OSS: Cubs come from behind to put a smile on Ron Santo’s face.
Three up
1. Dexter Fowler got the scoring started with a home run in the fourth inning, with the Cubs down 4-0, and came around to score the go ahead run in the eighth on a passed ball by Mets catcher Anthony Recker. That almost seems too innocuous, probably better to qualify it as a hilariously misplayed ball by Recker.
2. The bullpen did a great job of shutting down this terrible getaway day lineup by the Mets. When I was all doom and gloom going into this series I had forgotten that half their lineup was injured, and today’s squadron was even worse on paper. But I digress. Lesser batters or not, it was great to see the pen mow them down, striking out eight and walking none in 4 2/3 innings. Justin Grimm has looked especially good, and I have to wonder if Maddon had caught wise to my concern trolling by only bringing him in much earlier in ballgames and/or in lower leverage situations.
3. The Cubs as a team only struck out three times today. With how quickly Niese was mowing through the Cubs lineup, I assumed he was racking up a ton of strikeouts….but he only had two.
Three down
1. Travis Wood was pitching like he wanted to give free baseballs to everyone in the stadium today. It felt like every time I looked up someone was fouling off yet another pitch. Jon Niese going eight pitches in his second inning PA (with a zillion, well, several, fouls) kind of summed up his day. I watched this game on dvr since I was getting my face drilled this afternoon (fun times!), and with how fast Niese was cruising in his early innings it seemed like I barely blinked before slow, scattershot Travis Wood was distributing balls in the grandstand again. I was a big Travis Wood booster going into the season (thanks to my previous Randy Wells disease), and it’s hard to believe this is the same guy who posted like 30 quality starts in a row and worked deep into tons of games. Tsuyoshi Wada is lurking, worried no one.
2. David Ross came out of the game with a side injury. No further news on the injury, he’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow. Somehow I don’t think Castillo is going to become Lester’s personal catcher if Ross has to hit the DL.
3. Starlin Castro went 0-4, but that’s about all I got.
Next game: Locke vs Hendricks, 1:20 PM CT