Cubs one win from eliminating Giants - and Travis Wood homer speaks volumes
CHICAGO — OK, now do you believe that this is the Chicago Cubs’ year?
If it wasn’t enough that Cubs president Theo Epstein actually pulled out the number 1908 in a charity raffle in January while in Boston, we present you Travis Wood.
Wood, who was there with the Cubs during the dark days of the franchise as their longest-tenured player with first baseman Anthony Rizzo, did what no man has done in 92 years.
Just when Cubs fans were shaken watching National League ERA leader Kyle Hendricks leave the game Saturday night after taking a comebacker off his right forearm in the fourth inning, they were shaking the grandstands in utter joy when Wood did the inexplicable.
Wood slowed down the Giants’ momentum with his arm, and then shut it down with his bat, hitting the first homer by a reliever in a postseason game since Rosy Ryan for the 1924 New York Giants.
“That was just crazy,’’ Cubs second baseman Javier Baez said. “We know he can hit, and he’s been looking for the homer, but wow.’’
Cubs reliever Travis Wood makes history with playoff home run
Just like that, the Cubs’ magical mystery tour marches on after clubbing the San Francisco Giants, 5-2, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NL Division Series in front of a frenzied sellout crowd of 42,392 at Wrigley Field.
“It was definitely a big momentum switch,’’ Cubs catcher Miguel Montero said. “I mean, we’re losing our starting pitcher. We’re losing the guy who had the best ERA in the game. It was a heartbreaker right there.
“Then, Woody hits that home run, and we got some confidence going again, some momentum, and that’s huge.
“We’re feeling pretty good about ourselves.’’
The series moves to San Francisco, where they face Madison Bumgarner, the baddest postseason pitcher on the planet, with a 0.79 ERA in his last nine postseason appearances, including 23 consecutive scoreless innings.
And they’re facing a team who has won three World Series in seven years, won 11 consecutive playoff series, and undefeated in their last nine elimination games.
No matter.
“We’ll be ready,’’ said Baez, who is turning this NLDS into his own playground, with his three hits, matching the entire total of the Cubs’ top five hitters in the lineup. “We don’t care who’s pitching. We know he’s good. So are we.’’
Oh yeah, don’t we know, with the Cubs’ magic number now nine to win their first World Series title since 1908.
Armour: Giants down but definitely not out
Come on, with the way the stars are aligning, is there anyone left in the galaxy who doesn’t believe this is their year?
Just when it looked as if the Cubs would be suffering their biggest injury since slugger Kyle Schwarber blew out his knee the first week of the season, even now the medical gods are smiling on them, with Hendricks sustaining nothing more serious than a forearm contusion.
“It feels all right now,’’ said Hendricks, who drove in two runs with a single in the second inning. “It kind of swelled up on me, but X-rays were negative, so it feels pretty good now. Hopefully, it’s a day-to-day thing, get the swelling down, and I’ll be back in a couple days.’’
The Cubs conceded they were terrified when it first happened. When Giants left fielder Angel Pagan hit a sharp comebacker that caromed off Hendricks’ forearm, you could sense the despair. Their fears were hardly eased when Hendricks’ first warmup pitch sailed five feet outside. He threw several more pitches with Cubs manager Joe Maddon and the training staff watching, talked for a bit, before determining Hendricks would have to leave.
“In that particular moment,’’ Maddon says, “a guy gets hit in the arm and then he throws that first pitch, and really yanks it, so I was concerned. …He knew, he knew he wasn't right.’’
Maddon called on Wood, who struck out Gillaspie, but was more excited to actually find out he was going to be able to hit in the bottom of the inning, just his 13th plate appearance of the season.
Giants reliever George Kontos delivered an 85-mph cutter, Wood swung, and sent it deep into the left field bleachers.
Home run, only the third by a Cubs’ pitcher in postseason history, joining Kerry Wood and Rick Sutcliffe.
Curtain call, the first since, well, Baez's game-winner in Game 1.
Ball game, the Cubs’ 105th victory of the season.
“We were going crazy,’’ Baez said. “Watching him run the bases was amazing.’’
Yes, even historic.
“It was a special moment for me personally,’’ said Wood, who had nine regular-season homers in his career, “but just to be able to pull off the win, was huge.’’
This may be an even year, with 2008 being the last time the Giants haven’t won a World Series title in an even year, but the Giants now face a daunting challenge.
Eighteen times in postseason history, a team with at least 100 victories in the regular season took a 2-0 postseason lead.
Only one has ever lost, the 2001 Oakland A’s to the New York Yankees.
Yet, these are the Giants, who call themselves the cockroaches, unable to be killed in postseason play, fighting off elimination in nine consecutive games.
“It gives you a lot of confidence,’’ Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, “the fact that you’ve been in this position before. We’re going home, and hopefully we can get things rolling there.
“But we do need to get this offense going a little bit.’’
Indeed the Giants have to prove they can even the score against this Cubs’ team before anyone can get excited about a miraculous comeback.
They have played six times since the start of September, and the Giants are hitting .120, scoring all of 12 runs. And four were scored against Mike Montgomery in a spot start.
“That’s still a team you have to be scared of,’’ Montero said. “They’re a good ballclub. We’ve got some confidence, we got some momentum going, but they’re the Giants.
“They’ve shown how hard it is to put them away.
“Hopefully, we’re the ones to do it.’’
Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale and Facebook
GALLERY: Giants, Cubs clash in NLDS
