Going, going, gone.
The Gatorade dispenser in the Cubs’ dugout has taken its last hit for the team.
The large dispenser, which was the recipient of a wayward punch by Ryan Dempster on Monday and Carlos Zambrano’s bat-whacking episode on Wednesday, will be removed from the dugout after the team hits the road Sunday night, a Cubs official said.
It will be replaced by the smaller, gray drinking fountain that had been there for years and had taken a beating of its own.
Apparently, the orange color and large metal sides made the Gatorade dispenser too easy a target. It was brought in this season as a way to enhance advertising revenues through a sponsorship with Pepsi, which owns Gatorade.
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According to sources, Pepsi/Gatorade did not pay the Cubs to place the machine in such a conspicuous place and within easy range of television cameras. However, Gatorade will continue to have portable orange-colored coolers in the dugout.
The news was first reported by Foxsports.com reporter Ken Rosenthal, who worked Saturday’s game for Fox on WFLD-Ch. 32. Rosenthal also wrote that the Cubs “are in need of a psychiatrist” but offered no references.