It was a rough day for the suddenly mortal Chicago Cubs. With the bottom-feeding San Diego Padres in town for a Wednesday doubleheader, it seemed a forgone conclusion the best team in baseball would be adding to its division lead.
However, the Padres had other ideas. San Diego took the early game 7-4, and the nightcap 1-0. It was a particularly big day for Padres closer Fernando Rodney who managed to record a save in each game. Rodney has one of the more unique save celebrations around — shooting an imaginary arrow skyward — but when he went to fire his second arrow of the day, Cubs second baseman Ben Zobrist decided to intervene.
Nice try, Mr. Zobrist. There's no blocking @F_Rodney56's arrow tonight
Zobrist and Rodney were teammates on the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012-13, and the video suggests the two are still pals. Rodney was also Cub last season, and left on good terms, so his antics were all in good fun.
Today’s defeats were the Cubs first consecutive losses all season, dropping Chicago to a still incredible 25-8 on the year. Some fans might be finding reason to panic, but team president Theo Epstein is probably breathing a sigh of relief tonight. After all, it was just yesterday Epstein complained about the Cubs’ success making him uncomfortable. Perhaps this was the “karma” Epstein was looking for.