Cubs News: Arrieta to Stephen A. Smith: "No one will undercut my hard work" |
Cubs pitcher
Jake Arrieta was named National Player of the Week after his second career no-hitter last Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds.
However, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith eluded that his remarkable turnaround could be due to performance enhancing steroids on his ESPN show and in a subsequent tweet. "Jake Arrieta shouldn't be laughing about questions surrounding his performance," ESPN's Smith tweeted. Arrieta responded on Twitter to Smith's comments on Wednesday afternoon with the following message. "Laughing is exactly what I will do," Arrieta tweeted. "You continue to do your thing though. No one will undercut my hard work." Smith backed down a little with the following tweet minutes later. "I hear ya Jake Arrieta," Smith tweeted. "It's your life/career. You've earned the right to do what you want. The best to you." I hear ya @JArrieta34. It's your life/career. You've earned the right to do what you want. The best to you. Arrieta became the first Cubs pitcher in history to throw a no-hitter in consecutive seasons and the third Cubs pitcher to throw multiple no-hitters with Larry Corcoran and Ken Holtzman. He is the first Cubs pitcher with wins in his first four starts of the season since Greg Maddux in 2006. Also, he has a franchise record 24-consecutive quality starts dating back to last June and is an amazing 20-1 in those 24 starts. In those last 24 starts, he had a 0.86 ERA, 178.0 IP, 91 Hits, and 0.697 WHIP.
