Cubs win, White Sox lose and NFL preseason games stink

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For the first time this season, a Cubs pitcher pitched a complete game.  Cole Hamels continued his renaissance with the Cubs and ran his record in 4-0 in Chicago as the Cubs defeated the Reds 7-1.  His ERA with the Cubs is a microscopic 0.72.  The Cubs may have whiffed in their offseason acquisitions, but they’ve done great in their in-season pickups.  Daniel Murphy has started two games for the Cubs and has gone 2-5 in each game.  The Cubs lineup with Murphy looks a lot more potent.  

Javy, the good and the bad

As for Thursday’s game itself, good and bad of Javy Baez showed up.  He went 3-5 with a mammoth 481 foot home run.  He also made a spectacular play in the field, leaving his feet to snag a soft line drive the outfield grass.  But Javy’s lack of concentration also showed up.  He wiped out a scoring opportunity in the eighth inning by running into an easy out while trying to stretch a single into a double.  He also nearly caused Cole Hamels a complete game when he played a groundball in nonchalant fashion and allowed the Reds leadoff hitter in the ninth to get on base.  Hamels eventually worked his way out of the inning when he induced Tucker Barnhart to hit into a game ending double play.

Anthony Rizzo also had a big game, going 2-2 with three RBIs.  Included in that was his 21^st  homer.  Anthony very well hit the 100 RBI mark yet.  Javy Baez leads the NL in RBIs with 9-3.

A snoozer of a loss

In a spectacularly nondescript game, the White Sox lost to the Tigers, 7-2.  James Shields got the start, and loss for the Sox.  James went 6.2 innings, allowing all seven Tigers runs.  Jose Rondon homered to account for the only White Sox runs.  In looking through the wreckage of this game, I do see that Adam Engel had two hits to raise his batting average to .233.  His WAR sits at 1.1.  I’ve absolutely hammered him in the past, but he might be becoming a functional player.

How many strikeouts were there?

Last night Cleveland defeated Philadelphia 5-0.  What’s odd about that is that was a football score.  Nick Foles has been terrible in the preseason.  I don’t put too much stock in pre-season outcomes, but it might be a little concerning for Eagles fans.

And the award for most honest athlete gores to Todd Gurley

Todd Gurley won’t be playing in any preseason games.  Todd’s response to that was, “That is everyone’s dream not to play in the preseason.”  It’s also every NFL season ticket holder’s dream not to pay for those almost unwatchable contests.  I get Gurley not wanting to play, it’s just those games are often almost unwatchable.