Maddon makes his first mistake as Cubs skip; fits right in.
Opening Day lineups were revealed early Sunday afternoon and more than one person noted that Jon Lester was slated to hit 8th.
What have you done with our LaRussa, Joe? HUH?
Turns out this was Mr. Maddon’s first big boner as the Cubs manager.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, already trailing 2-0, Chris Coghlan led off the frame with a double. Mike Olt K’s. David Ross’ sacrifice fly moves Coghlan over to 3rd with 2 outs.
You’d really like to have a batter up in this 8th spot… instead it’s Lester, who strikes out feebly.
Scoring threat negated. And looking back, the Cubs didn’t seriously threaten again.
Maddon’s first attempt to ‘shake up the Cubs culture’ flopped and helped shape the direction of the game in the Cardinals favor. Wainwright took the confidence boost and ran with it for 6 scoreless.
The bathrooms. Oh the bathrooms.
I thought it was a bit odd when I got a text asking if I was peeing in a cup yet… then I went out to the concourse.
One of the nicer things about Wrigley are the troughs in the men’s restrooms. They have what I call ‘market elasticity’ meaning that if there’s a sudden surge in users, people can squeeze into spots they normally wouldn’t try to attempt.
It’s a beautiful system comparative to the one stall/one line approach of pretty much every other stadium in the country.
But when you only have 2 working restrooms and 35,000+ people? The system snaps.
All ppl at the game are talking about is the bathrooms!! ( or lack there of!) pic.twitter.com/hflFvfwbJo
— Sarah Jindra (@SarahJindra) April 6, 2015
Theo’s not feeling the best this morning.
Not because he’s was enjoying all the festivities around Wrigleyville, though. But because if Mike Olt keeps putting up 0-4 nights with multiple strikeouts, that Kris Bryant ‘situation’ he’s mired in becomes a bit more tricky.
See, Theo isn’t a dumb guy.
He knows that MLBPU might file a grievance against the Cubs for sending Kris Bryant down to AAA in order to maximize his service time with the Cubs.
They won’t win, mind you. But juuuuuust in case, the Cubs aren’t going to call up Bryant as soon as they can. That would give credence to what the MLBPU is arguing. Instead, they’re going to let Bryant languish in AAA for a extra few games.
Unless he doesn’t play well.
Then what? They’re totally Cubbing up their own Mike Trout. Ironic, too, since Trout never got close to his arbitration years before signing a contract extension with the Angels that I thought was a pretty good road map to how to handle the contracts of young superstars.
Regardless, the Cubs could have used some pop in that lineup last night. But instead are still sitting with as many runs as every other MLB team besides the Cardinals.
https://twitter.com/athooks/status/585090465843806208
Dat Jumbotron.
I’ve never made any bones about it – Wrigley Field is friggin’ awesome. I haven’t been to every MLB stadium, but I’ve been to several and it’s far and away the best.
Don’t misunderstand me – this is strictly from the ‘watching a baseball game’ perspective. A big Cardinals game? I’d rather be around 45K Cardinals fans.
But the quirks of Wrigley were/are appealing. At least to me.
That jumbotron, though. Dang.
It’s pretty cool. I mean, it was kind of like putting a 110″ TV in your living room – awesome, but honestly might be a bit too much? Maybe if they keep it the same size for the next 20 years and every other stadium starts getting the AT&T Stadium (Cowboys) treatment, it’ll feel more appropriate?
For now, though, it’s going to take some time getting used to. Remember, Wrigley is in a neighborhood that’s kind of similar to Soulard. It’s charm was partly because it blended in so well.
Now?
https://twitter.com/WrigleyBlog/status/583316047781969920
Pics and videos, dude?
The CD was there last night. Got some pretty cool pics and made it on ESPN’s telecast photobombing Coach Matheny. More later today.
Photo: Yahoo!
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