Game 52- Never Had It

Given the travails of the pitching staff over the last 10 games it was great to see the Cubs get out ahead in the first inning with a 2 run homer by Rizzo. With Bryzzo on the shelf due to KB's injury, Rizzo has been kicking butt recently (hitting .500 with 14 hits in 7 games will do that to your stats). What has been great about this 2019 Cubs is that players continue to step up as others cool off (Heyward, I am looking at you).

Of course Hamels goes down in flames in the third inning giving up 5 runs and the Cubs get down 6-2 pretty quickly. With Hamels and Lester on the wrong side of the 30 year old line, Darvish is off in his own universe, it is quickly coming down to how Q and Hendricks pitch to give the Cubs any chance at all to get out of the 5th inning.

Did the Cubs try and come back? Sure. Scoring 3 runs in the last 2 innings will get you healthy against most teams. However, the failures of the starting pitching meant the Cubs couldn't come all the way back and here we are, another loss. Good times.

Cubs Games Watched: 9.5
Cubs Games Listened To: 32
Gave Up Read BCB: 10.5

Game 48- Eh?

When it rains it pours. Jon Lester is a very good pitcher who typically isn't good in the first inning. He wasn't good in yesterday's first inning (2 runs) or the third inning (another 2 runs) nor the fourth inning (3 runs!).

The fact the Cubs battled back in this game is a testament that with this offense, they are never truly out of it. Rizzo 4 for freaking 5. Schwarber 2 for 4, heck even Chatwood went 1 for 1 with a DOUBLE.

As terrible as Lester was, the bullpen was also terrible giving up an additional 2 runs which ended up being the difference in this game.

Given the start Lester had, the team had no legitimate chance of winning but it is still crazy that they almost had one but for the bullpen. Still and L is a L although this definitely felt like a playoff series. Maybe this will be revisited in October?

Games Watched: 9.5
Games Listened To: 29
Gave Up: 9.5

Game 47- Powerball

The Cubs seemingly had one goal last night. Get as many people on base as possible and then hope someone hits a home run. Down 3-0 Rizzo stepped up and hit a 3 run homer. 2 innings later, the Cubs loaded the bases and as soon as the announcing team stated that Almora has never had a grand slam, he hit one.

Capping everything off was Baez having a solo shot in the 7th meaning every single Cubs run was scored due to a home run.

I think what we have seen is the Cubs finding a way to win in a variety of circumstances. Earlier this year they have shown they can small ball the heck out of a team and now they are showing they can homer to death a team.

They needed all the homers they could get as Hamels basically threw an entire game's worth of pitches in the first 4 innings. Chatwood came in and got the W and looked sharp (except for the homer to McCutchen).

In the end though it is all about the dingers, er offense. The Cubs are averaging 5.38 runs a game which leads the NL (which is even more impressive that early in the season they were averaging 4 runs a game and middle of the pack). Last game against the Phils this morning/early afternoon!

Cubs Games Watched: 9.5
Cubs Games Listened To: 28
Gave Up Read BCB: 9.5

Game 35- Bryzzo Business

Bryzzo is a fun combination of Bryant Rizzo. It is such a prevalent shortening of the two names based on their contributions that there are shirts:

https://www.mlbshop.com/mens-chicago-cubs-fanatics-branded-gray-bryzzo-souvenir-t-shirt/p-13428066559701+z-9566-409849578

Hats

https://www.12up.com/posts/5531028-every-cubs-fan-needs-this-awesome-bryzzo-souvenir-co-hat

Even coffee mugs

https://www.redbubble.com/people/stereotypicalts/works/27330770-bryzzo-for-president-make-america-cub-again?p=travel-mug

The reason for all this schwag is that they DO produce and against the Marlins they produced mightily. KB hit an awesome homer in the first and Rizzo followed with a homer in the fifth (driving in Bryant).

Can we also talk for a moment about how awesome KB is at walking? He has gotten on base in 19 consecutive games and a good part of that is definitely due to his ability to walk and get into scoring position.

In any event, Bryzzo is back in full effect, break out the coffee mugs and bring on the Brewers!

Cubs Games Watched: 7.5
Cubs Games Listened To: 21
Gave Up: 6.5

Game 25- Saturday Night Smackdown

After a rather disappointing loss to the D-backs the Cubs were looking for a bounce back and all it took was a third inning where the Cubs exploded for 5 runs.

That inning had everything. A balk leading to a run, a double leading to more runs and a Bote home run leading to, you guessed it, more runs.

Yu was Yu, walking a few guys but also striking out the side. He is the ultimate Rorschach Test for Cubs fans.

Bote goes deep again and has been hitting on a tear ever since coming back from the birth of his recent child and the Cubs go up 7-0 in the fifth. Rizzo even gets into the action hitting a HR which made the score 8-1, the Cubs continued to put the hurt on the Diamondbacks.

In fact Rizzo had 3 extra base hits in just this one game. The Cubs just looked good in all elements of the game, no surprise they won.

The Meatloaf Game Tomorrow!

Cubs Games Watched: 5.0
Cubs Games Listened To: 14.0
Gave Up, BCB: 6.0