Tied

The picture is of the last out of an agonizing game that has become more the norm than the exception for Cubs baseball this year.  Anyway, they won on a really damp, chilly. and uncomfortable afternoon.

Not the last out of the regular season, though, as they must face the Brewers Monday afternoon to determine who is the division winner and who must play in the Wild Card game.  Colorado and Los Angeles must play a similar tiebreaker later in the afternoon.  I feel pretty good about the Cubs chances. Quintana will get the start for the Cubs against probably Chacin for the Brewers.  I saw a game earlier this month with the same matchup.  Quintana for some reason dominates the Brewers, as he did that night.

Go Cubs!

Brain Cramps

I have to say that Joe Maddon has done a remarkable job keeping his team on track despite notable injuries to a number of key players in the course of the season.  Over the year, he has lost two of his starters, Darvish and Chatwood, the one to injury, the other to incompetence.  He has also lost his closer Morrow for most of the season.  Plus significant DL stints for Rizzo, Bryant, Zobrist, Russell, and Heyward.

That having been said, his performance as a game manager leaves a lot to be desired.  I recollect Theo Epstein having said they never really considered game management skills in selecting the manager.  In this respect, he was being unusually frank.

Not since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series have I seen a worse managed game and there were some honest excuses for that performance.  The worst of all decisions was allowing Pedro Strop to hit with the bases loaded and one out in a one run game.  I know he wanted to keep Strop in the game to pitch the bottom of the 10th.  But Strop has never pitched three innings in his life.  So with this decision, you might have told Strop to just stand there and take a strikeout.  After all, Rizzo was on deck.  Or you might have had him bunt.  Worst case scenario, Strop hits into a double play.  Even worse, he gets hurt.  Bingo.  Incidentally, the guy who is warming up who is obviously such a risk that his appearance is worth all this drama, Rosario, breezes through bottom of the inning to gain the save.

That was the most egregious blunder, but not the only one.  Top of the fifth, Mongomery is breezing along with a 2-1 lead.  He gives up a single.  Captain Hook emerges from the dugout, takes him out after 62 pitches, and promptly watches the lead disappear.  Six more relievers follow, all but Edwards holding the Nationals in check.

Next questionable decision: hitting Contreras for Caratini with the bases loaded.  Caratini is the hottest hitter in the lineup over the past week next to Bryant.  Contreras strikes out.

Next odd decision: Zobrist bats for Bote with the bases loaded, an odd choice in itself, strikes out.  Zobrist does not remain in the game.  He is replaced by Gore, who, I think, has one hit in his whole career.  Sure enough, Gore comes up later in the top of the ninth with a man on base, bunts into a double play.  You would think that a guy whose only asset is speed would have figured out how to bunt, wouldn't you? Perhaps that explains why he has only one hit.

Anyway, they survived what I thought was an absolute must win game.  Back to Chicago now to face the Reds.

Terrific Game

The Cubs moved back to a two game lead with a 3-0 win over the Brewers Tuesday night.  It was a tense and exciting game despite the low offensive production of both teams.  Just as Monday's game was decided by a mistake, this one was as well.  Monday it was a wild pitch and failure to cover home by Edwards.  Tuesday it was Chacin's wild throw attempting to pick Baez off second base.  Baez continues to influence the game and force errors.  Not to be forgotten is Quintana's masterful performance.  Nor should Caratini's two grinding at-bats, both of which resulted in key RBI hits.  Caratini continues to impress as a player who definitely belongs in the majors.

I was at the game Tuesday.  I sat in the nosebleed section of the upper deck.  Hadn't sat there in a while.  It does give one a pretty panoramic view of the defenses.  I thought the Brewers seemed to deploy an exaggerated shift against the Cubs left-handed batters where the second baseman played fully sixty feet behind the infield dirt, or so it seemed from my vantage point.  At first I thought it was just for Murphy, but it seemed they used the same deployment for virtually every left-handed Cubs hitter.  The defense took away two or three hits from the Cubs.  I rather think that setup has been working against the Cubs both here and in Milwaukee because the Cubs are in a stretch where they are not using the entire field.

Bottom line what I am getting at is the Brewers have contained the Cubs defensively at times more from their scouting and positioning rather than their being any good in the field.  That's the way Tuesday's game played out anyway.  In addition to the Chacin throw, Shoop continued to bollix up pretty easy chances.  The Cubs, on the other hand, are a superior defensive team.  Witness the two astonishing plays Russell made in the ninth to help preserve the win.