Another Crazy Win for the Cubs and What Happens Next and Other Bullets

Aug 12, 2016

Ten years ago today, a really cool lady became The Wife. The impact on my life has been dramatic, to say the least, but of relevance here is that without her support and urging, I doubt I ever would have had the guts to try and turn what I do here into a full-time job. My world, and this place, looks very different if not for her presence in it, and I’m awfully grateful.

After last night’s crazy win, the Cubs cannot conclude this weekend series with the Cardinals with anything less than a 10-game lead in the NL Central. The win was the Cubs’ 10th in a row, three of which were walk-offs of bizarre proportions (starting pitcher coming off the bench to bunt in the winning run; a top closer uncorking a wild pitch to walk off; and a walk-off walk). And that came after the Cubs had walked off just twice before all season, when they’d done it 13(!) times in 2015.[adinserter block=”1″]

Lots of commentary from the Cubs on their win here. Jon Lester is right: if the Cubs want to win a crazy game in extra innings, they just have to get John Lackey up and warming in the bullpen.

Speaking of which, the Cubs are going to need a nice, deep, efficient outing from Jake Arrieta today, given last night’s lengthy affair, and the fact that the Cubs are already going with seven in the pen (one of whom probably still can’t pitch, in Hector Rondon). There’s a doubleheader coming early next week, and the bullpen is going to be used up heavily that day.

A Mike Montgomery fastball got away from him last night in the 10th inning in the worst possible place: high and tight. Fortunately, Matt Holliday got his head out of the way, but unfortunately his hand did not get out of the way, and he has a fractured thumb. The extent the damage will be determined this weekend, but Holliday’s definitely out for the foreseeable future.

To that end, even though the pitch was obviously unintentional (10th inning, tie game), the Cardinals have a recent history of not taking kindly to being hit by pitches, whether intentional or not. With Holliday being hit up and in and breaking a thumb – after Holliday was recently hit in the nose up and in by Andrew Cashner* and Aledmys Diaz also had his thumb broken by a Cashner pitch – I have a very hard time seeing the Cardinals not repaying the Montgomery pitch at some point in this series. Which really sucks, because now if you’re Kris Bryant or Anthony Rizzo, you’ve got to be expecting that you’re going to be thrown at. It’s a stupid, terrible, dangerous part of the game, and I can only hope that the pitch is low and finds the backstop or the fleshy part of someone’s posterior.

*(Cubs sleeper agent, Andrew Cashner? Not this way, Andrew. Not this way.)[adinserter block=”2″]

Much of last night’s game got individual attention in other posts, but there was so much craziness that it can’t all be contained or given exhaustive attention. For example, Aroldis Chapman completed his inning of work in THREE pitches, which earned him a steak dinner, according to Joe Maddon:

Your browser does not support iframes.

The Cubs sent another player over the edge into destroy-the-Gatorade-cooler-territory:

Carlos Martinez or Bobby Boucher? pic.twitter.com/evCCThHsPc

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) August 12, 2016

I think Martinez more completely destroyed his opponent, but Sean Rodriguez’s fight with the cooler remains the gold standard of entertainment.

A Pirates fan wanted a foul ball and got a face full of nachos for his trouble.

Fingers crossed for Rondon today:

Hector Rondon will throw 15 pitch bullpen today to determine his readiness . Has not pitched in a week ( Triceps strain )

— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) August 12, 2016

They aren’t super exciting, but I love me some LED bulbs for around the house – several sets are on sale at Amazon today. I have almost successfully replaced every bulb in our house with an LED.

Anthony Rizzo took his game-winning plate appearance with no “C” on his helmet:

You knew something crazy had to happen after Anthony Rizzo took his at bat with no C on his helmet. (Walk-off walk.) pic.twitter.com/JHbQ7y4N4U
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 12, 2016

[adinserter block=”3″]

written by

Brett Taylor

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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