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By Rice Cube,
today at 8:43 pm

I assume by now you’ve seen this:

The #Cubs today acquired minor league RHP Alexander Vizcaíno and minor league OF Kevin Alcántara from the Yankees for 1B Anthony Rizzo and a cash consideration. pic.twitter.com/R4FfgNDeTY

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 30, 2021

I also assume that like most of us, you’re not taking this very well. Anthony Rizzo has been the face of the Chicago Cubs since pretty much the moment he was called up in 2012. And he has given us plenty of memories all these years, including catching the final out of the 2016 World Series.

Enter Nick Shepkowski, sports personality and Cubs fan, who wanted to share his favorite memory of Anthony Rizzo…what he considers to be Rizzo’s finest at-bat as a Cubs player. Below are his thoughts…

——

When you look back at the 2016 Chicago Cubs, it’s easy to remember them bolting out of the gate, eventually winning the division going away, and putting up 103 regular season wins.  After the final out in Cleveland, it was easy to forget some of the uneasiness that entered in the middle of July that season.

To know the uneasiness is, however, to recall the way the 2015 season ended.  After an emotional divisional series win over the Cardinals, the Cubs were railroaded in four straight by the Mets.

Despite the tremendous start to 2016, it was again the Mets shoving the Cubs around as they outscored the Northsiders 32-11 during a four game sweep at CitiField to start off July.  Although the division lead was never in jeopardy, questions about the Cubs being able to get by New York were legitimate.

The Cubs were somewhat reeling when the Mets made the return trip to Chicago two weeks later.  After an absurd 51-26 start, they had dropped 10-of-14 and things were feeling amiss.

After taking two-of-three from the Rangers coming out of the All-Star break, the Cubs welcomed the Metropolitans to Wrigley for three.  By no means was it a must-win, but there was certainly a bit more uneasiness in the air than for a regular July game when leading the division by eight games.

Facing Steven Matz, the Cubs went down quietly the first time through the order when a little pressure was finally administered in the bottom of the third inning after Javier Báez singled and Kris Bryant was hit by a pitch. 

In walked Anthony Rizzo for what would be my favorite at-bat of his in a Cubs uniform.

With two on and one out, and the Cubs seemingly unable to crack the Mets code, Rizzo took the first two Matz pitches for balls and was quickly ahead.

Rizzo then fouled off the next offering before taking strike two to even the count.

What followed was the fight of fights between pitcher and slugger as Rizzo fouled the first 2-2 offering away on a curveball.

He did the same on the next, a fastball.

Matz tried to break one by Rizzo on pitch-seven with a slider but that was wasted away as well.

Each time Rizzo fouled a pitch away, the more the tension grew.

Matz didn’t want the count to go full and went back to the fastball that was fouled away on pitch eight.

The tension grew even more after the ninth pitch of the at-bat was another fastball that was again fouled away.

Matz wasn’t going to throw a fastball three times in a row, not with Rizzo having it timed up, and he wasn’t throwing a breaking ball because he clearly didn’t want to risk a walk.

The 83 mile an hour changeup never stood a chance as Rizzo sent the Rawlings sailing 425-feet into the right field bleachers.

It was big in that it gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead, but bigger in that the big, bad Mets, who clearly had the Cubs number, suddenly weren’t that scary after all.

The rest, as they say, is history, just like No. 44’s time in a Cubs jersey and just like a 108-year championship drought that never would have ended without him.

Thanks to Nick for sharing his memories with us, and stay tuned as we also have a lot of nostalgia, sadness, and anger to spew.

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