Jake Arrieta’s Control Issues Linger and Other Bullets

jake arrietaYou probably noticed that we’re missing an Enhanced Box Score for yesterday’s game. That wasn’t just weekend laziness or footballus interruptus. An untimely internet service issue, which was only just resolved this morning, cost me most of my internetting last evening. We’re back online today, and hopefully there won’t be anymore issues (right, Time Warner?).

  • Outside of one bad inning yesterday, Jake Arrieta’s day wasn’t terrible. That bad inning, though, was enough to give the game to the Brewers, and Arrieta lived into the very things we discussed this week with respect to his control and command issues. Two walks and a 2-0 meatball to Logan Schafer did the bulk of the damage. His final line – 5 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 ER, 4 K – screams “unfortunate sequencing,” which was actually true. But, when it comes to walks, sometimes you make your own bad luck.
  • Chang-Yong Lim made his debut yesterday (shaky control), which gave the Cubs a new record for players used in a single season, with 54.
  • A savvy BN’er was wondering in the comments the other day whether the Boise Hawks would be short some players when the team heads to Vancouver to continue the Northwest League Championship series. You may recall, in earlier trips to Canada this season, some Hawks players had to stay home, because they didn’t yet have the various documentation necessary to travel abroad. Apparently that’s still an issue, as the Hawks will play today without Yasiel Balaguert, Carlos Penalver, Jeffrey Baez, Juan Paniagua, and Carlos Martinez-Pumarino.
  • Bruce Levine on motivating losing teams in September.
  • Dioner Navarro will listen to the Cubs first when it comes to a 2014 contract, but as I’ve said before, his success this year could have him (justifiably) looking for a starting job next year.
  • Dale Sveum says Darwin Barney deserves the Gold Glove at second base again this year.
  • A closer look at Ryan Sweeney, who hopes to return to the Cubs next year as a starter.
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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