The Cubs fell to 0-3-1 on the Spring today against the Rockies after a 7-5 loss, but, while Maddon has said he likes to see his team winning in the Spring, I’ll say … I’ve never really cared. Sure, it’s nice to see a win for that tiny little fun pop you get in your stomach, but in terms of whether it predicts anything for the regular season, it doesn’t really.
Each of Jason Hammel and Felix Doubront gave up four hits in his two innings of work, with Hammel’s four hits including a three-run homer. I give that the ole shrug of the shoulders, because, again, maybe they were just working primarily on pounding the zone with fastballs today. Or maybe they need a little more time to warm up. Or maybe it was a small sample fluke. Last year in Spring Training with the Cubs, Hammel posted a 3.24 ERA … but 8 walks in just 16.2 innings. And, as we saw, he went on to dominate with the Cubs in the regular season.
Matt Szczur came off the bench and notched a couple hits, including a homer. Although he’s on the 40-man roster, Szczur doesn’t get a ton of attention when it comes to the Cubs’ bench competition. The fact that he’s got a minor league option left plays into that, as does the big question with Szczur: will the bat ever become big league caliber, even in a bench role? He can hit a little bit and doesn’t strike out a ton, but, to date, there’s been so little power. He plays great defense and has great speed, so a bench role in the future is not at all out of the question. We’ll see.
Miguel Montero didn’t have a hit, but those in attendance said he looked excellent behind the plate.
Albert Almora had yet another hit (a hustle double, at that), and he’s having himself a nice Spring already.
In the lefty bullpen competition, Joe Ortiz gave up a couple unearned runs in his inning, striking out two (we’d call that a mostly good outing, because it looks like one of the runs would have scored even without the errors behind him), and Drake Britton pitched a scoreless frame (one HBP) while striking out one.
Blake Parker gave up one earned on one hit, striking out one.
Tommy La Stella played some third base in this one, but he had a throwing error.
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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