What a difference a day makes… 24 little hours. Brought the sun and the flowers…. where there used to be rain. Game 4 of the NLCS was a little better than Game 3. From a gut shot to a slam dunk, from a horrible game to an outstanding game, from depression to happiness. I was happy to see the Cubs team that I watched throughout the 162 regular season games come to play on Wednesday night in Los Angeles. The end result is a tied series. A split in Wrigley, followed by a split in LA, with Game 5 coming next. Lester will be tasked with getting us the series lead before boarding that flight back to Chicago. How did we get here?
We can’t win without him is what I told the text crew after Rizzo’s 2nd strikeout of the game. Yes, there have been others struggling, and we’ll get to them, but Rizzo… we need him. Regardless if we could get a win in this one without him, or even sneak by the Dodgers with him in slumber, we would not be able to win it all without Rizzo’s bat. He was such a mainstay all year long; a front runner for the MVP most of the year. Take that bat out of the middle of this order, and I don’t think we could overcome. After he hit his 2nd foul home run of the series, I was hoping it wasn’t his 3rd strikeout. He hit the next one fair, and Rizzo had broken out of it. He followed it up with a bases loaded single to tack on runs like the Cubs have done all year, and then another hit in the 8th. By the looks of it, Rizzo is back, and that is very good for us, and very bad for everybody else. We needed that.
We also needed Russell to break out. Here’s another guy… 95 RBIs in the regular season! He hasn’t done crap this postseason. I do remember a very good at bat against MadBum in Game 3, where he drew a walk, and ended up scoring on Jake’s 3 run bomb, but besides that…. In his first AB of the game, he flew to the track; I thought he had got all of it. In his second AB, I wasn’t sure. I knew it would be good for a sacrifice fly, which would give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. It was good for more than that… a 2 run bomb, a 4-0 lead, and a very pumped up Addison. He got an infield hit and another solid single later in this one too. Although Rizzo breaking out of his slump was priority number one, Russell’s slump busting was priority number two. We can check both those boxes.
The theory that various brain disorders viagra sildenafil buy such as stress, anxiety and depression in life. Generic drugs have the equal active ingredients as their name brand generic sildenafil india counterparts, and work just as effectively, but cost much less. There are some websites that claim a simple online survey can replace this page cialis price a physician. This allows the penis to attain the viagra free pill click for info strong erection. Heyward even avoided a strike out and grounded out for an RBI, after striking out earlier with two on base. He’s out there for his defense, and he almost screwed that up if it weren’t for a very questionable review that went the Cubs way. He looked safe to me, but at that point, I wasn’t complaining. We needed every break we could get. We got that, and more on Wednesday night.
These Cubs rewarded my faith in them on this night. They’ve passed the test that was before them, rebounding from a tough loss, and a series deficit to pull even. School is not out though. It’s back to the grind tomorrow night for Game 5. If I was Roberts, I would throw Kershaw; I’m happy he’s sticking to his guns… for now. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. Either way, I feel good with Lester on the mound for us. Against this heavy left handed hitting lineup, he matches up best. If the offense can build on this performance, and guys like Rizzo and Russell are back to their old selves, I really like our chances.
The Cubs were back for a night. Are they here to stay? 2 wins from the World Series, and 6 wins from glory. The 4th chapter of this NLCS is closed; turning the page to the 5th chapter now. How will this chapter be written? If it’s anything like Game 4, the Cubs will be one game away. Let’s get Game 5 and come home boys. Go Cubs Go!!!
bullwinkle
This is the Cubs we know. We all knew, or at least hoping, that those slumping Cubs would eventually break out. We were just hoping it would be in time to bring us home. Well, they woke up last nite. I’ll even give Heyward a nod for at least getting it done in his at bat. Win tonite, then bring it home and keep swinging those bats against Kershaw. We can and will beat him.
MK
10-2…nice and easy W! Big guns finally woke up and did damage! Cubs hit like that and sky is the limit. Problem is, it is just 1 game, but what a big W it was. Series is even…best of 3 now with possibly 2 in Wrigley. Have to like the Cubs chances in game 5 even though it is still in la. Lester on the mound with bats getting hot…hopefully. Get a second W in la and come home to close it out! GO CUBS GO!!!
6W