The good news is that this is all playing out exactly like Epstein's Boston run did, so we still probably have one more championship coming as he flails around with pitching.
Even as-is, he's at least a little better than Chatwood. But ... meh. I'm not convinced the Cubs' ability to "fix" pitchers is distinguishable from the random variance of pitcher performance.
You shouldn't give it to the kid to "avoid the situation," you should give it to the kid because that was clearly who was supposed to get it. Yeah, sorry, I mean more a generic foul ball situation.
I always wonder if they have a kid at home or something. If I were him, I'd be wanting to bring it home to my son or nephews. But I'd probably give it to the rando kid just to avoid that exact situation.
Harper was going last in front of his home crowd. If the quick-pitches didn't work, the commissioner himself would have paused the clock at 2 seconds while everyone pretended not to notice. It's fine.
——— I wonder if the Cubs can dump Chatwood on someone like the Angels, A’s, Twins, Phillies, or Rockies? Why would anyone take him off our hands? I've heard he has a promising spin rate.
I know it's a minor nitpick, but it annoys me to see the Pirates hitter rounding second for the triple as the ball is coming in. Your run is irrelevant, but what if there's a cut-off and quick tag that gets you before the winning run crosses the plate?