The matchup for Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Friday night at Wrigley Field was Johnny Cueto vs. Jon Lester and David Ross.
The Cubs' battery-mates and longtime friends go together like peanut butter and jelly, a shot and a beer, or Gene and Georgetti. They know each other so well and are so intertwined they even may share the same DNA.
The two brought out the best in each other in the Cubs 1-0 victory, keeping the Giants' offense at bay while the offense patiently waited for a shot against Cueto.
One shot was all they got, but Javy Baez's home run in the eighth was all they needed.
Lester said before the start of the series that he and Ross were experts at reading each other's mind.
"I think that's what the biggest thing is, I know what 'Rossy' is bringing in," Lester said. "He knows what I'm going to bring and we have a way of communicating to where we can talk each other off a ledge if we need to or pump each other up if we need to.
"So, it's a good working relationship. And, like I said before, he knows how to push my buttons and I know how to push his and we try to get the best out of each other. So we'll try to ride that wave again."
Ross was Lester's man Friday on Friday night, helping him out of two mini-jams in the first three innings. After throwing Gorkys Hernandez out at second on a steal attempt in the first, Ross picked Conor Gillaspie off first in the second with second baseman Javier Baez covering the bag on a bunt defense.
Ross was so geeked up over the play he started to jog to the Cubs dugout, only to remember there were only two outs.
There wasn't much need for Ross to go out and push Lester's buttons, other than giving him an occasional pat on the butt, as he did during Kelby Tomlinson's at-bat in the fifth.
"I don't care if we're in spring training," Ross said. "Jon is locked in and ready to go."
Ross was also ready, knowing this is his last rodeo before he calls it a career.
"If Joe (Maddon) asks me to play, I'm going to play," he said. "I don't have many games left. If he writes my game in the lineup, I promise you I'm going to give you 100 percent."
Like the four-game series between the two teams in early September at Wrigley, Game 1 was intense from the opening pitch. The crowd of 42,148 was on edge from the outset, patiently waiting for the Cubs' offense to do something against the crafty Cueto.
Eddie Vedder, who watched the game from President Theo Epstein's box, spoke for Cubs Nation before the start of the game when he admitted he was sleepless in Seattle this week thinking about the postseason.
"Once I landed I felt better," Vedder said. "I couldn't sleep, feeling a little tight. It has been such an enjoyable ride and the season has been so incredible, and not only did they win, but they won in exciting ways, in spectacular ways, and with this incredible emotion.
"So it has been a great ride, and nothing would change that. But then you get to this part and all of a sudden the screws kind of tighten a little bit. But I'm glad it's happening to me and not happening to them. They feel great, just like I wouldn't be nervous about playing a show."
Former Cubs outfielder Bobby Dernier, who homered leading off in the Cubs 13-0 victory over the Padres in Game 1 of the 1984 NLCS, said the key was to get Cueto out of his rhythm in the early going.
"This ballclub has an offensive personality, and they want to get Cueto in the stretch right away," Dernier said. "That's all I was thinking In Game 1 against the Padres). I wasn't thinking 'Go deep,' but 'Let's go right away and get that stud pitcher in the stretch.'
But Cueto didn't allow a baserunner until Kris Bryant doubled with one out in the fourth, and held the Cubs to only two hits until Baez's shot in the eighth.
Aroldis Chapman closed it out with a scary ninth, and the Cubs managed to sneak one out, thanks to the battery twins, Lester and Ross.
