Game Recap: Cubs 5 Cardinals 0 (4/18/2016)

I went to the game last night in St. Louis and it was thoroughly enjoyable. The weather was amazing, John Lackey had his best game as a Cub (so far), and the Cubs won. What more could I ask for? It would have been nice if they played "Go Cubs Go" through the stadium PA but I'm pretty sure they don't do that in St. Louis. Here are some pictures from my seat.

The Cubs looked great. The pitching had 14 strikeouts, 11 from Lackey, and was in control the entire game. The one good scoring opportunity for the Cardinals came in the 5th inning when the Cardinals had runners on 2nd and 3rd base with only one out. Mike Leake hit a couple of hard foul balls then struck out. Matt Carpenter followed it with yet another strikeout. In Leake's at bat there was a failed run down on a missed safety squeeze play. Miguel Montero hung on to the ball too long and runner got back to 3rd safely. It was a missed play that could've caused things to unravel, but Lackey took over and got out of the jam himself.

The Cubs offense was fairly quiet for the first five innings, managing just two hits and a walk. In the 6th inning Dexter Fowler (who else?) would come through with a solo home run giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead. "You go, we go." The Cubs would add three more in the 7th and one more in the 8th to win the game 5-0. My section was 90% Cardinals fans and it was 90% empty by the end of the 8th inning.

It was fun to see Jason Heyward and John Lackey's first games back in St. Louis. Both were booed throughout the game but there didn't seem to be too much bad blood towards either of them. Heyward was 0/4 with a strikeout but hit the ball hard in every other at bat. Heyward made a couple of exceptional plays in right field to make up for the negative day at the plate. He looks like he is ready to break out, my guess is he'll do something big at the plate tonight.

I'll be at the game again tonight. I'm looking forward to another one like yesterday. Jamie Garcia is pitching for the Cardinals and Jason Hammel for the Cubs. Garcia and Hammel have both gotten off to excellent starts this season, but both were hit hard last October in the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if either pitcher brings their prior experience to the mound and lets it affect their performance.

Here's a few more pictures from the game.

Published on 4/19/2016 7:42:37 AM