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Add Bryan LaHair to the list that includes Tony Campana as players who can excite Chicago Cubs fans.
Maybe not hopes for a winning team any time soon, but what do you want?
A recent callup from the minor leagues, LaHair homered on a 2-0 pitch with a man on base and two outs in the ninth to tie Tuesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.
So what if the Reds prevailed 4-2 in 13 innings.
Cubs fans who had been silent most of the night finally had a chance to cheer when LaHair’s left-handed swing sent the ball soaring into the right-field stands.
“I just got a good pitch to hit,” said LaHair, whose last homer was Sept. 20, 2008. “I’ve been saying it all along, I’m just trying to hit balls hard. I just let the bat do the work. It was an incredible moment. It’s always fun to do something like that. The team really appreciated it, they were really happy for me. It’s a good feeling.
“Before my at-bat, I talked to Carlos Pena about how [Mike Leake] was pitching him,” LaHair said. “He gave me some advice on how some of [Leake’s pitches] move, those kinds of things. My whole focus was to get a good pitch and hit it hard.”
The question is how hard it will be for manager Mike Quade to keep LeHair and some other players who might merit a late-season look out of the lineup.
Maybe Quade still harbors hopes of catching the Pittsburgh Pirates for fourth place in the National League Central.
Maybe Quade wants to end what very likely could be his last season on the job with as many victories as possible.
Maybe someone in the front office should tell Quade to play the unknowns so the team will have a better idea next season whether to expect any help from any of them.
The continued presence of the 2011 regulars in the lineup really isn’t helping with decisions on 2012. And with the Cubs it seems it’s never too early to be thinking about next season.