Cubs postseason has Santo full of smiles

The broadcaster also is enjoying that Shea Stadium has no games this week.

PHOENIX (AP) — Ron Santo has been walking around town with a big smile all week.

It’s easy to understand why. His beloved Chicago Cubs are in the playoffs. And the New York Mets aren’t, thanks to a spectacular September collapse.

“I’m very happy about it,” said Santo, the Cubs radio analyst who loathes almost everything about New York, especially Shea Stadium and the Mets.

Santo has another, perhaps more important, reason to be happy. Despite struggling with diabetes, heart disease and cancer, he’s healthy enough to work the Cubs’ NL playoff series against the Diamondbacks, which opened with a 3-1 Arizona victory on Wednesday night.

Last time

That wasn’t the case in 2003, when the Cubs came within five outs of the World Series. At the end of the regular season, Santo returned to his offseason home in Arizona to undergo an operation for cancer in his bladder.

He watched from Scottsdale as the Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves in the division series. Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood honored Santo by hanging the former third baseman’s retired No. 10 jersey in the clubhouse during the playoffs. Wood also called from the celebration after the Cubs beat the Braves.

“That was very emotional for me,” Santo said.

The Cubs then took what appeared to be a commanding lead over the Florida Marlins in the NL championship series. With ace Mark Prior on the mound, Chicago needed five outs to win its first pennant since 1945.

Five outs away

“When they were five outs away, I figured we were going to get to the World Series,” Santo said. “I called my doctor and I said, ‘Can we wait for this operation?’

“It was cancer in the bladder that hadn’t gone out,” Santo said. “He says, ‘Yeah, we can wait.’ So then I called [the Cubs], and they were going to send a plane for me to go back and do the World Series.”

Then came Steve Bartman, and the rest is part of Cubs’ lore. The Marlins, not the Cubs, faced the New York Yankees in the World Series.

But next year is the Cubs fan’s best friend. Four years later, Santo is basking in the spotlight as the Cubs take another shot at their first World Series title since 1908.

“It’s me being here that is the happiest time of my life,” Santo said.

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WEDNESDAY’S BOX

DIAMONDBACKS 3, CUBS 1

CHICAGOARIZONA

abrhbiabrhbi

ASrano lf5000CBYng cf4010

JJones cf3000Drew ss4121

DeLee 1b4110Byrnes lf4000

ARmrz 3b4000TClark 1b4000

CFloyd rf4000Rynlds 3b3111

DeRosa 2b2010Salazar rf2000

Soto c3000CSnydr c2100

Theriot ss4011Ojeda 2b3020

CZmro p3010Webb p2000

Mrml p0000CJcksn ph0001

Howry p0000Lyon p0000

Ward ph0000Vlverde p0000

Cedeno pr0000

Totals32141Totals28363

Chicago000001000—1

Arizona00010020x—3

E—Reynolds (1). DP—Chicago 1. LOB—Chicago 9, Arizona 4. 2B—CZambrano (1), Ojeda (1). HR—Drew (1), Reynolds (1). SB—CBYoung (1). SF—CJackson.

IPHRERBBSO

Chicago

CZambrano641118

Marmol L,0-1122212

Howry100002

Arizona

Webb W,1-0741139

Lyon100000

Valverde S,1100011

HBP—by Webb (DeRosa). WP—Webb. Umpires—Home, Ed Montague; First, Sam Holbrook; Second, Greg Gibson; Third, Mike Everitt; Left, Mike Reilly; Right, Mark Carlson. T—2:33. A—48,864.

XThursday’s Cubs-Diamondbacks game was not completed in time for this edition.