Rough night for Cubs’ Jackson
MILWAUKEE — Among the most hotly debated stats is baseball is wins by a pitcher.
The Cubs provide a good case in point. Lefty Travis Wood has pitched well almost all year, but has only 9 wins to show for it. On the other hand, right-hander Edwin Jackson has been lackluster but has 8 wins.
It was more of the same Monday night at Miller Park, as Jackson lasted just 4 innings in the Cubs’ 6-1 loss to the Brewers.
Jackson threw 76 pitches in giving up 4 hits and 2 runs as he suffered his National League-leading 16th loss. He and manager Dale Sveum looked to have serious words between them in the dugout after Jackson came out of the game.
“He wasn’t real happy being taken out of the game, and I understand that,” Sveum said. “That’s my decision, and leave it at that.”
Jackson said things were fine between him and the manager.
“I don’t have a problem with him, and I’m sure he doesn’t have a problem with me,” Jackson said. “It’s something that happened, but it’s not really a big deal.
“It might be made more of a big deal than it really is. It might be blown out of proportion more than it really is. But I don’t have a problem with anybody on the staff. It’s competitive nature. You see it all the time in football.”
As far as the wins stat goes, Sveum agreed it can be misleading.
“It’s a stat that’s kind of a strange one, really. You can go year to year and why a guy can have a 5.00 earned run average, on a lot of teams, and you look up and he’s got 12-15 wins. And you got the Kershaws and the Travis Woods who can’t seem to buy a win, and Kershaw’s got like a 1.90, and Woody’s is almost under a 3.00. They just can’t seem to get any wins.”
Rizzo nominated:First baseman Anthony Rizzo is the Cubs#146; nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to a player #147;who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.#148;Last year, Rizzo started the nonprofit Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation to raise money for cancer research and provide support to children and their families battling the disease. Rizzo is a cancer survivor.