Cubs Go to Great Lengths to Win; Sox Top Tigers

Midweek musings: Wondering how many people actually were watching — in the ballpark or on television — when the Chicago Cubs defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-3 at 1:32 a.m. Central time Wednesday. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Starlin Castro scored the winning run in the 16th inning.

Video below of Zoe Cross for those so inclined (even if you’re not).

* Also wondering how many Chicago newspapers will have the final score in their home delivery edition (guessing the number will be smaller than the number of Chicago newspapers).

* Cubs backup catcher John Baker scored the winning run. And he was the winning pitcher, too. He had a 76 m.p.h. “fastball.” Rather than a radar gun, they might want to consider using a sun dial. Well, except it was a night game and sunrise was a few hours away.

* The length of the Cubs contest at Wrigley Field — 6:27 — was the longest in time in franchise history. Even so, somehow winning a game like that should make a really long season slightly more tolerable for Cubs fans.

* Speaking of long seasons, the Chicago White Sox made theirs more tolerable by defeating the Tigers 11-4 in Detroit. For the record, the Sox are seven games behind the division-leading Tigers in the American League Central. Then again, the Sox — fourth in the AL Central — are only three games ahead of last-place Minnesota.

* Speaking of the Sox, Jose Abreu hit a home run and drove in four runs vs. the Tigers. Meaning he leads the major leagues in homers (31) and RBI (83). Also meaning Sox fans will have something of interest for the rest of the season regardless of how many games away from the postseason the Sox might be.

* If anyone is looking for the low point of the 2014 NFL season, it occurred Tuesday when Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who last week received a two-week suspension by the NFL for domestic violence, received a standing ovation from fans when he took the field at training camp. Of course, this is only training camp. Meaning there is plenty of time for something worse to surpass domestic abuse. Not that there are a lot of things that are worse than that.

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