There was talk after yesterday's game about the Rangers being a team that does the "little things" to win.
There were a lot of "little things" that happened in tonight's game that led to a one run loss.
An easy grounder to first base by Marlon Byrd being booted by Justin Smoak.
Derek Holland having Marlon Byrd picked off at first base, but throwing the ball away instead.
Holland then grooving a pitch that resulted in a two run homer, which would have been a solo shot if either of the first two "little things" hadn't happened.
Ron Washington deciding to pull Max Ramirez for defensive purposes in a tie game, despite the fact that he was due up 5th in the 9th inning.
Matt Treanor, who has been awful with the bat the last month, coming up with two out and two on in the 9th of a tie game as a result of Washington's decision to yank Max.
Washington bringing sidearming righthander Darren O'Day to pitch the 10th, rather than Dustin Nippert, even though the Cubs had a bench full of lefties available to pinch hit. O'Day allows three hits and the go-ahead run to score, and Nippert ends up in the game anyway.
(And I know that O'Day hasn't been bad against lefties in his career. But he's also not got a real long track record, and as a general rule, sidearmers get killed by opposite-handed hitters).
Michael Young, inexplicably, not charging a slow chopper in the tenth with the bases loaded and one out, then not throwing home, meaning that there was no chance at a double play and what ended up being the winning run was allowed to score unchallenged.
A lot of bad little things happened in this game.
The reality is, this isn't a team that does the "little things" well. It is a team with a lot of talent that relies on its talent to overcome the fact that it doesn't do the little things well, and to overcome the fact that there are a lot of questionable in-game decisions that get made on a regular basis.