That “Lost Boy” song is pretty good. The Little Girl started signing it the other day, and I was impressed by how much of the song she knew. The Wife had a different take, because she pointed out – correctly, I think, upon reflection – that the song is actually probably really depressing. Still a nice tune, though.
The Chicago Cubs are now 15-5 after last night’s win, the best record in baseball, and a half game better than the Nationals … and White Sox. That’s right, the other Chicago club has also started season off scorchingly hot, and the White Sox are 15-6. That’s the best record in the AL, so Chicago is currently dominating baseball. Anyone up for a crosstown World Series?
With a hat tip to Jeremy in the comments to the EBS, the Cubs first reached 10 games over in 2015 in game 104. This year, it happened in game 20. That’s kinda nuts, especially when you consider that the 2015 squad won 97 games. Granted, they got extremely hot post-July, but still. The Cubs are currently on pace for 121.5 wins. Indeed, it’s the team’s best 20-game start since 1907 (AP).[adinserter block=”1″]
Kyle Hendricks was totally good with being pulled after five very effective innings last night because a pinch-hitting opportunity dictated it (Cubs.com). On a night like that, there won’t be too many opportunities to score, and with two on and one out in the bottom of the 5th, down by a run, the Cubs had to take their crack, even if it meant ending Hendricks’ night early when he was looking good.
Double by the way: after the outing, Hendricks’ FIP stood at just 2.53, 15th best in baseball, and just 0.01 behind his teammate, Jason Hammel. (Both are well ahead of Jake Arrieta (2.84), John Lackey (3.22), and Jon Lester (3.39), which is both a compliment, and a reminder that (1) sample sizes are small here, and (2) FIP is not the only stat you’d consider. But, for today, it’s fun.)[adinserter block=”2″]
The back stiffness that led to Miguel Montero’s scratch last night was actually back soreness this weekend in Cincinnati (Cubs.com). Joe Maddon preferred not to start Montero on a cold night and then have to remove him midway through the game if it got worse; so David Ross got the start, and Montero was available off the bench. We’ll see if Montero is well enough to get back out there tonight, or if Ross will catch again. That would put Ross on schedule to catch three games in a row, including a day game after a night game on Thursday, with Jon Lester on the mound. I doubt the Cubs want to do that, so I wouldn’t be surprised if keeping Montero out last night was at least partially to protect Ross from that three-game possibility.
Lots of big moments for Addison Russell already in his young career – including last night’s two-run triple that gave the Cubs the lead – and he’s not backing down from it (Tribune).
META: For a while now, users of the Android Facebook app have had an issue where links they click to BN in the app will not fully load (the BN page starts to load, then says “page can’t load”, and returns them back to the Facebook page). If you’ve been experiencing this issue, I’d love to hear every little bit of detail you can possibly provide about your experience – does it happen with every single link? Does it happen exclusively with BN links? Does it happen on cell data and on wifi? Are you using the latest version of the app? Etc. Anything and everything could be helpful, because it’s a strange problem I’ve not been able to fix.
There is a workaround, though, if you’ve had the problem: in the app, change your settings to open links externally.
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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NEWSLETTER
That “Lost Boy” song is pretty good. The Little Girl started signing it the other day, and I was impressed by how much of the song she knew. The Wife had a different take, because she pointed out – correctly, I think, upon reflection – that the song is actually probably really depressing. Still a nice tune, though.
