Do you believe in magic? There aren't many better explanations for what Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs did to the Mets in the ninth inning Wednesday night. As the front end of a hit and run/double steal, Rizzo appeared to be dead meat at third base when Starlin Castro swung and missed, catcher Kevin Plawecki made a quick and accurate throw, and Daniel Murphy made a snap tag attempt.

However, like Kelly Slater navigating a tasty North Shore wave with his surfboard, Rizzo pulled up just short of the bag and did a thing-a-ma-jigger with his feet and legs to avoid Murphy's advances. In the same impossible-looking motion, Rizzo stuck his feet on the bag without being tagged.

This is just...

Perhaps even more amazingly, umpire Chris Guccione made the right call after a quick hesitation in order to compute what happened. Mets manager Terry Collins appealed to the video replay judges, but they confirmed that Rizzo was safe. This part can't be stressed enough: What a great call by Guccione. Rizzo's tightrope act is just the sort of thing for which replay was introduced. It's awesome that it only was needed to confirm what Guccione's eyes correctly saw.

Even more awesome was Rizzo's reaction to teammates in the dugouts who were razzing him for being so footloose and fancy free:

"It's magic. It's magic." You have to believe that Rizzo is magic. Nothing can stand in his way.

Here's full video:

Rizzo's amazing feat (and feet) did not factor in the scoring, though the Cubs did get a pair home in the 11th and blanked the Mets 2-0. The Cubs are 41-35 and looking like playoff contenders, and while Rizzo might not be quite the slugger of a Paul Goldschmidt caliber, he does pretty well in the WAR department.

He's crafty on defense, too, like when he let a pop up drop so he could turn a double play on Matt Harvey. Rizzo seems like one of the coolest dudes in the league, actually. You have to believe that.