Montero backs up #WeAreGood hashtag with big home run
Don't mess with the hashtag.
Don't mess with Miguel Montero.
In this day of social media reach, the Cubs catcher has created his own cottage industry of sorts with the hashtag #WeAreGood.
Montero personally backed it up Saturday, making hash of former teammate Edwin Jackson by hitting the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 7-7 tie and help lift the Cubs to a 9-7 victory before 41,196 delirious fans at Wrigley Field.
Jorge Soler followed Montero by taking a Jackson pitch out to give the Cubs a little breathing room in a game in which they trailed 7-3 in the fifth inning.
So what to make of these Cubs, who are three-quarters of the way through the season with a record of 70-51?
By now we must concede that they are good, or perhaps more fitting, #TheyAreGood.
But just don't suggest they're lucky. Montero took a mostly playful bit of umbrage when it was suggested that the Cubs might be something else other than just good.
“What do you think?” Montero said. “So you think we're lucky? We're good. That's it. I don't know how to answer that question because I don't think you win 70 games with luck. You're either good or not. It's always the mentality, the spirit, the spirit in the clubhouse. We start winning, and your mind changes and you start believing that we are good.”
Good teams beat bad teams, and that's what the Cubs are doing. They took their third straight from the Braves, who are stumbling along at 53-70.
They got a home run in the third inning from Anthony Rizzo to give them a 3-2 lead before the Braves hit starting pitcher Dan Haren and reliever Travis Wood for 5 runs in the fifth. Helping the climb back was Addison Russell, whose sixth-inning solo homer tied the game at 7-7.
The teams combined for 6 home runs, with all going to left field, left-center or center, thanks to a 14-mph southeast breeze blowing from right to left.
“Right after they got their runs, it gets a little bit quiet,” said manager Joe Maddon, the tone-setter for this feel-good season. “And then we answered it relatively fast. That's a big part, when you're able to answer.
“I felt the whole time our guys felt we could come back. I never got the impression we were out of that thing.”
If there's any cold water to throw on the party, it's that Haren lasted just 4⅓ innings, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs.
Haren came to the Cubs from Miami in a July 31 trade, and in his first 4 starts with his new team, he has an ERA of 6.05, having given up 25 hits and 13 earned runs in 19⅓ innings.
The fifth spot in the rotation has evolved throughout the year, and I asked Maddon if Haren's spot is secure.
“I like Danny a lot,” Maddon said. “I really believe he's going to be a big help to us down the stretch. He's such a professional. I mean that sincerely. I like this fella. You got to love his attitude and how he goes about his business.
“It wasn't the right setup for him today the way their lineup played and the way the ballpark played, it made it more difficult. I have a lot of respect for this guy and what he's done, and there's definitely a lot left in the tank. So we'll run him right back out there.”