Postgame Wrap: Cubs 6, Angels 1; Cubs Sweep Angels to Start Season

It’s only two games in and it’s already a blast. Just 160 more games left! So far so good for the Cubs. They’ve looked solid in all phases of both games against the Angels so far this season. Of course, it’s baseball and a lot happens in a game, so technically you can always find nits, but just being honest, things look as good as possible only two games into the season (here’s the Box Score).

I’m guessing that Mike Scioscia is happy to see the Cubs leave town, particularly Dexter Fowler and Matt Szczur, who together torched Angels’ pitching. We’ll get to that in our series wrap up which will be out tomorrow morning. Here’s the lowdown from tonight’s game.

• Jon Lester was solid pitching seven innings giving up only one earned run and striking out four. Lester really started to look good in the last couple starts of spring training so it’s nice to see that he was able to transition that to the regular season. Arrieta and Lester as a one-two-punch is going to be hard for teams to handle.

• The Bullpen, again, did a great job of coming into the game and closing it out. No suspense, no hits, just goodnight. Cahill, Wood and Strop all combined to close out the last two innings, with Strop closing out the ninth.

• And the hit parade continues. Actually, I think I can still here the band playing. The Cubs scored six runs on nine hits including five runs via the long ball with home runs by Szczur and Rizzo in the top of the third inning and Fowler with a two-run shot in the top of the seventh.

• Dexter Fowler was hot again tonight going 2 for 4 including the aforementioned home run which drove in 2 RBIs and one run. I cannot believe how lucky the Cubs got to have Dexter return to the team. Seriously. Lucky.

• Matt Szczur has also come out to start the season as a man on fire. Here’s a guy who may not have even made the team had it not been for Javier Baez hurting his finger and subsequently being placed on Injured Reserve. And now, I just don’t know what Joe is going to do when Javy returns, which could be as soon as April 9th. So far this year Matt is 3 for 5 with a home run, a double, two runs and four RBIs. I suspect that Maddon will send Tommy La Stella down rather than risk losing Matt Szczur off waivers.

The Cubs are off tomorrow but open a four game series against the Diamondbacks back in Arizona staring on Thursday. It will be our first chance to see John Lackey pitch in the regular season for the Cubs. The game starts at 8:40 PM CDT.