Padres 5, Cubs 0: Bring on the ball and strike challenge system

This recap of the Cubs’ 5-0 loss to the Padres Monday in San Diego is going to be a bit different than many others you read here.

First, because the Cubs had only four hits — all singles — and the all-righthanded lineup against Blake Snell looked about as impotent as the mostly-lefthanded lineup did Saturday vs. Yu Darvish.

But mainly, this game recap is going to be different because of plate umpire Phil Cuzzi.

CB Bucknor, Laz Diaz and Angel Hernandez are the umpire names we often bring up when talking about, well, umpires who aren’t very good. But Cuzzi has to be added to that group, and not just because of this game — Cuzzi has been a bad umpire for many, many years, as noted in this article…