You always want to put your best foot forward at the most important time. Well, the Cubs had that wish come true last night a the A-Diamond in their winner's bracket game vs the 5-time defending champion Giants. The Cubs pounded out 15 hits and scored 12 runs, while playing by far their best game of the year, en route to a 12-3 victory.
The game looked like it would go the other way, at the start. The Cubs first 3 hitters squared up pitches, but two of them were right at Giants' defenders, and the other was turned into an out on a great play at second by Tony Nardacci. To compound that frustration, the first two Giants batters reached 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. That is when Scott Ross flipped the switch. He got the 3-4-5 hitters for the Giants, without scoring any runs. That provided the Cubs with a big emotional boost going into the second.
The top of the second saw Jerry Rosen break the ice with a two out, two strike rocket down into the left field corner, scoring Ron Lochner, who had led off the inning with a solid single. After Scott Ross retired the Giants' 6-7-8 hitters in order, in the bottom of the second, the Cubs got another run in the top of the 3rd. This time Paul Miles led of with a single and stole second. After a walk to the Cubs' 3-hitter, Ron Lochner drove Miles home with a RBI single, to make it 2-0. Ross would again hold the Giants off the board in the bottom of the 3rd, surrendering just one walk.
Jerry Rosen was again the hero, in the top of the 4th inning, as he singled home Dave Mitchell who had led off with a single and was moved to second on a fielder's choice. Again the Giants would come away empty in the bottom half of the inning. This time it was the Cubs' defense that made the big play. Pete Geanellis led off with a walk, but was immediately doubled off, when Ralph Caputo handled a hard grounder and a bad hop t short to start a 6-4-3 double play. It was well timed as the next 3 Giants hitters (Steve Lounello, Darrell Duncan, and Ronnie Massaroni -RBI) all singled, but could only push across a single run, when Ross got the last out on a weak grounder to first. Through 4 complete innings it was 3-1 in favor of the Cubs.
The deciding inning in this one was the 5th. The Cubs plated 4 runs in the inning to break it open, and push the lead to 7-1. Lochner and Rosen had RBI's in the rally and Ralph Caputo came through with a huge two out 2-RBI single. Mike Girard came on in relief of a tiring Scott Ross, in the bottom half of the inning. After he retired the first batter on a ground out, Jimmy Keegan, Mark Massaroni, and Bob Bolt hit consecutive singles to load the bases, with the heart of the order coming up. However Girard got a little hump back one hopper to second base that was turned into a 4-6-3 double play that ended the inning.
The Cubs would add 2 in the 6th and 3 more in the 7th, to push the score to 12-1, and the Giants put up 2 in the bottom of the 7th to provide the final score of 12-3.
The transformation from the 7-8-1 regular season Cubs to the 3-0 playoff Cubs (winning by a combined score of 42-13) has been drastic. The Cubs who had trouble stringing together hits, and making routine plays in the regular season have transformed into a team that is not only making the routine plays, but are making the spectacular plays. Ron Lochner, who has looked like Brooks Robinson at third in the playoffs, made a spectacular play diving to his left last night. Scott Ross added a sliding catch in center field with two outs and the bases loaded in the 6th inning. PJ Martone called a great game behind the plate, keeping the Giants batters off balance all night. Absolutely everyone on the team made an impact last night, and it was a thrill to be a part of.
With the win, the Cubs are just one win away from the title, but know very well that their work is far from over. The Whiz and Giants are great teams, and have been all year long. And you can't look past the Cardinals who over came at least a 5 run deficit last night to the 2-seed Yankees, to oust them from the tournament. They gave the Whiz a tough go of it in a game earlier this year. I can't wait to see how this all unfolds, and take on the survivor in what will likely be a game for the ages on Wednesday 08/21/19. Good luck to the Cards, Whiz, and Giants on their quest to reach the finals.
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Wednesday 14th of August 2019 04:52:24 PM
I don't have the book so I don't have specific details but in a nutshell the Cardinals scored 1 in the top of the first and the Yankees scored 3 in the bottom of the first and 3 more in the second / third and went into the 4th leading 6-1. The Cards batted around and scored 7 in the top of the 6th and never looked back winning 9-7. I believe there was just one error that inning but unfortunately it was the leadoff hitter which always seems to come back to haunt you. Other than that they just hit the ball hard .... over and over.
Good Luck to everyone still playing.
I definitely have changed my thoughts on the 55 playoffs. Once we get our 6 finalists it should be best of 3 series in my opinion. It's a shame that one loss puts you in such a different position than one win.
Seems like we could let all but the top 4 records fight it out for 2 spots, then have best o 3 series with 3 playing 6, 4 playing 5 and then the two winners play 1 and 2 in the semis and those two winners the finals. People would know ahead of time and be able to schedule around it.
Actually, hard to believe the Cubbies play anything but great baseball. THAT was the real Cubs team, not the last 6 or so of the regular season. You knew they were going to surface in the playoffs.
