If this game took place in, say, June, I would probably be much more eager to note that it was just a game that happens., and how awesome is it that the Cubs fought back in the 9th?
The strike zone was almost comically bad. The Cubs flubbed a couple times in the field at just the wrong time. Kyle Hendricks probably wasn’t as bad as four earned runs, though he did give up some rockets. The Cubs were facing a guy who is just dominating EVERYONE right now. The bullpen was mostly great. The Cubs managed to come back from three down in the 9th to at least send the game to extras.
And so on and so forth. It’s what I *might* have said.
But it’s not June. There’s so much more context, and the Cubs are facing the very team they need to beat in the final 10 games of the season, at home, and they were out there making mistakes in the field, screwing up on the bases, expanding their zone … sigh. Of course I love the fight at the end, and of course I want to believe it means these guys are gonna keep fighting on into tomorrow. It’s just that the loss, itself, is crushing. And, moreover, to see the Cubs come out looking so beatable for eight innings on a night when Anthony Rizzo did what he did? Returning to the shock of everyone AND homering? I know we tend to go too far with the fluffy stuff as fans, but man alive, if the Cubs can’t get a jolt from Rizzo at that point, it just doesn’t feel good. The 9th inning wasn’t enough to save it for me.
So tonight winds up feeling like the rest of the season, just as we discussed earlier today.
I hope I’m wrong, and I hope I’ll feel like a hopeful idiot again in the morning.