LOS ANGELES – John Lackey, baseball culture warrior, gave an instant analysis before walking through Dodger Stadium’s visiting clubhouse on Saturday night: “It’s sad that’s the direction our game’s gotten. That’s a textbook play by a kid and he got penalized for it.”
But did the seventh-inning play the Cubs kept talking about – and kept getting asked about – really matter? Eh, sort of. It meant one run and a momentum swing – against a Dodger team that looks much sharper than the Washington Nationals and still had star closer Kenley Jansen waiting for a four-out save.