Weekend Catch-Up: Cubs Take Two, Montgomery and Lester, Great Defense, More

The Cubs took two of three from the Pirates this weekend, among other things …

Friday, June 8

  • Among Friday’s Bullets, King Anthony, crazy interference, and how quickly the Cubs’ storyline can turn.
  • Tyler Chatwood and Joe Maddon see improvement in the pitcher’s performance, even if the results don’t show it.
  • Brandon Morrow has been fantastic all around, but he also flashed some defense.
  • Theo Epstein spoke about a range of topics, including the draft, upcoming trades, and more.
  • Dexter Fowler got more unfair criticism in St. Louis, and this time, his wife snapped back.
  • Shohei Ohtani has a UCL injury, which means he’s going to be out for a long time.
  • In other bits from around the league, the Mets may ultimately make Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom available in trade.
  • The Cubs opened up their weekend series against the Pirates with a 3-1 win. The game ended with Ian Happ’s third fantastic catch of the day.
  • Saturday, June 9

  • The arms have been getting most of the attention on the farm this year, but some bats are stepping forward.
  • Mike Montgomery’s third consecutive good start was also a very interesting one.
  • Kris Bryant is in a deep slump that most players would love, and other Bullets.
  • The Cubs shut out the Pirates, and Javy Baez closed it out with a fantastic catch going into the stands.
  • Sunday, June 10

  • Good pitching and draft signing updates on the minor league front.
  • I did some math on Yu Darvish’s plausible return timeline, and post-All-Star-Break is not out of the question.
  • Jon Lester did something historic in another brilliant start, and other Bullets.
  • The Brewers picked up Brad Miller in trade.
  • The Cubs won the series against the Pirates, but they lost the finale.
  • 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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