It's a beautiful Sunday as both the Cubs and White Sox win

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In a matchup of pitching aces, the Jon Lester and the Cubs defeated Aaron Nola the Philadelphia Phillies 8-1.  The Cubs clubbed three home runs of Nola.  Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez also connected for solo home runs off Nola.  Kyle Schwarber added a RBI triple.  The Cubs added four runs off the Phillies bullpen to close things out in the eighth.

Cubs run of good pitching continues

Lester pitched six shutout innings, picking up the win to raise his record to 15-5.  Justin Wilson and Jose De La Rosa each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.  Brandon Kintzler gave up a run in the ninth to account for the final score.  The win gives the Cubs a 5 game lead over the Brewers and 5.5 lead over the Cardinals.

Javy builds his case for MVP

Javy Baez’s homer gives him 30 homers on the year to go with 100 RBIs.  In the past week, the Cubs have picked up wins when facing Jacob deGrom, Noah Synderguaard and Aaron Nola.  That’s a pretty good trick for a week’s work.  It’s on to Milwaukee for a three game series with the Brewers.  If they can avoid being swept, they should be in good shape to take another NL Central crown.

Matching Sox

The White Sox got an excellent performance from James Shields in their 8-0 win over the Red Sox.  The win gave the White Sox a split of their four game series with Boston.  If the White Sox bullpen hadn’t blown a four run lead in game one of the series, the White Sox would have taken the series 3-1.  It’s not necessarily a fluke.

Are the position players actually getting better?

Tim Anderson and Daniel Palka each homered in the Sox win.  The home run was Anderson’s 18^th.  Anderson’s power/speed combination is one of the best in baseball.  His 28 errors lead the AL, but he seems to be improving.  The White Sox may have their shortstop of the future after all.  Dan Palka’s homer was his 20^th.  He has a role on a good team as a DH, occasionally left fielder.  Count him as a find this season.

Yoan Moncada, Adam Engel and Matt Davidson all had two hits.  Engel has raised his batting average to .238.  He belongs on a good team as a spare outfielder if not a starter.

Something old and something new

James Shields pitched six scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 4.39 while raising his record to 6-15.  James may have a place on an otherwise young starting rotation next season.  Caleb Frare, Juan Minaya and Hector Santiago all pitched a scoreless inning in relief.  You might remember the Sox picked up Frare for $1.5MM in international bonus pool money.  Frare may have a place in the Sox pen going forward.

So now who's cheap?

The Bears have signed LB, Kahlil Mack to a six-year, $141 million dollar contract extension.  Mack hopes to be ready for the Bears season opener against the Packers.  This is another example of the Bears not being cheap.  In the last few seasons, they may have been inept, but not cheap.  It does raise questions about the Raiders, however.

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