Gotta say, I’m mighty glad to see the Cubs get that win.
Dan Haren was solid today through five innings, allowing only a solo shot to Joey Votto and then one other run (eh hem, on a single by the opposing pitcher). His command was pretty good, and he wasn’t getting rocked all over the park like he has in his past few outings (even when it yielded outs).
Other than Clayton Richard’s appearance (which really wasn’t that bad, as the Votto double was almost caught), the bullpen was dominating. Even Fernando Rodney looked pretty good (the homer he gave up was extremely wind-aided).
Offensively, the Cubs came through when they needed to, with a big game from Kris Bryant, and an extremely timely homer from Kyle Schwarber. They were down a couple times, but kept coming back.
All things considered, the Javy Baez return was successful. His first at bat was ugly, but, thereafter, he went down two strikes in his next three at bats (I guess that part’s not good), and put the ball in play all three times. Twice he hit the ball hard, one of which went to the warning track in right center. It’s just one game – and I would have said that whether he homered twice or struck out five times – but I like what I saw at the plate, in terms of his swing and approach. It’s what I’ve seen (for the most part) this year from him at Iowa, and it’s a step in the right direction.