Samardzija Update and Cubs/Cardinals

I won’t brag about every Jeff Samardzija accomplishment on Ivy Envy.  Let’s be clear, my man-crush is on Matt Murton.  But I have never owned any Cubs shirt/jersey with a name on the back and when Jeff Samardzija makes it to the Cubs and is issued a number, I will own one.  I almost feel like I should apologize to Ryne Sandberg for saying that. 

Jeff Samardzija took the hill in Oklahoma City against the Rangers Triple A Affiliate.  Samardzija earned a win, going over 6 innings, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits.  He walked 3 and struck out 6.  He is now 2-1 with a 3.93 ERA with Iowa.  Samardzija was gifted with a lot of offense as the Iowa Cubs put up 11 runs on 19 hits.  Oklahoma also had 3 errors in the game.  A few names of interest had great days at the plate.  Felix Pie went 4-5 with 1 RBI and Micah Hoffpauir went 3-4 with a HR, Double and 4 RBI’s.  A sidenote, Hoffpauir is hitting .339 in Iowa.

What a great weekend for baseball.  I was relieved to see the Cubs take one in St. Louis after a long night of travel.  It was great to see (well, hear…I was with Andy at the fireworks) Zambrano come back without missing a step.  It’s also a relief to have Reed Johnson back.  I will also admit that I feel better with having Aramis Ramirez back in the line-up.  There, I said it.

Any series against the Cardinals is important around these parts.  I would say that we live on the northern edge of the Cubs/Cardinals geographic border in Illinois.  I grew up 2 hours south of here and the area was dominated by Cardinals fans.  I think there are far more Cubs fans in this area, though I work with a surprising number of Cardinals fans.  So though we are north, and much closer to Chicago, there are some that follow the birds and the bats.  Now that I think about it, most of the Cardinals fans I know in this area live in Iowa, so that explains it.  They’re a different kind of there.

I know every game is just as important/insignificant as another, but when you are playing the team right next to you in the standings, I would think it would have to be a confidence and momentum builder to take a series from them.  Especially when you go into their brand new shiny house.

Go Cubs!