Olney: Fight to the ... tie? Extra innings moving toward extinction

It was sometime around midnight that the Chicago Cubs' search for the run that would end the extra-inning madness against the New York Yankees became desperate. With Chicago batting -- I think it was in the bottom of the 16th inning, although sleeplessness has added a hazy halo around some of the details -- somebody in the Cubs' dugout started firing a barrage of sunflower seeds toward the field. Dozens of seeds, one at a time; a couple reached the third-base foul line, and then one or two bounced onto the field, with third-base umpire Alan Porter glancing over.

Players occasionally launch seeds like this onto the field from game to game, but the sudden eruption in the sixth hour of play…