I almost forgot what it was like to sit in Wrigley Field high fiving strangers, cheering with delight, and being proud of my Chicago Cubs. The Cubs blew out the Rangers 9-2 for a sweep of their one game series makeup game, by putting up a 5 spot in the 4th inning. Of course there were murmors in the crowd that the lead was not enough once our bullpen got in there. Chinstrap Feldman pitched amazingly again by following up his complete game 3 hitter with a 2 hit 7 inning appearance. I wasn't sure about this Feldman guy at first. He has three errors and couldn't cover first base for shit. But those kinks seem to be worked out at this point and the guys on a roll. Chinstrap even knocked in and scored a run in the 5 run 4th. I was at the game with my friend Scotty, who's Jewish, so he was particularly thrilled to see who he assumed to be a fellow Jew playing so well. He said, there's not a lot of us in baseball, so we gotta cheer for the guys we got! I think I'm going to start doing that for players of mixed European descent instead of wasting my cheers on other races....Sheeessh!
Other positives.... The Cubs drew 7 walks last night! Two of which were drawn by Darwin Barney, who really isn't getting on base any other way. The Cubs also rallyed with 2 outs! Yes. You heard that right. All 5 runs came with 2 outs. Castro came through in the clutch. Rizzo homered. Luis "Ian Stewart Who?" Valbuena went 3-4, and the Cubs generally looked like a dominant baseball team. This, after such an abysmal weekend of losing to the Reds. It was nice to see, and the fans responded with the most intense fanatical cheering I've seen at the ballpark this year. The best thing about last night? We put up 9 runs against the Rangers, a team with the lowest ERA of any major league club. At least they were until last night! They got knocked down a notch because of us!! And a Huge positive from yesterday.....Son Ranto and the Lovable Lou Sears's new podcast is ready for consumption!
Some negatives from the game. Soriano went 0-4, lowering his average to .267, however he did draw a walk to force in a run. Also, our Misser, ummm, I mean Catcher, Castillo, committed a throwing error. But the most negative event of the night was not getting to the ballpark in time to get my free winter hat! It would have gone so perfectly with my texting gloves from the second game of the season too!
Now I mentioned the Rangers were knocked out of 1st in ERA, but guess who is first now? That's right. The St. Louis Cardinals, and they're here in Chicago for a 2 game set. Tonight, Lance Lynn who is 5-0 with a 2.75 ERA goes up against Travis "I'm not kerry" Wood, who is 2-2 with a 2.50 ERA. If you go on runs alone, we will best their starter by .25 runs. And here is the key to winning these games. We gotta get to their bullpen. I know this is hard to believe when you consider the Cubs are 12-20 and the Cards are 20-11 and in first place. But the Cardinals bullpen is dead last in team ERA with a 5.45 compared to the Cubs pen of 4.60. So Dale Sveum....if you read this blog....please tell the team to take some damn pitches tonight and get to the Cards pen. It truly is our only chance at winning. Patience. Patience. Patience. Let's take another 7 walks eh? Tomorrow, Jake Westbrook who is 2-1 with a 1.07 ERA goes agains The Mustache, Carlos Villanueva who is 1-2 with a 2.85 ERA. Both of these games have all the makings of pitchers duels....well....at least until the bullpens are tapped....then it might get ugly....
Let's do what we did last night! Keep the rally going!
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Go Cubbies!
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