Cubs 6-9, split the series
Braves 10-5
POTG: SP Rich Hill (8 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 0 R – QS + W 3 [9])
Runner Up: 3B A Ram (HR, good defense), C Michael Barrett (HR, 2 H) – not The Riot since he got thrown out with Derek up.
See, I watched about 5 minutes of Baseball Tonight, and they made a mistake. They’re saying Rich Hill is pitching like Zito, and I’m pretty sure it’s Barry Zito who’d like to be Rich Hill this month. Actually, everyone in the league would like to have these numbers:
22 IP
0.41 ERA
.110 AVG
18 K
3 W
This is a bit unreal. He’ll get 2 more starts this month if everything stays on schedule – versus Milwaukee (the day after the Brewers go for vengeance on Z) and in Pittsburg at the end of the month. If he just does okay, I think he’s gotta be pitcher of the month. He’s got half the team wins, after all!
I know people who will be thrilled that Pinella is bringing in Bobby Dernier to teach people how to run bases a bit better, after the issues with Murton yesterday (and Ryan today.) This is a credit to Pinella; Dusty would seem to give up on fixing any fundamental problems once spring training ended.
It’s very heartening to see the Cubs actually use DeRosa in right field against a lefty instead of Jacque. It’s the move we’ve been hoping for since DeRosa got signed, and it’s shows a desire to win over playing for making people happy (DeRosa only playing second, Jacque playing against lefties when he sucks.)
Sweep the Cardinals and get to 500. Shouldn’t be so hard.