The Cubs bats were angry early in this one! Coming off 3 consecutive losses for the first time in memory, the Cubs scored 12 runs in the 1st 3 innings. They pounded out 13 hits in those 3 innings and took advantage of 3 Dodgers' errors.
Meanwhile, Cubs' starter Mike Girard was sailing through the first 3 innings keeping the Dodgers scoreless, allowing just 3 hits.
With a 12 -0 deficit after 3 innings, most teams would have thrown in the towel, and just gone through the motions, just waiting for the game to be "mercifully" ended after 5. Not these Dodgers! They put together a solid rally, in the 4th and 5th innings. They got 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk, in the 4th, off Girard, and added 3 runs on 2 hits in the 5th, off reliever Jon Martin.
That brought the score to 12-7, and tightened a few sphincters in the Cubs dugout. Jon Martin came to the rescue, giving up just 2 singles over the last 2 innings, and the Cubs scored an insurance run, in the top of the 7th.
Paul Miles had the Dodgers' hitters talking to themselves all night, making 5 or 6 terrific running catches, from his center field position. Rarely do you hear that a defender made a huge difference, in a 13-7 game, but that surely was the case in this game.
Ron Lochner led the way for the Cubbies' offense with 3 hits and 3 RBI's. Mike Girard, Dave Mitchell, Jon Martin, Ralph Caputo, Kevin Jackson, and Al Williams had two hits each. Greg Gougler led the Dodgers ' attack with 3 hits, and Mark Trinchillo, Mike Surin, Ray Coletta, and Joe Kosek, all had 2 hits each.
The win improves the Cubs to 7-4-1, and clinches the final spot in the top 4, helping them avoid the round robin portion of the 2019 playoffs.
These Dodgers will make a lot of noise in that round robin, as they have a solid hitting team and at least 3 playoff caliber pitchers. I would fully expect to see them as one of the two teams that will survive the round robin, and advance to the final phase of the playoffs, as one of the top six teams.
Next up for the Cubs a rematch of last week's thriller with the Whiz Kids, on Friday night, at the Schenectady C-Diamond.
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Wednesday 17th of July 2019 09:00:07 AM
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Wednesday 17th of July 2019 09:01:40 AM
I played catcher for the first three innings. I watched a lot of quality pitches jump off the barrel of the Cubs' bats. Line drive. Line drive. Line drive. My other role was to hand the Cubs' runners their bats as they crossed home plate.
Then we watched Paul Miles. I think he plays out of position on purpose just so he can run down fly balls! He would start 40 yards from where the ball would land and just announce "I got it" then hustle over and catch it. A very impressive game in center field.
All in all a very good game against a team of players who play the game the right way.
