Even though the Iowa Cubs have been playing for almost a week now, today seemed more like opening night than last Friday night did. A large part of that is that the Cubs had three of their four affiliates playing as Tennessee and Myrtle Beach joined the fray. It was pretty exciting to sit down after my walk and just watch some minor league baseball to see who stood out. 

This year‘s daily post is going to be a little bit different than last year. 

In 2022, we had the Players of the Day, which had a fairly strict regimen of a Hitter of the Day, a Starting Pitcher of the Day, and a Reliever of the Day. It was kind of limiting. So this year, we’re going to just have awards each day and they could vary from one day to the next. There may be some of the aforementioned awards from last year, but more than likely we’re just going to let the actions on the field dictate the awards from web gems to home runs to sword pitches to quirky stats to pictures, video, dingers, and maybe even an occasional tweets.  

Enjoy along with us.

Game Scores

Iowa 12, St. Paul 11

Tennessee 1, Birmingham 6

Myrtle Beach 2, Charleston 6

While Iowa came from 3 back in the top of the ninth to win, the other two clubs struggled to put the ball in the play. Myrtle Beach only managed 6 hits while the Smokies got just 3 hits while committing 3 errors. All the offense today came from Iowa as they hammered out 15 hits including 3 apiece from Christopher Morel and Brennen Davis. As for AA debuts at Tennessee, PCA went 2-for-4 with a walk while Owen Caissie went 1-for-4 with 3 Ks. BJ Murray, on the other hand, walked 3 times this evening.

Tweet of the Day

Best wishes to Smokies announcer Mick Gillispie who underwent emergency surgery. Get well soon, Mick!

Hitters of the Day – Getting Ready for Chicago

Christopher Morel and Nelson Velazquez do not seem to be struggling at all in Triple-A. The duo went a combined 5-for-10 with 4 RBI. Morel is hitting .412 with a 1.348 OPS after 4 games while Velazquez is ripping along at .444 with a 1.389 OPS. Wow! Add in Brennen Davis and the trio were today’s Hitters of the Day.

Relievers of the Day

When it comes to pitching, Jeremiah Estrada and Manny Rodriguez were both shutdown guys today. Jeremiah went 1.2 scoreless with 1 K while Manny got the save with a clean 9th and he struck out two. Estrada has yet to allow any damage in two outings.

Dinger of the Day

A grand slam is always the dinger of the day….unless there’s a walk off. But not today.

Curve/Sword of the Day

This goes out to Marino Santy and his curve/slurve/slider. Whatever it is, it is just nasty. He’s not long for low A with that pitch.

Good to See Hit of the Day

Breaking the Narrative Play of the Day

Moises Ballesteros guns down a runner in the 4th tonight.

Slider Content of the Day

This is a Slider stan web site.

Hot Take of the Day

This might be my favorite new daily piece.

It goes out tonight to some of the relievers the Cubs signed this past winter. If they are going to stick with the club, they’re going to need to pitch a lot better than they have in the first four games at Iowa. Jeremiah Estrada leapfrogged to the front of the line to get to Chicago after just two outings with another six or seven guys who are possibly ready for Iowa just waiting in Tennessee to get to Des Moines. Things could be happening quickly if the ship isn’t righted.

I will be in Davenport tomorrow night for South Bend’s opening game and I will have a slideshow for you Saturday morning.