I did something last night that I cannot remember the last time I did. I voluntarily left a Cubs game before it was over. Well, except it was over. While it was 6 to 4 Brewers going into the top of the ninth, it was 13 to 4 by the time I left. It was getting ridiculous, and if I missed the 11:40 pm train, I would have had to wait until the 12:40 am train, which would have gotten me home after 1:00 am. (In case you are wondering, the final score was 15 to 4.)
The game was actually pretty decent going into the ninth. But then the Cubs brought in Alex Hinshaw to pitch, and he promptly gave up a walk, a single and three Brewers home runs that were longer than most of Fidel Castro’s speeches. Maybe there was a reason the Padres put Hinshaw on waivers. Just as maybe there was a reason Lendy Castillo was available in the Rule 5 draft last winter. Isn’t there a DL somewhere that we could him on for a strained ERA?
Eventually, Joe Mather had to come in to pitch (I was gone by then), which I am not sure I fully understand given that the Cubs have thirteen pitchers on the roster and only twelve position players. Maybe it’s a good thing the Brewers got all those runs in the ninth inning. If the Cubs had tied it in the bottom of the ninth, who knows if we would have had enough position players to finish the game? After all, we no longer have Carlos Zambrano to pinch hit or Sean Marshall to play left field.
In any case why do the Cubs only have twelve position players? This isn’t the American League where you never have to pinch hit. Do they think that, if they run out of players, the other team will just agree to play “right field out,” like we did when we were kids and couldn’t get two full teams together?
Oh well, maybe Travis Wood will do better tonight. And at least Samardzija is going on Wednesday.
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