It was so nice to be back at Wrigley Field. Just
nice. Watching the game in person, involuntarily jolting and screaming when something happens, striking up random conversations with the people around you in the bleachers … it all just felt so nice. Not really another way to describe it. I’m sure it helped that the Cubs won, but there was just a lot of positivity out there in the bleachers, a welcomed thing after generally feeling so isolated – especially from large groups of people – for so long.
• How about Ryan Tepera yesterday? Even from the center field bleachers I could tell he was nasty as heck because the Nationals’ batters looked completely helpless. Out of his 11 pitches, just 2 were balls, just 1 was a foul, and all the rest were either swinging strikes or called strikes. Tough to dominate much more than that. The cutter is still his pitch, but he threw two changeups that just had guys mystified. He only rarely busts that one out, but it was interesting. Over the last month, he’s allowed runs in an appearance just twice, his ERA is 1.32, and his K/BB numbers are just nuts (32.0% and 2.0%, respectively). Tepera is pitching as well as anyone in the bullpen right now, and that’s saying a lot! That’s why he gets MVP votes.