CHICAGO -- Each start was remarkably similar. That smooth, efficient motion. The devastating array of pitches. The easy cool that quickly spreads to his teammates, who are so confident when he takes the mound. A year after a disappointing departure from Baltimore, Jake Arrieta is thriving in Chicago. The 6-foot-4 right-hander is unbeaten in his last eight starts after beginning the season on the disabled list due to shoulder tightness, providing a glimmer of hope as the lowly Cubs stumbled to last place in the NL Central at the All-Star break. "Jake knows it now, hes our new horse and thats what we want," first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. "We want him to be that ace and just keep getting all the confidence in the world because hes pitching very confident right now and its been fun to watch." Arrietas undefeated stretch began with one of his shortest outings of the season, when he lasted just 4 2-3 innings on June 3 against the New York Mets. He gave up seven hits and walked three, but he allowed just one first-inning run in Chicagos 2-1 victory. Then he really put on a show. Arrieta pitched six shutout innings against Miami, and seven more against Philadelphia. He retired his first 18 batters in a victory over Cincinnati. He was so good against the Red Sox that the fans at Fenway Park saluted him with a loud ovation when he departed after Bostons first hit with two out in the eighth. Heading into Sundays start at Arizona, Arrieta is 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA and a .160 opponents batting average during his impressive six-week run. "Hes got a good slider and hes got a very deceptive way that he comes at you," Reds All-Star catcher Devin Mesoraco said. "Its really cross-bodied and its almost like hes throwing from behind you, so its a heck of an angle to try to hit the ball from, especially for a right-hander." Arrietas repertoire includes a fastball that sits in the low 90s, a big curveball and a circle changeup that he mixes in to prevent hitters from sitting on his fastball. But its that slider and his ability to use it as a cut fastball that has been particularly effective. "Its a cutter and a slider depending on what I want it to be," he said, before running through how he uses it in different situations. "Its one pitch, but I can throw it multiple different ways at different velocities." Arrieta was selected by the Orioles in the fifth round of the 2007 draft out of TCU. He made his major league debut three years later at age 24, and won 10 games the following season. He drew Baltimores opening-day start in 2012, and threw seven scoreless innings in a victory over Minnesota on the 20th anniversary of the opening of Camden Yards. It looked as if he could be a key contributor for the Orioles for years to come, but that was really the beginning of the end when it came to his time in Baltimore. Arrieta shuffled back and forth between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore before he was traded to Chicago last July. The contending Orioles also sent reliever Pedro Strop to the Cubs in return for pitcher Scott Feldman and catcher Steve Clevenger. "I was bombarded by information from 50 different sources, which is never beneficial to anybody, I dont care who you are," Arrieta said, reflecting on his departure from the Orioles. "You got four or five different sports psychologists trying to reach out to you, you got seven different coaches trying to implement some input, you know that never works. It just kind of made things go in the opposite direction." Arrieta credits the change of scenery and his experience in developing a successful routine as two big reasons for his recent success. He also has a solid relationship with pitching coach Chris Bosio, who has become quite the asset for the Cubs when it comes to turning around cheap reclamation projects. Next up for Arrieta is just building on his solid first part of the season. Chicago traded Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to Oakland on July, making Arrietas starts even more important for the Cubs for the rest of the year. They believe he is up to the challenge of anchoring the staff. "I think when he goes out there on the hill, hes got a calmness about him," manager Rick Renteria said. "Hes got some poise and hopefully this is now a turning point, it continues to be a turning point for him in his career and he continues to move forward and hes able to take advantage of that great stuff hes got." Pharrell x adidas NMD Human Race Black . Vonn had another scary moment at Saturdays World Cup downhill in Val dIsere, ending up clutching her knee in pain after losing her balance and missing a gate. 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Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was also taken to three sets but emerged with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke of Germany, while second-seeded David Ferrer joined Murray in making an early exit after a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Daniel Brands of Germany.MONACO, Monaco - Defending world rally champion Sebastien Ogier of France began his title defence with a victory at the season-opening Monte Carlo rally Sunday, finishing ahead of Finlands Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen of Norway as Volkswagen swept the podium places.Ogier led Latvala by 42.8 seconds overnight and increased his lead after Sundays three stages to finish 58 seconds ahead of Latvala and more than two minutes clear of Mikkelsen.Winning Monte Carlo means a lot for every driver, but especially for me, Ogier said after clinching it for the third time. This event had the best atmosphere I have experienced on a rally. When I drove the stage close to my home village, the atmosphere was magical.The 31-year-old Ogier was only interested in protecting his lead and drove cautiously, failing to win a stage Saturday or Sunday.The important thing is to try to win the rally, not todays stages, he said. Its the most important rally of the season. The weather makes it a huge challenge but the satisfaction is great when you make it.Citroen driver Mads Ostberg of Norway finished fourth.ddddddddddddRetired nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb of France — driving as a guest at the race — won Sundays penultimate stage and finished eighth overall.Britains Kris Meeke won Sundays opener — a short 10-kilometre (6-mile) trek — with Ogier finishing sixth and gaining a further five seconds on Latvala, who was ninth.Ogier again placed fifth on the next special — stage 14 from La Bollene Vesubie to Sospel — and finished more than 10 seconds clear of Latvala.Stage 14 featured the races famed hairpin ascent up Col de Turini, and Polish driver Robert Kubica, the winner of four stages, had to pull out as he went off the road at the finish.Latvala also had problems negotiating Turinis flying finish.The brakes are horrible, he said. I had no bite on them and it was very, very scary to drive.Loeb, a seven-time winner at Monaco, won the stage ahead of Ostberg.Meeke clinched stage 15 — a special power stage — to take maximum bonus points, with Loeb taking two bonus points for second spot and Latvala taking one for third.The next event is at Rally Sweden next month. ' ' '
