By Jim Coffman
What the heck are we going to complain about now, Cubs fans?
Kyle Schwarber had a big weekend in the leadoff spot. It has been more than a week since the Cubs bullpen blew a save, and sources tell me they might have a new guy coming in to upgrade the whole operation.
Javy is Javy. We will never complain about that – especially after he hit the critical, opposite-field, two-run homer to give Cole Hamels the perfect early cushion on his way to throwing a masterpiece on Friday to start the weekend right.
We still worry about Willson Contreras’s defense, but what an arm on that guy! (And who has a better backup catcher than Victor Caratini?)
Kyle Hendricks’s ERA hasn’t quite dipped below 3 – it is in fact 3.00. I suppose that is slightly irritating.
The upcoming schedule is a bit of a concern, although it is cute that in the upcoming three weeks with just one off day, that off day happens to be the day before a series with the White Sox.
The weather still hasn’t completely cooperated. I guess we could beef about that.
And the Cubs are on Sunday night baseball again in a week, subjecting us to more inane commentary from an ESPN crew that is four-people strong yet has fewer keen insights in a given game than regular ol’ hometown commentator Jim Deshaies has in an inning.
Anyway, it is a pretty good place to be, the one where the Cubs found themselves after they capped off a sweep of the Cardinals with a 5-1 victory Sunday evening. This next week will put it to the test, what with a trip to Colorado for three games starting Monday night followed by four with the National League-leading Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.
The history of that ballpark is a downer, there is that. The land where it was built had long housed a mostly Mexican-American working class enclave before it was cleared out by the power brokers of the day.
Let’s see, we could opine on the fact that Boston is on the verge of possessing the World Series trophy, the Lombardi Trophy and the Stanley Cup at the same time. That obviously isn’t good. But if the alternative is the most boring city in the country possessing the storied NHL championship trophy, I say, Go Bruins! Also, I think Boston is the more skilled team and it is always good when the talent beats the goons in that frozen arena.
The NBA and NHL drafts are coming up and hope always springs eternal in the days leading up to those events, does it not? And sure, the Bulls are still run by the same incompetent crew that has given us multiple recent lousy seasons, but most of us agree that the Blackhawks could do worse than Stan Bowman at the helm, don’t we?
Actually maybe not, eh? So we can certainly begin to complain about the winter sports distracting us from the baseball action in the last few weeks of June.
Then again, when does Yu Darvish pitch again? That guy is still a big ol’ disappointment after all.
Then again, maybe this time he really is turning a corner.
Then again, he’s scheduled to pitch tonight in Coors Field. Cubs fans might have something to complain about soon after all.
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Jim “Coach” Coffman welcomes your comments.
Posted on June 10, 2019