Cardinals 7, Cubs 4: ‘Twas the night before a day game

‘Twas the night before a day game, the Cubs in St. Lou
So gather ‘round, all, I’ve got a tale for you.
They lost seven to four, but that’s not the story
The night was about rain, it fell with no glory

It began well enough, this Saturday night game
The Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo sent a ball to the seats [VIDEO]!
And thus one to nothing, the Cubs had the lead
That did not last very long, as you’ll see

Paul Goldschmidt, who as a Diamondback
Used to give the Cubs fits with his hitting attack
Did it again, versus Jose Quintana
One to one, the score was, and that wasn’t Nirvana.

Jason Heyward, the former Card, now a Cub
Stepped up to the plate with his usual club
And hit the ball out of the yard [VIDEO]!
Two to one, the Cubs led on the scorecard.

The St. Louis Cardinals then tied the game
With an RBI single by Ozuna in the next frame
Two to two, the score still remained
When in the fifth inning, it started to rain

It rained and it rained, and then rained some more
No one knew when either team would next score
The sportswriters attending seemed kind of bored
Because things like this were tweeted more and more:

Then out on the field there arose such a clatter,
It was the grounds crew trying to settle the matter
After all the rain was done, a starting time was guessed
Except it took them a while until that was set:

But finally, in the Lou, the rain did let up
And so, the grounds crew slowly removed the tarp
Eleven twenty, central time, is when the game re-began
The Cubs came back to the game with a plan

Tyler Chatwood, who’s been good as “utility pitcher”
This night, he was the proverbial “belly itcher”
Five hits off Tyler, and three runs later
The Cubs trailed five to two, and that’s not great (er).

You might not have seen this, ‘cause it was so late
But this writer stayed up to report the Cubs’ fate
Two runs, they plated, in the seventh inning
Bote’s double and KB’s groundout hinted a new beginning

With just a five to four deficit, the Cubs had a chance
But when Kyle Ryan came in, that all went askance
Two homers, the Cardinals hit off poor Kyle
Seven to four, the Cubs trailed, with no smiles

No more runs could the Cubs score, but that’s not the tale
What the issue is here, is a major fail
On the part of MLB, to change the rules
About suspending games, so no one has to be fools

Three outs short of “official,” that’s when the rains fell
The game was tied, at the time, so let me tell ...
You, that if the tie had been in place after five,
The game could have been suspended, and that’s no jive

My thoughts: Any game, where at least one pitch has been thrown
And then rains come, suspension could then be known
You might say, “But Al, ticket holders won’t get enough...”
“Baseball,” but I have a reply for that stuff.

Saturday night at Busch Stadium, after that long rain delay
Of three hours, thirty-seven minutes, not many did stay
When baseball resumed, maybe two thousand remained
And at one a.m., very few saw the end of this game

One a.m. — that’s right, if you didn’t stay up for the finish
That’s when Jim Adduci grounded out, with no flourish
To end this defeat, and all the rainshowers
Forced the players to be on the field again in 12 hours

Playing games like this till one in the morning
Isn’t fair to players, fans, gameday folks, even with warning
Change the suspended-game rules, MLB
So things like this no longer have to be

The Cubs, with the loss, fell out of first place
Half a game behind Milwaukee, who took over the space
But they’ll have their chance to regain the spot
And here’s the details of the Cubs’ Sunday game slot.

Cole Hamels, he of the lefthanded arm
Will throw against Adam Wainwright, and hopefully with no harm ...
The Cubs will win Sunday. At 1:15 Central the game will start
On WGN-TV. And now, I’ll depart.

(Non-poetic coda: Sunday’s game preview will post at 11:30 a.m. CT.)