Chicago Cubs infielder Javy Baez sometimes plays baseball as if he’s part of a troupe of entertainers.
At least that’s the analogy Cubs Manager Joe Maddon used Saturday after Baez struck out twice, made two top-10 highlight-reel plays at shortstop and knocked in the eventual winning run in the Cubs’ 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
“He’s kind of like a Globetrotter,” Maddon said of Baez, the MVP of last season’s National League Championship Series. “Might be like a Marques Haynes, or a Meadowlark [Lemon] back in the day.”
Baez’s magical brand of baseball continued Sunday when he struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt with the Cubs trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the 10th.
But Baez reached base when the unhittable pitch proved to be uncatchable for Blue Jays catcher Raffy Lopez, getting away and allowing Baez to race to first base.
He ended up scoring the winning run with a sweeping slide just ahead of Lopez’s tag a few minutes later.
As a Globetrotter, you can almost see how Baez would have been an insistent nuisance to the opposing Washington Generals, dribbling around the befuddled straight men as if the basketball were a yo-yo on a string.
“He’s that guy,” Maddon said. “He’s a game-changer.”
40-cent miracle
Horseplayers are inherent dreamers.
Just about anybody who has ever wagered on the horse races has tried to imagine turning a little into a lot.
But even the most frugal of horseplayers would be willing to invest a dollar or two to strike it rich.
So, if somebody said they turned a 40-cent investment into $259,573.34 windfall you wouldn’t believe it.
Impossible, right.
Well, one bettor wagered four dimes (not those kind of dimes) to collect the entire Rainbow 6 jackpot Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla.
Gulfstream’s Rainbow 6 is a 20-cent bet. The bettor, who was using a New York Racing Association wagering account, played two combinations — and miraculously connected.
For the entire Rainbow 6 jackpot to be paid out, there must be only one ticket with six winners. The pot had been growing since it was last hit July 27.
The first four winners in the Rainbow 6 were long shots, going off at 10-1, 28-1, 65-1 and 19-1. The last two were favorites. The winning player had single horses in the first five races, and two horses — Miss Maserati and Kassady Light — for the final race. Miss Maserati won; Kassady Light finished last.
The bettor, as of Sunday night, has not been identified.
No ballerina
Maybe if more goals were scored in international soccer the game would be less dangerous.
Or, so it might seem, after forward Nicolai Mueller injured himself while celebrating a goal Saturday in Germany.
Mueller, who plays for the Bundesliga club Hamburger SV, tore an anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after scoring in the league-opener, a 1-0 home victory over Augsburg.
Mueller attempted a pirouette before falling to the ground in apparent pain.
He is out for at least six months.
Quote of the day
“It was refreshing … to look in the stands and see the kids watching the game. It was one of the highlights of my career.”
Pittsburgh Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle, on Sunday night’s MLB Little
League Classic