OSS: Jason Marquis did Jason Marquis things, Travis Wood looked like 2013 Travis Wood, and the Cubs are back in first place.
Three up:
1. Anthony Rizzo hit his first homer of the year, an absolute bomb to right center into the teeth of the wind. The Cubs jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, which was nice to see after some of the high pressure games earlier this week.
2. Pitching in conditions that much better suited his pitching style (cold, wind blowing in, not at 5200 feet), Travis Wood looked dominant. He worked quickly and threw lots of strikes, and has been mixing in a nice curveball a lot more of late according to JD.
3. Castro had a great day at the plate (2-3 and a walk) and on the field (turned a nifty double play with Herrera).
Three down:
1. Neil Ramirez left after three pitches with an apparent shoulder injury. We’ll know more tomorrow after an MRI, but the vibe that Maddon’s quotes were giving were not great. Bummer if he misses a lot of time, but at least the Cubs pen has good depth.
2. I spotted another stolen OV logo shirt in one of the WGN fancam segments. Surely that website we threatened to sue didn’t sell that many shirts, I’m guessing one of the vendors around Wrigley might be selling them? Those things are everywhere.
3. I don’t have much else to say here, my only complaint would be that I’m disappointed the Cubs didn’t score even *more* runs off Marquis given the number of men they put on the bases.
Next game: Friday, 1:20 PM CT. Shields vs Hammel. Looking forward to actually being around the game thread this time, MDT + late and long commute has made watching these night games in Chicago live a little difficult.