a great play by j.p. howel. as hard as it is to imagine, a ball trickling with three or feet with that hack of javi baez and that's exactly what happened and howell made a great play on it. he made a great play and he is off the mound of the left-hander and did not lose his figooting all and delivered a strike. a good athletic play by howell. he lost his footing at the end, but -- i don't think that kind of swing you will see that ball go that slowly off of his bat. >> matt: that's hard to do. so here's anthony rizzo now. rizzo has singled and struck out twice today.

>> john: max effort and small results. j baez plays hard and that's one of the things that renteria and his staff have been impressed with, taking every plate appearance very seriously as a learning opportunity and that one skips in the dirt and coghlan advances to third. we've seen a lot of that had arc this afternoon, my goodness. >> john: again. , it does not take the hop that he's looking for and that ball with a 56-foot off-speed pitch. the hop that he's looking for and that ball with a 56-foot off-speed pitch.

>> matt: rizzo bounces that one past gordon. coghlan scores and it's a 7-3 dodger lead. second hit of the afternoon for anthony rizzo and his 74th rbi of the season. >> john: hanging breaking ball and again, he's the got his hands so over the play, but keeps them back. putting the ball in place at the right place at the right time. first and third, nobody out. couldn't score a run so the cubs get a run back. the pinch hitter now will be the right-handed swinging mike gold. >> matt: it's been a tough year

altogether for the young baseman who was given the starting opportunity at third. struggled through the all-star break and slowly lost more and more playing time to luis valbuena who has hit with power since the break upon. 6 . >> john: did he come over here from texas in the garza trade? what everyone is talking about the farm system is bryant. >> matt: right. >> john: he had a monster season and didn't get called up and didn't have to get called up and not on the rost every and ter ae is bright for him. >> matt: the line to left. >> matt: so a walk and a pair of singles on j.p. howel's watch here in the seventh and now it will bring up luis valbuena.

the name chris bryant is not unfamiliar to cub fans and there was quite a bit of season september when he was not among the september call-ups and the minor league baseball player of the year, gaudy home run totals and crazy power yet not a member of the 40-man roster and to bring him up in september that would have required putting him on the 40-man jay and they didn't have to. totally understand it. i think people were totally misreading it thinking it was a money deal. it has nothing to do and the clock doesn't matter in september and it doesn't matter losing somebody by taking them off the roster. the future is till bright for this young man and i still think some of the issues in baseball because we want to see those guys so fast that they're not given the prop arer time and the amount of at bats that they need to be successful and baez coming

up here and struggling mightily average wise and you wonder how that will affect him in the off season and what changes he feels he has to make going into the next campaign and whether or not he'll be on the roster in the beginning of the season. >> matt: both bull pens are hot now with runners at first and second with a run in. and the first off into valbuena and misses well off the corner. again, you look at the scores through the weekend and the dodgers win a couple of big lopsided games and yesterday in particular and it would appear that each of them blade out as lappers and that's not been the case and certainly not the case this afternoon. time run and they stand on deck in the circle. >> john: they were down if greinke's game 4-1 and they were able to take advantage by the cubs and, you know, turned it

into a big victory and then yesterday, of course, threw is open. clayton kershaw on the mound and it it wasn't clayton kershaw and it was still better than 95% of the league. >> matt: two balls and a strike to capture luis valbuena. >> john: the bull pen for the dodgers is still a little bit of a question hark when they have to have depth. i think 8 and 9 feels good for them and the closer jansen has been pretty good. they're going to need this part of the ball club when they go deep into the playoffs and

picking up some innings for guys that may not be able to deliver like greinke and kershaw. >> matt: full count now. >> john: that's to say that they were not able to do what they hoped they can do. alcantara waiting on deck. and the payoff from howel. you know, rick renteria who we just saw is a very patient man. you're not going to get a lot of fire and brimstone from rick and not a lot of bluster. he's all substance, and i know that there were those around the cubs, fans in particular felt like this job required more of a celebrity manager and speaking

personally, i think they got the perfect guy. there are still some growing pains here. >> out to right for kemp. rizzo will tag up in advance and there are two away with runners at the corners. >> john: one thing they definitely need is stability and they've gone through a slew of managers in a relatively short period of time and they would love to be able to settle in and develop and keep some of these players and get back to winning which this city would desperately love to have that back in their good fortune, winning at baseball. >> matt: let's face it, managing in the big leagues has changed in the last decade. here's alcantara with runners at the corners and two gone.

>> with all of the information that's out there for the public's consumption and more awareness over let's call them, so esoteric baseball numbers and the the one that doesn't imply that is the one that's vulnerable because fans are as educated these days as some player development people. so if you're not playing an over shift or if you choose to do things in a more traditional fashion you have to answer to that. i'm not saying that that's wrong, but you have to be prepared to answer as to why. >> matt: we asked rick renteria that before the game, because you have such a young infield do you perhaps not play the overshift or not do things as strategic as you would elsewhere. in other words, you want kids just to play and we're doing things as we would if you have a

veteran field and we're implying all of that intel. two balls and a strike for alcantara. >> matt: a tough balance and a kind of a win-now culture that's coming for the cubs. a drive to left and that one is gone! we've got a ball game here today, folks! >> matt: a chance of the year for alcantara and the cubs are as close as they've been since

the first pitch of the aftern n afternoon. >> john: that one didn't need any win, that's for sure. the sun comes back out and moment airily and this pitch is crushed. it does not go in the right s t spot. the pitches that weren't called for strikes. got him. >> matt: dodger bull pen has put the cubs right back in play. the one-run game as we take a quick time out.

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his end of the seventh and four earned runs and brandon league will be pressed into duty with two gone in the seventh inning. >> pitch to chris polanco has grounded and rojas has got it and a couple of pitchers are in the bottom of the seventh and one that's brought the cubs right back into the game. helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives,

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store or visit mlb.com today. both managers certainly exercising the rights that come along with september roster expansion. the new pitcher for chicago is right-hander justin grimm. grimm making his 70th appearance of the season this afternoon and he'll get the bottom of the order. eight, nine and the top of the order for the dodgers in the eighth. >> john: two with some movement and 80 mile an hour curveball with 85 miles an hour. >> matt: butera sends a fly ball out on left center and coghlan yielding to alcantara. so an opportunity now for andre ethier.

ethier making that transition this year from an everyday full-time player to somebody who has been put into picking up spots and they're not necessarily spots he would have picked and andre would prefer to be out there every day, but he does understand the glut of talent that's in the dodger outfield and has done his best to adapt to a platoon role. andre ethier is the last player still around from that 2008 cubs-dodgers division series matchup.

>> two balls and no strikes, the count to ethier. >> john: because you have the scenario play out it certainly gives you more numbers than options even if it's ideal for every player. >> john: the national league club, of course, will use more players in the game, because of the pinch hitters. >> matt: three balls and no strikes and after revised my 2007 division series note because matt kemp was around for that, too. they're the only position players still left. >> john: i find it interesting how we move into differentier as of baseball and how we move into analytics and information and how about the fact that we don't have your prototypical.

and now you're asking younger players to do it or in some cases, veterans who would like to be playing every day, but there isn't that guy on the one team that you could think of that that's all he does anymore. the guy that hassa i lot of pinch hits or has perfected. >> call strike three taken by ethier here. check that. that's a called strike two. 3 and 2 is the countdown to andre ethier. >> john: i thought this ball was low. he play three strikes in this league apparently. >> matt: so a full count with ethier with dee gordon waiting on deck. >> john: what that pitch does is expands the zone for the hitter and he doesn't take anything close when he thinks that was a ball in his mind and the pitcher

is going right back down in that area and probably a pretty smart thing to do, but he fouled that off. >> matt: and there is ball four. among those who you thought might have been rotated out of the game at this point when the dodgers had the 7-2 lead, dee gordon. he's had another big day. his sitting consecutive multi-point game and what with the sloppy track, at the time the lopsided nature of the score, you'd guess he would be a candidate to come out and not the case and i'm sure don mattingly is happy now that he chose to leave him around.

>> matt: on the ground to second. out to baez and they doubled off an extremely fast man to finish off the top of the eighth. ♪ ♪nu s could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that parker. well... did you know auctioneers make bad grocery store clerks? that'll be $23.50. now .75, 23.75, hold 'em. hey now do i hear 23.75? 24! hey 24 dollar, 24 and a quarter, quarter, now half, 24 and a half and .75! 25! now a quarter, hey 26 and a quarter, do you wanna pay now, you wanna do it, 25 and a quarter- -sold to the man in the khaki jacket! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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in the beginning of the season when brian wilson looked like the closer of the san francisco giants all over on again. sure enough, there is the tying run on base with the first-pitch single off the bat of john baker. >> john: he doesn't have the life at the end of his cutter that was so nasty that he would throw about every pitch. you see right there just over on the middle of the plate to get a base hit. when he has been good is life at the end of the pitch and what i mean by that is it it has nothing to do with radar speed and it has everything to do with what he perceives as the pitch that gets on him quicker than normal. >> matt: matt szczur making his second plate appearance after coming on at the middle of the contest. he representses the go-ahead run with nobody out in the home eighth. bunting. gonzalez will try to get the

lead runner and he does. well played by adrian gonzalez with rojas covering for round number one. >> john: and it almost looked like a perfect bunt and an easier place for a first baseman coming in and throwing on his arm side to second. it would have been a much tougher play to throw around and turn to on first if the runner was dee gordon-like. >> matt: so now with one away and a runner aboard, wilson has to face the guy who has been the most troubling in chicago's lineup this afternoon and that's chris coghlan who has a bonus opportunity, one we didn't think possible to throw and the first gets away from gonzalez and now the tying run within scoring position with one away.

joey davis is waving szczur back. rick renteria wants an explanation. our best guess was that chris coghlan had asked for time and adrian gonzalez was totally unprepared to take that throw which lends you to believe either he or coghlan had called for time. yeah. that's indeed the case. and coghlan waves and misses. it's strike one.

we were talking about chris coghlan and it didn't look like how he would have a chance at another plate appearance to give him a shot at the cycle and home run, single double walk. and as rare as triples are here in this ballpark as we showed you earlier and even the likes of mark grace was able to cash in with one for a cycle. and grace is not known as a great base runner in his day. >> john: it was made more difficult to the runner on first base, as well. >> matt: the cubs go back to thinking about puig's play and now this game being a one-run game.

>> matt: 0 and 2. >> matt: los angeles took a big league on the bottom of the seventh, 7-2. rizzo singled in a run and a three-run by alcantara and the big picture storyline for los angeles. winning today taking the first three in the series would allow don mattingly some flexibility for the series finale in his starting pitchinga assignment and he would bump dan haren back to monday against the giants. san francisco trailing by 3.5 at the start of play. they're in san diego tonight.mo. san francisco trailing by 3.5 at the start of play. they're in san diego tonight. but the dodgers hang on to this one and the padres up-end the giants at petco park. that would be a four and a half game deficit with only seven

left for san francisco. >> matt: well hit to right! and they would make it a one-run lead! [ cheers and applause ] >> matt: chris coghlan, have yourself an afternoon.