Cubs Fan Throws Beer, Overshadows Pedro's Return

Heading into Wednesday night's nationally televised game between the Phillies and Cubs, all the talk was about Pedro Martinez's first start for the defending world champions. And while Pedro was unspectacularly solid through five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out five on 99 pitches, the story of the game has to be the Phillies' offense waking up from a weeklong nap. Philly scored eight in the fourth inning off first-time starter Jeff Samardzija and reliever Sean Marshall en route to a 12-5 win.

That had to be the story of the game, I should say, until this guy decided to show off to his friends and throw a beer at Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino as he was catching a fly ball on the warning track. Victorino somehow managed to hang on to the ball. That's why he's an All-Star, folks.

This guy? Not so much.

Get a good look at him in the front row, standing there with his hat and his wristbands and his slack-jawed grin, because it should be the last time he's ever allowed at Wrigley Field. Fans growing up in the Philadelphia area constantly hear about snowballs at Santa Claus and batteries at J.D. Drew, and nobody seems to take issue with the fact that they were isolated incidents. In the case of the batteries, it was a couple of morons in the outfield.

Well, Chicago has its fair share of morons, too. And the biggest moron Wednesday was this guy. Not only did the guy throw a beer at a player while the ball was in play, he had enough class to allow another drunk fan to get thrown out on his behalf. And, when questioned by security, he claimed it wasn't him. He obviously forgot that the game was on THREE different television networks (if he even remembered his own name at this point), so the entire country got to see what kind of jerk he is.

And this shouldn't be taken lightly. What this guy did was extremely dangerous. And it's not the first time fans in Chicago assaulted someone on the field. Sure, this is just a beer and not a vicious beating of a first-base coach, but it's still a criminal act. And it's the exact same thing that started a melee from which the NBA still hasn't fully recovered.

To his credit, Victorino took it in stride, even joking about it with Phillies broadcaster Gary Matthews after the game.

"I had a feeling yesterday something like this might happen," Victorino explained. "I've seen it happen a lot of times before. It definitely got in my face and all over me. He had perfect timing … you have to tip your hat to the guy."

On a night that was supposed to be about Pedro's victorious return to the majors, or the return of the offensive prowess that has the Phils five games up in the National League East, we're all talking about this guy.

Cubs fans sent Bartman into hiding for simply trying to catch a ball he thought was foul. Let's hope this guy gets the same kind of treatment.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.