OSS: Russell homers before Bryantm because you can’t predict baseball
Three up
1. Russell plated himself for the only run of the game, a no doubt HR to left center. I don’t think anyone, Addison Russell included, would have guessed that he’d homer before Bryant.
2. Jon Lester had a great game, throwing seven shutout innings with four strikeouts and only five baserunners. His pitches had great movement, and hopefully the rust is gone.
3. No one wants to pitch to Kris Bryant, who added two more walks today. He already has 12 in 13 games, with a slash line of .304/.458/.391. If teams are going to keep pitching around him I wouldn’t be surprised to see him moved up in the lineup a bit.
Three Down
1. So many TOOTBLANs. It’s a little frustrating to see the Cubs getting frisky on the basepaths with the middle of the order up. Rizzo was hit with a caught stealing, and Castro and Fowler were both thrown out at third base trying to stretch plays.
2. I’m just going to pretend that bringing Jeff Garlin into the booth again for the stretch was a secret plan by the Cubs to shore up support for ending the celebrity singer ‘tradition’. On a scale of 1 to 10, his drunkness was about a 13.7
3. Starlin Castro had the worst day by WPA for the Cubs, mostly due to a bases loaded double play in the third. He hit the ball pretty hard, and it felt like Castro’s most rigorous defenders in the Cubs twittersphere were planning on making a DRBI stat on the spot, almost the reverse-TOOTBLAN.
Next game: Fiers vs Arrieta, 1:20 PM CT. Really hoping for a sweep this weekend.