April 8th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 8^th Game’s Results and Analysis

Milwaukee Brewers 7 - Chicago Cubs 4

Winning Pitcher: Estrada (1-0) Losing Pitcher: Jackson (0-2)

Save by Henderson (1)

Player of the Game: Norichika Aoki

The Chicago Cubs lost a tough and an eventful game in the Cubbies home opener. The game started off terribly for the Cubs, in which starting pitcher Edwin Jackson gave up 4 of his 5 earned runs in the top of the first. The Brewers scored again in the second inning to make the score 5 to 0, but in the top of the second Welington Castillo hit a two run homer which was his first of the year. Those were the only two runs scored against the starting pitcher for the Brewers, Marco Estrada. Estrada put together an impressive outing by going 7 innings with 6 K’s. Norichika Aoki was the player of the game today because he went 3 for 4 with a double and two walks; he was just a tough out and has looked great this season. The Brewers scored two runs later on reliever Shawn Camp to make the score of the game 7 to 2, although the Cubbies did make it interesting in 9^th by scoring 2 runs, but couldn't capitalize with the bases loaded.

Impressive: Although Edwin Jackson had difficulty in the first two innings, he calmed down and finished strong, which allowed Jackson to go 6 innings with 6 strikeouts with 5 earned runs. However, his last four innings pitched were impressive and if he can pitch more innings like those then he will have a great season for the Cubbies. I believe Edwin Jackson was just too amped up for his first start as a Cub at Wrigley Field and he will have a better performance this weekend when he pitches against the San Francisco Giants. Another thing that impressed me was how the Cubs had a little comeback in the 9^th inning and if you read my blog about yesterday’s game you would realize that that was my main concern of yesterday’s game. The Cubbies scored only two in the bottom of the 9^th, but Starlin Castro’s fly out would have been a walk off homer if the wind was still blowing out like it was in the first few innings. Today showed me that the Cubs have potential to make comebacks if need be and make games competitive.

Surprising: There were two things that surprised me in the game today, one being Shawn Camp’s pitching performance and the other is the Cubs struggle against Marco Estrada. Shawn Camp came in the 7^th inning with the score of 5 to 2 Brewers and Camp struggled to get outs which cost him 2 runs. The most surprising thing about Camp’s outing was that he gave up a double to the pitcher Marco Estrada that scored a run. Talking about Estrada, the Cubs hitters had some difficult hitting him in today’s game. I found this to be surprising because Estrada isn’t the most prolific pitcher in majors and he only throws three pitches. I just thought the Cubs hitters could have taken advantage of the wind blowing out and facing an average starting pitcher, however Estrada did get some calls from the Ump behind the plate.

Concerning: I know that I was impressed with the Cubs hitters little comeback in the 9^th, but they had chances before the 9^th to score some runs. The Cubbies left Starlin Castro stranded at third two times in this game and each time there was only one out in the inning. The Cubs hitters also left Schierholtz stranded at second after he hit his double in the bottom of the 4^th inning. Although I’m concerned about the lack of timing hits from the Cubs hitters, I still believe the hitters will find their groove soon and that will cause them to have some clutch hits.