On this date in 1985, the Chicago Cubs were playing against the San Francisco Giants. Managed by Jim Frey, the Cubs put out a lineup that started out with Billy Hatcher, Ryan Sandberg and Davey Lopes. Coming off a very good 1984 season where the Cubs won the NL East only to fall to the San Diego Padres in the NLCS, the Cubs would be in the thick of the NL East race when they played the Giants on July 5, 1985. They entered the game with a 41-35 record while the Giants would have a 29-49 record, a tough 20 games under .500. At this point, the question was whether the Cubs could compete with the upstart St Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, two teams that seemed to be coming together towards the end of the 1984 season.
I wonder how it is possible that a team could bat out of order in a game today. But then again, it find it weird how a team could bat out of order unless you were talking about a series of double switches where one may not know exactly which players got switched to which spot. But manager Frey wrote out the lineup which started with Hatcher, Sandberg and Lopes and handed it to the homeplate umpire before the game. For what ever reason, after Hatcher reached base via walk, up to the plate came Davey Lopes. Perhaps Frey had written Lopes and Sandberg out of order on his second copy put in the dugout, but nonetheless Lopes took a pitch from Giants starting pitcher Vida Blue. It was at that point where somebody noticed the wrong person was at the plate. However, it was not the Giants as the Cubs were able to send Sandberg to the plate without it costing them an automatic out. After Lopes went back to the ondeck circle, Hatcher was picked off 1B by Blue and Sandberg followed with a single. Lopes would then hit a 2B to get Sandberg to third. After a walk to Keith Moreland to fill the bases, Leon Durham would single to score Sandberg. To add to the silliness, Moreland was tagged out trying to advance from 1st to 3rd even though Lopes held at third base. A Jody Davis fly out to CF ended the inning and the Cubs chances at a big inning.
The Giants scored 3 runs in the top of the 4th inning and led 3-2 going into the top of the 7th inning. Relief pitcher Warren Brusstar came into the game for the Cubs and would give up 5 hits and a walk (intentional) without retiring a batter. He was relieved by Lary Sorensen with the Giants scoring 7 runs before they were done batting. An error by SS Chris Speier allowed a run to score (on what should have been the third out) and a single by Manny Trillo scored two unearned runs to put the Giants up 10-2. Though the Cubs scored 4 runs in the bottom half, the game was never close again with the Giants winning the game 13-6.
A 2 run HR by 3B Chris Brown, traded a couple years later to the Padres in the deal that included 1989 NL MVP Kevin Mitchell and 1989 NL Cy Young winner Mark Davis, kind of finished the game off. Including loss to the Giants, the Cubs would finish off the season 36-49 and the season at 77-84, a big disappointment after what was expected from the defending NL East Champions. Several players were moved after the season and eventually, both Frey and GM Dallas Green would lose their jobs. Side note: in addition to Sandberg and Lopes, a total of four players in the game would become MLB managers including catcher Bob Brenly and OF Ron Roenicke. The Giants current broadcast team of Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper were both on that Giants team and Sorensen is currently a MLB broadcaster.
I wonder how it is possible that a team could bat out of order in a game today. But then again, it find it weird how a team could bat out of order unless you were talking about a series of double switches where one may not know exactly which players got switched to which spot. But manager Frey wrote out the lineup which started with Hatcher, Sandberg and Lopes and handed it to the homeplate umpire before the game. For what ever reason, after Hatcher reached base via walk, up to the plate came Davey Lopes. Perhaps Frey had written Lopes and Sandberg out of order on his second copy put in the dugout, but nonetheless Lopes took a pitch from Giants starting pitcher Vida Blue. It was at that point where somebody noticed the wrong person was at the plate. However, it was not the Giants as the Cubs were able to send Sandberg to the plate without it costing them an automatic out. After Lopes went back to the ondeck circle, Hatcher was picked off 1B by Blue and Sandberg followed with a single. Lopes would then hit a 2B to get Sandberg to third. After a walk to Keith Moreland to fill the bases, Leon Durham would single to score Sandberg. To add to the silliness, Moreland was tagged out trying to advance from 1st to 3rd even though Lopes held at third base. A Jody Davis fly out to CF ended the inning and the Cubs chances at a big inning.
The Giants scored 3 runs in the top of the 4th inning and led 3-2 going into the top of the 7th inning. Relief pitcher Warren Brusstar came into the game for the Cubs and would give up 5 hits and a walk (intentional) without retiring a batter. He was relieved by Lary Sorensen with the Giants scoring 7 runs before they were done batting. An error by SS Chris Speier allowed a run to score (on what should have been the third out) and a single by Manny Trillo scored two unearned runs to put the Giants up 10-2. Though the Cubs scored 4 runs in the bottom half, the game was never close again with the Giants winning the game 13-6.
A 2 run HR by 3B Chris Brown, traded a couple years later to the Padres in the deal that included 1989 NL MVP Kevin Mitchell and 1989 NL Cy Young winner Mark Davis, kind of finished the game off. Including loss to the Giants, the Cubs would finish off the season 36-49 and the season at 77-84, a big disappointment after what was expected from the defending NL East Champions. Several players were moved after the season and eventually, both Frey and GM Dallas Green would lose their jobs. Side note: in addition to Sandberg and Lopes, a total of four players in the game would become MLB managers including catcher Bob Brenly and OF Ron Roenicke. The Giants current broadcast team of Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper were both on that Giants team and Sorensen is currently a MLB broadcaster.
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