Cubby-Blue

The Soriano to Castro to Barney play, illustrated.

 

So yesterday was all about Jeff Samardzija's excellent day.
But a play happened in that last Cubs v. Rockies game in the 7th inning that, if you were watching at home, had to make you get off the couch and do a little Cub dance in your man cave.
2 outs, Cubs up by one, you're still a tad nervous about Samardzija's lack of wins and... Colorado 2nd baseman Josh Rutledge hits just an absolute SCREAMIN' liner up on the top of the wall in left.
And what happens in the next...what could that be? 6 seconds? ...whatever it was it just took your breath away.
Soriano, that guy has come so far in left.
I SWEAR he was barely a high school player just a couple years ago.
With a great arm.
But anyway, he doesn't panic, he plays the bounce off the wall perfectly, turns and makes the perfect relay to Starlin Castro, Castro like a whirlwind turns and throws the ball to the bag at second, where Darwin Barney is squatting with his back to the play at the base, catches the ball and puts it right down on the side of the bag JUST as Rutledge is sliding in.
InCREDible.
Think of how many moving parts there were in that play.
Of all the things that could go wrong.
And didn't.
You're OUT, Rutledge.
Just...gorgeous.
Beautiful. 
Baseball at it's absolute best.

Okay, enough with the "gorgeous" stuff, Tim.
Today you should totally go to Wrigley Field and see the best young pitcher in baseball, 24 year old Matt Harvey.
A Met.
Look at the stats.
Wow.
Up against Edwin Jackson.

Go Cubs.

 

Dexter Fowler's view of Jeff Samardzija's home run.

Jeff Samardzija had a pretty awesome night last night.
Dexter Fowler not so much.

Samardzija gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks in 8 full innings, but the best part about that was the 8 innings.
Because that was only 108 pitches.
The other best part was the 2-run dinger he hit off Jon Garland.
What a performance, and Dexter Fowler was there to watch it all as the Cubs beat the Rockies 6-3.

Nice game, Cubs take their second series in a row and get a day off.

In fact, it was a nice night all around.
The Hawks smoked the Detroit Red Wings, and the Bulls finally get to end their odd, overachieving, yet polarizing season.

Next up for the Cubs?
The Mets.
Yes.
Go Cubs.



 

"Villanueva picked a bad time for that performance," said Garza's beard.

Funny how these things work themselves out sometimes.
Matt Garza seems to be better.
They say his last minor league tuneup could be Thursday.
And last night Carlos Villanueva went 5 innings, gave up 12 hits, 2 homers and 7 earned runs.
It's a shame because he's been so good.
But he's the guy with the most bullpen experience, and Travis Wood is still going strong so and while Dale Sveum says he could go with a 6-man rotation I think...why?
So...looks like bullpen for Carlos.

Cubs lost a rotten one last night 9-4, and it wasn't even as close as that - it was 1-7 through 7.
And on such a gorgeous night.
Well, maybe Mr. Shark can shut down the Rockies tonight and the Cubs win 2 series in a row.
The Brewers have been really awful lately, winning just 2 of their last 10, and both the Cubs and Brew Crew have 16 wins...
Be kinda cool to not be in last place by the end of the night, right?

Go Cubs!

 

Anthony Rizzo gets contract, joins Cubs' Power Rangers team.

I think you're all aware of this Cubs Power Ranger team, right?
A squad of Crucial Core Cubs that will be signed as youngsters for long term deals, and be the Superheroes who win the World Series in 2015.
Okay maybe 2016.
The other Cubs are of course just the regular Cubs, doing their time in Chicago and waiting to see if they'll be one of the Chosen Ones.

The first Cub Power Ranger to sign was Starlin Castro. $60 mil, 8 years.
Then it was Cuban defector Jorge Soler. $30 mil, 9 years.
Didn't really look like much of a Power Ranger team yet.
But yesterday Anthony Rizzo signed a $41 mil, 7 year contract, becoming Cub Power Ranger #3.

Haven't seen much of Soler since spring (except for the little dustup), but clearly he, Castro and Rizzo have the kinds of superpowers Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are looking for.

Will Jeff Samardzija be next?
Welington Castillo?
Javier Baez or Albert Almora?
Don't really know.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to the current team in July.
For all the last place stuff going on right now, the front office guys do seem pretty smart.
(Well there's Ed Jackson kind of struggling, but...)
Nate Schierholtz?
Carlos Villanueva?
Luis Valbuena?
These guys are contributing in a way that might garner interest from other teams in the hunt come trading time.
Travis Wood is freaking me out.
What switch got flipped?
The Colorado Rockies went cold vs. the Cardinals, but before that they were kind of on fire.
Wood shut 'em all down and the Cub bats went cray-zee with 14 hits and 9 runs to win 9-1.
Does Travis Wood have what it takes to be a Cub Power Ranger?
And if Rizzo is the first base Power Ranger, where does that leave Dan Vogelbach?
Hmmm.

Well it's sure been an enjoyable stretch lately with our favorite team.
Lets see what happens tonight vs the Rockies again.
And btw, it just turned summer.
Might be a good night to go scalp one...



 

Edwin Jackson is a Winning Columnist now!

Finally.
A win for Edwin Jackson coming in the most unlikely matchup against Stephen Strasburg, who was just having his way with the Cubs until the 5th when Nat 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman made a bad throw to first. Wellington Castillo is safe, Barney walks, Jackson hits a double, DeJesus walks, Castro singles, Rizzo singles.
In about a minute the Cubs went from zero to 4 runs, and Stephen Strasburg turns out to be pretty human. 
In fact, he and Jackson now each have 1-5 records.
In fact, Ryan Zimmerman now has seven errors (Starlin Castro 6).

In fact, if Luis Valbuena hadn't tried to stretch his double into a triple, the Cubs would have scored 5 in the 5th and Luis might not be nursing a jammed pinkie (although, he totally had to chance it and go for third there - Strasburg had been way too good).

Fabulous game - it ends up 8-2 Cubs.
Jackson is a winning columnist now, so I made him a little newspaper clipping he can have for his scrapbook.
(They still have papers with columns that look like that somewhere, don't they?)
Today it's Scott Feldman and I'm dying to see if he can match last week's performance.
Go Tony.

Go Cubs!