Edwin Jackson’s Start Was Seriously Fantastic and Other Bullets

edwin jackson featureThe Little Girl has her first dance performance today, and I am totally geeked out. Dance Dad all the way.

  • We all know that Edwin Jackson’s start yesterday against the Brewers was fantastic – not only did he look effective, his numbers say he was dominant: 7IP, 0R, 4H, 1BB, 11K. But there was something else: look at all of the yellow in his PitchFX zone chart at Brooks Baseball. What does yellow mean? It’s the best color: swinging strike. Jackson was getting a ton of whiffs yesterday, in and out of the zone. That’s a good indicator of how effectively his “stuff” was playing yesterday.
  • Jackson didn’t pitch like a 4/$52 million pitcher yesterday, as everyone is saying. He pitched like a 4/$200 million pitcher. Probably even better than that. Someone want to do the math on how much a guy would be worth over the course of a season if he pitched like Jackson did yesterday for 32 straight starts? I bet the final dollar value is obscene.
  • Presented without gloating-I-told-you-so comment: after his dominant outing yesterday, Edwin Jackson’s ERA is down to 3.98, his K/BB is up to 2.45, and his FIP is down to 3.03 – 15th best in the National League, tied with Jordan Zimmermann, and just behind Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto.
  • This is awesome, by the way: those bunts in the first inning against Matt Garza yesterday? That Cubs are pretty much admitting that the thing we joke about (bunt it at Garza) was the plan for the early part of the game. (ESPNChicago) Hashtag: scouting.
  • Justin Grimm knows that he has to control the walks if he wants to succeed on the back of his nasty stuff. (ESPNChicago)
  • Big league outfield hamstring watch: Justin Ruggiano is getting close to heading out on a rehab assignment, but Ryan Sweeney took a “step back”, according to Ricky Renteria, although it may not be serious. There isn’t a timeline for the return of either outfielder. (Cubs.com)
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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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