Game 153 Recap: Cubs 5 Cardinals 0

Let’s go back to a conversation from July 2, 2013…

THEO EPSTEIN: Dan!

DAN DUQUETTE: Theo! What can I do for you?

THEO: We’d love to acquire Jake Arrieta & Pedro Strop. Is there anything you guys are missing for the stretch run?

(An uncomfortably long pause)

DUQUETTE: …a racist?

THEO: Have I got a deal for you!

Today was a celebration of that trade. Arrieta dominated the Cardinals, throwing seven innings of five-hit shutout baseball. Strop returned from the DL, looked rusty for all of one batter, and then resumed making “hat angle” the number one trending topic in St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Steve Clevenger has gone on to become Curt Schilling’s personal catcher. To think the Cubs could have also gotten Duquette to throw in Manny Machado if only Cap Anson wasn’t dead.

Top Play (WPA): Before the game, the Cubs honored David Ross with a surprise pre-game ceremony, giving their beloved veteran receiver a number “3” from the scoreboard and home plate from the no hitter he caught in April. There can’t be too many instances in baseball history of a back-up catcher being honored this way. Somewhere in Puerto Rico, Hector Villanueva threw his remote at the TV yelling “What the hell’s a guy gotta do?!”

The Cubs didn’t erect a statue for Ross. So in order to properly honor him, Yadier Molina caught like one. This game was decided in the first inning, with Dexter Fowler working a lead-off walk on a 3-2 pitch from control artist Mike Leake. He then advanced to third on a seeing eye single by Kris Bryant (+.091) and scored on Leake’s subsequent wild pitch when Molina curiously refused to move his body in order to block a ball in the dirt.

It was the first of two preventable wild pitches in an inning which also included RBIs by Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, and Chris Coghlan as well as a rare face divot by “left fielder” Kolten Wong. By the time the inning was over, four runs had scored.

But hey, at least Molina didn’t pick any fights with the umpires while the ball was still in play! #leadership #intangibles #HOF #GOAT

Bottom Play (WPA): The Cardinals’ only real threat of the day came in the top of the third. Jhonny Peralta blooped a lead-off single just out of the reach of a diving Addison Russell. It isn’t often you can write a sentence like that about a ball that doesn’t land in the upper deck. Wong then singled to center (-.049) and the Cardinals had runners on first and second with no one out and the good hitting Leake due up…

Key Moment: Every baseball game involves a certain degree of randomness. But whenever CB Bucknor is behind the plate, there’s yet another level of it added to that day’s game: is the inevitable umpire crapshow going to benefit or destroy the Cubs?

Leake squared around to bunt an Arrieta pitch that cut way too far inside and hit him in the hand. The Cardinals were about to have the bases loaded, no one out, and the top of the order due up. As Harry would say, “There’s danger here, Sherrie.”

But if ever an umpire screw-up could be described as clutch, this was it. Bucknor and first base umpire Jim Reynolds ruled that Leake had attempted to bunt the pitch when replays clearly showed he had pulled the bat back in time. Mike Matheny unloaded vitriol on Reynolds but because he didn’t threaten to read him any passages from The Matheny Manifesto, he was allowed to stay in the game.

(Side note: Really? The Matheny Manifesto? Do you really want to hire a manager based on qualities he has in common with Ted Kaczynski?)

Granted this reprieve, Arrieta got Leake to bounce a bunt directly in front of the plate. Anthony Rizzo barreled into view, pounced on the ball, and nailed Peralta at third. Kris Bryant unloaded a cannon to nip the hustling Leake at first and complete the double play. A strikeout of Matt Carpenter later and the Cardinals would never again threaten to touch the plate for the rest of the day.

Trend to Watch: With two weeks to go until the first game of the NLDS, that gives us all enough time to revert to a Cub fan’s default setting: paranoia. And few players on the team have caused more sturm und drang amongst the fanbase than Arrieta. It says something that we can look at a pitcher putting up a 2.96 ERA/3.57 FIP/3.97 DRA and wonder what the hell is wrong with him.

Today, Arrieta got 22 swings and misses from Cardinal bats—the second most he’s recorded all year. He struck out 10 overall. He looked upon Matt Carpenter and Randal Grichuk as if to say “I accept your surrender.”

This game was Arrieta’s way of saying “Your paranoia is completely unfounded.” If only he were in charge of the election.

Up Next: Today was the final game of the year on WLS Channel 7. Apparently they’ve finally run out of weatherpeople for Len & JD to interview.

Tomorrow is a national broadcast on Fox. Get used to that. You’ll be seeing a lot of it next month. Jason Hammel (3.56/4.42/4.81) takes the mound against phenom Alex Reyes (1.03/2.78/3.46). The Cubs drew six walks off of him in their last encounter but couldn’t figure out how to square up the offspeed pitches he kept throwing when they were looking for 100 MPH heat. You’ll recall this also happening with the Mets’ fireballers in last year’s NLCS so it will be interesting to see what adjustments they make.

Lead photo courtesy David Banks—USA Today Sports.