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I used to love Friday afternoon baseball when I lived in Chicago. I worked in consulting, and since we barely worked on Friday in the first place, it wasn't uncommon for us to ride the train up to Wrigley and catch a game. Yep, I was a stereotypical Wrigley Field patron, except I never pretended to like the Cubs.
Nowadays, Friday afternoon baseball seems stupid. Seriously, who does this crap?
Aaron Harang hasn't pitched particularly well during his career at Wrigley Field, though he did have a fine start there back in April when he gave up just one run in 7 innings pitched. The weird thing, for Harang at least, is that despite the career 4.92 ERA in the Friendly Confines, he has a 5-2 record. I think when history is all said and done, Harang may go down as having one of the weirdest win-loss record tendencies in the history of baseball. Also, hyperbole is the greatest thing ever!
Randy Wells has been a pleasant surprise for the Cubs this season. After a solid, though not particularly noteworthy minor league career, he has stepped up big, consistently giving his team 6 or 7 innings except for 1 or 2 starts and he has yet to allow more than 4 runs in any single start this year. It seems like even when Harang isn't facing the other team's ace, he's going up against someone that is well above average on the year. It's all part of the conspiracy against the big guy.
It seems like the offense has started to pick up a bit over the last week, but I just looked at the numbers and it's really not true. At least they are getting some solid Julys out of Edwin Encarnacion (.308/.410/.577) and Joey Votto (.356/.397/.589). Heck, even Willy Taveras is batting .282 for the month, though his OBP is just .311 and his slugging is .310. Okay, I'll stop trying to spin it. It's just depressing.
Enjoy your afternoon ballgame! Maybe you'll have time later to go see a Talkie!