Chicago Cubs: What’s with the sudden influx of position players on the hill?

For the second time inside a week, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon went to position players to close out a ballgame, drawing ire from many in the game.

On Monday night, the Chicago Cubs opened up a series with the Arizona Diamondbacks with a lopsided loss. Instead of handing things over to an already overtaxed bullpen, Joe Maddon sparked some enjoyment in an otherwise disappointing moment.

How, you ask? By finally giving in to Anthony Rizzo’s long-standing request to take the hill.

After Monday’s rough start from starting pitcher Luke Farrell, it became more apparent the Chicago Cubs are in need of pitching more than ever. Falling behind quickly to the Diamondbacks, Farrell lasted just 3 1/3 innings, giving up six earned and forcing the hand of Maddon to move to the bullpen.

The bullpen, meanwhile, pitched lights out over 4 1/3 innings, allowing just a single unearned run. Unfortunately, due to the lack of options, the Cubs went into the game with, the decisions became limited in how they wanted to move throughout the rest of their game. Enter Victor Caratini and Anthony Rizzo.

Chicago Cubs: Meet the man who can do it all

As Caratini finished his second career relief appearance with a scoreless inning, Anthony Rizzo toed the rubber in preparation for his first career pitching appearance. The mantra of enjoying oneself in a lopsided game rang true, especially for Rizzo, as he was all smiles.

Rizzo recorded one out, a fly ball from A.J. Pollock after a two-pitch at-bat. For a moment, the world stopped, and every Cubs fan in the grandstands and bleachers around Wrigley took in, and seemingly enjoyed, the momentous appearance of Rizzo pitching in a game which counted.

As Rizzo has made an incredible mark when tasked with leading off, creating the ‘joke’ among many is that Rizzo is the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. After not allowing a run to score, Rizzo will retire from his pitching career with a spotless earned run average. Now, he assumes the mantle of greatest relief pitcher of all-time.

Rizzo posted some interesting pitch speeds, picking up the velocity between the first pitch and the second pitch by almost thirty miles per hour. It was his first time pitching in a baseball game since his last high school game.

Chicago Cubs: Finding joy in a bad situation

Fans of baseball flock to the ballpark, or their television, to watch their teams win. When this is not the case, it can be painful to stomach. It can be especially tricky at certain times, such as blowouts because all we want is for the game to be over.

Despite the 7-1 final score Monday night, the bright spot in the game became the fact that Anthony Rizzo pitched. As easy as it was to find oneself upset about Luke Farrell’s start, Cubs fans can take solace in that there was a feel-good story in the slugger’s pitching debut.

Next: Farrell's outing indicative of Cubs'struggles

As the saying goes, “you have to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad.” Monday night no doubt was disappointing. However, games such as those do happen. The best things fans can do is to enjoy the little moments, one of which is watching Anthony Rizzo pitch.

It could end up being something that can keep this fan base close when games such as this get out of hand. In times such as those, keep Rule 32 in mind – Enjoy the little things.