Twelve the Hard Way

Mickey and his boys must be exhausted from their game last night in Wrigley Field. Not only did they blow an early 5-0 advantage, they coughed up the lead again in the bottom of the eighth for a 7-6 loss, their twelfth straight and one short of tying the franchise record. The less said the better here. I’ll just note my daughter called at 9:30 PM to point out that two trips to the mound in the sixth inning were followed two two-run Cubs’ homeruns. “I mean, what did they talk about? Obviously, it didn’t work.” To which I replied in my “don’t worry be happy way” that this will get us that much closer to a new manager. Speaking of the future ex-manager, this is what he told reporters after the game: “Our guys really battled out there, great environment. We’ve got to close these things out.” [quote in today’s Sun-Times] Excuse me, Mick, but your guys spit the bit, twice. Before the game, speedster Duke Ellis was called up from Double-A Birmingham, where he had 34 stolen bases in 35 attempts. Mouse used Ellis to run in the top of the ninth after Oscar Colas walked for catcher Martin Maldonado. (Did I mention Mouse had Koey Lee DH’ing, which would’ve cost the Sox the DH had they tied the score or gone ahead?) Ellis stole second only to get picked off with Corey Julks up. Here's manager Polly Positive on the play: “He’s here to help us win, and he’s going to learn from this.” Or not.