Rozner: Play by Chicago Cubs' Bryant still top of mind

Two weeks have now passed since the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

Not sure which is more difficult to believe, that it's been a fortnight already or that the North Siders are the champs.

Nevertheless, after a month such as that last one, there are some thoughts that remain quite fresh.

The last out

Perhaps lost in the celebration frenzy was the play Kris Bryant made to end the game - and it was a heck of a play that probably got very little attention aside from it obviously being the last out.

Mike Montgomery fooled Michael Martinez with an 0-1 curveball. The hitter reached out and topped it, the ball bouncing weakly past the mound.

Bryant reacted quickly. Playing behind the bag and on the line with the tying run on first, Bryant moved in and gloved the ball clean. But the field was wet and his plant foot began to slip as soon as Bryant got into his throwing motion.

Feeling his foot begin to move out from under him, Bryant stayed with it and made a perfect throw, falling to the ground on his follow through. That's where Bryant was when the Cubs won the World Series.

On the ground.

That ball could have wound up in Akron. The tying run could have scored and the batter perhaps on third, but credit the Cubs' third baseman with a terrific play that ended Game 7.

Sending runners

Third-base coach Gary Jones deserves a lot of credit for his incredibly aggressive calls during the postseason.

There were at least five plays on which most coaches would not have sent the runner, but especially at times when the Cubs were struggling to score, Jones gambled on errant throws and guessed right.

Some of that is knowing opposition outfielders and his own baserunners, but much of it is understanding that another good opportunity may not arrive against elite pitching.

Jones would have been heavily criticized if a runner had been gunned down in the late innings and it cost the Cubs a game. Conversely, he deserves a lot of praise for having the guts to be aggressive when it was absolutely necessary.

Rain delays

It's worth remembering that if the Cubs had not won Game 7 in the 10th inning, or had it still been tied after 10, the game would not have restarted that night, and maybe not even the next night.

A monsoon hit immediately after the game concluded, and the downpour would have made the field unplayable that night. It was also supposed to rain the entire next day in Cleveland.

That brought back memories for Joe Maddon of 2008, when Tampa and Philadelphia finished Game 5 of the World Series two days after the game was halted by rain.

No one wanted to live through that again, least of all Maddon.

The aftermath

Speaking of Maddon, he had more than rain to worry about had the Cubs not won that game. It would have been the worst loss in franchise history and the manager would have spent this winter and all of 2017 explaining his handling of the pitching staff in the postseason.

And finally …

A tip of the cap to umpire Tony Randazzo.

The Lake Park High School grad, in his 17th year in the big leagues, just worked his first World Series and got a shout-out from Jon Lester after Game 5 in Chicago.

"I thought Tony did a great job behind home plate tonight," Lester said. "It was a really good zone for both hitters and pitchers. He was very consistent. He called the high strike consistently through the game and that's all both sides really ask.

"As a hitter, you want to know the zone. As a pitcher, you want to know the zone. You know where you can go."

Coming from a guy who has pitched in 22 postseason games and expects to get every call - and didn't in that game - that's a pretty high compliment.

For Randazzo's first Fall Classic game behind the dish, not a bad way to finish the season, right?

brozner@dailyherald.com

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