Nothing to It for Cubs’ Arrieta in Season Debut

May 4, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Sunday smorgasbord: Jake Arrieta’s 2014 debut as a Chicago Cubs pitcher was impressive — even if he didn’t receive the victory in a 3-0 triumph Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. He was lifted after 5 1/3 innings and 82 pitches. Five relievers followed with three-hit ball. If you didn’t know better, you might think it was extended spring training.

There is video below of Luciana Corzo — in case you care (and even if you don’t).

* The Cubs should petition commissioner Bud Selig to toss out the regular-season results from March and April, so they would be unbeaten and in first place in the National League Central.

* With victories Friday and Saturday, the Cubs are assured of a series victory vs. the Cardinals (15-16). Having shown they can beat the top two pitchers in the Cardinals’ rotation (Adam Wainwright on Friday and Michael Wacha on Saturday), the Cubs surely should be able to sweep with a victory Sunday night, no? You never know.

* A message from our back-to-reality department (OK, that really doesn’t exist around here, but so what?): With a three-game winning streak, the Cubs (11-17) have improved to be on pace to go 64-98.

* Speaking of young pitchers (as we were a few moments ago), White Sox right-hander Scott Carroll lowered his earned-run average to 0.68 but was the losing pitcher in a 2-0 decision against the host Cleveland Indians. Both runs charged to Carroll in his six-inning outing were unearned. So Sox fans can be optimistic about his performance and pessimistic about the team’s league-leading offense sputtering.

* One of the Sox errors was charged to third baseman Marcus Semien, who committed his sixth of the season. He also struck out twice in three at-bats, giving him 41 in 127 at-bats this season. If it’s any consolation to Sox fans (and the guess here is that it is not) Semien does lead the major leagues in one batting category: strikeouts.

* Ex-Cub of the day: Philadelphia right fielder Marlon Byrd (.294 batting average) went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs in the Phillies’ 7-3 victory vs. visiting Washington.

* One of the joys of this job is being able to stay up late, watch sports on television and occasionally count on them. Such is the case with the Los Angeles Clippers’ Game 7 126-121 victory against the Golden State Warriors to capture their Western Conference first-round series. In the aftermath of that game, ESPN’s Darren Rovell tweeted: Clippers are now America’s team. If they keep advancing, people with no interest in the NBA will watch. If Rovell’s plan was to elicit differing opinion, he was extremely successful. As more than one response to his assessment stated: The Clippers aren’t even L.A.’s team.

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