the Cubs did something yesterday that ive never seen before, which is saying something because ive watched baseball every day for several decades now.

it was the 14th inning. game was tied. their pitcher was getting tired so Joe Maddon the genius manager of the Cubs, and my hero, put in a relief pitcher

but he didnt put him on the mound, he put him in left field.

he let an out get recorded and then he brought that “left fielder” in to pitch and put the original pitcher in left field.

another out was recorded and he did the left field / pitcher switch again.

that way he could do the Lefty/Righty thing

it totally worked.

then in the next inning he did a similar thing with a new pitcher. he put Pedro Strop (pictured, above) in LF so he could be used as a pitcher, if needed.

there was no need because not only were the Reds flabbergasted by this, but their hitters kept trying to push the ball to left field instead of pulling it and their superpowers were taken away.

it was the most brilliant bit of managing i have ever seen in my life.

here’s how the professionals wrote about it on MLB.com

this game was proof that the Cubs will win the World Series because often champs win games like this. tough games. close games. games that losers lose. even though the Cubs are only about .500 in 1-run games i feel like this is a turning point. they believe even more in their skipper now than ever because they too have now seen him do something that most of us have never seen.

and it worked. and no one challenged it. and the umps even let the pitcher/LF warm up properly and it was entertaining

and it was solidified by a G-D grand slam by Javy Baez our secret power hitting utility man

i love this team so much i cant wait to see what happens next.

update: how some dude on reddit laid it out

Rizzo is batting like 240 and does not care one bit

about anything

what ever will they do?

theyve got this young catcher, 24 years old,

willson contreras

he’s in AAA, iowa. a step away from the big leagues.

he’s ripping the cover off the ball in iowa

bashed two home runs on sunday. we need bats.

but the cubs already have three catchers in the big leagues

david ross who is gonna retire and the end of this year

miguel montero who is a left hand hitting stud

and some bozo they never use.

rational thought would say bring up the young buck and send down the bozo.

but Theo and Joe seem to know what theyre doing, and like i said theyre 20 games above 500

the other problem is Jorge Soler, another 24 year old

Jorge is batting .204 with 5 home runs.

if it was me, i’d send him down and bring that catcher up.

but im just a dude in his pajamas and a bathrobe who couldnt give a damn about advanced sabermetrics

i just think when a guy, especially a young guy, can barely hit above 200

you send his ass down.

but ive never understood anything about anything anywhere

i just spent $60 on Washio to wash one bag of clothes.

all because they gave me a $20 credit

because it was memorial day

and they knew i probably wasnt thinking right.

The Cubs just won a game that took 5 hours, where they used every player and pitcher, the catcher threw out four runners, for two tense bases loaded at bats they put five fielders in the infield, their leadoff hitter dove safely at first to beat out a throw in the top of the 12th, Kris Bryant played Left, 3rd and 1st at different parts of the bottom of the 12th, and their pitcher drew a walk with the bases loaded to drive in what would be the winning run. Baseball has always been fun, Bryce.

they had a deal at my grade school that if you made the honor roll you got to go to a Cubs game.

i did not make the honor roll due to a technicality but my sister did.

the technicality was i didnt give a flying fuck about the honor roll.

until i was out on the sod farm with my friends playing baseball that afternoon and we heard on the radio that we had carried out there that the game was 17-6 heading into the bottom of the 4th inning.

so we grabbed our stuff, got on our bikes and hauled ass to the nearest kids’ house to watch the game.

it was windy that afternoon which is why the game had so much scoring.

the phillies were mighty with the likes of Mike Schmidt and Larry Bowa, two of my favorite non-Cubs. Greg Luzinski might have still been on that team too – WHO CAN REMEMBER THAT FAR BACK I WAS BARELY ALIVE.

the game ended in nailbiter: 23-22. and i wasnt there. the “smart kids” from my school were there. our friends. many of whom couldnta named one Cub if they tried other than Ryne Sandberg

and it taught me right there and then and stuck with me forever that life isnt fair.

the phillies will beat the cubs. the non sports fans will go to one of the coolest games ever. that your sister will get things that rightfully belong to you.

but in the end, life will go on.

last night i drove a kid, a middle schooler, from a big house in the hollywood hills, to a gated mansion behind two gates in the beverly hills hills called beverly crest.

as we drove past the security check point i said, you gotta tell me, why is it that kids dont even play in the streets in gated communities? do you really just want to play video games and listen to music?

he said, all we want to do is play video games.

and i dropped him off in front of a giant wall. as i turned around i saw him speaking into a speaker box. and as i pulled away i saw the giant gates open and he entered to go inside to play with his friend.

if Uber was around in 1979, for sure me and my friends would have ubered to that freaking game.

but life wasnt fair then.

thankfully it is now.

i was super busy all day except for during the game and during the game i was frozen

they were getting no-hit through 6 by a 23 year old nobody

the Cubs had powered their way through the west averaging 7 runs a game and here they were at home and they couldnt get a hit

until they could.

and then they did

and they came back

punctuated by a blast from their 22 yr old infielder Addison Russell

the cubs play their games on the corner of Clark and Addisson, fyi

after they pulled ahead their closer came on and shut down the whoever it was they were playing

WHO CARES CUBS WIN THEY ARE NOW ALONE A TOP THEIR DIVISION

with a sexy 6-1 record.

all is good in the world. mostly.

and now he’s out for the season.

he was supposed to be the catcher and occasionally play outfield and DH

and now he has to watch from the stands

or from the hospital

or from florida

but not from behind the plate.

life isnt fair.

we know this.

if theres one theme from this blog it is life isnt fair.

it isnt fair that the cubs won 14-6 last night

and it isnt fair that they will win the world series for the first time in 108 years without their loveable young slugger.

id cry. but im too sad to cry.

todd and i met at the union station bar, traxx, had a couple of warm up beers and took the Angels Express down to Anaheim Stadium

the Express is probably the greatest value in transportation as it picks you up at DTLA’s gorgeous train station at 5:45 and gets you to the park around 6:30p

for $7. Round Trip.

that’ll give you time to get in line, scan your ticket, and realize you accidentally got two tickets for Game TWO of the season and not yesterday which was Opening Day.

it also gave us time to walk to the front of the park while emailing the dear man who offered the tickets to us for $90 each to acknowledge that indeed they were for Tues, not Monday, and let you off the hook from any responsibility and said he’d find new owners of the seats.

and weirdly, as soon as that email exchange was complete, we had time to look up and hear a guy say, you two looking for tickets? to which we were offered Club Level waitress serviced perfect seats valued at $140 each for the low price of just $40.

why? because God loves me and i love Him right back!

the Cubs promptly shut out the home team 9-0

and then crushed them again tonight.

we are good.