CHC Thread | Bryant Heating Up | NYM (Harvey) @ CHC (Hammel)

Last night Kris Bryant showed why he's the apple (not Appel) of my eye. He went 3 for 4 with a triple, infield single (!!!) and a long solo HR as the Cubs won 6-1. The HR was mammoth and it was majestic, but that's easy for Bryant. What's the most impressive thing about him is his baseball IQ and effort. For a guy who's 6' 5" and lanky like he is, he beats out an infield grounder to Mets 3B Daniel Murphy, which caused Mets starter Noah Syndergaard to throw about 20 more pitches in that inning than he would have had Bryant not run out the play.

The triple may have been the most impressive swing he's put on a ball other than the two-handed stroke on an inside fastball he took to right center in Pittsburgh. Syndergaard darted a 96 MPH fastball over the outside corner and Bryant instinctively went with it, driving it effortlessly high off the right field wall...Len and JD were both saying there's no way that ball should have gone that far with that swing. But it did...and Bryant legged out the triple...it wasn't a gimme.

Enough of the love letter to Bryant. Rizzo, Soler, Montero and Castro are all hitting very well right now and even Chris Coghlan, who is around .200 for the year, is hitting the ball hard--he's just getting out.

Jake Arrieta is the man. 8 IP of 1 run ball last night with 10 K when the Cubs really needed it. He's the unquestioned best pitcher on the team right now. He has been for some time, too.

IF Tommy LaStella played in an extended spring game and was hitting the ball well. Hopefully he'll be up soon and I'd like to see Matt Szczur go back to Iowa for Junior Lake. I like what Lake has done to adjust his approach and he played some great defense when he was last promoted.

A big test tonight...the Cubs get Matt Harvey.

Fowler, CF
Bryant, 3B
Rizzo, 1B
Castro, SS
Montero, C
Soler, RF
Coghlan, LF
Hammel, P
Russell, 2B