John Lackey's First Pitch In A Cubs Uniform Was A Home Run
If you came here thinking that this was going to be a blog shitting on John Lackey, you are going to be incredibly disappointed.
I don’t want to hear any Cubs fan curse-believers telling me that this is a bad omen. Sure, it was more than just the first pitch. Lackey gave up six earned runs on eight hits, but he still grinded it out for six innings and got the win, thanks to the Cubs hanging 14 runs on the Dbacks, six of which were driven in by Anthony Rizzo alone. It should also be noted that he’s a notoriously slow starter. Over the course of his 13-year major league career, April has always been his worst month by a large margin (4.70 ERA), and then his ERA drops a full run in May (3.82), drops even more in June (3.68), and again in July (3.36). He gets stronger as the year goes on, so be patient.
And while Cubs fans might not be familiar with Lackey’s career trends just yet, they’re definitely familiar with what he’s capable of on the mound. In last year’s National League Division Series, Lackey tossed 7.1 innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits while striking out five. He’s the last of a dying breed. He’s a bulldog on the mound — the type of guy that you have to rip the ball out of his hands in a big game.
The Cubs won 97 games last year, and bested the Cardinals in four games before being swept out of the postseason by the Mets. If the Cubs are to get back to that stage this year, Lackey is a difference maker. After Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester, Chicago had a pair of pretty good starters in Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel, but Lackey brings that extra element of postseason experience, that passion and fire that rubs off on his teammates, and that air of confidence that makes his teammates and the fans want to follow him to the gates of hell.
