Weekend Rewind: Cubs in San Fran, Bryant & Zobrist HRs, Heyward’s Amazing Grab, Jorge Gets His Chance
I’m on vacation this weekend with the family — hopefully you haven’t noticed — and have been posting lineups and such from my iPhone while trying to avoid my boys — age 2 and 4 — as they throw handfuls of sand at me and run away giggling hysterically. It really is funny to watch them play and chase each other all day and helps soothe things when my favorite baseball team isn’t playing so well.
It’s early now and I’m down in the hotel lobby, which means this is my quiet time (pause while I lean back, sip my coffee, look out the lobby door….and, I’m back). I really do love doing this Cubs Kingdom thing, even while on vacation.
Another thing I wanted to mention is our new writer, Colin Sallee. He’s been with Cubs Kingdom for about a week or so now and has already posted a few really good posts. I’ll highlight his posts below in case you want to check them out. We’ll also be posting a more official introduction so you can get to know Colin. And, I suppose that means I should probably — finally — post an ‘about’ for myself too. Sorry it’s taken so long but I promise that I’ll have that to you later this week.
You may have noticed that we didn’t post a series review for the Brewers series. That was mainly due to the vacation getting in the way and the fact that pulling the series numbers together takes a while and, while I thought it was interesting to look at how the players were doing for an entire series, the posts weren’t driving many views. If you absolutely love the format I was using then please let me know in the comments, otherwise I can only go off the stats I see, which tell me I should try something different. Stats can be so impersonal some times…
Ok, enough with my rambling and on to the weekend rewind.
Friday, May 20
- Sure, the Cubs have hit a rough spot and are losing a few more games than we grew accustomed to the first month, but they are still a very, very, very good team, and while losing sucks big-time, there’s nothing to fear — the Cubs still rule.
- The Cubs headed to San Francisco over the weekend to take on the hottest team in baseball not from Chicago. We took a look at the series and what to watch for. [Post by Colin Sallee]
- The Cubs got a big three-run home run from Kris Bryant in the top of the second inning and an absolute bomb into McCovey Cove by Ben Zobrist (video of both here), and cruised to the win behind the, once again, masterful pitching of Jake Arrieta. Cubs win the first game of the series 8-1.
- In Friday’s game, in the bottom of the first inning, Jason Heyward made a spectacular diving catch crashing into the right center field wall and had to leave the game. He had an MRI on Saturday and it was good news — only a minor rib injury. He’s day-to-day and we were very relieved about that and thankful that he’s ok.
Saturday, May 21
- We talked about Jason’s injury, speculating that could mean seeing Matt Szczur back sooner than originally planned.
- Matt Szczur was promptly recalled at the same time Jason Heyward’s MRI results were released later in the day. Neil Ramirez was designated for assignment.
- Jon Lester fell apart early and exited the game in the third inning, marking the first time this season that a Cubs starter didn’t pitch at least five innings. Cubs lost 5-3.
- Joe Maddon and Jon Lester both discuss their thoughts on Jon’s performance.
Sunday, May 22
- Earlier this month, we talked about Jorge Soler and his troubling start to the season. We mentioned that he needed more playing time which would come one of two ways; an injury or a trip to AAA. Unfortunately for Jason Heyward, it was his injury that freed up playing time and Jorge responded with solid defense and hitting. This could be the start of something great for Jorge. [Post by Colin Sallee]
- The Cubs went for the series win on Sunday but ran into Madison Bumgarner, who pitched a great game and drove in the winning run. The Cubs lost 1-0.