NL Play In Game: Cubs 3, Expos 1 - Soto-matic

Wrigley Field
Chicago 3, Montreal 1
Kerry Wood vs. Dustin Hermanson

Following MLB’s lead, KOD decided to have a play-in game this year. Say what you will about having a winner-take-all one game playoff after a grueling 48 game regular season, but this game had it all. Both managers left the field muttering to themselves. I’ll leave it to my esteemed readers what the managers might have been muttering.

Manager Burnette of the Cubs took a gamble. With below average starters for the most part he decided to start his ace Kerry Wood on three days rest. Maybe this is one of the reasons that Kerry would not last as an elite pitcher in the big leagues. His thinking was that he had future HOF’er Fergie Jenkins in reserve. Manager Weiss went with Dustin Hermanson. Hermanson was 1-3 on the year and a so-so ERA. Serviceable but not the top pitcher with both Steve Rogers and Joe Hesketh pitchingbetter for the course of the season.

The strategy for both managers paid off in the beginning. It was a scoreless game heading

into the 5th. Montreal put the 1st run on the board when an Ian Desmond single drove in Larry Walker. Wood who had struck out 7 in 4 1/3 innings was starting to labor. Fergie Jenkins was brought in and kept Montreal at bay. But with the way Hermanson was pitching a 1 run lead might be enough.

It was until the bottom of 6th. Ernie Banks singled. With 1 out Billy Williams looked to ground into an inning ending double play. But a hustling Williams and a questionable call at first kept the inning alive. Up stepped Geovany Soto. Soto blasted a 375’ shoot to left center and the Cubs had the lead. They would add a run in the 7th on a Bill Madlock single.

Jenkins and closer Bruce Sutter would shut down the Expos over the last 4 2/3 innings allowing only a hit and a walk. Jenkins gets credit for the win and Sutter continued his masterful job at closing games, picking up his 11 save of the campaign.  Sutter got the first two Expos out easily to start the 9th, but then tension began to mount as Brett Barbarie reached first on a Banks error at short and Walker walked.  This brought up the go ahead run with 2 outs in the form of Brad Wilkinson.  On a 2-2 count Sutter broke off a gorgeous splitter that Wilkinson swung over the top of, to end the game and propel the Cubbies into the first round of the playoffs.

This was a well played and managed game by both managers. Kudos to Marc Weiss, who said the4 following in his post game press conference:

"Today the Montreal team was let down by their manager, who chose to pitch to the #8 hitter (Soto) instead of walking him to face the pitcher.  Many of the tabloids up in Montreal have been printing articles that the game might have past me by.  At this point I'm unsure if that might not be the truth.  I hope that Montreal ownership will see fit to bring me back for another season."

--submitted by Ron Burnette--