Special thanks to our good friend ernie for bringing this to my attention, via Justin Grimm’s BRILLIANT quote:
“In the big picture of things, I think it’s the long ball this year that makes [my ERA] look worse than it really is,” Grimm said.
Uh…ok. But last time I checked, your ERA “is what-it-is”.
http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/45101/who-can-joe-maddon-trust-in-the-cubs-bullpen
One-two-three…go!
The Cubs have won 5 in a row – on the road – since the all-star break.
The bats have come alive. Starting pitching has been better. Quintano was lights out in his debut. Arrieta, Lester and Lackey pitched well. They struggled to hold a couple of leads but prevailed. Davis was “off” last night, but is now 18 for 18 in saves. Tonite, Rondon allowed one hit and struck out the side in the 9th. Hendricks returns soon.
Thoughts?
Miguel Montero banished from the Cubs (fine with me). 
Your thoughts?
I’m not panicking, as there’s a lot of baseball still to be played…but the 2017 Chicago Cubs are looking less and less like a serious WS contender.
I suppose there are some bright spots.
Heyward has improved at the plate and other bats are warming up. But last night’s bullpen meltdown at Fenway, and Anderson’s “performance” tonite are another matter.
“With everything that happened this month and being on the road a lot, I’ll take what we did right now and get on back home and try to build upon it. There’s not a negative to be found for me.” — Maddon, looking at how the Cubs did in the first month of the season
It’s a long season….but what do you think?
The season has officially started…and the Pirates just swept the Cubs at Wrigley. WTF?
The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a WS in 5 months…
Wade Davis (closer) and Jon Jay (cf) are in.
Jorge Soler and Dexter Fowler are out, as is Aroldis Chapman (no surprise there; he was a “rental” that paid off).
Jason Hammel’s option declined.
What do you think?
