to be, but that we’re committed to it and that
there is a great reward at the end.”
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| Cubs President Theo Epstein held a press conference Thursday (photo from cubs.com) |
Epstein did say they would still focus on starting pitching. The team went through 30 pitchers this season, of which none won 10 games. The pitchers that won the most games were Jeff Samardzija and Paul Maholm. Joe Mather finished with the best ERA after the team had to use him in September as a last resort.
The Cubs received approval to add an additional row of 56 seats behind home plate by moving the brick wall forward three feet. They also received ap proval to reconfigure a 12-foot section of the wall along the third base line so that it would be movable by forklift so that it could be a larger buffer between the playing field and the brick wall. This would make the Friendly Confines more suitable to host college football games. In 2010, Northwestern and Illinois played against each other at Wrigley Field, but the NCAA required the offense to use only the west end zone.
It's always a little sad once baseball season comes to an end, but on the bright side, the Cubs will have the #2 draft pick in 2013, due to their won-loss record in 2012. Now it's time to enjoy the cooler weather, the holidays (which are really right around the corner) and start counting down the days to the Cubs Convention, which will be held at a new location (the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers at 201 East North Water Street in downtown Chicago) on January 18-20, 2013. Go Cubs Go!!!
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