The Cubs missed their first practice game in 130 days tonight, and it was just so amazing to just go into baseball mode for a while.
The White Sox won 7-3 at Wrigley Field tonight. The fake crowd was very entertaining.
What matters most is that Kyle Hendricks looked healthy and ready for next season, and the Cubs practiced a bit against another baseball team. It would have only celebrated in a troll way if the Cubs had won (they still will if they win tomorrow), but it wouldn’t have meant anything. So it is with a loss tonight. It is practical. I was very happy to see him. Even right now, as I try to think about how much I play tonight it did not That is, in the expected future performance, I am happy. I missed baseball.
A solo shot by Jason Kipnis, a fly from Nico Hoerner’s sack and a dribble from the inside box by David Bote. That was because of the offense tonight for the Cubs. Good amount of hard contact that was no use, but the point is to see some live releases. Man, it will be such a limited dose of practice for these guys.
That didn’t seem to hurt the White Sox against Jharel Cotton. He followed Hendricks and abandoned double, double, double, triple hitters to back-to-back, and each of them was a rocket. You don’t want an exhibition presentation to count too much, but let’s be realistic here. There are only three exhibition games in total, and then the season begins. You would have to be very confident that Cotton will enter tonight so that the appearance doesn’t affect your thinking at all. It is also worth remembering that Cotton came to the Cubs as a recovery project. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, just that it wasn’t a fact that he could go straight into the bullpen or rotation and be successful.
I have no idea how Dan Winkler puts the ball anywhere near home plate, given the wildness and maximum effort of his delivery, but the fastball has a good raise and looks like it’s a bit off-putting to the boys. I got results again tonight.
As dubious as Rowan Wick looked in the spring at times, he looked perfectly fine tonight. Good life on the fastball, incredible rest on the curve. I will need it to be good from the first moment.
