Weekend Catch-Up: Sweepin’, Walk-Offin’, Pitcher Analyzin’, Much More

bn baseball featureThat was a mighty nice weekend, wasn’t it? So much fun, and so much to discuss …

Friday, May 6

  • Clearing things up from Dexter Fowler’s first ever career ejection.
  • Make-up dates and plans for the Cubs’ two rainouts last month.
  • Forget Jake Arrieta – OK, no, don’t ever forget Jake Arrieta – but the Cubs sure do win a lot when Kyle Hendricks is on the mound.
  • Even coming into Friday’s game, in which Ben Zobrist starred, he was crazy on fired and had played hero on Thursday.
  • The Cubs named their organizational pitcher and player of the month.
  • The Cubs’ bats blew up and they beat the Nationals 8-6 on a great day to hit. That included four homers – two for Ben Zobrist, one for Tommy La Stella, and one for Anthony Rizzo.
  • Friday was the 18th anniversary of a certain very special Kerry Wood game.[adinserter block=”1″]
  • Saturday, May 7

  • South Bend has some intriguing bats, including Eddy Julio Martinez, who homered.
  • John Lackey’s unique style and Ben Zobrist’s crazy hot streak were among the topics in Saturday’s Bullets.
  • The Cubs are making a push for the right to sell booze at the plaza coming on the west of the park.
  • The DRA statistic is back for 2016, which means there’s another way to look at the Cubs’ pitching staff.
  • Dexter Fowler has changed his defensive approach significantly this year, and it’s paying off big time.
  • The Cubs pulled away late from the National to win again on Saturday.
  • What proved to be the game-winning hit was this Addison Russell double off the glove of Bryce Harper. Also in the game, Kris Bryant hit a 423-foot blast right into the teeth of a stiff wind.[adinserter block=”2″]
  • Sunday, May 8

  • The big league team is winning at a crazy clip, but how about the rest of the farm system?
  • Neil Ramirez returned to the Cubs, and Spencer Patton returned to Iowa.
  • Mother’s Day Bullets, including thoughts on Mike Trout trading, Ryan Kalish succeeding, and Jake Arrieta cruising.
  • Luis took a fascinating look at how the Cubs’ pitching staff has been so successful, which has necessarily involved both skill and luck.
  • And the Cubs came back to beat the Nationals 4-3, completing a four-game sweep, on a walk-off Javy Baez homer in the 13th. It was glorious.
  • written by

    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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