This is a response to a friend:
This is what I sent you last Wednesday: “Yes, what Wood did was wrong (anger outburst). He was extremely frustrated, probably realizing he doesn’t have it anymore, even after all the hard work he’s put in to keep coming back, and the frustrations of a career with unfulfilled promise due to all the injuries. He’s always been very classy and does a lot for the community, so I can forgive this one instance since I know how frustrated he is and perhaps scared his career is over. This stemmed from caring and being competitive, although that doesn’t excuse it.” So, now that he has announced he is retiring, once again I was right, and understood that Wood’s frustration was due to him knowing his career was over.
I’ve also been saying that Reed Johnson, a player I liked a lot because he was a battler on both offense and defense, hasn’t been hitting. The Cubs have pinch hit him or let him bat a few times in the last week or so in critical situations at the end of the game, and he failed every time. So what do they do today? They pinch hit him in the 9th with 2 outs and the tying run on second, and as I predicted, he struck out. Unless he was the only hitter left on the bench, he had no reason being the pinch hitter in that situation.
Now, to the real issue. I’ve told you all along that the umps stole many of the Cub-Sox games from the Cubs, one of which was admitted by the Sox players. You countered by saying the umps stole games from the Sox, which is a joke. So, what happened again today? DeJesus doubles, giving the Cubs a runner on second with one out in a 2-1 game, but the ump allows Beckham to push him off the base and then tag him. It cost the Cubs a scoring opportunity, and even Frank Thomas and another one of the announcers called it a bad call. Sveum was thrown out for arguing. So, once again, the umps cost the Cubs a chance to win. Of course, the Cubs’ not trying to squeeze in the lead run in the 7th also cost them, but that’s part of the team. The umps aren’t.