Oh, what a strange one.
I got home and saw the end.
But before, my gawd, sending Castro on the short fly ball to right field was stupid.
He was out by a country mile.
Then the exact same inning unfolded for the Cubs.
Bases loaded, one out, same batter up (Szczur) and
same runner at third (Castro). Same lazy fly ball to
short right and . . . Polanco trips over some grass blades,
falls - - - game over.
What a bumbling, stumbling, lucky victory for the Cubs.
The game could have been lost by over-managing by both Maddon and Hurdle.
You don't run out of players by the 10th inning.
The Pirates were out of position players, and had no relievers left.
The Cubs had one position player, an injured Ross, and one reliever left, Coke.
Starters were pinch hitting for gosh sakes.
Edwin Jackson was pitching in the extras, so he should have been told he was
going to throw to the conclusion of the contest. But no, the pitcher's spot in
double shifts wound up 4th - - - meaning in a tie game, Jackson was pulled for
a short reliever.
Lucky for Maddon, it never got that far as the Cubs won at that at-bat.
