Down two outfielders because of injuries, the Cubs didn’t have a flawless defense for spacious AT&T Park and it may have hurt them.
125 games into the season, and that is not the case.
Which is flawless. Just ideal.
“We could have come back (Wednesday) in whatever inning, but we didn’t”, Schwarber said.
When it comes to the “hanging in there” part, the Giants are in adequate shape. Chicago’s pitching staff and defense as a whole has been firing on all cylinders so far, ranking second in the NL with only three runs allowed per road game. Bochy will have a full complement of tools for the home stretch and his mixing/matching genius.
When healthy, the Giants start an entirely homegrown infield, a homegrown catcher and a mostly homegrown starting rotation.
Hang in there. Hang in there. Because as much as the Giants are chasing the Cubs on the field these days, the Cubs are chasing the Giants off of it. The Giants need Peavy to continue to go out and give them a legitimate chance to win every time he toes the rubber. That is what it says here.
Arrieta also had a 2-0 win over the Giants earlier this month when the Cubs swept a four-game series. All the Giants must do is get to that last week in September in position to make a run at first place during those final four Dodgers’ games. CF Angel Pagan played again for Triple-A Sacramento and will rejoin the Giants on Thursday, likely to be activated from the disabled list. Just keep repeating it, it gets easier with repetition. Although Duffy avoided the pick-off, his ankle wasn’t so lucky. Other injured teammates did the same. He has struck out 49 against two walks in 38 2/3 innings over his last five outings. “This is what you’re playing for”.
They did it by building a 6-0 lead through four innings against Giants starter Matt Cain, then surviving a bit of a frantic finish after Arrieta was long gone.
First Star: Who knows what kind of player Kelby Tomlinson is going to be? All-Star second baseman Joe Panik (.309, 7 HR, 35 RBI), one of the team’s most consitent hitters, has been on the DL for several weeks and the date of his return is uncertain.
“When your facing the defending the champs, there’s certain times where it’s not a bad idea to grind out at-bat’s with those guys, not give in, or throw something down the heart of the plate” Arrieta said about Tuesday’s start. With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, he reached out and slapped an off-speed pitch over the leftfield wall.
However, just after he sped past first base en route to what he thought would be a cycle-completing triple, he pulled up when Byrd made a nice catch running to his right.
RHP Jake Peavy had his best stuff of the season, according to C Buster Posey, in the Giants’ 4-2 win over the Cubs on Wednesday night. “You can’t get comfortable in there”. “That’s what this is about”. Lopez and Hunter Strickland each had a strikeout to get through the seventh with runners on second and third. “I’ve been on the other end of this thing”.
You’ll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games). How about we tell the Cubs to back off our boys-how many are they planning to take out? “We have a really good game plan”.