Rozner: Chicago Cubs take care of business as Hawk says so long

In the same ballpark Sunday, one side of town was mourning the departure of a legend, while the other was trying to shovel dirt on their division rivals.

A Chicago White Sox team with nothing to play for was hoping to send Hawk Harrelson off in style, not to mention stalling the Chicago Cubs' hopes of putting away Milwaukee in time to get a battered roster some rest before the real season begins in 10 days.

The city series is often a contradiction, two teams headed in opposite directions, but rarely so late in the season with so much on the line for one and so little for the other.

Sunday was about Harrelson for the South Siders, a beloved broadcaster for much of the fan base, though a frequent target of the media, much as Harry Caray was on both sides of town.

Emotional for the partisan patrons, no doubt, but the Cubs had their thoughts in a much different place. With the Brewers up big early in Pittsburgh, the Cubs had no time for sentiment.

And they wasted no time jumping on perhaps the future ace of the Sox in Carlos Rodon, scoring 3 in the first, another in the second and knocking Rodon from the game in the third, staking Kyle Hendricks to an early 6-0 lead.

Hendricks, who's been lights out for the last month, coasted from there with 7⅔ strong innings, the only run he allowed courtesy of an Ian Happ misplay in right field, and Hendricks departed to a standing ovation from the Cubs' faithful amid a second straight sellout crowd.

With the Brewers' victory, the Cubs were able to reduce their magic number by only one, down to 5 with seven games to play. Milwaukee has only six games left so the Cubs can feel a little more comfortable after a couple of victories.

Still, there's more work for the Cubs before they can snag a division title and that's not ideal given the injuries to the lineup and bullpen.

"Of course, you'd rather be clinched by now and go through a week of spring training," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "But who knows? Sometimes, when you get pressed to the end like this it can make you even better.

"But sometimes you get fatigued when you're going through this. I've been in that situation, also.

"There's not a manager or a team that wouldn't prefer clinching early. That's what we did in 2016 and I talked about running a spring-training method for the rest of the season. I thought it played out pretty well.

"In the meantime, we've been through a tough stretch and I'm very proud of our players."

In spite of it all, the Cubs are 91-64, reaching 90-plus victories for the fourth straight year for the first time since 1912.

"When you get to spring training, you talk about process," Maddon said. "If you're result oriented, a lot of times things go wrong. If you stay process oriented, you look up at the end of the day and the number of wins is kind of nice.

"To look up at 91 wins, you gotta play the tape back. How did that happen? I think it happened because regardless of who was playing, we played the same type of game."

The game they played Sunday was appropriate for the level of opponent, an easy 6-1 win that was over from the start.

On their way off the field, after celebrating another victory on the South Side, Maddon stopped with his players to tip his cap to Harrelson, who was saluted by the patrons and all White Sox players and coaches from behind home plate.

Harrelson said a tearful goodbye and tapped his heart in appreciation of the North Siders' kind gesture.

Carlos Rodon did not return the favor.