Faithful, Too: "Game 57L, Game 58W, and...Kane County Cougars L?"

Walking around the office on Friday with the Cubs game in my ears is usually a great way to kill time and enjoy a good game. 'Twas not the case this past end o' week. I missed the beginning of the game as the Reds started off to a quick 2-0 game, and the moment the Reds' Tyler Stephenson hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 4th, I figured it was back to podcasts for the rest of my afternoon. I didn't miss much. I tuned back in when I saw that it was the bottom of the 9th and the Cubs had runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out, down 6-2. Alas, a Dansby strikeout and a Nico groundout ended any hopes for a comeback. The Cubs lost their first home game in a series all season, ending their franchise-streak of nine straight to start the season. One positive: newly acquired reliever Genesis Rodriguez made his debut, pitching 1 1/3 innings and striking out three. Oh, and Chris Flexen pitched a perfect two to continue his scoreless streak to start his season (14 1/3 innings pitched!).

The Cubs offensive woes continued on Saturday, and managed to watch just about all of this one. Ben Brown (a.k.a. Dr. Ben Jekyll and Mr. Ben Hyde) had a quasi-start (came in in the 2nd to help alleviate his nerves) and went full Jekyll, pitching six scoreless innings and getting 9 K's. If only he were more consistent. He's still young as hell, and hopefully he will gain that consistency in the future. As for the rest of the gang, it was Dansby Swanson hair day (google it), but my guy was struggling. Had 3 K's going into the 8th inning, but his infield RBI-single with two outs provided an ultimately unnecessary insurance run as the Cubs shutout the Reds 2-0. The Cubs have only score 13 runs for the first five games of the homestead, but fortunately their opponents have only totaled 11. Cubs 4-1 during that stretch. Great to have a great offense, even better to have a solid pitching staff.

Also went to a Kane County Cougars game in Geneva, IL last night. The team is in the American Association of Professional Baseball, a league that MLB is official partners with. Some great players have played there over the years, but #1 for me was the legend Kyle Schwarber, who continues to hit homers long after his stint with Cubs ended. We had front row seats just to the left of home plate and it was hard not to get wrapped up in the game, especially when the Cougars came to life to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th. Was hoping for another walk-off win (won't soon forget the Justin Turner walk-off last month), but the team couldn't rally and lost 5-3. Long story, short: "I love baseball!"