OSS: Cubs pull a win out of their hat.
Three up
1. Kyle Hendricks looked sharp last night, going six innings with no runs and six strikeouts. He had the Mets batters off balance the whole game, and along with the bullpen gave the Cubs the pitching performance they needed to break out of the slump.
2. The bats didn’t necessarily rise to the occasion, but Matt Szczur drove in the only run the Cubs ended up needing. It would have been nice to see a few more, but I’ll take the W. Castro and Bryant also drew two walks each, but for the most part this was a pitching duel.
3. Thanks to the ref in today’s USA-GER World Cup match, who gifted the USA with a dubious penalty kick among other calls. Though if you whiff on a PK as badly as the Germans did, you kinda deserve what you get.
Three down
1. The bats are still pretty asleep, but at least the losing streak monkey is off their backs now. Chris Denorfia led the team in negative WPA after flying out to end a bases clogged threat early in the game.
2. Rizzo went 0-fer again, and is working a way out of a mini-slump (by Rizzo standards).
3. At least the Cardinals managed to lose today. The Cubs are *only* 10.5 back in the central now.
Next game: Lester vs Colon, 6:10 PM CT