Even in Spring Training, it’s going to be a struggle for the Padres.
Playing with most of their regulars against mostly Cubs depth, the Padres didn’t really get anything going, and lost 3-1. Not that it’s totally meaningful, but the game – and the roster – was a reminder that, although the Padres have some great young talent coming down the line, this year is going to be a spectacular (intentional) disaster.
The star of today’s game, unquestionably, was a guy we’d already beenhighlighting throughout the day – Ian Happ. Not only did he crush a bomb of a two-run homer (and now leads the Cubs with three spring homers), but he also added two more hits on the day, raising his video game batting average to .467, and his OPS to 1.351. The kid wants a look-see in the big leagues sooner rather than later. Here’s hoping he doesn’t have that let-down period when he heads to the minor leagues at the end of camp, because if he keeps doing what he’s doing, the Cubs might be forced to figure out a way to work him in down the stretch (how? HOW? … some way).
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The other offense on the day came mostly from the Cubs’ two center fielders (well, not playing the position at the same time, mind you), Jon Jay and Albert Almora, each of whom had a couple hits. One of Almora’s was a double. The Cubs’ other double on the day scored a run, and it was of the sun-aided variety:
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Simultaneously great and poor baserunning from Jay on that one, as he got a great read that the ball was going to drop and was off to the races, but then hesitated at third, tried to score when it was too late, and was meat. I like the instincts on display, though.
John Lackey was John Lackey, and in the spirit of John Lackey’s approach to Spring Training, I say this about his outing: it was fine. It doesn’t matter.
On the day they were sent out of big league camp, Aaron Brooks and Jhondaniel Medina each got to make a scoreless appearance in this one, so that’s nice. Jake Buchanan, another upper minors depth arm, is still in big league camp, though he took a liner off the arm in this one and left the game. For now, it’s being termed a bruise.
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
Even in Spring Training, it’s going to be a struggle for the Padres.
