by Boutros Boutros Ghali
It seems my concern over whether the Cubs would be ready for the Sunday night game against the Pirates was unfounded. Jake Arrieta makes everyone look good and he carried the Cubs on his back to get to win number 90 this season.
Most of us were hoping for a game or two over .500 at the beginning of the season. We thought maybe the Cubs would compete for the wild card. We were all very, very wrong.
The Cubs are now 25 games over .500 and basically locked up the second wild card spot a couple of weeks ago although the official clinch came with about 10 games left in the season. The Cubs are tied with Toronto (AL East Champs) and Kansas City (AL Central Champs) for the third best record in all of baseball. If they were in any other division, they would be first or tied for first.
A big reason for that success is Jake Arrieta who has now won 21 games this season. His ERA is a ridiculous 1.82, he's thrown 4 complete games, and one of those was a no hitter. Groundskeeper Willie is now a folk hero in Wrigleyville and he almost added to the legend on Sunday.
One of the few things that Arrieta has not done is throw a perfect game. Through six innings against the Pirates, the second best team in baseball, it looked like he was going to get to that lofty goal as well. Not a single batter reached base until the seventh inning when Gregory Polanco reached on a single.
In seven innings, Arrieta threw 84 pitches, gave up one hit, plunked one batter, struck out nine, and gave up zero runs. That's an amazing night for most pitchers, but Jake was not content to do it all from the mound.
In the second inning, Willie got greased up and launched an opposite field solo home run to put the Cubs up 2-0 early in the game. It was Arrieta's second home run of the season.
In the first inning, Fowler had walked (of course) and Kris Bryant had driven him in to get the Cubs the 1-0 lead. Castro would add two runs late in the game off of what looked like a home run at first, but was ruled a ground rule double. The Cubs scored 4 runs for the game, but they only needed the first one.
Arrieta left after seven, and Travis Wood entered and did not leave. The lefty long man completed the eighth and ninth innings without giving up any runs to lock down the 90th victory.
So the Cubs end their three game losing streak and if they can respond like they have in the past, we could see about 8 straight wins to finish the season hot.
That's your Reckless Recap. Go Cubs!
Remember to use the Amazon banner on the SonRanto.com page. When we had our pre-season budget meeting, we figured out how to make $5.87 last 162 games. With what promises to be another month of baseball, we need more money to keep this thing going. It won't cost you a thing, but we will get a small kickback from Amazon.
Also, do not forget about Danny Rockett's Cubs Album project. There is a GoFundMe link on the SonRanto.com page. He is about 70% of the way to the finish and you could help get this thing done. If you give at least $25, you can pick a song topic for the album. Also, every dollar is another opportunity to win the Chicago Whales jersey the Cubs handed out at the Rained Out Cubs/Royals game that will be played today. You know you want it.