Today in 1908 - Cubs lose 5th straight, even defer home field advantage. Also, would you let a frie

The Cubs fall to the Giants 4-3 for their 5th straight loss. Also, would you let a friend operate on you?

Another hot humid day in Chicago, another Cubs loss. And in something I don't think I've ever seen before in baseball, manager Frank Chance deferred home field advantage. In an effort to try to break the Cubs string of bad luck, he actually elected to have his team bat first, despite officially being the home team. It didn't work, but I imagine the King of Deferring, Bill Belichick, would at least be proud of the move.

The Cubs had a chance at a victory ... scoring two runs in the 9th to make it 4-3, but Del Howard struck out with a runner on third to end the game. You have to wonder if things would've been different if they were up in the bottom of the 9th instead of the top, don't you? It probably didn't matter, but one could certainly argue you'd take a different approach with the runner of third in an effort to at least just get him home and force extra innings.

Hey ... do you ever wonder what guys do while they're sitting in the bullpen? Of course you do.

These days, I imagine they're busy scrolling through pictures of cute girls they've seen on Instagram. Maybe banging out a little fantasy football research when nobody's looking. And yeah ... um ... stretching and mentally preparing to appear in the game and stuff.

Well in 1908, they were taking baths.

OK ... there's wasn't an actual bathtub directly IN the bullpen, but on this day in 1908 Giants manager John McGraw wanted to bring on his ace Christy Mathewson in relief, only to find out he was currently unavailable because he was taking a bath. Unfortunately for the Cubs, his bath didn't last long enough to keep him out of the entire game, and the fresh-smelling Mathewson came on in the 9th to strike out Del Howard and end the game.

You gotta admit ... Mathewson was a pretty good looking dude. Definitely would've nailed himself a Dunkin Donuts endorsement in 2016 at the very least. Or better yet, a Re-Bath commercial since he likes the tub so much!

In other news, how about this Would You Rather? question ... If you needed an operation, would you rather it be done by a doctor you were personal friends with, or a total stranger? My initial thought was to say the friend, but the more I thought about it, the more I prefer a stranger.

If your buddy is doing the surgery, sure he knows you and wants you to live, but that also probably gives him an added level of pressure, and nobody wants a nervous doctor! Furthermore, if the surgery was something kinda embarrassing, do you really want him to be the one that operates on your butt? Yeah ... me neither.

Well on this day in 1908, Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews operated on his buddy and neighbor, Dr. Frank S. Johnson. Both worked at the Northwestern University medical school, and apparently Dr. Frank was having some issues with his appendix and his buddy performed the surgery. Fortunately all went well, but I still don't think I want any of my neighbors digging around in my appendix if at all possible.

In summary, the 5th straight Cubs loss drops them to 45-33 on the year. With Pittsburgh and the Giants both winning, the Cubs remain in third place and now trail by two games. Two more games left in this series with the Giants, with the first one tomorrow.