The Phillies flew home Sunday night and will limp into Memorial Day with five runs in their last three games.
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The Rockies were limited to one run over six innings but broke out in the seventh against five relievers for a 5-4 lead. That ranks fifth in the Cubs’ stout rotation behind Jake Arrieta (1.72), Jason Hammel (2.17), Jon Lester (2.48) and Kyle Hendricks (2.93).
Ben Zobrist extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double and single, and the Cubs started a 10-game homestand on a winning note.
There is no real weakness with this team. “That’s even better, right?”
This is, however, the right time to be playing the Cubs.
At Wrigley, the Cubs are 14-6. They’ve lost two home series this season to the Padres and Rockies.
Props if you get The Wire reference.
Yan Gomes’ eighth-inning triple plated the decisive run as the visiting Cleveland Indians downed the White Sox on Wednesday, 4-3.
No matter. Hendricks went through the heart of the Phillies order and got Maikel Franco to ground to second, Ryan Howard to strike out swinging, and Cameron Rupp to ground to third. They were 20 games over at 28-8 in 1907 on May 30.
Tyler Goeddel’s solo homer in the seventh was the lone blemish for Lackey (5-2), who gave up four hits and struck out six in his sixth straight quality start.
Lester’s repertoire has remained consistent through the years. He throws mostly four-seam fastballs, cutters and curveballs. It is also noteworthy that Lester pitched incredible as he usually does. 500 until August 23 last season. I know there is nothing anyone can do about it. The weather is going to do what it wants. Hendricks then retired Cameron Rupp on a groundout. Odubel Herrera has never faced him. Dexter Fowler was the first batter of the game, and he homered. Baseball fans should learn his name, the 24-year-old Venezuelan is hitting.329/.441/.447 – that’s outstanding for a leadoff hitter.
What will be interesting is how Pete Mackanin uses Joseph the rest of the series. The Phillies will face right-handers on Saturday and Sunday in Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey.
Kris Bryant crushed a homer that sailed out of the stadium during the Cubs-Phillies game on Friday. Both extra-base hits came Monday off Mike Pelfrey.
As far as fifth starters go, the Cubs could sure do a lot worse than Hendricks, who lowered his ERA to 2.93 with the win. But the Braves and Cubs are about as different as two offenses can be. It should be the toughest challenge for the Cubs in this series, so it’s very good to have these first two games in the bank.
I don’t think I’ve picked against the Cubs yet this year, and it’s mostly been a safe bet. It took a little luck along the way. “I still like how large KB is at first base, for lack of a better word”. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer took advantage of a rare win-now move from Billy Beane in trading a half-season of Jeff Samardzija and Hammel for Russell. They found lights-out closer Hector Rondon in the Rule 5 draft.
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The Phillies’ surprising start – one of baseball’s best stories this spring – faded away over Memorial Day weekend as the calendar unofficially turned to summer. The Cubs were starting to come back to Earth for the first time all year. That kind of control has led to some pretty appealing WHIP numbers, but Tomlin has also been somewhat fortunate with run support – as well as the fact that opponents are hitting only.
