SAN FRANCISCOTheres no guarantee that this would have been a double play, but youll never know, because Starlin Castro didnt throw the ball to first base.
That mental mistake will bring those questions about the 22-year-old All-Star shortstop bubbling back up to the surface.
Its the last straw, Cubs manager Dale Sveum said after Mondays 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants. If he wants to play, he better start getting his head in the game. Period.
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With the bases loaded at AT&T Park, Jeff Samardzija induced a groundball to second baseman Darwin Barney, who flipped it to Castro. That game-changing moment confirmed some of the worst fears inside the organization.
Castro touched the bag, avoided Brandon Belts slide into second base and kept on gliding, seemingly unaware that there were now only two outs in the fifth inning. The Giants scored the game-tying run and finished off a four-game sweep that left the Cubs (18-36) with 11 consecutive losses on the road.
Its not acceptable, Sveum said. These things got to stop happening or were just going to stop playing. These are things that my son does in high schoolmaybe.
Sveum said it was irrelevant whether or not Castro could have turned the double play.
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Its very embarrassing, Castro said. These things cant happen. I apologize to my team and everybody, because that type of thing is not supposed to happen.