The Chicago Cubs Have “No Tight Butts” and Other Bullets

The Little Girl had been working on a loose tooth for over three weeks (it had gotten absurd, and she was loving bending that thing all around just to mess with people), so when it finally popped out last night, she wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy requesting extra compensation because “I have worked hard on this one.” Shoot your shot, kid.

(It might have worked, too … the Tooth Fairy is such a sucker, especially after watching the Cubs win it against the Brewers in 11 and move into first place … )

  • The Cubs’ breakout 11th inning last night was awesome, and obviously locked up the game, but I tend to think grinding out a run against Josh Hader in his second inning of work last night was a more impressive feat, and says more about the makeup of this team. Hader is doing utterly stupid things for the Brewers this year, pitching multiple innings constantly, giving up absolutely nothing, and striking out 53.7%(!!!!!!!) of the batters he faces in the process. Hader’s reputation so precedes him at this point that his very presence in a game has to be a mental hurdle for opposing batters – even thinking they have a chance requires an almost unconscious approach to the game.
  • To that end, Joe Maddon perfectly summed things up, as he so often does (Sun-Times): “Our guys are loose cannons in the dugout. There are no tight butts. It’s kind of interesting to listen to the conversation, even in a tight game. They’re in the present tense, and that’s all I could ask for. There’s no tight butts.” I think we have our 2018 Cubs slogan: No Tight Butts.
  • Also without tight butts? The bullpen. They busted out ANOTHER long scoreless appearance (how many times have they done that already this year?), with Justin Wilson, Pedro Strop, Randy Rosario, and newcomer Anthony Bass getting it done over five scoreless frames.
  • Justin Wilson struck out three in his inning, and didn’t issue a walk. Since his implosion against the Reds in mid-May – remember when he walked in the winning run? – he’s gone 10.1 scoreless innings, allowed just four hits, and has a 46.2% strikeout rate and 12.8% walk rate. That’ll play.
  • (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

  • Oh, and how about the stones on Ben Zobrist to tag up from first base on a medium depth fly ball to left center? A clean play at the base and he’s out as heck, but he never even has a chance to score that tying run if he doesn’t get to second base.
  • The Cubs put together a video highlight package from the win, which I consider to be 90% fan service and 10% Brewers trolling:
  • Juuuuuuuust sayin’:
  • King Anthony:
  • Plenty of W flags at Wrigley North:
  • Javy is funny:
  • Also funny:
  • Tactical multitools, men’s bags, kids summer wear, and more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon today.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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