Always Look Your Best and Other Bullets

Whew. I’m not entirely certain, but, based on the revelry last night, I think the Cubs just sewed up a playoff spot. Thanks to DannyP, MaxM, and hardtop for a ridiculous time – well, and thanks Cubs, too. Also thanks to John and Bob for the fun before the game, and Jamie (I hope I heard the name correctly) for stopping by to say hello in the bleachers. It was a great night, and a reminder of why we watch the Cubs play, even when they’re 6 and 12.

  • If I tried to recount everything from the game, I’d surely miss a great many things, but I suppose I’ll still try. Jeff Samardzija was dominant, and we were surprised when he was pulled. Michael Bowden was on the verge of being mercilessly (and unfairly) booed in his Cubs debut, after he walked the bases loaded. Bryan LaHair’s homer came so quickly that it caught many folks by surprise – it was a, “wait, did that just happen?” moment. Tony Campana looked pretty out on his stolen base (as did David DeJesus on his early score). Soriano’s game-winning single looked pretty error-y to me, but there was no time to dwell on it, because the entire right field bleacher section (like the rest of the ballpark) was too busy losing its mind. Nowhere else can you wheel, scream, and grab an anonymous pound of flesh in celebration, and nobody thinks boo about it, because they’re all doing the same thing, too.
  • Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was not thrilled about those close calls, and about being ejected from the game. “It’s a shame is all,” Matheny said. “First run was a shame and the last run was a shame. Those are my thoughts. The conversation [in the 10th] was, I thought he was out and I knew they missed the earlier call. To sit there and watch our guys get short-ended on great plays and not have something to say about it would be tragic.” Kind of feel like someone should tell Matheny what “tragic” means.
  • Dale Sveum remains confident that one of last night’s heroes will continue to hit. On Alfonso Soriano: “I think he’s still a threat. I’m not going to move him down any time soon, that’s for sure. He’s a big threat. He’s in the five-spot and he’s got people around him who can do things. The media guide doesn’t lie. When it’s all said and done, he’ll end up with his 25 to 30 home runs and we’ll look back on this and laugh at it.”
  • He’s also confident in his closer, despite Carlos Marmol’s blown save last night. “He’s been pitching good,” Sveum said. “That’s just a case to me of a 2-2 slider that [a guy] we know is one of the strongest guys in baseball hit for a home run. Did [Marmol] do anything wrong? No. It was just another guy on the other side of the fence making a lot of money that does that quite often. He’ll be right back out there and do the same thing.” Yes. We know.
  • Tony Campana wants to shut Nyjer Morgan up. “We talked and bickered about who is faster,” Campana said of conversations with Morgan, presumably friendly. “[Morgan] said we have to put something on it, so I told him to put his paycheck on it. He said his was bigger than mine, so that wasn’t fair. I said, ‘If you really think you can beat me, that shouldn’t matter.'”
  • In the fastest waiver clearance ever, Rodrigo Lopez has already cleared waivers, and accepted an assignment to AAA Iowa. He’ll return to his former role of “depth.”
  • MLBullets at BCB, wondering why Roger Clemens’ trial isn’t getting more pub.
  • If you’re at a game, and the opposing manager gets ejected, make sure you’re ready with appropriate reactions (yup, that’s us – from the left, me, MaxM, DannyP, and hardtop). The best reaction is goodbye:
  • 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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