Brewers 17, Cubs 4: Witness to history, part 2

All you can do is laugh, really. This isn’t the way any of us want to see the Chicago Cubs, but Jed Hoyer & Co. made their choices and this is what we have.

Gallows humor: The good news is that there are only 45 games remaining. The bad news? Uh... there are 45 games remaining.

I don’t even know where to go with this recap. Kyle Hendricks certainly wasn’t the Kyle Hendricks we have known for the last seven years. That’s the most runs he’s allowed in any of the 199 career starts he’s made — by two, his previous high was seven. Yikes.

I guess I’ll start here, since I mentioned history in the headline. This morning I tweeted this:

So now you have witnessed something that had never before happened in 145 years of Chicago Cubs history — an entire seven-game losing homestand, during which the Cubs got outscored 58-18. Yikes, again. That’s essentially losing seven straight games all by 8-2 scores. (Yes, I know the Cubs have lost eight in a row overall.)

So there’s that. There’s also the five extra-base hits by Luis Urias of the Brewers, three doubles and two home runs. Remember when Kris Bryant had five XBH vs. the Reds in 2016 (three HR, two doubles)? That’s what good teams do to bad ones.

Overall Cubs pitchers allowed 22 hits, 11 for extra bases, and the most entertaining pitcher was Andrew Romine, infielder, who got to throw the ninth inning to his brother Austin, who was just activated off the injured list for this game.

Here, that was fun, watch a bit of it. [VIDEO]

He allowed a run, but also threw a couple of 80 mile per hour fastballs and a couple of other pitches that the Wrigley pitch speed meter said were “knuckleballs” and no, I don’t think so.

More on the Romines:

So that was entertaining, anyway.

Ryan Meisinger made his Cubs debut and he’d probably like to forget it, with a home run and four runs allowed.

Here, let me show you a couple of home runs the Cubs hit when they were down 16-1.

Frank Schwindel with one out in the seventh [VIDEO].

Patrick Wisdom, back-to-back with Schwindel [VIDEO].

Honestly, I don’t have anything more to say about this game, except this: In the ninth inning, Schwindel doubled with one out. One out later, Ian Happ singled to left and Schwindel should have scored easily — except Christian Yelich threw home. Really? Seriously? You’re throwing to the plate to protect a 14-run lead? C’mon, Craig Counsell. Schwindel later scored anyway on a throwing error, serves ‘em right.

Lastly, I’ll have more to say about the release of Jake Arrieta tomorrow, as I know that’s of interest to folks here.

This tweet sums up where the Chicago Cubs are as of this date:

As was noted in some of the replies to this tweet, Jon Heyman should have just said “Cubs,” because that’s what this is about. As I noted earlier, this is the choice Cubs management made, and for now, we shall have to live with it. I’ll have more on that and the future of this team tomorrow.

The Cubs, such as they are, are heading to Miami to play a team that’s been just about as decimated by trades as they are. Perhaps that will provide more competitive baseball. Adbert Alzolay will start for the Cubs and Jesus Luzardo is the scheduled starter for the Marlins. Game time Friday is 6:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.