Was watching Super Bad the other night; love that movie. I saw the part where the friend requested “Kyle’s Killer Lemonade” to be picked up for the party; this popped into my head when I read that Kyle Hendricks will be returning on Thursday night at Wrigley. Not sure if Kyle will be serving up any lemonade… as long as he’s not serving up any long balls… but either way, it will be great to see him back on the mound.
I wonder if he still gets pissed thinking about when Joe took him out of Game 7, which unleashed a series of events that could only take place to the Cubs trying to end their historical drought. Kyle was rolling that evening. If Joe had left him in, I think it would have saved a few gray hairs from sprouting in my beard since then. But hey, we still won, and that’s all that matters. With Hendricks returning, it will mark the return to the field of the last man standing; Kyle is the last member of the 2016 World Series team still on the Cubs roster. That’s kind of wild… I mean, it was only 7 years ago, and we had a young team! Yes, those young guys are spread around the majors; some of them still doing their thing, some of them struggling… none of them wearing a Cubs uniform any longer, except for of course the starting pitcher on Thursday night. Well, there is one other guy…
Yes, our manager David Ross was of course on that roster, hitting a historic HR in Game 7 in his last career AB. I wonder if Rossy was the manager back then if he would have taken Kyle out; who knows. Ross certainly has his own method to managing the pitching staff, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense sometimes. I loved him as a player; as a manager… not so much. The whole Morel thing is puzzling. I was shocked when he ended up in the minors, which if you follow the bread crumbs, certainly seems was the preference of Ross. Meanwhile, Morel returns weeks later and is absolutely killing it. Yeah, the strategy worked! Yeah right…
I’m excited to see Kyle again; it will bring back memories. Not having the triple digit stuff, shit, the 90 MPH stuff, Kyle pitched his ass off, especially during the 2016 run. His ERA in the NLCS against the Dodgers… 0.71. His ERA in the World Series against the Indians… 1.00. Kyle DOES remind me of Greg Maddux. I don’t think the 300 win club will be in Hendricks’ future (or any other pitcher for that matter), but 100 is possible; he sits at 87 career wins. I just want him to stay healthy, and oh yeah, for the Cubs to keep him. Once he’s gone, which will make me sad, and once the Cubs relieve Ross of his duties, which will not make me sad, then 2016 will be only a memory. It is a memory though… a big one. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if anyone from that team is still around; they’ll ALWAYS be around in our minds and hearts. Any member of that team is a Chicago Cubs legend, period; that will never change. Seeing Kyle pitch again… will warm my heart. Go Cubs!!!
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