Live look at the wind at Wrigley last night:
Ridiculous. The Brewers had not one, not two, but THREE bombs that would have been home runs in any other park in Major League Baseball (including Wrigley) on any other night. If the Cubs had any integrity as a franchise they would retroactively forfeit last night’s game that they did nothing to win, other than rely on the weather conditions. When Ian Happ caught Tyrone Taylor’s home run in the 5th inning, he should have just tossed it over the wall and tipped his cap. I guess sportsmanship is indeed dead. Sad!
Alright all kidding aside (mostly), that was a frustrating one. Hard to be upset given that the Crew had a 9-game winning streak going into last night, but there I was at 9:45pm upset all the same. Corbin battled for most of the night but did what an ace has to do: 7 innings of 1 run ball on the road. They got a bunch of hits off of Justin Steele early, but just couldn’t get that clutch hit with a runner in scoring position. That was something they did routinely during the win streak, it eluded them last night though.
As maddening as last night’s loss was, this series overall has been a GREAT preview of October baseball. Big plays on each side, raucous crowd, Cy Young caliber pitchers dueling all night. A little appetizer for the nervous energy we’re all hoping to experience in about a month.
Big one today, boys. Bigger for the Cubs than the Brewers, but BIG nonetheless. If the Brewers can notch a win behind Big Woo, they not only win the series, they leave Chicago with a 5-game division lead, and a 6-4 lead in the season series. That would mean they’d only need one win in the final series of the year against the Cubs at Am Fam Field to get the season series edge and the tiebreaker that comes with it. Kyle Hendriks has been kind of ‘blah’ this year by his standards, but he always seems to give the Brewers fits. Let’s hope last night was just a blip for the offensive resurgence we’ve seen in the last two weeks. And let’s also hope that the Cubs win on their merits and not a northeasterly wind.
PS: It’s been a grind for him offensively, but Brice Turang is already the best defensive second baseman in Major League Baseball in his rookie season. You live with him hitting .220 with what he’s shown at that position this season. The man is a brick wall. The only thing that’s going to prevent him from winning a Gold Glove is name recognition. But make no mistake, there isn’t a better defensive second baseman in the game right now. He made two or three more plays last night that just leaving you saying, ‘HOW??’ out loud.
