Russ Dorsey

But that's a... You're trying to end what was at that time a 10-game losing streak.

It became 11.

Look, even if you're not paying attention to Nico Horner this year in the slug, you know that this guy is contact.

I mean, you know that about him.

You know that this guy is clutch.

And I don't think that his explanation was particularly satisfying either.

So I got to go with poor Carlos Mendoza.

So you're going with Carlos Mendoza.

It's interesting because we have that explanation of why he decided to pitch to Nico Horner, who had been in that situation earlier in the game.

You remember the leadoff triple by Pete Crow Armstrong in the third inning?

When he got doubled off.

he got doubled off because guess what nico horner made contact yeah he wasn't going to strike soft liner to second so so here's what mendoza had to say after the game about why he chose to pitch to the the guy with the highest batting average with runners in scoring position since the start of last season what was the thought process there in the tent did you consider walking horner to set up the double play now in that situation um especially with

That's bad.

That's really bad.

Especially given the context that, I don't know if you remember a long time ago when we were in Vegas, the Cubs had all the men on base and all the opportunities.

I saw guys like Seiya Suzuki just pop up after running a 3-0 count with the bases loaded to end the game.

Anybody but Nikko.

And while that is bad, it's still not worse than what Will Venable did.

Okay.

Because I'm sorry, it's 2026.