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.
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