Hero of the Day

Maybe it’s just my expectations drastically lowering, but I feel like today’s game wasn’t a complete disaster. Sure, they lost 5-3 to Miami, but there were some high points.

Jeff Samardzija, however, wasn’t one of them. Shark looked a lot Sharkier today, giving up five walks and eight hits over three and two-thirds innings. He got the hook after just 88 pitches, because Logan Morrison tried to take his head off with a comebacker. As far as we know, he’s fine – he struck out Giancarlo Stanton afterward – but the ball did hit him in the pitching hand, so better safe than sorry, I guess.

All five of Miami’s runs came off of Samardzija: two in the first, and three in the third. The combined forces of James Russell, Shawn Camp, and Carlos Marmol didn’t allow any runs, and Marmol actually looked pretty good today. He wouldn’t be Marmol if he didn’t give up a walk, but he also recorded a strikeout and his slider looked reasonably sharp.

The Cubs’ runs came in the second inning, giving us a brief reminder of what it’s like to have the lead in a ballgame. A bases-clearing triple by Darwin Barney was the sum total of our offensive production for the day, but boy did it feel good to see.

Geovany Soto looked like he was getting his swing back a bit today – he smacked three balls pretty well, two for hits. He had kind of a rough day behind the plate, though, allowing four stolen bases by three separate Marlins. Geo’s throws were on-target, but the Marlins are a fast team, as befits their ginormous park.

The Cubs are 1-5 on this road trip, 3-10 overall. If you still feel like watching this team, they’ll be back at Wrigley tomorrow to face the Reds at 1:20. The game is on CSN; Chris Volstad goes against Homer Bailey, so maybe there will be some offense. Or a Sean Marshall sighting. Gotta take what you can get.