Reversal(s) of Fortune

This weekend provided a whole new series of mood swings.

Friday night brought a great start by Matthew Boyd ruined by an anemic offense and one swing by yet another Cub killer, Tommy Edman. If he and Eugenio Suarez were on the same team, the Cubs would never beat them. Combined with a outstanding performance by Jose Quintana to get the Brewers past the DBacks fed my fear that the rotation they have pieced together from duct tape, chewing gum and gorilla glue would have the best ERA in the league. And the Steele injury news loomed.

Then Saturday came around, and my fears about the effectiveness of the Brewers pitching was stoked by a good start from someone named Chad Patrick, and great bullpen work for the first 8 innings. They took a 4-0 lead headed to the bottom of the 9th. Around the same time, the Cubs had just had a potential grand slam robbed from Michael Busch by Andy Pages, leaving the Cubs with a precarious 1-0 lead over the Dodgers.

Then a couple of cool things happened:
-After getting the 1st out in the bottom of the 9th, the Brewers just imploded against the Diamondbacks (we know the feeling). Joal Payamps gave up a walk and a triple to make score 4-1. Then Trevor Megill came in – who had an 8.37 ERA with the 2021 Cubs but was amazing filling in as closer for the Brewers last season – had his worst game in a long time. He game up a walk, a double another walk, a single, and intentional walk and then a sacrifice fly to end the game for an Arizona victory.
-And then Ben Brown continued to have possibly his best game ever, until the Cubs blew up against Ben Casperius and infielder Miguel Rojas, to explode to a 16-0 win. Carson Kelly his two home runs, Gage Workman had his first 2 Major league hits, Michael Busch had a great game, and PCA broke out of a slump. The only negative was thay Seiya left the game with a sore wrist, and we still didn’t know about Steele.

And then the bad news dropped Sunday morning. Justin Steele was getting surgery, and will miss at least this entire season. Ugh. I’m trying to remember a Cubs injury that would be so significant. Schwarber tearing up his knee at the beginning 2016 might be it. Possibly Quintana missing the who covid-shortened season in 2020. Or possibly one of Kris Bryant’s injuries. Maybe Adbert Alzolay last season. This might require a post of it’s own. But for now, the expectations of the season, especially any possibility that the Cubs can be challengers in the playoffs has taken a major hit.

The Cubs had one more game to play against the Dodgers, with a solid spot start from Colin Rea, a great effort from 6 relievers, and a monster game from PCA with 2 homers and a triple. And another home run by Michael Busch against his former team. Seiya Suzuki did not play due to his sore wrist, and the hot Carson Kelly had to leave the game after getting hit in the hand by a pitch.

So what’s net. The rough April is half way done, but still include 3 with the Padres on the road, and then home games against the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Phillies. We don’t know if Seiya’s injury will require an IL stint. Kelly’s hand is sore, but thankfully not broken, so I’m guessing he misses a game or two.

Hopefully, this week won’t be quite so eventful.