Wild Games

The Cubs lost a game on Saturday they would and should normally have won, then came back to score an improbable victory Sunday night in a game they had no business even contesting.  I had a chance to score tickets for Sunday, but passed it up because the Cubs were going to start  Matucz instead of Hendricks.  I was congratulating myself for the wisdom of my decision after three innings with the team down 6-0.  Later on, of course, I changed my mind.

I cannot dispute the idea of giving the starters an extra day off.  However, Matusz?  I mean, this guy should be put on the first bus back to Iowa or parts unknown.  He was seriously bad, and the Cubs were lucky they were down only six runs when Maddon finally pulled him.  The ESPN guys were speculating that starting him was some sort of showcase effort.  In that case, it misfired for sure.

Things got a lot better once Matusz was gone.  Edwards continues to impress.  The crowd was treated to another Maddon magic show when he swapped out Wood and Strop for a couple of innings.  Maddon is either a genius or lucky as hell.  Strop gave up a long fly ball to left that Travis Wood somehow wandered around and caught against the ivy.  Later on, in the twelfth inning, he pulled another rabbit out of the hat, using Jon Lester to pinch hit a squeeze bunt with two strikes to win the game.

This may be a team of destiny.  Who knows?  Along the way, they played some serious, hustling baseball.  Contreras beat the relay on an almost certain double play in the ninth to score a run.  Later he made a marvelous catch near the bullpen on a ball most left-fielders would have given up on.  Russell made several dazzling stops and throws.  Heyward, who has been stinking things up at the plate for most of the season, finally delivered a key double to start the twelfth, alertly advanced to third on Contreras' fly to center, and scored on the Lester bunt with a perfect read.

It looks as if the Cubs are done dealing with the Chapman trade, but you kind of wonder about some of the latest roster moves as possibly being showcases of some sort.  We have already discussed the Matusz start, which was preceded by optioning Grimm, a rather integral piece of the bullpen, to Iowa.  The Cubs also brought Coghlan off the DL and optioned LaStella, which was in itself an odd move, give that Coghlan was considered expendable enough to deal off to Oakland last winter, and that LaStella has performed rather consistently all year long.

The Cubs right now, and until they finally decide to carry twelve pitchers like everyone else, have too many players who should be on the major league roster and too few slots.  They are going to have to find a spot for Soler pretty soon.  Maybe they will send off Matusz to make room, but they still need to recall LaStella and Grimm and activate Cahill in the near future at least for a spot start, so somebody has to go.