Pirates Series

The two wins the Cubs managed in Pittsburgh could not have been more different, a 14-3 blowout on Monday and a 1-0 squeaker the following day.  The Cubs played well though differently on each occasion.  It was good to see Hendricks take some steps forward in regaining his form.

Wednesday night's game was not well-played by either team.  I lost count of how many runners were left on base through the first three innings.  The number climbed to thirteen overall.  Rizzo brought them undeservedly close with an eighth inning two run homer, but they fell short when Almora delivered a pinch-hit double play ball to end the contest.  Not wanting to second guess here, but why was Almora pinch hitting in that spot when he hits so many grounders and Watson was getting ground balls out of everyone.  Jay, on the other hand, hits lefties well and was two for three on the night with a walk as well.  Just saying...

On the whole, the Cubs did not really deserve to win it.

Just an observation: the Pirates have to be the most useless defensive team in the league right now.  They are likely going nowhere fast if they continue to play so poorly in the field.

Cincy Series

I don't know that one can reach any great conclusions thus far based on this and earlier series wins.  One thing is the Cubs are far and away the best team in the division.  Another is the Cubs starting pitching is by no means as dominant as last year.  When they have lost, with few exceptions, though, the bullpen has been more blameworthy.  That may be because the call to the pen is going out in the sixth, not the seventh or eighth.  In the Reds series, however, the bullpen was good.

The Cubs offense has been on the upswing.  Playing in Cincinnati doesn't hurt.  Actually, I hate to watch games there.  The place is a bandbox at best.  Nice to see the Cubs smash out home runs all night long, but the stadium is a joke.

Back to pitching, it seems Hendricks is a different player right now.  He has lost about 2 mph on his fastball, which means his offspeed stuff doesn't have as much of a differential, so it becomes rather more hitable.  Hope he straightens this out.

On the roster front, the Cubs optioned LaStella to Iowa.  Not that I like the whole business of eight relievers, but the move was inevitable.  I wonder if LaStella has lost his penchant for being a Cub or bust.  He could certainly be a productive bench player elsewhere or even a starting infielder on a weaker team.  He has no real future in the Cubs organization with all the infield talent on the current roster and moving up through the system.  With the continued development of Happ, one wonders if even Baez has a future here, especially if he keeps swinging at sliders a foot outside.

Brewers Series

The Cubs showed a lot of class coming from behind twice to take the series against Milwaukee two games to one.  They are not yet clicking on all cylinders, but they have so much talent they can usually muster up enough to grit out wins.  For example, Bryant is just beginning to round into form while Zobrist and Baez are struggling.

Some observations to date.  It looks as if most of the off-season moves are paying off.  Jay has been quite good, as has the rookie Almora, even though his ABs in the clutch have demonstrated some immaturity.  I had some doubts about Schwarber batting first, but he has been an on-base machine so far without losing any power even though he is not hitting for average.

Davis has been every thing that was expected as the closer and more.  I have to eat crow on my misgivings about that trade, as Soler, once again, has starter the year on the DL.  Uehara has been solid as well.  Duensing has been unimpressive, but, then again, he has been unimpressive for the past several seasons.

Starting pitching has been pretty good thus far even though the starters are not going deep enough early in the year.  Hendricks has been inconsistent and Lackey has been getting hammered early in the game before he straightens out.  In my mind, the jury is still out on Anderson.  His first two starts were quite good, his last was pretty awful.

Early on the performance of the Brewers and Reds, the latter of which the Cubs have not yet played, has been a surprise.  In the case of the Brewers, they are really hammering out home runs, so much so that both Lackey and Bosio seemed to imply they were juicing.  Who knows?  Marte from the Pirates got hit with an 80-game suspension right after playing a pretty formidable role in his team's weekend sweep of the Cubs.  The Pirates have lost three straight since.  I rather expect them to hit the skids for a while in the wake of that event.

Pirates Series

The Cubs were swept by the Pirates in improbable fashion this weekend.  They wound up blowing the lead in each game, including the Saturday game in which they led by four runs.  Some of this was bad luck.  Some was a lack of timely hitting, especially in the first two games.  Most of it, I suppose, was bad relief pitching.

So who stinks right now in the bullpen?  Mainly Grimm and Strop, who together accounted for quite a bit of the carnage.  Duensing has also been bad, but he was recalled just to cover for Edwards who was off on bereavement leave.  Duensing, however, is not just in a slump, in my opinion, but is just not all that good.

When you look at the season so far, you have to be honest and attribute the majority of the Cubs losses to the bullpen.  Sure, the hitting has been inconsistent, but it is really the bullpen that has failed to hold the lead.  I may be a purist fan in this regard, but I have never entirely bought into the way Maddon handles the pitching.  What I am arguing - and I know he has a history of trying different tactics early on - is that, to my mind, Maddon is a little too quick to pull his starters.  In the Pirates series in particular, I thought Hendricks ought to have had a shot at pitching out of trouble in the sixth inning.  Maybe you can argue that Arrieta should have been pulled, as he was getting hit hard late in the outing. but I would have given him at least another batter.  Lester, of course, pitched seven innings and had over a hundred pitches.

Anyway, we are twelve games into the season and five of the relievers have had six or more appearances already.  That strikes me as rather a lot.  Hopefully, we right the ship against the Brewers.

Dodgers Series

I have to say the Cubs are looking very good these days, having taken two of three from their most recent opponent, Los Angeles, a team that is likely to be their main rival in the NL playoffs.  Actually they have taken two of three in each of their first three series.

The pitching in the latest series was superior and bodes well for the months ahead.  And the team itself is starting to come around at the plate.  Wednesday night's game was rather a horror in terms of weather conditions.  I often wonder why night games are scheduled this early on, though the weather was no bargain earlier in the day either.

I have to say that the team has no visible weaknesses at present.  Especially in the field, they look awfully strong.  Almora in particular has played spectacular defense and has held his own at the plate as well.

Brewers Series

The Cubs took two of three from the Brewers over the weekend.  After a sluggish performance in a 2-1 extra innings loss Friday night, they banged out hits all over the place Saturday and Sunday, racking up 18 runs in the two games and coasting home behind strong pitching from Hendricks and Arrieta.  All in all, they looked like last year's team.

Some encouraging signs for the team.  Schwarber seems to be working out pretty well leading off.  Apparently he leads the league in pitches seen and, of course, the power is still there.  So far I have to eat crow in doubting that particular move.  So far Heyward has also shown signs of at least some return to him former hitting prowess.

A lot is being said about the fact that Arrieta's fastball is notably slower than in past seasons, 91/92 as opposed to 94/95.  I expect the jury is out on that one.  In the last half of 2016, Arrieta was throwing hard, but he seems to have lost a bit of command.  So he was giving teams at least one inning toward the middle of the game when they would get him in trouble.  This year his command is back, perhaps at the cost of reduced velocity.  Also it looks as if he is throwing more breaking balls.  Maybe he is right, though.  You don't have to throw in the upper 90s to get outs.

Cubs Take Cardinals Series

The Cubs won the last two games in the Cardinals series with a solid performance from Jake Arrieta Tuesday night and a big offensive comeback Thursday afternoon.  Actually, Lackey pitched a good game in the finale.  He got behind early when Zobrist botched up a certain double play which would have got him out of the inning unscathed.  After that he was sharp and on his game.

The Cubs finally broke through in the 7th against the Cardinals bullpen.  That was a truly bizarre inning that began with Matt Szczur reaching base on a dropped third strike that stuck to Molina's chest protector.  Jay walked and Schwarber blasted a three-run homer.

There is really something weird about the strikeout play.  I don't think I have ever seen a ball actually adhere to a player's equipment before.  Nobody is making much of a big deal about it, but I daresay there is something going on there.  What could cause this other than a foreign substance?  In any case, if the Cards were cheating, it came back to bite them.

All in all, the Cubs looked and played like champions in the series.  There were a couple of double plays that should have been turned that cost them runs, and, of course, the hitting, as is usually the case in spring, was not always there, but, on the whole, they looked pretty good.

On to Milwaukee.

Opening Day Loss

The Cubs lost on opening night in St. Louis.  The game was surprisingly long and rather tense despite being a 1-0 pitcher's duel into the eighth inning.  Carlos Martinez, the Cardinals starter, turned in a dominant performance, leaving with two runners on base and one out in the eighth.  The eighth turned out to be the Cubs best opportunity of the night.  They loaded the bases with one out, but neither Bryant nor Rizzo could come through against the Cards closer Oh.

Jon Lester, on the other hand, was not nearly so dominant.  He pitched in and out of trouble through five plus innings and a lot of pitches.  Actually, he would have left with the game in a scoreless tie had Baez been able to see a relatively routine double play ball that somehow he missed in the glare of one of those stupid field level advertising boards everybody seems to place strategically behind home plate.  Fowler managed to reach third on the play and scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly.

The Cubs managed improbably to tie the score in the top of the ninth.  Zobrist was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and the Cubs got two men on when Heyward hit a slow grounder to first that Carpenter messed up by looking to make a throw to second base and wound up getting no one out.  Contreras followed with a booming home run to tie the score.  Actually Contreras and Schwarber were the only hitters to perform consistently throughout the evening.

That was it for the Cubs though.  In the end, it was the bullpen that let them down.  Edwards and Uehara pitched well in relief, but Strop gave up a two run homer to Grichuk and Montgomery struggled through the bottom of the ninth, eventually surrendering a walk off hit to Grichuk.

Not to fault Maddon for the pitcher selection late in the game.  I mean, Montgomery made sense given the St. Louis hitters due up, but it was a pedestrian choice, whereas Matheny's decision to go with Oh for a five out save was daring.  It goes somewhat against the book to bring in your closer for the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, but I wonder why managers don't do it more often.  So, in this case, you burn Davis for an inning.  It does extend the game, and, of course, you have the top of the order due up against a Cards pitcher who is not nearly as formidable as Oh.

In any case, they lost.  On to another day.

Play Ball!

At last the wait is over.  No real surprises in spring training in terms of the roster.  The performance of a number of the younger players like Happ, Candelario, and Jimenez, though not unexpected, bodes well for the future.  You wonder how the front office is going to fit some of these guys in.  Eddie Butler also looked good in an otherwise uninspiring lot of pitching prospects.

To me, the biggest surprise in the opening day lineup is seeing Heyward in center field and Zobrist in right field instead of second base.  That opens a spot for Baez, who will bat ninth.  An interesting twist anyway.  Heyward right now projects as an all-glove, no-hit player right now.  Most teams find it hard to support this kind of player in a corner outfield spot.

For the record, I know the Cubs do not have a typical leadoff man type, but I do not especially like Schwarber in that spot.  Still, I never thought I would be starting the season hailing the Cubs as defending World Series champions in my lifetime.