Alou absolves fan who went after ball of blame

Chicago Sun Times ^ | October 15, 2003 | RON RAPOPORT

[new cruelty]

Dear fan in the stands who deflected a foul ball that Cubs left fielder Moises Alou had a chance to catch Tuesday at Wrigley Field:

Whoever you are, Alou forgives you.

''I feel sorry for the guy,'' said Alou, who thinks he had an excellent chance to catch the ball the Marlins' Luis Castillo hit into the first row of the stands down the left-field line and perhaps short-circuit what turned out to be an eight-run eighth inning in the Cubs' horrific 8-3 loss. ''Every fan in every ballpark goes for the ball. He wants a souvenir. Hopefully, he won't have to regret it the rest of his life if he's a Cubs fan. Hopefully, we can take that burden off him tomorrow.

''I think I had almost a 100 percent chance to catch the ball. I had a clear shot at it. I was in the middle of the play, I jumped and I thought I had timed it perfectly. My glove was right under the ball. All of a sudden, I felt a hand on my glove and felt another hand under the ball. Fans, they don't go to school to be taught about what balls to touch and not to touch.

''When it happened, I was really upset at the guy. [Mark] Prior was pitching unbelievably, and I thought, 'Come on, you cannot give a team like this another chance.' I'm upset, but we're not down on ourselves. We've already played a fifth game against Atlanta, and now we'll play a seventh game against Florida. We've got to go home, get some rest and come back tomorrow. I'm upset, but we're not down on ourselves.''

Alou was asked whether he thought the fan's play, which preceded a wild pitch by Prior and an error on a routine grounder by shortstop Alex Gonzalez that opened the floodgates to the Marlins' big inning, would be considered to be part of the curse that seems to have plagued the team through the years.

''I'm not a Cubs fan; I'm a Cubs player,'' Alou said. "I don't believe in that crap.''

[Loyal Buckeye]

Wasn't the ball a couple inches too high for him to catch?

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[<1/1,000,000th%]

He'd have caught it if the fan hadn't intervened.

[new cruelty]

I don't know. Alou says he thinks he had almost a 100% chance of catching the ball.

I think this statement sums it up nicely:

Fans, they don't go to school to be taught about what balls to touch and not to touch. -Moises Alou

: )

[Always Right]

Wasn't the ball a couple inches too high for him to catch?

Looked to me the ball was headed towards the pocket of the glove. The guys hand that deflected the ball was in the glove.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

"Chicago fire fighter Pat Looney was seated next to the fan, whose identity was not released, and said there was no misconduct.

"It looked like it was out of play. Don't blame him," Looney said. "I should've pushed him out of the way. If I saw Alou coming, I would have.

"He wasn't leaning over. He was behind the rail, he didn't know Alou was coming," he said. "It looks like I touched the ball, but I didn't. I got 50 hate calls already. The firehouse where I work is being bombarded.""

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/baseball/mlb/specials/postseason/2003/10/14/marlins.cubs.game6.ap/index.html

What I have read is the fans in the front never saw Alou coming.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

You don't know that.

[AppyPappy]

Then the fan dropped 8 runs on the Cubs

[Dog Gone]

Cub fans want a scapegoat for their team's collapse in that inning and they won't be satisfied until this fan is dragged through the streets, hung, shot and then tattooed.

[mikeb704]

''I'm not a Cubs fan; I'm a Cubs player,'' Alou said. "I don't believe in that crap.''

Sounds like Mr. Alou has quite an opinion of Cub fans.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[JustAnAmerican]

Can you say "assume a new identity"?. While I might feel a tad sorry for what this guy is going to go through, he brought it on himself, I mean what idiot trys to get a ball that his home team player has a chance of catching. And if the Cubs loose the series this guy is going to have to move to another country, not that he won't have to leave the state as is.

[ilgipper]

without that fan, there are 2 outs in the eighth, and the big MO in the Cubs dirction. It changed the game. Unfortunately, the players on the field lost their composure, and the pitchers were mis-managed, too. All contributing to a heart-breaking, history-making loss.

[new cruelty]

why tattoo him last? just curious.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Sure I do. I saw the replay about 10 times. His glove was right there to make the catch.

Now he could've missed it or had it bounce off the heel of his glove, but I'm going with, he would've caught it.

[BushCountry]

The guy was an idiot. If he was a fan, then he would have known to back off. This is the second time, not the first it happened in these playoff. The announcers then made it clear then that the first guy was an idiot, so what made the second guy think he could do the same thing? He is not a fan of baseball. Those seats cost $1,500 bucks, he should have given his seat to someone who knows and loves the game (he was listening to the radio and not paying attention to the game was his excuse?).

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I'll agree with that, he could have, but too many variables, IMO. I think his glove would have made contact with the ball, for sure. But would it have stayed in the glove? It's just one of those things we'll never know...

[dead]

Hey, for $1500 bucks, you expect a free baseball.

[grumple]

Fans, they don't go to school to be taught about what balls to touch and not to touch.

Ah, this one is way too easy not to be left to the reader's imagination...

[Dog Gone]

why tattoo him last?

I think that was the order in which the motorcycle gang chose to punish Pee Wee Herman for knocking over their bikes in Pee Wee's Big Adventure.