Faithful, Too: “Game 81W and Halfway Home!”

Busy project at work yesterday afternoon that was made blissful by listening to what turned out to be a relatively smooth-sailing 3-0 Cubs victory over the Cardinals to split the four-game series how’s this for a run-on sentence?

The main highlight, of course, was the long-awaited return of Shota Imanaga. Whenever a pitcher returns from a months-long injury you hold your breath. You hold your breath in fear that they’re rusty and frustrated. You hold your breath in fear that they’ll re-aggravate whatever had been injured, or worse, have a setback that puts them out for another period of time. Fortunately for Shota (and with no bad news in the past 24 hours), I was able to breathe easy.

In five innings of work Shota gave up zero runs on only one hit and one walk while striking out three. I’m guessing he’s on a pitch-count for a few starts (only 77) and I’m fine with that (thanks for asking, Cubs management). Guy is ice cold out there. Love it. So happy he’s back. A needed jolt going into the halfway mark of the season.

A quiet game for the offense (Buschy homer, Happy RBI walk) but a not-so-quiet finish to the game. Our fiery closer (for now) Daniel Palencia gave up a double to Alec Burleson to lead off the bottom of the 9th. What happened next became the highlight (lowlight) of the game. Former Cub Willson Contreras (forever grateful) got grazed by a pitch inside that was even reviewed to see if it even hit him. For some reason, he yapped at Palencia throughout the rest of the inning while on first base. Why would Palencia deliberately hit him? Not sure what was going on in Contreras’ head. A fiery competitor himself, the older you get, the less and less hotheadedness is appealing or tolerable.

As for the game? Well with two on and nobody out, Palencia proceeded to strike out the final three batters of the game to get the save. What a way to handle the pressure of a shaky start to his inning. As for Contreras? Well, he kept shouting enough after the last out that both benches emptied. Fortunately, it didn’t get physical. And fortunately the Cubs salvaged the series.

“And now it’s time for a breakdown!” – that one En Vogue song

Halfway through the season, what is the Cubs offense on pace to do?

Ian Happ: 24 homers/84 runs-batted-in/.249 batting average/.342 on-base percentage

Kyle Tucker: 32/98/.287/.395, 38 stolen bases

Seiya Suzuki: 42/134/.256/.313

Pete Crow-Armstrong: 42/122/.272/.307, 48 stolen bases

Dansby Swanson: 28/78/.240/.290

Michael Busch: 26/92/.273/.363

Nico Hoerner: 2/66/.294/.336

They’re also on pace to score the fifth most runs in franchise history (874, behind the 1894, 1930, 1929, 1886 teams). They’re also on base to beat the team record for stolen bases (192), beating the 1923 team’s 183-steals record. Phew.

Not sure if Matt Shaw is sticking around (though he’s been a nice boon at 3rd) and Carson is still splitting so much time with McGuire, so no real point in breaking them down. If the guys can more or less contribute the same they have during the first half (maybe Happ continues to get hot if Buschy or PCA cool down) I’m thinking fun things for October. Of course, I’ll be back to doom-and-gloom if they stink against the ‘Stros this weekend. We shall see!