I’ve been travelling and on vacation for the past few weeks, so I’m just now catching up on games that I missed. As I watch the games, hopefully all by the end of the week, I’ll post my series recaps on here.
Cincinnati came into Wrigley Field last week having won 12-of-15 in the Friendly Confines. That dominance continued over the weekend with the Reds taking two of three from the Cubs and the offensive struggles for the team continues. When the Cubs lost in Jeff Samardzija’s start on Friday, it looked like the Cubs were asking to be swept, but Edwin Jackson gave one of his better performances in game two and the offense exploded on Tony Cingrani to give the Cubs a win in the series. Then, Carlos Villanueva imploded in the fourth and fifth innings of game three to give the Reds the series.
OUTCOME: April 18: L 1-4; April 19: W 8-4; April 20: L 2-8
THE GOOD: The Cubs have lost every series this season, so far, but the pitching still has been manageable. A little extra offense could push them over into the win category and take a little pressure off the starters. Edwin Jackson had one of his better performances since being with the Cubs, giving up two runs in 5.2 innings to lead the Cubs to their only win in the series. Carlos Villanueva pitched 3.2 good innings before imploding and losing command of his pitchers. He continues to prove that he’s not really a starting pitcher. I still question the decision not to have Chris Rusin make the spot starts and put Villanueva in the pen. Rusin looked really good for all but one start in spring training and I’ve never bought into Villanueva as even a spot-starter, despite his early season performance in 2013. The offense slowly started to get some help from the outfield, with Justin Ruggiano going 2-for-3 in game two and Nate Schierholtz going 2-for-5 in game three. However, the outfield’s offense is still a major work-in-progress for the team.
THE BAD: As has been the case the last few seasons, the offense continues to struggle, especially when the Cubs get great performances from their starting pitchers. Jeff Samardzija and Travis Wood received some of the worst run support in baseball last season and so far, the trend in continuing in 2014. The plus side of this is that the depth and strength of the farm system is offense.
MVP: Welington Castillo had a shot at this title in the series, but I’m giving it to Emilio Bonifacio. Bonifacio was on-base a lot throughout the series and got back his hot streak from early in the season. He went 6-for-12 in the series with three runs scored, two walks, and two more stolen bases. He’s batting 0.366 coming out of the series and has nine stolen bases already this season, giving the offense something that has been absent for years, speed and aggressiveness on the bases.
TOP PITCHER: Edwin Jackson has had a few good starts in his Cubs career, but his storyline has definitely been the implosions that he’s had on the mound in the vast majority of his appearances. This season, however, I’d argue that he’s looked and been better already than at any point last year. It’s hard to re-evaluate a player after a horrible first season with a team, but Jackson has a ton of talent and just needs to put it all together with a little more control and consistency. Is he going to be a game-changer for any team in baseball? No, but he can make an impact and should still improve from last year. While he gave up 8 hits in game two, he only walked two batters, which is an improvement, struck out five and only gave up two runs. It is certainly helping him that his manager seems more willing to pull him out when he’s struggling, instead of keeping him in the game to completely implode and cost the team a shot at a win.
PROPS TO: Wesley Wright, who after struggling early on in the season, seems to be getting a hold of himself. He has still given up some hard hit balls, but they’re still working in his favor, and he isn’t giving up walks. He made appearances in games two and three in the series, totaling 1.2 innings, while giving up two hits and striking out one, but more importantly, he didn’t give up a single run, including any inherited runners.
PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE: Devin Mesoraco took over as the Reds starting catcher this season and started the season on the disabled list. He hasn’t been in Cincinnati a lot this season, but he made a big impact in this series. He reached base in all three games, going 6-for-11 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
UP NEXT: The Cubs get their sole visit from Arizona and, lucky for us, it comes at a time when the Diamondbacks and not the Cubs are struggling mightily. They are the only team with a worse record than the Cubs coming into the series (5-16), partially because they’ve played more games due to the Opening Series in Sydney, Australia. Starting for the Cubs in the four-game stand will be Travis Wood, Jason Hammel, Jeff Samardzija, and Edwin Jackson. For the Diamondbacks, Bronson Arroyo, Brandon McCarthy, Wade Miley, and Mike Bolsinger.
The Cubs Way 