4-8 ain’t great.
Not much has gone right so far this season, but we can’t get bogged down by the misery. Here are some things that have actually gone right. And some silver linings to things that haven’t.
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Nate Schierholtz
Nate has been, well, just splendid. Through 11 games he’s off to the best start of any right fielder who has come and gone since Sammy Sosa left the building.
* In recent years Cubs right fielders have specialized in having a slugging percentage lower than their on-base percentage. Year Player AVG OBP SLG OPS 2005 Jeremy Burnitz .273 .313 .500 .813 2006 Jacque Jones .188 .250 .313 .563 2007 Jacque Jones .313 .333 .469 .802 2008 Kosuke Fukudome .333 .458 .487 .945 2009 Milton Bradley .042 .281 .167* .448 2010 Kosuke Fukudome .306 .325 .444 .769 2011 Kosuke Fukudome .375 .500 .375* .875 2012 David DeJesus .281 .439 .344* .783 2013 Nate Schierhotz .343 .410 .629 1.039 Nice.
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Carlos Villanueva
The top two spots on this list go to the two offseason acquisitions I had the highest hopes for. Between an 0.64 ERA through two starts and a meme-worthy moustache, Carlos Villanueva has quickly threatened to become my favorite Villanueva since Hector.
One of these is more ironic than the other.
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The Resurgence of David DeJesus
Dude was raking during spring training, then hit a wall when the season started. But, after going hitless the first 4 games of the season, the Lover has started to get his mojo mojo’ing and remains key to the potential for a sneaky good offense. And, thanks to his wife’s twitter, we know the plate isn’t the only place he’s heating up.
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Starting New Hashtags
Thanks to twitter user @RunningFlannel the #KyujiFuji hashtag hopes to take off soon, while two others should be naturals – Wellington Castillo, AKA #TheBeef and David #TheLover DeJesus.
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Anthony Rizzo’s Power and Patience
This is definitely the silver lining entry. Rizzo is well below the Mendoza line, but the peripherals are still solid – an OBP 120 points higher than his batting average, 3 home runs and 2 doubles, producing 9 RBI. The 16 K’s is troublesome, but all it will take is one good week to get everything back on track.
So, what are you pleased with about the season so far?
