OSS: Kimbrel still shaky, Cubs pull out another close one anyway. Three up: It was the Day of Jasons today, as Heyward and Kipnis both homered to drive in the first four Cubs runs. Willson Contreras added an insurance run in the eighth inning, which proved to be the winning run. One thing I like about the offense so far …
Cubs 2, Royals 0
OSS: Good pitching and great defense pick up another W. Three+ up: Alec Mills had another solid start, pitching seven shutout innings with four strikeouts and three walks. I caught the first few innings on TV and thought it was shaping up to be an extremely fifth-starter-ish performance, but then I blinked and it was suddenly the seventh inning. Javy …
Cubs 4, Pirates 3
OSS: Chatwood continues to look solid, the bullpen continues to do the opposite. Three up: Another fantastic start by Tyler Chatwood, who struck out 11 and allowed 3 hits and two walks in six innings and change. He was cruising through most of this start, and had retired 15 straight batters through the middle of the game before running out …
Cubs 6, Pirates 3
OSS: Yu Darvish back to dealing. Three up: Yu Darvish bounced back from his rocky first outing with six innings of shutout ball, striking out seven, walking one, and allowing just a pair of singles. He also erased his lone walk by immediately picking the runner off first base. That’s more like the guy we remember from the back half …
Cubs 8, Reds 5
OSS: A great offense can paper over a work in progress bullpen Three up Most of the Cubs offense had a pretty good day, but Javy Baez stands out with 2 homers and a double. He also had at least one great play on defense, ranging far to his right and a ball and still nailing the runner with time …
Cubs 8, Reds 7
OSS: Craig Kimbrel’s beard was not the source of his weakness. Three up: The Cubs scored early and often, scoring six times in the first two innings to seemingly put this out of reach. In particular, Souza and Bote got a pair of RsBI each in their first starts of the season. Jon Lester exceeded the (probably too low) expectations …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (2-1) at Cincinnati Reds (1-2)
All the buzz going into this ‘season’ was that the Reds lucked out by getting some lot of extra games against the miserable Tigers. They’ve already frittered some of that away by losing two of three at home to said Tigers. Team Leaders Based on 2019 numbers, not including anyone who joined the team this year that I can’t remember. …
Cubs 9, Brewers 1
OSS: Chatwood brings his A-game. Three up: Tyler Chatwood was on point today, striking out 8 in six innings and allowing just three hits and two walks. He struck out Yelich three times in a row. I guess our pandemic-related cognitive dissonance is going to coincide with Tyler Chatwood starts this year? The Cubs offense blew up Beers starter Freddy …
Cubs 3, Brewers 0
OSS: Cyle just misses a Maddux on opening day Three up: Kyle Hendricks was dominant, going the distance with nine strikeouts and zero walks. He was so on his game that he even struck out perennial MVP candidate Christian Yelich twice. All three Brewers hits were by none other than Orlando Arcia, who hits like Yelich when he plays the …
Series Preview: Milwaukee Brewers (0-0) at Chicago Cubs
Well, here we are in this bizarro baseball season. The Cubs kick off the summer with a three game set against the Beers. I guess there’s nothing else to say other than that it’s gonna be weird, and it’s gonna be baseball. We can distract ourselves from the shitshow around us by the Cubs continued committment to stranding runners in …