Chicago Cubs Weekly Recap: April 14-20

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It was another tough week for the Chicago Cubs, and even with a shorter week they were unable to win their first series of the season. Each week we’re adding questions, but are yet to find any answers as the same struggles continue to plague this team week in, week out. But even with that, there were some good things to highlight.

Team Recap – 1-4 for the week, Season: 5-12

Things were looking up when.. The Cubs offense came to life versus the Reds with 8 runs on 11 hits, including 3 home runs.

It was over when… Yankees pitching took the mound. The Cubs managed only 9 hits and were blanked in a DH for the first time since it happened versus St. Louis on June 27, 1962.

Cubs starting pitching once again kept the Cubs in ballgames for the most part this week. But more failure at the plate with runners in scoring position led to more two and three run losses. The offense is in desperate need of someone to come up with some clutch hits to jump-start this flatlining offense. So far there aren’t many takers.

Following the DH sweep against the New York Yankees in which the Cubs were unable to score a run, the bats failed to support another good start from Jeff Samardzija. The offense provided only one run as another quality start was wasted. The offense did however show signs of life in the second game as the Cubs hit three home runs and scored eight, only one short of what they had scored in their previous five games. But a Sunday loss left them without a series win this season

Players of the Week

Anthony Rizzo – .353 (6/17), 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 1.097 OPS

Rizzo continues to be one of the few bright spots in the Cubs offense this season. He raised his season average to .349, but also managed to put a little scare into Cubs fans after experiencing bask spasms and exiting Saturday’s game early. But Rizzo was right back in the lineup on Sunday going 2-for-3 with two walks. While it’s good to see him continuing his hot hitting, someone needs to jump in and join him to help get some wins.

Jeff Samardzija – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 K 

Samardzija was once again sharp, but also found himself without run support as he fell to o-2 on the season, while posting a 1.29 ERA. It’s only been a few starts, but he seems to have full command of all his pitches, and is keeping his pitch counts down, pitching to contact over getting strikeouts. While this does show growth as a pitcher, it only offers more questions as to what the Cubs will do with him before this season is over.

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