Remembering a wild crosstown throwdown between the Cubs and White Sox

It's always fun to look back at classic Cubs-White Sox games, right? Today we will go down memory lane to a crosstown game from 2006. No, not Michael Barrett punching A.J. Pierzynski. This was the final matchup between the two teams at Wrigley Field that season on July 2, 2006. While the pitching matchup featured two aces in Carlos Zambrano and Mark Buehrle, it ended in a 15-11 Cubs win.

Twenty-six runs on 34 hits and nine home runs combined between the two teams. Buehrle gave up 11 runs (10 earned) while Zambrano gave up seven runs, all earned.

While a great game, it was not a battle of the Titans but more like David vs. Goliath. The Cubs were en route to a 96-loss season and were battling for Pittsburgh for last. They had 50 losses by the end of June for only the second time in franchise history up to that point. Meanwhile, the White Sox were the defending World Series champions with the best offense in baseball. They were battling Detroit for first place at that point. The city was still charged up from the infamous brawl back in May.

Looking more at the game, the Cubs were desperately trying to avoid being swept at home. Overall the Cubs were 1-4 in the crosstown series that season heading into the finale. Just the day before the Cubs blew it epically in the ninth inning when Pierzynski hit a go-ahead homer with two outs off Ryan Dempster on national TV. It got uglier when some Cubs fans in the bleachers threw trash onto the field in frustration.

While Sox fans normally show up well at Wrigley Field for the crosstown showdown, this series was different than the others. It seemed like there was more black and white in the stands than blue by a 60-40 ratio for all three games. When the Sox scored, it was insanely loud on the North Side that weekend with plenty of "Let's go White Sox" chants ringing out. The home side fans needed something in this final game.

It felt like more of the same in the top of the first when Zambrano gave up two runs, including a bloop RBI single to Pierzynski. However, the Cubs swung the bats early and often and put up a seven spot off Buehrle in the bottom of the first. This included home runs by Neifi Pérez, Barrett and Zambrano. The Sox made it 7-5 on a three-run shot by Juan Uribe in the top of the fourth, but the Cubs responded in the bottom of the fifth to make it 11-5 with Pérez homering again.

Both sides continued to exchange runs over the next few innings, but it looked like the Cubs were finally putting the game on ice in the eighth when Ángel Pagán homered to make it 15-10. Figures the Sox would load the bases in the top of the ninth off Bob Howry with one out, putting the tying run on deck, but a flyout by Uribe and groundout by Joe Crede ended the game.

Most people will remember the brawl and the blown game from this season, but this game was part of that crazy crosstown series. Nothing more than acknowledging a fun little nugget in Cubs history.