Today in 1908 - Cubs lose, everybody hates the umpire, and a guy (literally) gets cold feet.

The Cubs failed to pull out another late inning victory and fall to the visiting Boston Doves. Meanwhile, every hates the umpire and some guy tried to kill himself and (literally) got cold feet.

The Cubs managed to push a run across in the 8th to make it 3-2, but no late game heroics today in the 9th, and the score remained the same for a Cubs loss.

The 9th inning was not without drama though when umpire Bill Klem forgot the count for batter Jack Hannifin while the Doves were at the plate in the top of the inning. It's unclear which way he screwed up first, put Klem totally forgot the count and Hannifin managed to see four balls, three strikes, and THEN hit a double. So essentially both teams were pissed at him (and understandably so).

I will say this ... Cubs fans must've HATED this dude. This is the third time in the last month that Klem has screwed them over. (Time #1 here. Time #2 here.) Personally, I'm starting to totally question how the guy ever made the Hall of Fame if he can't even accurately keep track of balls and strikes!

Hi, I'm Bill. I stink at umpiring ...

On the mound for the Cubs, Orval Overall did his best Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn on this day, walking five guys, and most of them to lead off an inning. Two of those walks ended up scoring, so a lot of the blame for this loss falls on his shoulders.

Meanwhile Doves pitcher Pat Flaherty fared better, using his infamous "lightning pitch" to keep the Cubs at bay. Basically in 1908 there wasn't much of a windup required for pitchers if you didn't want one, so Flaherty was just like that douchey pitcher in your slow-pitch softball league who always tries to quick pitch you when he gets a strike on you.

Johnny Evers was the most notable victim of the quick pitch today in the bottom of the 9th. Heinie Zimmerman led off the inning with a single and instead of bunting him over like he probably should've, Evers got caught off guard by the lightning pitch and hit into a double play instead. The game was essentially rendered over from there.

In other news of the day, a guy tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, but literally got cold feet.

OK ... sidebar before I go any further. I just don't even know what to do with the word "literally" anymore. It has been used incorrectly so many times by so many annoying people, that now I find myself avoiding the world altogether because I'm always second-guessing my use of it. Is this the right time to use it? I think it is, but I literally have no clue. Wait ... now I'm pretty sure THAT'S not the right way to use it because I do have some clue. AHHHH!!!! So confused!!!

Anyway ... this dude jumped off the Clark Street bridge on this day with plans of ending his own life, but the water was so cold when he landed in, he immediately began screaming for help and was rescued by a nearby boat. So ... his feet "literally" got cold and he changed his mind about the suicide. That's the right use of the word ... right? RIGHT? Oh forget it ... let's just move on.

In summary ... the Cubs loss drops them to 47-34 on the year. Pittsburgh didn't play, so the Cubs now trail by a game and a half. In addition, the Giants won a 16 inning game against St. Louis to move back into second place while the Cubbies flop down to third. Worth noting that BOTH pitchers had 16 inning complete games in the contest (and I'm sure some serious elbow boo boos the next morning). Game two of the four game series with Boston is tomorrow.

#1908 #badumpiring #cubslose #coldwater