The Little Girl and The Wife had friends over yesterday for a painting party – The Little Girl’s idea, swoon – to raise donations for Make-A-Wish and the Blogathon. Sounds like it was a great time and a great success, and the dad in me also really likes that it presented an opportunity to talk to the kiddos who participated about Make-A-Wish, and, more broadly, about what real charity can look like. Very proud of you, Little Girl, and very appreciative of you, Wife.
One of these days, the Cubs are going to beat the Reds again some day. I swear it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next month. Maybe not next year. Maybe not this century. Maybe not after the sun expands into a red giant that devours the earth and engulfs every inhabitant thereon in flames. But some day.
I feel obligated to quote something I recently wrote in the Bullets before yesterday’s loss, so you know I’m not just blowing sunshine in direct response to the loss: “To me, it’s kinda wild that the Reds – after starting the season 8-27 – now have a better record than the Padres, Mets, Marlins, Royals, White Sox, Twins, and Orioles. They’ve gone 29-22 clip since then, a .569 clip. If they’d done that in those first 35 games, they’d have gone 20-15, which means they’d be 49-37 right now … a half-game behind the Cubs. That’s how good they’ve been now for nearly two months.”
More recently, it’s been even better. Over the last calendar month, the Reds have gone 17-6. They aren’t just beating up on the Cubs, and when you really take an honest look at their roster, you see a very good lineup, some decent starting pitchers, and a very good bullpen. Why wouldn’t they be winning some games?
Things are tougher on the Cubs right now, since they’re playing without their best hitter, who always seems to crush the Reds. On Kris Bryant, Theo Epstein spoke a little more on the state of his shoulder (Cubs.com): “The shoulder, it’s an important joint for the swing and his swing and the finish he has. I don’t know that we expected it to [take] this long, but it’s certainly very legitimate and he needs to be able to execute his swing. I’m glad today is a good day, and hopefully we’ll have him back sometime soon. He really wants to be out there, but any time you have an injury you feel on your swing, you have to be smart about it. He’s been smart about it. He wants to be out there contributing. The fact that guys have stepped up and won some games makes it a little bit easier. Today might be the day you finally see him smile because it was a good day in the cage. He’s not going to be happy until he’s back out there playing big league games, which is the way it should be.”
For today, it’s BP on the field:
#Cubs Bryant taking BP on field. Hitting coaches and athletic trainer PJ Mainville watching
Carl Edwards Jr. returned yesterday with a successful appearance, striking out the one batter he faced.
Chris Gimenez cleared waivers, as expected, and was sent outright to AAA Iowa. If he accepts that assignment, the Cubs can hang onto him for depth (I very much hope they do, because as much as he struggled at the plate in small doses, depth is lacking).
I’m not going to defend small-sample advanced defensive metrics (they’re usually more silly than useful), but I still don’t understand how it is that Jason Heyward’s advanced defensive metrics this year are still so mediocre. I get that there was a two-week stretch earlier this year when he had some misplays and was not quite himself, but outside of that, he’s been fantastic (he made another two great catches yesterday, including one that wiped two runs off the board). But, by the metrics, he’s been something like the 6th or 7th best right fielder this year, depending on your metrics of choice. I do not accept that.
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Heh:
On @101espn, @markasaxon tells us that Dexter Fowler has essentially blocked/ignored the “daily lineup and motivational text” from #StlCards manager Mike Matheny
Regardless of how nice the new stadium is or isn’t, that location – close to downtown Tampa instead of down on the peninsula in St. Petersburg – is going to make a HUGE difference for them. A reminder that the Rays getting a new stadium, and the A’s getting a new stadium, have been considered precursors to expansion.
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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