Perfect day for a ballgame out at Wrigley today. A couple of observations:
- Kearns is making solid contact and seems to not be as "lost" at the plate as he was in ST. Meanwhile, Hatteberg looks like he's happy to take a pitch because he knows he's better off walking than putting the ball in play. Kearns needs to be batting ahead of him.
- Brandon Phillips looks plain scared. Seems to have no real approach and just guessing at the plate.
- Milton has a very average fastball, but it hit 91-92 regulary according to the stadium gun -- which is a very good sign. His curve had guys way out in front and was getting 16 mph differential. He made his mistakes off the plate, except for the grooved fastball to Murton.
- Coffey made some people laugh with his sprint out to the mound, but I liked it. He had good velocity, touching 94 once. Zambrano never hit higher than 96, so I'm thinking the gun was pretty accurate -- may 1 or 2 mph fast.
- Mercker's fastball is straight as an arrow. He looks great against bad hitters, but I wouldn't want him pitching against good hitters in a clutch situation.
- The Cubs have nothing on the bench. Cry all you want about Rich Aurilia, the cubs pretty much have a handful of Tony Womacks -- no power on the bench whatsoever.