The Cubs’ nightmarish Cactus League woes continue with a loss to the Dodgers today.
… I kid. And, yes, I’ll probably keep kidding about that. It’s a weird spot to be in, since I have to relay the score of the games, and it becomes obvious at some point if the Cubs keep losing. So I don’t want to not acknowledge it, but I also don’t want to lend it any weight whatsoever. It doesn’t really matter. Even at the end of Spring Training, when the regulars are getting more regular time and you’d like to see the team starting getting in a “winning” mindset, it still mostly doesn’t matter.
The things that matter slightly more than not at all …
Kyle Hendricks had a very smooth three innings of work, and there remains little reason to believe, absent some kind of implosion or injury, that he won’t be in the rotation for the first week of the season. He’s good, and, even if it means he’ll generally be limited to six or so innings per start, the bullpen can handle it.
Travis Wood followed with three innings of his own, and he got knocked around a bit by Dodgers batters consistently generating hard contact. As is often the case in these situations, it’s hard to read too much into it.
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Armando Rivero had a rough outing, unable to complete his inning of work. We’ve known for years that there’s a ton of talent there and the potential to be a nasty reliever, but the foundational skill of commanding the fastball has to be there first.
Spencer Patton had another strong inning of work, and, although his options situation (he has them) may make him a long shot for the bullpen out of Spring Training, the Cubs didn’t trade for him for nothing. He’ll impact the team in 2016 at some point.
Kyle Schwarber not only had two hits today, he had them off of a lefty. And not just any lefty, but Clayton Kershaw. So that’s neat.
Double neat, Grandpa David Ross did the same thing! He also doubled in the game, and Bryant also singled. And that’s pretty much all of your offense for this one.
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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