Cold Brewed Baseball: Cubs Wake Up From Hibernation - mkilcNYR's Dynasty

mkilcNYR's Dynasty Blog

Cold Brewed Baseball: Cubs Wake Up From Hibernation

Posted on July 23, 2015 at 08:28 PM.

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Game 1: The Rockies came home to a hero's welcome at Coor's Field after having swept the Brewers in Milwaukee to begin the year. The Opening Day joy would not extended beyond the pre game festivities though. David Hale could not make it out of the 2nd inning and would be charged with 5 runs while only striking out 1. He began the season with an awful ERA of 33.75 and reaffirmed the belief that the bottom of the rotation might not be able to offer much in the way of help.

The Rockies found themselves down 8-1 after 5 innings with the only run coming off the bat of first baseman Justin Morneau. The Rockies rallied though scoring 4 in the 6th and then getting another 2 in the bottom of the 7th off the bat of Nolan Arnado who hit a 2 run homer, his first of the year. The Rockies managed to pull within 2 at that point but that would be the end of the scoring and wind up being the final line score.

Chicago Cubs at Colorado Rockies
Apr 10, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago ()	3	2	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	9	14	0
Colorado ()	1	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	0	7	10	0
W: Hammel L: Hale S: Rondon

Notes: Morneau continues to rake as he went 2-3 with 2 walks and the RBI double in the first inning. Solid anchor in the lineup that I'm not sure what the Rockies would do without

Game 2: The Rockies hoped to rebound from the typical Coors Field shootout that happened on Opening Day and Jorge De La Rosa stepped up his game big time. Over 6 innings the veteran managed to strike out 9 while giving up only 1 run on 2 hits while walking 3. His control was iffy sometimes (as evedinced by the 3 base on balls) but when it counted he bore down and got the job done.

The same could not be said for the Rockies offense. Wada took the ball for the Cubs and pitched 7.2 innings of masterful baseball. He scattered 3 hits over the innings while not allowing a walk and struck out 3. The Cubs lone run came on a Dexter Fowler single to left that scored Montero in the 3rd but it was all that Wada would need.

Chicago Cubs at Colorado Rockies
Apr 11, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago ()	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0
Colorado ()	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
W: Wada L: De La Rosa

Game Notes: No regular player in the Rockies lineup got a hit. Drew Stubbs and Michael McKenry (the road warrior) picked up the only hits for the Rockies with Stubbs going 1-4 and McKenry going 2-3 with a double

Game 3: Manager Walt Weiss turned to Jordan Lyles, the de facto staff ace, to turn this series around and send the paying customers home happy. And my did he give it the old college try. Lyles went 8.1 and took a no-hitter into the 9th inning before Anthony Rizzo crushed a mistake location fastball over the wall in right center. Lyles would leave the game and Christian Friedrich would surrender a single and then homer to Miguel Montero (who scored the Cubbies only run a game ago) to put this one on ice and give the Cubs a 4-0 unexpected win.

Jon Lester meanwhile threw a complete game and matched his Colorado opponent pitch for pitch, albeit giving up 5 hits along the way. Either way he picked up his first win of the year and lowered his ERA down to 2.45.

Chicago Cubs at Colorado Rockies
Apr 12, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago ()	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	4	1
Colorado ()	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
W: Lester L: Lyles

Game Notes: Lyles has now thrown 15.2 innings over his 2 starts and gone deeper in both games (the 8th in Milwaukee and 9th here at home) than any other Colorado starter has so far to this point. Hopefully this troubling stat turns around as Lyles cannot carry the world on his arm. However I was extremely impressed at his ability to keep the Cubs off balance and am excited for what the rest of his year holds for him!

Up next the Rockies will travel to the Golden State for a 6 game road trip against the Giants in San Fran and then the Dodgers in the City of Angels. The matches for the Giants series will be:

Game 1: Matzek (1-0, 4.26 ERA) vs. Hudson (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 2: Kendrick (0-0, 7.75 ERA) vs. Lincecum (0-0, 2.57 ERA)
Game 3: Hale (0-1, 33.75 ERA) vs. Peavy (1-0, 6.35 ERA)

Hope you all continue along as we take Cold Brewed Ball on the road to bask in the sunshine of the Golden State! See ya'll soon!