Cubs Climbing, Javy Stealing, and Other Bullets

Jun 04, 2018

Back to reality today also means back to the gym. I took full advantage of the food and drinks available at Disney last week with the family, so I, uh, am probably not going to be in the very best of shape to go all out for 60 minutes. But I gotta get back on that horse.

The Cubs are now 10 games over .500, a level they did not reach last year until August 22. As much as we might feel like this year is paralleling last year, it’s just not. And as Kris Bryant said at a low point a couple weeks ago: you would be “foolish to doubt us.”

The Cubs are creepin’ up:

#BrewersLose, which means … same number of losses. pic.twitter.com/KVCxpRj91l

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 4, 2018

The Cubs’ll just have to win all four of those games they haven’t played yet, and boom, all tied.

Willson Contreras played a key role in Javy Baez’s steal of home yesterday, baiting a throw from Mets lefty Steven Matz. But it turns out, Baez wanted Contreras to do it for precisely that reason (ESPN): “Javy gave me a sign to take a bigger lead and at that point I knew exactly what he was thinking,” Contreras said. “On the first pitch I did a fake steal which I think prompted the throw over on the second pitch. It worked out. Javy has the best instincts as a runner and player.”

Ah, heck, let’s enjoy that steal of home again:

https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1003622405275701248

Baez also swapped back and forth at second and third base with Tommy La Stella, based on the batter’s probability of hitting a grounder in his direction. I imagine that you don’t see that kind of thing too often because (1) you have to have two infielders who can successfully play at both positions, and (2) you have to have an extreme disparity in their defensive abilities *mostly* predicated on one of the two being awesome (because otherwise, I don’t think it would fly in the clubhouse to be so visibly crapping on a guy’s defensive skills). Because Baez is so very good – and everyone knows it – I highly doubt La Stella would have taken any kind of offense at being flopped around. It’s Javy, you know?

Jon Lester took his no-hit bid into the 6th inning yesterday, but with his pitch count being what it was, he probably wasn’t going to pull off the trick in any case (so maybe the hit was a good thing). Michael Wacha took one into the 9th against the Pirates yesterday before giving up a hit and being pulled at 111 pitches.

Patio furniture, bedding, slide belts and more are the Deal of the Day at Amazon.

And there’s a 20% off sale today at Fanatics, so check it out:

Heads up: Fanatics is 20% off orders today, so get your gear on: https://t.co/zDmd2Q3hEj pic.twitter.com/52JO2f6P2C
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 4, 2018

written by

Brett Taylor

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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