A Tale of Two Games

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times…

So what is worse? A game where your team is blown out or a game where you feel victory is at hand, and it capture defeat from the jaws of victory. Conversely, what is better, a great comeback or a blowout victory.

In my opinion, blowing a win is worse than a blowout loss, and a comeback victory is slightly better than a blowout victory. However, if your catcher hits for the cycle, that second opinion is debatable.

Obviously, this question is triggered based on the two most recent Cubs’ games, which triggered one of the biggest emotional swings between two games that I can remember -especially so early in a season.

The loss on Sunday was very painful – evoking memories of several bullpen meltdowns from last season, where leads were squandered, saves were blown and sure victories were turned into losses.

Here were some of the Lowlights:
–March 30 (Opening Day) TEX 4 CHC 3 (10) – Cubs get a run in the top of the 9th, but Alzolay gives up 1 in the HR bottom of the 9th, and the Rangers win in 10
-April 8 – SD 9 CHC 8 – This was the first game that came to mind, with the Cubs blowing an 8-0 lead. Assad, Cuas and Little gave up 7 in the 6th, and the Neris and Alzolay gave up the other 2 in the bottom of the 8th. It was early, but represented how the Cub’s bullpen would struggle through the first half of the season
-April 16 – AZ 12 CHC 11 (10) – The Cubs had an 11 – 8 lead going into the bottom of the 7th after a big 6-run top of the inning. But Little, Palencia and Alzolay each gave up runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th. And Smyly allowed the “ghost” runner to score in the 10th after the Cubs came up empty.
-April 20 – MIA 3 CHC 2 – A 4-16 Miami team came into Chicago and got a 2-run home run from Bryan De La Cruz off of Alzolay to steal a game from the Cubs
-May 3 – MIL 3 CHC 1 – One day after losing an 11-inning game where the had a lead going into the bottom of the 11th, Alzolay gave up 3 in the top of the 8th to the Brewers
-May 25 – STL 7 CHC 6 – The Cubs nursed a 1-run lead going into the bottom of the 8th, but Mark Leiter gave up 4 runs. 2 runs in the top of the 9th was not quite enough.
-May 27 – MIL 5 CHC 1 – Leiter and Wesneski combine to give up 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th, as the Brewers and Cubs head on opposite directions in the standings
-May 31 – CIN 5 CHC 4 – Smyly gave up 2 in the 7th and Neris (how his his name not showed up earlier) gave up 1 in the 9th
-June 11 – TB 5 CHC 2 – Neris gave up a 3-run home run (after surrendering the tying run) to Brandon Lowe.
-June 13 – TB 3 CHC 2 – Leiter with another bad 7th inning, as he gives up a 2-run lead
-June 17 – SF 7 CHC 6 – The Cubs had a 6-3 lead going into the top of the 8th, after a 4-run 7th. Leiter gave up a homer in the 8th, and then Neris gave up a 3-run home run to Thairo Estrada in the 9th to move 5 games under .500.
-June 24 – SF 5 CHC 4 – Colton Brewer combines with Drew Smyly to give up 3 in the 9th inning

So, when the Cubs blow a 4-run lead going into the bottom of the 8th, it tens to trigger some PTSD among fans. Names like Alzolay, Leiter, Cuas, Smyly, Brewer, and Neris are all gone. But definitely not forgotten.

In addition to losing confidence of fans the Cubs:
-wasted a good start from Matthew Boyd
-wasted a clutch home run from Kyle Tucker that provided was thought to be insurance
-wasted a potential series win on the road against a very good team

With a difficult as the Cubs’ schedule will be during April, getting a series win against the Diamondbacks seemed all the more important. And there was no rest to the weary Cubs, as many teams in MLB had some time off in the first weekend of domestic games, the Cubs had to play for a 5 straight day.

So, the pressure to get a win against the (City not Named) Athletics was very high. The Cubs youngest member of the rotation, Ben Brown, was charged with making the start. And then the offense exploded.

Carson Kelly was the obvious story, hitting a triple off the wall in the 8th to complete the cycle. And he was walked twice. Every Cubs starter got on base, and 7 had multiple hits. Tucker, Busch and Swanson (in addition to Kelly) had 3 or more RBIs. And Kyle Tucker hit another home run — albeit against a position player.

Brown was OK, giving up 3 runs over 5. But Julian Merryweather had a clean inning and Colin Rea scattered 4 hits over 3 innings to save the rest of the bullpen.

All these good feelings could go away quickly if the Athletics win one or two of the next games, but the negativity of the previous meltdown has been greatly softened by the 18-run explosion last night.