TERRY MOSHER
JOE MADDON
You got to love America, especially baseball in America. And you got to love Joe Maddon, the try-anything-manager with the funky glasses for the Chicago Cubs who pulled out all the stops Sunday night in getting his club a thrilling, extra-inning win over the Seattle Mariners.
Maddon pushed about every button you could and used all his players except three extra starting pitchers in rallying back from an early 6-0 deficit to beat the Mariners 7-6 in the 12th inning on a bunt single by a starting pitcher from Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma on a two-pitch count no less.
The man is a genius, and full of fun for the game, for his players. He used 22 players of his 25 in the game, including starting pitcher Jon Lester to pinch-hit and lay down the amazing bunt that scored the winning run from third. If the runner had been on second, Maddon said he would have used another starting pitcher, Jake Arrita, to pinch-hit. Arrita is hitting. 279 with two home runs this season and had a bat in his hands in the dugout and was primed to get that at-bat. But Maddon decided to go with Lester because what he needed was a bunt, and he got it.
Maddon also used five leftfielders in the game, including pitcher Travis Wood in a double-switch. Woods then made an amazing catch in left field s he slammed his back into the ivy-covered brick wall at historical Wrigley Field, getting a standing ovation from the faithful Cubs’ fans. Then he came back in as a pitcher to help keep the Mariners at bay while Maddon thought up his genius move in the 12th.
Ah, it’s fun to watch a guy like Maddon pull rabbits out of hat while all the time smiling and having fun. Only in America – the greatest country in the world – can one see this kind of enjoyment, even if it came at the expense of this region’s favorite team, the Mariners.
It would be great if Maddon could continue the magic and give Cubs’ fans what they have not experience since 1908 – a World Series championship. Then next season maybe it would be the Mariners turn to win their first World Series. Wouldn’t that be great?
And if they did it with a bunt in the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game, that might just put a big smile on Maddon’s face even if it came against his Cubs.
You can dream, can’t you?
Sure you can, especially in the United States of America, the greatest country in the world.
Now go enjoy the day.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.
.