A Tip of the Recap March 22nd

The Cubs lost 6-1 to the Padres today in Cactus League action.

The Good

The day started with the Respect Bald event that saw over 25 members of the Cubs organization shave their heads to benefit pediatric cancer. This was a great way to raise money and I for one was super impressed with the participation from across the entire organization.

Jason Hammel looks like he is ready for the season to start. He went 5 strong innings, giving up 3 hits, no walks and striking out 9 to bring his spring ERA to 3.86.

Jason Motte threw a scoreless inning of relief but did give up a hit and a walk with 1 strikeout.

Javier Baez deserves mention here because he went 1 for 3 without a strikeout and even battled back in an AB to draw a walk. There is still plenty of spring left and if Baez starts having days like this with grinded-out at-bats, there may be some hope for him to break camp with the big league team yet.

Arismendy Alcantara broke the 0-0 tie (and no-hitter) with a HR (his 2nd) to left-center to bring his average to .276.

The Bad

The Cubs offense couldn’t do much today, only squeaking out 4 hits and the lone run while striking out 12 times as a team. Shields did look pretty decent though and did not allow a hit through 5 innings of work.

The Ugly

Felix Doubront, Francisley Bueno, and Gonzalez German did not fare very well as a trio today. Combined, they gave up 6 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk. Doubront is the only one that really had a chance of making the team, which is complicated because he hasn’t performed well and is out of options. Sounds like he’s due for a timely injury.

On Deck

The Cubs have an off day tomorrow (their first and only one of the spring). They will return to action on Tuesday against the A’s at 3:05 PM (CST).