Bears Backup Battle at QB Continues (Oh, Goodie)

The Chicago Bears scored on a Jordan Palmer pass with 50 seconds left to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-19 Thursday night at Soldier Field. There are few things more exciting in exhibition football games than making evaluations of potential backup quarterbacks. Which should tell you a lot about excitement and exhibition football games.

Video below of Tierra Lee.

* Jay Cutler looked good as the Bears starting QB, and Jimmy Clausen — who replaced Cutler in the first half — put up decent numbers. Then again, so did Jacksonville’s Chad Henne and rookie Blake Bortles. Which should tell you a little about the defense by each team.

* Speaking of the Bears-Jaguars exhibition game, the guys who had the most prolific night tossing things were the officials, who flagged the teams for 21 penalties (14 for Jaconsville, seven for the Bears).

* Rookie second baseman Javier Baez went 0-for-4 in the Chicago Cubs’ 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. He struck out all four at-bats. Meaning he has 17 strikeouts in 45 at-bats in 10 games. Meaning he is striking out 38 percent of the time. He has not yet drawn a walk. In case you were wondering about his on-base percentage.

* Speaking of future hall of famers, center fielder Arismendy Alcantara — he of the sensational start when brought up from Class AA — is batting .216 (28-for-128) after 31 games. On the bright (?) side for the Cubs (if not their fans), he is almost insignificant as far as the team’s payroll is concerned.

* For what it’s worth (admittedly not much), Cubs outfielder Chris Coughlan has as many doubles (19) in 238 at-bats as first baseman Chris Rizzo does in 446 at-bats.

* Speaking of numerical comparisons, the player whose statistics are most like Baez’s is pitcher Travis Wood, who has 12-for-45 (.267 batting average). Wood has whiffed only 13 times, has one more run scored (7-6) and three more runs batted in (10-7) with the same number of doubles (2). In case anyone was wondering.

* Still speaking of numerical comparisons, Pierce Jones had three home runs and a triple for Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West team in the team’s successful Little League World Series opener. Impressive. But for ESPN compare that performance to a big-league ballplayer’s is silly. Or stupid. Or both. Or merely as a way to hype the Little League World Series, which the network coincidentally happens to televise. Call me crazy (you wouldn’t be the first), but if Fox or NBC or some other network were showing the games, something says ESPN would pay scant attention (if that much) to the event.

Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the engaging efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):

Advertising opportunities are available on ElliottHarris.com. For information and rates, contact sales@ElliottHarris.com.