SAN FRANCISCO -- This must have been what it was like watching the final days of dinosaurs roaming the earth. It was so prehistoric here Saturday that when it came time to remove the last of a species, the wonder of it all was that Chicago Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild wasn't walking to the mound wearing a loin cloth and carrying a club.
Will we ever see another 300-game winner?
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| There were plenty of Cubs fans on hand to see Greg Maddux get his 300th win in San Francisco. (AP) |
Greg Maddux might not have discovered fire -- and he certainly doesn't throw smoke -- but in a few years, it may seem like he did. Look closely right now. Because with Roger Clemens working in the twilight over in Houston and with Maddux having stepped into baseball's exclusive 300-wins circle on a gorgeously sunny, historic day alongside McCovey Cove, the reaction to the seismic, modern-day shifting of baseball's numbers might be the door slamming shut right behind one of the greatest pitchers of our time.
Maddux finally allowed himself a small smile late Saturday afternoon after several weeks of downplaying his impending achievement. He has been deflecting attention as best he could, and true to his nature, he was low-key to the end.
He was in the clubhouse watching on television as the Cubs' 8-4 triumph ended. And despite the fact that many in the sold-out crowd of 42,578 stuck around in anticipation for a long while afterward, he never even took a curtain call.
"I figured we weren't in our park," Maddux said. "So it's kinda not the right thing to do."
In the aftermath, his teammates and associates in the Cubs' organization were more excited than Maddux. Truth be told, it wasn't much of a surprise to anybody who knows him.
Reliever Kent Mercker, who faced two batters in the sixth before exiting with a stiff back, stationed himself next to Maddux near the clubhouse television as the Giants began taking their final swings in the ninth inning and refused to move.
"I said, I don't care who's coming in here, your wife, your mom, your dad, I'm going to be the first one to shake your hand," said Mercker, a teammate of Maddux's in Atlanta in 1993.
Mostly, though, in the end, it was anticlimactic because Maddux didn't pitch very well and because he had departed more than an hour before the finish. Gassed, he placed Cubs manager Dusty Baker on alert before he went out to start the sixth inning with the Cubs leading 6-3. Two batters later, after Edgardo Alfonzo and A.J. Pierzynski delivered back-to-back singles, Rothschild came out to the mound.
"(Maddux) said, 'You better watch me,'" Baker said. "So when I sent Larry out, Larry said, 'Hey man, you may have to go to take him out.' I said, 'If you have to take him out, do it.'"
