Wow!

Another memorable win.  There is something different about this Cubs team and I think the last two games more or less embody the difference.  This year's team doesn't lose games that turn against them at the end.  Previous Cubs teams would not have survived something like the Dodgers eighth inning comeback.  This team won.

Saturday's game was full of a lot of managerial moves, some good, some not so good, some maybe a little excessive.  As far as the Cubs go, perhaps Maddon got a little too cute with his bullpen after removing Lester.  At the time, I thought Lester might have been good for another inning or two.  After the game, Maddon explained that he thought Lester did not have his best stuff, so perhaps he was right to take him out with a chance to score an insurance run.

Roberts, on the other hand, made some poor moves.  The TV guys gave him a pass, but then, these are FOX TV guys and that pretty much guarantees they are wrong.  It was fairly obvious that Maddon wanted to get Contreras up against a lefty and that Roberts wanted to get Chapman out of the game.  I agree that getting Contreras up was trouble for the Dodgers.  I think, though, that if I am Roberts I want Chapman in the game.  He came on in a pressure situation in the eighth, threw a lot of stressful pitches, and, by and large, he is not good in multiple inning save situations.

So, with a man at second and one out, I can kind of agree with walking Heyward to pitch to Baez, though Baez is a hot hitter these days.  What I cannot figure out is the intentional walk to Coghlan, which has the sole function of forcing Maddon to pinch-hit for Chapman.  I mean, Coghlan is not exactly Babe Ruth.  He hit .188 in the regular season, which is worse than Montero, who checked in at .218.  Why wouldn't you pitch carefully to him?  So maybe he walks anyway or maybe he gets a hit to put the Cubs ahead or maybe he makes an out, which is the likeliest scenario.  Instead, you give Montero a shot with no room for error in exchange for getting a pitcher out of the game who, given his history, you probably want to keep in if only to use him up for tomorrow.

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.  I'm glad he made these moves, given that Montero hit a grand slam and won the game.

As far as the quality of play, I think the game exposed some chinks in the Dodgers armor and that the Cubs played a high quality game with perhaps one mental error, that being Bryant's attempt to make a 5-3 double-play that set up the Dodgers rally.  That, however, was a split-second decision that by chance went wrong.  The Dodgers, on the other hand, made at least two base-running mistakes that cost them dearly, the Gonzalez play earlier in the game where he was thrown out at home and the final play of the game when the runner at second was doubled up on the line drive to Rizzo.  Also, in the field, the Cubs turned in highlight reel plays all night in support of Lester, whereas the Dodgers did not provide the same support for Maeda.  In fact, you could assert that the Bryant first inning double that scored Fowler was misplayed and that the Baez bloop hit might have been caught by a Cubs defender.

Anyway, tomorrow night should be quite a pitching matchup, Kershaw vs. Hendricks.