Let's face it, there really hasn't been much to watch on the Northside of Chicago over the last 2 years. Heck, there hasn't been much to watch on both sides of town. After a year and a half of Cubs fans begging for Theo and the crew to beef up the team's salary. Hoping that the team would add a couple of quality players acting as 2 teaspoons of sugar to help the bad baseball go down. Finally there seems to be a glimmer of hope again on the Northside.
The Cubs will finish the month of June as their first winning month since July of 2013 (they won 14 games but 1 one the games was a makeup from May of that year vs the White Sox officially recording a 13-13 month). Starting June off with an early 5 game winning streak, winning 5 of the 8 series' they played in the month, it seems like the patience mantra that the Cubs brass has been chanting since they got here might be paying off.
Not only have the Cubs won these games, they have done so in an impressive manner. Actually scoring runs, playing smarter baseball, and showing they can catch the baseball. Most importantly, the cornerstones of the franchise are showing that they are the players everyone has expected them to be. Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro have come out to impressive starts and really have carried this team throughout the year. The way Anthony Rizzo has taught himself to hit lefties in especially remarkable. Rizzo, with a career .216/.298/.386 and a OPS of .684 verse lefties is posting a .319/.422/.565 with a OPS of .987 split against Southpaws this year, compared to his respectable .280/.393/.512 and .905 split verse righty's this year.
Castro on the other hand has proven to bounce back from a down 2013. Perhaps he was distracted by off-the-field issues, or being pressured to carry the load for the first time in his career finally got to him. Either way his approach at the plate is much improved and he has already marked his 3rd highest RBI total in his career. What might be most impressive is his defensive approach. Never will he be considered a solid or plus defender, but his ability to limit the dumb errors (not paying attention to situations, taking mental breaks, etc.) have seemed to dissipate. Sure he will occasionally air-mail a ball that should have been a sure out, or allow a ball to skip through his legs, but the mental errors have been limited which proves well for him to continue to be an asset for this Cubs team.
The team is a long way off from being competitive, but Cubs fans can hang their hats on the much improved play from this team. If anything, the way they have played over the last several days should prove evident that if Cubs fans and Cubs ownership remains patient, there are much better days ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment