The Cubs Win a Whole Lot When Kyle Hendricks Starts and Other Bullets
If you’re going to this afternoon’s game, I hope to see you out in the right field bleachers. I should be there in a blue BN shirt, jeans, and blue and red shoes. Hooray for real life friendship!
- It’s not quite “pitcher wins,” and, even if it were, I’d still find it an interesting thing: in his first 50 starts, the Cubs have won 33 times Kyle Hendricks has taken the ball. Hendricks, who threw six scoreless last night, has the best first 50-game mark for a Cubs starter since Hank Borowy in the 1940s (Tribune). To be sure, Hendricks came along at a time when it was good to be starting for the Cubs (great offense, great defense, great bullpen), but it’s still a neat little factoid. And, hey, it’s not like he hasn’t been a part of it: Hendricks sports a career 3.42/3.28/3.42 ERA/FIP/xFIP line, and it’s a crazy 2.79/2.67/3.12 this year.
- Before yesterday’s game, Bryce Harper came out to the batting cage under the right field bleachers and was greeted by a chorus of boos (for some reason). Then, after he’d hit a bit, he walked back out to more boos. He looked back, smiled, stopped, and simply pointed to the name on the back of his jersey. It. Was. Awesome.
- Dusty Baker called last night’s game “probably the worst overall game we’ve played in a while” (Cubs.com), which seems pretty extreme. But, hey, they’ve been playing really well.
- Jon Lester gloriously recaps games on Twitter, and this is what it looks like:
Class was in session w/ the Prof. @kylehendricks28. Zobi Wan @benzobrist18 plated a 4 top & we washed it down w/ La Stella Artois. #Nailedit
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) May 6, 2016
- The Cubs celebrated Cinco De Mayo yesterday with a mariachi band in the clubhouse. Naturally.
- And, about that … holy crap Pedro Strop’s arms:
- Unfortunately, Pierce Johnson is headed back to the disabled list at Iowa with yet another non-pitching-arm injury. It’s a lat issue, according to Tommy Birch.
- Yesterday, the Cubs called up Spencer Patton and placed Neil Ramirez on the bereavement list. The placement was so that Ramirez could attend his grandmother’s funeral, according to Cubs.com.
- Read this thread from Jeff Passan on Twitter. Horrible story, but trying to do something good with it.
- Also bad news from Passan, though much, much less tragic: the two pitchers the Cubs faced in their opening series this year, Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney, both have UCL damage. Richards will have Tommy John surgery, and Heaney is trying to rehab to avoid it.
- Friendship:
When you have the best record in baseball … pic.twitter.com/ljLlvl3sdJ
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) May 6, 2016
- It’s fun to share stuff on find on Amazon in this space, not only because it’s an advertisement that can lead to revenue for BN, but also because I get to type things like “motion-activated toilet night lights are on sale today.”
- So much stuff before the Bullets today, including Heyward’s wrist, Fowler’s ejection, the Minor League Daily, today’s lineup, and rescheduled rainouts.
