OSS I picked the right week to be on powerful pain medication.
Three up
1. Jon Lester was terrific today, striking out seven and allowing ten baserunners in seven innings, giving up only one run. What happened after that was pretty crazy, but we’ll get to that later. His past several starts have evened out the first few of the year, and his season numbers are now ERA: 3.70, FIP: 3.42, K/9:8.69, BB/9: 2.40
2. Bryant went 2-2 with two hits, two walks, and two runs scored today, just keeps doing the things he does.
3. Castro drove in most of the team’s runs without recording an AB, scoring Bryant twice on a fielder’s choice and a sac fly.
Three down
1. I just don’t even with this bullpen situation, I was laughing my ass off the whole eighth inning. First they bring up Schlitter, who they had called up more or less for the day to be a fresh arm and he promptly puts guys on second and third with no outs, and in came Phil Coke, who’s so well regarded that he never even warmed up in the extra inning game. He got his LHH out, then Motte closed the door on the inning…only to find the probably demoted Travis Wood close out the game on his throw day to get Rondon some rest. I liked this move from Maddon a lot, especially given the pen rest situation, but it was still kind of funny to see considering how many Cubs fans are getting all five-alarm-fire about those four pitchers.
2. Coghlan had an 0-fer day, and my drug-hazed brain remembers this as being a deserved 0-fer rather than the hit four 100mph line drives right at someone type he’s had recently.
3. The Pirates had a strange seventh inning that gave the Cubs some breathing room, that included a hit by pitch, wild pitch, and a balk, which has to be commemorated. Since this gets stuck in my head everytime Arquimedes Caminero appears in the game, it seems appropriate.
Next Game: Cubs go for the double-sweep, Arrieta vs Burnett at 1:20 PM CT