Game 6 - The Best Thing

The Cubs lost 9-4 with a garbage time 4 runs in the ninth inning. Darvish got the loss but wasn't the problem; 3 earned runs sure but the Cubs didn't hit and the bullpen gave up 6 earned runs.

No the bright side is listening to the amazing broadcasting team of Pat and Ron making me laugh, puzzle and continually engaged whereas if I was watching the game on TV I would have turned it off.

https://www.mlb.com/cubs/team/broadcasters

I grew up listening to baseball on the radio, especially listening to signals bouncing off the clouds from far away places at night. Pat and Ron bring me back to that time and while I will watch plenty of Cubs games this season, I really want to keep listening to the radio.

It is the only way to stomach this terrible season.

Watched Cubs Games: 1.5
Listened To Cubs Games: 4.5
Gave up and read Bleed Cubbie Blue: 0

Game 5- Not Enough

Lester gave the Cubs a chance. 6 innings, 2 earned runs, 7ks. Respectable.

The offense gave the team a chance with 4 runs. The current MLB median is 4.25 runs a game by the Twins. BTW, the Braves are currently 10th in the MLB with 4.75 runs a game.

The relief pitching did NOT give the Cubs a chance. Let's revisit the parade of horrors shall we?

Kintzler pitched 1 inning and looked great, a clean sheet. Fine, fine, wait where is he going????

Cishek comes in and can't get anyone out giving up 3 earned runs and taking the L. (ERA 16.50 BTW).

Then Rosario comes in and gives up ANOTHER earned run.

Brach wasn't any better. 1 hit plus 2 walks. Sure why not? At least he didn't give up a run.

Montgomery comes in to close out the side. Yeeeeeeeeeesh.

The Cubs can sign the David Botes of the world to all the extensions they want but if they aren't actively working RIGHT NOW to get this bullpen better, then this will be a lost season. KB and Baez are going to walk in free agency, Lester and Hendricks are going to age out and that is it.

Sure, are we 5 games into the season and I am pushing the panic button? Yes but c'mon what have we seen this season that doesn't lead to this very darkest of timelines?

Watched Cubs Games: 1.5
Listened To Cubs Games: 3.5
Ignored everything and read Bleed Cubbie Blue's recaps: 0

Game 4- Errorsvile

I mean, really. Really. The game couldn't have gone any worse than this. How many runs did Hendricks give up? Why that would 7 runs, 2 of them earned.

Gee that is a lot of unearned runs! How many errors did the Cubs make? 6 errors eh? It got so laughably bad that Pat (who is like listening to honeysuckle on the vine) went on for an inning and a half talking about the mysteries of cell phones locking and unlocking.

After I got home from work, I picked up ESPN's telecast to watch the rest of the debauchery. The fielding was atrocious. Atrocious! Still it's not like the pitching was looking that hot. Nothing was hot, the whole night was a waste.


Watched Cubs Games: 1.5
Listened To Cubs Games: 2.5
Ignored Everything and read Bleed Cubbie Blue's recap: 0

Game 3- Put Some English On It

Wow does Hamels put some English/spin on his pitches or what? An insanely tight strikezone aside, Hammels was painting corners all day like an artist.

Schwarber also put some English on a long bomb to give the Cubs an earlier lead and then there was some English in balls hit in the 3rd with Almora getting a squibber through the infield and Caratini hitting a double that hit off a brick wall AND a security guard.

Of course, yet again the Cubs put up a great early offensive effort only to see their 4-1 lead evaporate on a grand salami and they are staring down the barrel of another loss. Heyward of all people came through with some timely hitting including a great single in the 6th to tie the game.

Then the Cubs started discovering small ball. Getting clutch slap hits. Some crazy bunt attempts. The Cubs seemed much more like the baseball of yesteryear than postmodern baseball of launch angles and true outcomes.

And I LOVE it! I mean, baseball is much more interesting than either a strikeout or homerun and this game had it in spades.

Still the pitching staff was atrocious and the Cubs ended up losing 11-10. I have no words on how insane it is that the Cubs put up 28 runs in 3 games and LOST 2!


Watched Cubs Games: 1
Listened To Cubs Games: 2
Ignored Everything and Read Bleed Cubbie Blue's Recap: 0


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Game 2- Fast Fits and Starts

It is really easy to win a ballgame when you get 3 runs in the top of the first. Of course, it is also easy to lose if it you give up big numbers.

The Cubs started off as well as you could hope for. Baez singled home Bryant (get used to hear that) and Schwarber and Contreras also singled in runs and wham bam thank you ma'am you are up 3 nothing.

Couple that with another Contreras hit (this time a double, which he will do again later in the game) and the Cubbies are up 4-1. However, Darvish is going to Darvish and he ended up throwing 75 pitches and was pulled in the third inning after giving back 3 runs, 7 walks and making the lead a slim one.

Thankfully for Yu, Quintana came in to settle things down and Schwarber mashed a huge tater. It is interesting to see the offense bail out the pitching so far this season, last year was the polar opposite.

The pitching definitely didn't bail out the clubs in the later innings allowing 5 runs in the 7th and 8th inning. This all lead to a Cubs loss that was disheartening given how well the offense hit.

Watched Cubs Game: 0
Listened to Cubs Game: 2
Ignored Everything and Read Bleed Cubbie Blue's Recap: 0

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Game 1 - Bash Brothers

The Cubs went to Arlington Texas with a lot of question marks surrounding them. Would the hitting finally catch up to the pitching this year after falling off a cliff last year? Would the pitching now fall off the cliff with Lester getting older and seemingly a parade of relievers shuttling back and forth between AAA Iowa and Chicago?

Basically everyone thought the Cubs had the talent to be the best in the league but predictions varied wildly from winning the World Series to not even making the playoffs.

I would dare say a 12-4 shellacking of the Rangers was a hearty start to the season and now everyone has to be thinking of them as real contenders (I know, I know, 161 games to go this season).

The biggest takeaway from the game was the mashing of taters by Baez and Bryant. I think we have a new Bash Brothers on our hands here, I am calling it first! Baez hit 2 with 4 RBIs, Bryant hit 1 and came away with 3 RBIs.

Everyone hit as well (there were 13 hits overall) and even Heyward went 2 for 5.

On a slightly less positive note, Lester looked fine getting the W but not great. Strop and Montgomery combined to give up another 2 runs and the Cubs are counting on those guys to pitch clean sheets. At least Rosario made things happen with 2 Ks in 1 inning of work.

It is tough to quibble with a 12-4 stomping and with an off day tomorrow, I will be dreaming of victories this weekend in Texas.

This is Cubs Watch 2019, my blog attempting to watch every game of the Cubs in 2019 (something I haven't done, almost ever. So for each game I am going to let you know how I am doing on my quest.

Did I watch Game 1: No but listened on the radio.

Watched Cubs Game: 0
Listened to Cubs Game: 1
Ignored Everything and Read Bleed Cubbie Blue's Recap: 0

All pictures are used herein for news and commentary purposes only. All copyrights reserved to their respective owners.

Spring Training Blowout

Welp, I said I was interested in what the Cubs would do against the Reds given the increase in competitiveness in the NL Central and such. I say a lot of things but I didn't think the Cubs would get blown out 12-3.

Chatwood was...a disaster no two ways about it. The thing about him isn't how many runs he does or doesn't give up on a day, or the amount of walks or strikeouts. The thing is, he is inconsistent. That is the biggest strike against him, you never know what you will get and in an era where certainty backed by statistics is everything, Chatwood can't be relied upon.

Sure other Cubs pitches (looking at you Rosario and Ryan) gave up multiple runs and it is not all on Tyler but it is not NOT on him either.

Otherwise the replacements hit pretty well last night. Starters went 2-22 but the bench went 6-13. Again the bright spot of the preseason is that there is offensive depth in the minors which hopefully the Cubs lean upon with the Iowa shuttle this year.

Onward we go with games the rest of the week, which hopefully don't go as poorly as Tuesday's game.