2008/Early 2009 Highlights Thread

Radio Highlights

http://wgnradio.com/images/stories/sports/cubswgn3.gif

The calls of this magical 2008 season as brought to you by Pat Hughes ("This ball's got a chaaaance..."), Ron Santo ("OH GOSH!"), Cory Provus (...) and the occasional Dave Otto ("You gotta be some kinda strong...") on WGN Radio 720 AM. Continually updated as the big blue train rolls on.

All MP3s are direct from MLB's Gameday Audio online radio feed (an excellent value if you don't already have it; home and road team radio feeds for every game, pre-, regular and postseason for only $15 flat), recorded and mixed with Audacity and tagged with iTunes. Please preemptively forgive any rough edits you might come across; I know there are a few scattered across these MP3s.

All highlights are tagged with album art, the date, the score and a brief summary matching those found here (viewable in an iTunes playlist by selecting View > View Options and checking the "Comment" checkbox).

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2009 highlights will go here until we get 3-4 good ones.

March 31, 2008 - Opening Day

Kosuke Fukudome launches a game-tying, three-run homer off of Eric Gagné in the 9th in his Cubs debut on Opening Day 2008. The only highlight from a losing effort on this list.

April 15, 2008 - Cubs 9, Reds 5

Mark DeRosa, Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot homer to power the Cubs to a victory and hand Aaron Harang his first career loss at Wrigley Field.

April 21, 2008 - Cubs 7, Mets 1

The Cubs break through late with a two-run single from Ronny Cedeno and a three-run homer from Felix Pie to down the Mets at Wrigley.

April 23, 2008 - Cubs 7, Rockies 6

Aramis Ramirez homers off of Manny Corpas in the 9th in Denver, only to have Kerry Wood blow the save and Ryan Theriot drive in the go-ahead run in the 10th as the Cubs reach their 10,000th franchise victory.

May 10, 2008 - Cubs 7, Diamondbacks 2

Daryle Ward, Alfonso Soriano, Ryan Theriot, Aramis Ramirez and Kosuke Fukudome contribute to a six-run seventh inning as the Cubs handle the Diamondbacks at Wrigley Field.

May 11, 2008 - Cubs 6, Diamondbacks 4

On Mother's Day, Reed Johnson belts a game-tying, two-run shot for his first Cubs home run and Daryle Ward drives in the go-ahead runs on a pinch-hit double as the Cubs complete a home sweep of the Diamondbacks.

May 19, 2008 - Cubs 7, Astros 2

A bizarre carom off of the left-center field wall in Houston gives Geovany Soto a three-run, inside-the-park home run as the Cubs down the Astros.

May 28, 2008 - Cubs 2, Dodgers 1

A blown save by Dodgers closer Takashi Saito sends the contest into extra innings, where Alfonso Soriano drives in Mike Fontenot for the game-winning run.

May 30, 2008 - Cubs 10, Rockies 9

Down 9-1 in the 5th inning, the Cubs stage a furious, miraculous comeback against the Rockies at Wrigley, capped by Mark DeRosa's go-ahead, two-run home run in the 7th inning.

June 12, 2008 - Cubs 3, Braves 2

Clad in 1948 throwback uniforms, Jim Edmonds homers to tie the game in the 9th inning and Reed Johnson walks off with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the 11th inning.

June 20, 2008 - Cubs 4, White Sox 3

Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez go back-to-back in the 7th inning to tie the game and Aramis walks off with a solo home run in the 9th inning as the Cubs win Game 1 of the Wrigley series against the White Sox.

June 21, 2008 - Cubs 11, White Sox 7

A nine-run fourth inning, featuring two different sets of back-to-back home runs and two home runs by Jim Edmonds, powers the Cubs to a second victory against the White Sox at Wrigley.

July 11, 2008 - Cubs 3, Giants 1

Aramis Ramirez launches a mammoth, tie-breaking, pole-wrapping, three-run homer in the 8th inning to propel the Cubs to another home victory.

July 12, 2008 - Cubs 8, Giants 7

A sterling Cubs debut for right-hander Rich Harden is spoiled when Carlos Marmol gives up five runs in the 9th inning, but the day is won when Reed Johnson singles in Mark DeRosa in the 11th inning.

July 27, 2008 - Cubs 9, Marlins 6

In danger of relinquishing first place, the Cubs overcome an early deficit and go on to take the lead with a pinch-hit, three-run double in the 8th inning from Mike Fontenot to maintain a share of the division lead.

July 31, 2008 - Cubs 11, Brewers 4

Jim Edmonds homers twice including a grand slam, Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome also go yard and Rich Harden pitches seven strong innings as the Cubs complete an improbable four-game sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee.

August 3, 2008 - Cubs 8, Pirates 5

Reed Johnson crushes a go-ahead, pinch-hit, two-run home run in the 8th inning, followed by an Alfonso Soriano solo shot, as the Cubs take down the Pirates at Wrigley.

August 5, 2008 - Cubs 11, Astros 7

Alfonso Soriano belts a tie-breaking, three-run home run in the 7th inning as the Cubs knock off the Astros at Wrigley Field.

August 6, 2008 - Cubs 11, Astros 4

The Cubs erase a 4-1 deficit in the third inning behind a Mark DeRosa grand slam and an Alfonso Soriano three-run home run as they bludgeon the Astros into submission at Wrigley.

August 8, 2008 - Cubs 3, Cardinals 2

Former Cardinals star Jim Edmonds homers twice against his former team and unlikely hero Henry Blanco drives in the winning run in the 11th inning at Wrigley.

August 15, 2008 - Cubs 6, Marlins 5

Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward launches a go-ahead, three-run homer in the 9th inning as the Cubs pull one out in Miami.

August 28, 2008 - Cubs 6, Phillies 4

Aramis Ramirez (who else?) cranks a go-ahead grand slam in the 8th inning as the Cubs come from behind to stun the Phillies at Wrigley.

September 6, 2008 - Cubs 14, Reds 9

The Cubs hit five home runs in Cincinatti, including three by Alfonso Soriano and one by pitcher Jason Marquis, as they administer a drubbing to the Reds and end a six-game losing streak.

September 14, 2008 - Cubs 5, Astros 0

A hurricane of circumstance forces the Cubs and Astros to play at "neutral" Miller Park in Milwaukee, where 23,000 screaming Cubs fans witness the team's bats awaken in support of Carlos Zambrano as he throws his first career no-hitter.

Carlos Zambrano's No-Hitter: The Complete 9th Inning

The complete bottom of the 9th inning of Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter against the Houston Astros at Miller Park as called by Pat Hughes and Ron Santo on WGN Radio on the night of Sunday, September 14th, 2008.

Please note that The Complete 9th Inning is a Megaupload URL rather than a file on my webspace like the rest of the highlights, so adjust your downloads accordingly.

September 18, 2008 - Cubs 7, Brewers 6

Down 6-2 with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 9th inning, the Cubs storm back to tie it on Geovany Soto's three-run homer and go on to win on a Derrek Lee RBI single in the 12th inning as they outlast the Brewers at Wrigley.

September 20, 2008 - Cubs 5, Cardinals 4

Ted Lilly, Alfonso Soriano, Mark DeRosa and the Cubs fend off the Cardinals at Wrigley to clinch the division title and proclaim themselves 2008 National League Central Division Champions.

2008 Chicago Cubs Highlight Mix

An excerpt from Eddie Vedder's tribute to his beloved Cubs introduces Steve Goodman's classic team anthem alongside select highlights from the Chicago Cubs 2008 season. Album art courtesy of Fred W. Hornkohl.

2009

2009 Cactus League Opener - Cubs 5, Dodgers 3

Winter goes by the wayside and hope springs eternal as the Cubs open their 2009 exhibition schedule. Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!

I'm probably overestimating the importance of providing continued highlights as the year goes on, but I assure you, good people of NSBB, I'm not being lazy in not having added Opening Day highlights at least. MLB.com picked this offseason to "update and revamp" all of their streaming media programs, including Gameday Audio. For some reason, they decided to wait until Opening Day to start troubleshooting, meaning that of the four games so far, only the 4/11 game actually has an archived audio stream and according to what little correspondence their support staff provides, anything before that was lost to the ether, never to be archived and available. Even better, because of the new player software they've started using, the games that are archived don't have play controls, meaning there's no way to fast-forward to the good parts and as such, the only way for me to do my thing would be to sit at the computer during the live game and keep Audacity continually recording the streaming audio. I'm devoted, but that's a little beyond me.

So what does this mean? Opening Day highlights probably won't go up, barring some sort of miracle (MLB.com's "support staff" has already said that archive is lost forever, more or less) and although it seems they've fixed the archiving problems, there's no estimated implementation date for play controls on the archived audio and so the punchline is that for the time being, it's more or less impossible for me to provide highlights. I'll leave this up for the duration of that being the case - if you see this gone and a shiny new 2009 highlight beyond the first ST broadcast in its place, you'll know MLB Media finally got around to fixing the myriad of problems.

Losing streak continues.

Mods, if the streak goes to 5 with a sweep by the Astros at home, I implore you to delete this thread.

Can you add tonight's highlights please?

Done; see first post.

This thread is awesome!

Not really; they're 1-7 since I put it up. :(

oh, and way to jinz them, BCVM

Tell me about it. Is there a way for me to delete this thread until they start winning again?