A quick-thinking pitcher was literally stuck, so he improvised.
'Tis better to have gloved and lost, then never to have gloved at all. (Via MLB YouTube)
In the top of the second inning of yesterday's home game against the San Diego Padres, Clint Barmes knocked one right to Cubs pitcher Jon Lester, who easily caught it. This should have been a routine play, one so simple I shouldn't even have to explain how it was supposed to have gone: Lester needed to remove the ball from his glove, throw the ball to the first baseman, and get Barmes out. But Lester was having a real Monday of a Sunday where just nothing was going right—the ball was lodged in his glove, and it wouldn't budge. Thinking fast (because Barmes was, you know, running to first base) Lester just took off his glove and threw it to first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo caught it, and Barmes was out. But perhaps more impressive than Lester's quick-thinking was Rizzo's quick-thinking—he dropped his own glove so he could catch Lester's tossed glove.
The Cubs' last shot at the World Series was ruined in the 2003 National League Championship Series when a fan reached over an outfield wall and caught a foul ball with his glove. Maybe this weekend's glove-play evens things out with the universe.
Or maybe not, because the Cubs lost the game, 5 to 2.