A Tip of the Recap April 4th

Dress rehearsal is now over as the Cubs finished their final Spring Training game with a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.

The Good

Since the regular season opens tomorrow, today’s lineup was filled with young guys, which means Addison Russell, Javier Baez, Albert Almora, and Kyle Schwarber got the start.

Russell had a double in 4 ABs, Baez hit a single and had a HBP that he came around to score on later in the game, Almora was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and Schwarber was 1 for 3 with a double and a run.

Kyle Hendricks pitched a perfect inning as he gets ready to start the 5th game of the season.

Hunter Cervenka and Fernando Cruz both threw 2 innings of scoreless baseball with 2 Ks each.

The Bad

Travis Wood started the game and pitched 1 inning giving up 2 runs (both earned) on 3 hits, no walks, and 1 K. He was hit pretty hard all spring and I would have liked to see him take the job and run with it instead of winning it by default due to injuries and Edwin Jackson doing Edwin Jackson things.

Either way, his bat looks to be pretty valuable to the team and if he can pinch hit with the success that he has this spring then he does have some added versatility.

The Ugly

Gonzalez German pitched an inning and gave up 2 runs on 2 hits (1 HR), which isn’t that bad in of itself, but he finished the spring with a 17.05 ERA. He is no more than just organizational depth at this point and let us all hope it doesn’t get to the point where the team is counting on him for meaningful innings.

On Deck

FINALLY! Opening day is upon us and the Cubs will square off against the Cardinals tomorrow night at Wrigley. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (CST) and ESPN2 will carry the Lester vs. Wainwright matchup that we all were salivating for as soon as Lester signed on the dotted line this offseason.