Only a couple minutes into talking with reporters about being inducted to the Cubs Hall of Fame together, and maturing as major leaguers together, Mark Grace couldn’t fight the urge to put his arm around Shawon Dunston.
“It means everything to me, because this is my buddy,” Dunston said.
Even as Grace prefaced that his selection for this honor is “the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my professional career,” the pair quickly digressed into memories of their nine seasons together on the Cubs infield.
The line between jokes and history got blurry. But while the more common story of why Dunston bonded with Grace is that the tall first baseman rescued him from errors by corralling wayward throws from his cannon of a right arm. The backstage tale is Dunston appreciated Grace providing former Cubs manager Don Zimmer with a different young player to ride for every mistake.
“Shawon was like ‘Man, I’m glad you’re up here, because Zimmer is all over you and not me,” Grace laughed.
As telling stories of the Shawon-O-Meter sign led to memories of the 1989 division title season and a debate about losing to the Giants in the NLCS — Grace still thinks the Cubs were the better team, while Dunston pointed out the Giants were more experienced — the pair circled around to why Cubs tenures that were light on playoff triumphs still means so much decades later.
Dunston said: “It’s easy to come to the game when your team is always in first place. We had a sellout crowd everyday. So we didn’t know we were in last, third, or fourth or fifth. That’s why I say [Cubs fans] are the best fans.”
“If you give [Cubs fans] a good effort, an honest effort, they will love you,” Grace said. “We gave them the best we could for 162 for over a decade and we love them as much as they love us.”
Hendricks’ many changes
Normally, a changeup is a pitch that really has to be set up by the fastball to work. That Kyle Hendricks can command his change piece to every part of the strike zone, and cut it to vary up its movement, is why he can have days like Sunday.
Hendricks limited the Diamondbacks to two runs 52⁄3 innings while throwing 43 of his 82 pitches for changeups, which is usage that impresses even the fellow changeup artists among him.
“It really puts a wrinkle in it for hitters, because you’re not really seeing it as a hitter from other guys,” Jordan Wicks said of the cutting action on Hendricks’ changeup. “It’s the conviction he throws it with. He’s not afraid to use it to every hitter. He knows it’s a really good pitch and he knows the zones to execute it in.”
On Sunday, Hendricks recognized early that his changeup was moving more than usual on a windy day against an overeager lineup.
Hendricks said: “Once Yan and I realized that, we stayed with it as much as we could. It still plays off my fastball, so I’ve got to find spots to establish it down and away to play off of it.”
Candelario leaves early
Jeimer Candelario was subbed out after the fourth inning for what manager David Ross described as back tightness. He was still being evaluated postgame.