Outlasting, Great Defense, and Redemption – Cubs in Driver’s Seat
I needed to use a defibrillator serveral times yesterday afternoon, and my doctor has told me to stay away from greasy or fatty foods today. That was one hell of a ballgame yesterday. It had everything, costly errors, insane pitching, timely hitting, ridiculous defense, and amplified emotion. We’ll take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly (except in reverse).
The Ugly
I hate to do this Schwarbs, but Kyle Schwarber’s bad defensive play in left field.
Schwarber putting on a clinic in left field… pic.twitter.com/Qgnptf8h6l
— Jonathan (@JayEEff) October 9, 2017
This is an inexcusable play. Dropping the ball is one thing, compounding it with punting it (albeit, accidentally) 15 feet was little league like. I mean if you’ve played the game, you’ve been there. Important part of the game, ball is hit to you, you mess up. You freak yourself out in your head, and mess up again.
Thing is, we were in a local rec league or maybe high school when it happened.
I do mostly give Kyle a pass on this though. While there isn’t an excuse you can give, he hasn’t been as bad defensively as you may want to believe. He has mostly been good in left, and the last real error I remember (which was a mental miscue) was throwing to the wrong base about a month ago.
What isn’t being discussed is, that was a rather difficult play, I don’t care that TBS said it had an 85% chance of being caught (wouldn’t be the first time they were wrong this series). The ball was tailing hard away from Kyle, and I’m sure there was some wind in play as well. If you’ve been in that spot, you expect a lot of tail on a line drive, but after it gets over a certain height you don’t expect that tail to be as drastic as it was. Again, not an excuse, but it was more difficult that it appeared.
This is one of the reasons I love Schwarber.
Kyle Schwarber stopped his postgame session with reporters to own his mistake: "There's no excuse." pic.twitter.com/mWWF3b9CAl
— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) October 10, 2017
His ability to stand there and own it. You knew he felt bad as soon as he dropped it. You saw him frustrated after the run scored, and you saw his teammates go to him to pick him up.
The Bad
There are a couple of nominees for the bad, but the first is the Cubs offense. I was talking with several people on Twitter about how Max Scherzer “seemed off” in yesterday’s game. He would lose control of pitches for at bats at a time, and his delivery seemed rather deliberate like he was overthinking each movement.
He was good, but there were so many balls left out over the plate that I questioned why they weren’t even offering. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Sorry KB, but dude… most of Kris Bryant’s at bats looked like he was completely overmatched. Not sure if he was too heady, after getting home and the pressure of the moment. Maybe he just wanted to get ahead of the Nationals pitchers and they were playing on his aggression. Either way, expect a cooler Kris Bryant in game four.
What are you thinking Dusty Baker!? Multiple times now you’ve decided to throw to Anthony Rizzo with first base open. Every time it has hurt him.
.@ARizzo44’s got this. pic.twitter.com/aFX77LmnGb
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) October 9, 2017
These moments are Anthony Rizzo’s moments. I know that hit yesterday was a “BABIP gift” but he has come through, regardless, each and every time. I mean I’m glad Dusty has pitched to him, but come on, eventually you’ve got to learn, right?
The Good
Let’s start with Anthony Rizzo. Not only is he the Cubs all time leader in postseason home runs, and RBI, he is now the first Cub to ever have a five-game RBI streak.
How about that defense!? Yeah the Cubs had 4 errors (one on Jose Quintana, one on Ben Zobrist, and two on that Schwarber boot), there were some ridiculous efforts otherwise.
First, OH MY BEN ZOBRIST!!! Not only was his hit huge, he came back after the error to play sound defense. It was like 2012 Ben Zobrist was back.
Zobi-Wan. pic.twitter.com/QczN1hMsnT
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 10, 2017
Not to be outdone, the double play partner of Ben’s, Addison Russell had a great defensive game, highlighted by this insane diving play up the middle.
Nothing about this play is easy. Unless you're @Addison_Russell, that is: https://t.co/B0l0WnO5Kw @OriginalNathans #FamousPlays pic.twitter.com/kqZFLUPt6n
— MLB (@MLB) October 10, 2017
He is one of, if not the smoothest defensive player in the game.
ALso noted, Jon Jay’s remarkable running play near the wall to end the third inning and Jason Heyward’s running play to end the fourth. While the team had 4 errors, it’s hard for me to say they were bad defensively, even though at times they were really bad.
Know what trumps bad defense? GREAT pitching. For the third game now, the Cubs had insane starting pitching. There were some questions on how Jose Quintana would react to the moment, I don’t think we need to question it any longer. The dude was on it, along day. Baffling hitters all throughout the Nationals lineup, Jose was vintage Quintana.
Following Jose, Pedro Strop, although he gave up the hit that allowed the lone Washington run, was impressive after that. But my major star of the pitching staff goes to Carl Edwards Jr.
Just two days after hanging a 3-1 curveball to the most dangerous hitter in the Washington lineup, Carl came back to face the 1, 2, and 3 hitters. Edwards was phenomenal. And how can’t you feel good about this reaction.
#Postseason pumped. pic.twitter.com/wQ0h45gQxt
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) October 9, 2017
I love playoff baseball.
