NEWSLETTER
Wow! A walk-off win (literally) and a series win over the NL West-leading Dodgers. Good day after a long rain delay. It was worth the wait.
The Cubs went down 3-0 early, and squandered 109 scoring opportunities until the 9th (save for a two-run single by Starlin Castro), when Tony Campana drove in the tying run, which was all kinds of awesome. Not awesome? Third base coach Pat Listach sent David DeJesus (who was running from first) on the shallow double, who was thrown out by a mile despite a really nice slide. There would have been one out, and the winning run on third with Starlin Castro and Bryan LaHair coming up. I understand trying to win the game when you have the chance, but it was a terrible, terrible send, and I was shouting it as DeJesus rounded third.
But why am I talking about that? That Cubs won it in the bottom of the 11th thanks to a Darwin Barney hustle double, a Welington Castillo intentional walk, a Jeff Samardzija hit by pitch (as in, he received it), and a David DeJesus walk.
Travis Wood’s start was an interesting one. He wasn’t particularly sharp early, and was unnecessarily wild in the first few innings. But if Starlin Castro doesn’t unnecessarily try to do a leaping throw, or Bryan LaHair can dig an easy bouncer out, Wood probably gives up only a couple runs. At the end of his appearance, he’d set down 11 Dodgers in a row. All in all, it was a “quality start,” and I think that’s a fair designation. Hey, he even had a couple hits.
(I missed a half inning at one point while attending to our daughter, and, upon returning to the game, I asked The Wife if I’d missed anything. She wasn’t really watching the game, so I can’t blame her for responding: “Well, I’m not sure. All I really noticed was that Darwin Barney is kind of hot.” Thanks for the help, dear. Barney did have a nice day defensively. Maybe that’s what she meant.)
If this were a loss, that LOB number and RISP number would be enhanced. As it is…
