Both of those plays by Baez were plays that not in one hundred second basemen could accomplish, except perhaps in a one-in-a-lifetime feat. The amazing thing about Baez is that he does it on a fairly regular basis.
Same game.
At least he's not walking and jamming up the bases.
"Clogging" That's right. I knew "jamming" didn't look right. I should have checked with you since you're so much older and smarter.
Talk about a mixed compliment. You can not set the bar higher than older than you, and can not set the bar lower than smarter than you.Crap. He figured it out. Pretty good for a senile old goat.
Obviously it's early and doesn't mean anything. But I imagine throwing strikes and getting outs can't be bad psychology for Wilson and Edwards.
Lester ... still has yips: knocked down a hard-hit ball, and tried to throw fairly decisively to first, but spiked it maybe half of the distance from the mound to first for an error. ...
Almora is hitless thus far in camp. It would be pretty cool to have a good young switch-hitting leadoff man with power who plays center.
Heyward seems to be even worse. Guy is going to be an expensive fourth outfielder.
Who's the third?
Unless Zobrist rebounds more than he probably will, it's hard to imagine Heyward won't get most of the starts against RHP. Even if Happ and Schwarber are basically everyday players, I doubt Almora starts ahead of Heyward against a lot of righties.
Heyward is going .280/350/420 or thereabouts this year. You heard it here first.
I sure hope you are right. I like him a lot and would love it if he could get his stroke back.
Maples 3K, 11 pitches.
That burly lefty Baldonado had some nasty stuff in the 9th.
That burly lefty Baldonado had some nasty stuff in the 9th.
What would make anyone think that Heyward would have more success against the very best RHP’s?
Javy always seems to react dramatically to injuries that don't amount to anything. Not saying he's hamming it up or anything--just that many times I've seen him down and thought "Oh, ****, he's really hurt" only to see him pop back up and keep playing.
Don't think the weight loss has hurt his power...
https://twitter.com/kg_holler/status/972214794039320576
Bote could be useful.His swing reminds me of Glen Allen Hill
He does take a healthy cut.
A lot of the damage has been done by the minor leaguers.
Hendricks has thrown 29 pitches, 28 for strikes so far.
Hendricks is awesome. I fully expect him to be the cubs best pitcher this year.
Two things...
1) Colorado’s infield defense is terrible? Really? In what bizarro world?
2) Chatwood reminds me quite a bit of Matt Clement. I was a big Clement fan.
5-1-0-0-2-9 for Chatwood.
Have any other Cub pitchers gone 5 innings this spring?Jon Lester went five scoreless innings against the Angels last Friday.
Jon Lester went five scoreless innings against the Angels last Friday.
.400/.490/.825 in 49 plate appearances for Kyle Schwarber this spring through his first 2 PA today.
I am beginning to be optimistic about how Kyle Schwarber is going to do this season (at least at the plate).
Schwarber has been looking really, really good.
Agreed...Baez should never hit 8th...
Hard not to be crazy optimistic about Schwarber this season. It's just spring, though.
Darvish's stuff is ridiculously good. It sounds funny to say about a guy who's almost won a couple of Cy Youngs, but he's barely scratched the surface of what he could become. And so far this spring he looks unhittable.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Schwarber, Almora and Happ are playing in the OF most of the time by May.
I have that on pretty good authority!! A very short leash for Zo and JHey this year.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Schwarber, Almora and Happ are playing in the OF most of the time by May.
chgoj, always appreciate any information you’re able to provide from your source.
How was Lester's velocity?
I hope Montgomery pitching the 9th with a four run lead is the start of a trend of not treating such games like a key postseason game.
WAY TOO EARLY ANALYSIS: Jon Lester averaged 90.2 mph with his fastball. Was at 91.7 last year, and that was down from the previous year.
Ill take him over Hendricks any day of the week.
I know nothing, but my guess is the temp correlation is correlation, but not with a cause-effect relationship. May be wrong; certainly it would seem easier to get really loose when it's warm, and perhaps there is some finesse in the velocity-measuring technology that is impacted by temperature? Beats me.In the WS, pitchers were complaining the ball were slippery. During the season, wouldn't slipperiness, height of seams, humidifered balls, rain wet balls, etc. all effect velocity during the year?
But I'd kinda guess in early spring guys are kinda building themselves up; and that by late season everybody is dinged and tired and sore, and some having less adrenalin and urgency to go all-out if their team is kinda grinding out the season?
Beats me. The good news, I guess, is that Lester was faster yesterday than he'd been in any of his outings in Mesa.
Q on Schwarber's defense: he misjudged and overran the single, running past it so that it could go for a triple or whatever.
But on the other triple, where he klutzed into the wall: would a decent left fielder or a guy positioned correctly have had a chance to catch it? Or did his clumsiness on that one really make no difference? Or at most only klutzed a double into a triple, rather than actually costing an out?
But on the other triple, where he klutzed into the wall: would a decent left fielder or a guy positioned correctly have had a chance to catch it? Or did his clumsiness on that one really make no difference? Or at most only klutzed a double into a triple, rather than actually costing an out?
Curt, Gordon is a five time Gold Glove award winner.Yes, that was my point. At first, he was horrible. He made himself a Gold Glove.
The box isn't even close.Len just said they are having some calibration issues with PitchTrax and will have it back up soon.
Baez makes outstanding tags so often that they are starting to go without remark by fans.
Bases were loaded so once the other runners went Caratini almost had to go home or the other runner had to go back after the force out at first.
Wonder who hits now to led off the inning. Butler hits for himself. I can't imagine he will go another inning though.
Cubs lose. Well deserved.
Cubs lead the majors in K’s with 30, but they are 9th in the majors in K%.
Contreras does his thing! Throws out Brian Anderson running on a 3-2-pitch strikeout to end the 4th. 2-2 after 4. Darvish is at 74 pitches through 4, I just checked in at 4th inning, and he's gone to 3-2 on all the hitters this inning.
Yarvish sucksDeeg takes all responsibility.
Zo with the go-ahead hit in the top of the 10th, and Monty in to close it out...what are the odds that this would actually work?Did they play in Springfield today, Dave?
Nice game for the offense to win, and another excellent night for the relievers, Cishek stranding a couple of guys he inherited from Darvish.When we get beat by a dominant pitcher or because the other team is hitting the bejesus out of the ball, I can handle that. But this squandering scoring opportunities will drive me nuttier.
Did they play in Springfield today, Dave?DH’s on Friday and yesterday...skies got dark around the 7th inning of game 2, but no rain...
Five walks to Castro in this series.
Schwarber grounds out on 3-2.From your fingers to God's ears.
Game should be 5 zip.
What happened to the team in 2015 that constantly put pressure on pitchers? It's like these guys all went to the Dave Kingman school of offense 2 winters ago.
I didn't think the Cubs had room to regress in putting the ball in play and avoiding the K. Obviously, I was wrong.
A 1-hitter through 6 for Mahle.
This is looking a lot like last season so far.
Bring the DH to the NL, please.
This is looking a lot like last season so far.
Looks like a good chance for rain in Cincinnati tonight. I'll take a rainout.Heavy thunderstorms are moving through the area now. It's highly unlikely that the game will start on time.
We're having severe thunderstorm warnings in Nashville tonight too.Nobody gives a rip about you, JR. Go stand outside with a long steel rod.
Cubs star Anthony Rizzo is hitting .130 this season, and the rest of his team isn't doing much better. Chicago has been shut out in its last two games, and managed only one run in a 17-inning loss to Miami over the weekend. Kris Bryant and the Cubs will try to break out the bats in Cincinnati when they face 24-year-old Cody Reed, who's 1-8 in his big league career.
Who does Ben Zobrist think he is?
That's not the first time Ive heard things about Zobrist that werent ideal.
When the World Series trophy was here the Smokies gm said they asked Ben to show up and he said he'd only do it for 100,000 dollars.
Did Lester have better velocity tonight, or just locating better with similar velocity?
I thought Lester's velocity was better. I saw him several times at 91. He looked really good, but it was with extra days off.
Caratini broken bat flare. 2-0.
That was just lucky.
Pulling Hader for Jeffress with Baez up and Russell on second with two outs. That seems like a good development for the Cubs.
Small sample sizes of course but coming into the game the Cubs were at 13% getting a runner home from 3rd with less than 2 outs. Easily last in the league. Next to last? Several teams at 33%.
ROFL. Reading this board after the fact is truly hilarious. Anyone would guess the Cubs were 0-8 and a team in disarray.Kind of like hindsight is always 20/20. If you know the Cubs won then the comments look ridiculous, loving it is a whole different proposition.
Every game is the same, win or lose. It's as if posters are watching the Hindenburg disaster.
I knew Heyward could contribute!****MARKING THE POSITIVE COMMENT!****
****MARKING THE POSITIVE COMMENT!****
What have the Cubs done with runners on third and less than two out so far this year? They have to be among the worst in the lead in that situation.
Is Morrow warming? Are they going to go to him two days in a row?
Nice one, Dave! That was really good, I've near heard or read that before. :)
Living in Chicago is stupid. I need to make a change.Moving to Milwaukee?
Lester looks something akin to shot.
Luckily, he has a potent offense to dig him out of trouble...
Truth
Thank god for the bunt single and hit batter.
What happens if a team exceeds their mound visits?
Cubs used up all their hitting last night I guess. Happ and Schwarber with 2 hits each...and no one else has done anything.
Cervelli does it again, 6-1. I guess Cervelli is just one of those guys the Cubs don't scout.
Francisco Cervelli - C - Pirates
Francisco Cervelli had a three-run homer and a triple Thursday against the Cubs.
Cervelli, who was once suspended for steroids, has had his power stroke working of late; he's clubbed six homers in 77 at-bats since the beginning of the spring. That's as many as he had in 581 regular-season at-bats between 2016 and 2017.
2 out single for Atl. Game over.That's the spirit!
Ozzie Albies.... seems to know what he's doing at the plate.
The offense is the biggest problem.Our pitchers go to the mound knowing they have to be nigh perfect because the offense struggles to sustain a rally. Blowouts or shutouts is all we muster.
Rizzo's back may be a chronic problem.
Light rain, 37°, winds in from center at 30 mphAlmora is better
A day off might be what the Cubs need.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dav__2WVQAANsdH.jpg:small)
I don't think it's going to matter who pitches today. This is just going to be something like a 15-13 game that is just a coin flip.nice call
Woooooowwww. Javy ties it with a bases-loaded double! This team!
And those few dozen people who stuck it out to watch this are going to have a great story when they get home!
Bob Nightengale @BNightengaleSunday afternoon won't be much better.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon says that was the worst weather conditions he has ever been part of In a baseball game calling it ‘horrific.’ ‘We never should have played the game.” And this is from the winning manager after crazy 14-10 victory over #Braves
Game postponed, will be made up on May 14.The Cubs and Braves start a three game series in Atlanta the next day.
Game postponed, will be made up on May 14.
What does tomorrow look like?
Game time temp around 35 degrees, with 35% chance of snow showers.
Average high temp this time of year is around 55 degrees or more. But in the Midwest, spring has decided to take this year off.
With no ballgame this afternoon, I thought I'd watch the golf from Hilton Head. Because of incoming bad weather they teed off early in threesomes on both nines and the tourney is already over.
So basically no home games for the Cubs until May?A Dome for Wrigley!
If there were no games with a wind chill below 55, my son's team would never play a game. They never play a game without a steady wind.Your son went North. Give CJ a compass.
I imagine that goes for many other teams across the Midwest as well.
I'm in Minnesota, it's sunny and nice today, we'll be sending some nice spring weather to Chicago very shortly.Our first baseball game in Sheboygan was against Christian, but we played almost all our games in Howards Grove to get away from the lake. We finally switched to summer league play and Christian and Lutheran did a coop team on a new field at Lutheran. They played nearly 20 summers and now Wisconsin is ending summer ball. For many schools that means no more baseball, because, like you say, it's just too miserable in spring unless you're at least 50 miles from the lake.
Don't remember many >55º days during my high school spring season in Wisconsin; and if two no-dome northern teams made the World Series, might be cancelling more games than you'd play.... :)
Your son went North. Give CJ a compass....and wants to go further north...killing me...
Oof, we had some cold weather games when I was a kid down here in Louisiana, too. There were some games when it almost got down in the 50's. That was long sleeve shirt weather.Growing up in California, we started play in February, some players joined the team in March after basketball was done. I remember one year we had a rain out. We had a 60 game schedule including a couple of Saturday double headers. That was 3 or 4 games a week for 18 weeks. Feb 1 through June 10. No games during Easter break. If you ever wonder why so many pro players come from California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida...that's why.
I'm in Minnesota, it's sunny and nice today, we'll be sending some nice spring weather to Chicago very shortly.
Don't remember many >55º days during my high school spring season in Wisconsin; and if two no-dome northern teams made the World Series, might be cancelling more games than you'd play.... :)
Monday's game between the Royals and Blue Jays has been postponed due to safety concerns after the roof at Rogers Centre was damaged from ice that fell off CN Tower.
There have been so many weather-related postponements lately that we might as well add a game being played in a dome to the list. The game will be made up as part of a traditional doubleheader on Tuesday. Scheduled starters Eric Skoglund and Jaime Garcia will be pushed back a day.
Willson seems to be better at framing this year.
Cubs 28th w/ RISP coming in at .193, ahead of only tanking White Sox and awful Giants.
Sure, meaningless.
Heyward continues to get worse, meanwhile.
Wonder if Dusty will wants Holland on the Cubs.
The only link above that has anything to do with team success is the first, and that lists about 8 teams that ended up with good records despite poor RISP stats, an incomplete list that doesn't mention other factors.
They really should've addressed this really dysfunctional offense in the offseason.
The 4th link actually address what stats are predictive of teams winning
1.) The 2016 Cubs ranked what in average with RISP?
2.) The 2016 Cubs ranked what in OPS with RISP?
3.) The 2016 Cubs ranked what in runs with RISP?
Please provide 1 link on why it matters, is a skill, or is predictive of anything.
Cubs rank 11th in runs scored despite playing less games than teams ahead of them
....
One part of this team sucks so far. It isn't the offense or bullpen.
Cubs have 7 starters hitting .235 or less. Hard to get hits with RISP when you don't hit the ball hard very often.
But, funny thing is, with their .238 team average, the Cubs are 11th in mlb in team batting average; 18th in HR; 10th in OPS; 9th in OBP; and 12th in runs. Granted, seems half of the composite offense came in the Pirates and Braves games. Hard to believe the daily futility on offense is a top-half offense....
Try breaking the offense down by team wins and losses. I think you'll see a discrepancy. And let's be real. Many of the Cubs runs in two of their games were very fortunate or outright gifts (Atlanta, Milwaukee).
1.) Small sample size
How anyone can argue that an offense isn't better when a team hits well with runners on and in scoring position is a mystery to me. Can a team occasionally win if they're awful w/ RISP? Of course, if that team has incredible pitching, really bad divisional competition, or some combination thereof.
This is where we disagree. It's not a small sample size...including the playoffs last year, we're at almost 200 games with this set of position players. They've been frustratingly inconsistent. You can point to the total runs scored...sure, the Cubs have done well there. But it's mostly because they dominated when they had the weakest schedule in baseball after the All Star break last year.
Double-headers only - Start the season in May - end in August
So we just need the offense to 6 runs a game every game to be in second place or 7 runs to be in first place. Yep, all the offenses fault.
Try breaking the offense down by team wins and losses. I think you'll see a discrepancy. And let's be real. Many of the Cubs runs in two of their games were very fortunate or outright gifts (Atlanta, Milwaukee).
This was in response to me saying the starting pitching is the problem. I looked at the games, the offense would have to be record setting to affect the outcome of the season so far. If you want to **** about something **** about the problem.
The bullpen has been excellent so far. If you can’t see that then you have unrealistic expectations.
Cardinals 0-1 with RISP, but still lead 1-0.
Baez with 13 hits so far and only 2 singles. He has a totally sustainable .462 ISO this year.Totally...
Totally...
It's much more quiet in here when the Cubs are winning...strange...
LOL, wth is DeJong looking for there?He was looking for ball 4.
Obviously something away, I guess...
I'm surprised no one seems to have commented on Lester's outing. Was he as good as his line (6,2,1,0,1,7) indicated? Is that the best start the Cubs have gotten from anyone so far this season?
I'm surprised no one seems to have commented on Lester's outing. Was he as good as his line (6,2,1,0,1,7) indicated? Is that the best start the Cubs have gotten from anyone so far this season?
Yeah, but we've seen streaks like this before. Too soon to get excited that he's found a new level.
Hope the carriage hasn’t simply turned into a pumpkin with Hendricks. The margin of error for soft-toss Guys is always wafer-thin.
This likely isn't the best game to judge Hendricks on.
I'm so confused, the Cubs were 0-3 with RISP but 2 runs scored. Am I supposed to be angry or upset. Especially since the last out didn't score a run, but was smoked by Schwarber.
As long as opponents just keep making three fielding mistakes per inning, RISP hitting really will be meaningless.
Baez is a triple away from the cycle in the best triples park in baseball, and he'll most likely get two more ABs. If he hits one to the wall, he's not stopping until he's on third base.
The Cubs put up 7 runs in an inning in which they go 3-5 w/ RISP and you think that's a case that it doesn't affect the game?
Cubs have seemed to have a lot of opposite-field hits today, and yesterday too, I think? Not sure if that's mis-perception, coincidence, or conscious.
Almora doubles, his 4th hit, also to the opposite field.Hope Happ likes Des Moines.
Hope Happ likes Des Moines.
When the score was 15-4 there was a graphic saying that was the most runs the Cubs have scored against the Rockies since August 10, 2002. That was the Sammy Sosa 3 homer game where Don Baylor pulled him before he had a chance to hit a 4th.I was at that game.
No. I think the Cubs will have spells where they are good with RISP and where they are bad with RISP. Like every other team in baseball. I thinking harping on it is stupid.
I was at that game.I was too.
Almora has good numbers vs RHP going back to the middle of last season. It's not very many plate appearances (perhaps 70), but it bodes very well for the possibility of his claiming the everyday CF job. I think it's premature to send Happ down now, but if Almora keeps this up for another month or so, you have to consider it.
I was too.
Bote ends the inning getting thrown out trying to steal 3rd. Very curious decision to try to steal 3rd.
Weird that Darvish falls apart in the 5th every start
I don't think he's really falling apart in the 5th inning, though. I think he just hasn't been that good, and it catches up to him the third time through the order. He is getting to two strikes consistently early in the game, then he's taking an additional 3-5 pitches to put batters away (and most of the time, they're making contact, not K'ing). By the time batters face him a third time, they're figuring him out.
I'm willing to give Darvish the benefit of the doubt for longer since the weather was terrible last time he pitched, and no one pitches well in Colorado.
Still, it would be nice for him to show some swing-and-miss stuff really soon.
I’ve only seen Darvish in highlight clips this season. But he has 21 Ks in 19+ IP - that doesn’t seem to jibe with “usually they make contact” and “no swing and miss stuff”.
It's only 4 starts, but Darvish has been bad, Deeg.
His lack of control and not putting guys away with two outs have been the big problems that have led to:
- less than 5 IP per start, 5 BB per 9 innings
- WHIP 1.6+ due to 11BB (and 2 hbp)
- FIP 4.98, ERA+ 59
It's very early, but very concerning.
https://twitter.com/NBCSCubs/status/988141725678948352
Bases loaded for Heyward.
Chances for something other than a popup or grounder to 2nd?
Jesse Rogers @ESPNChiCubs
Jason Heyward RBI update: On pace for 119.368
Heyward has actually gotten some big hits so far.
I can think of almost none. His homers came with the team up 6-0 in the 5th and 6-0 in the 9th. He had that 2-run single off Rivera of Pittsburgh down 5 runs in the 8th.
Well, of course you don’t remeber a Cub doing something positive.
Before today’s game, Heyward had a .452 OBP with men on, and a .421 OBP with RISP.
Stupid comment based on nothing.
Feel free to let me know of all the big hits he's had though.
It really tells you how bad Heyward has been when he's hitting .246 with no power or speed and he looks to be in a groove.
Heyward 2018: .262-352-410-762
Heyward career: .262-344-412-756
His 2018 numbers may not be superstar caliber, but expecting much more probably isn’t fair to the player. Love it or hate it this is the guy we signed, and if can stay at this level all season we probably ought to consider that a win.
This sounds like it was a fun little sideshow during yesterday's game . . .
Javier Báez Came Up With A Novel Way To Prevent Sign-Stealing
https://deadspin.com/javier-baez-came-up-with-a-novel-way-to-prevent-sign-st-1825465919
I cannot fathom what legitimate reason there was for the umpire to tell Javy not to do what he was doing. What rule could he have been violating?
I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed Cubs pitchers didn't retaliate over the weekend. Rizzo was hit twice, Baez was pitched up and in multiple times and the Bryant beaning was just egregious. I wonder how the hitters feel about it.
If you hit my stud in the head with a fastball as long as putting that runner on base won't get me beat your stud's getting one too.
I’m no Heyward apologist, but his numbers with runners on/RISP are actually quite good this year.
A sample size of 10.....
We can joke about the RISP, but today we got them and won as a result; yesterday Rockies got them and we didn't, and they won as a result. Today is probably kind of a good example of the randomness;
He's 6-17 w/ 9 RBI. All singles including two infield hits.
It's with any runner on that he's been the best---1.204 OPS.
Happ's 3 hits, and suddenly he's up to .259. A week ago it seemed like there were only two guys above .235; not there's only two below .250.
Also, given the early returns on Baez, Heyward, Schwarber, is it too early to start singing the praises of Chili Davis?
Bryant doing his best hitting work in his short career, Happ seems to have gotten turned around real quick, lots of oppo field hitting, etc.
What tune does it go to?
In modern baseball, it is more difficult and takes more strategic thinking to make a pitching change in the AL than it is in the NL. There is so much data out there now that the decision of whether or not to pinch hit is automatic in all but a few extreme cases. In the AL, the manager is actually on the hook for his decision every day.
Nice bunt by Kipnis, Lindor takes a turn and Rizzo guns a throw to 2B to try to pick him off, nice throw right on the base, had a shot, but Russell is aimlessly hanging out in no-man's land for some reason. Nice insurance run scores.I think they said no one was at 3rd, so Russell was heading that way to keep Lindor at 2nd.
Error on Rizzo, but that seems totally on Russell. Not sure where his head is, but he doesn't seem to be very engaged in playing baseball.
The Cubs must have won big tonight. There were even fewer posts here about tonight's game than there were last night, and we all know lack of posts means the Cubs played well.
I don't understand why Baez doesn't play 3B with LaStella at 2nd. LaStella just doesn't have the arm to play that side.
Shaw flies to the track in left, Cubs win! Probably Morrow's worst outing of the year, but he gets through it.
Hendricks sucks
Hits with RISP are helpful.we didn't have any last night and still won
Wait... I thought Darvish was a "total waste"?Keep sweatin', Deeg. We're still holding you responsible.
Strop dominates the 8th.A bag of batting practice balls for Feldman would have withstood a Commissioner's investigation.
I've said this before, but it deserves repeating every once in a while...people overlook Strop too often when talking about the Arrieta/Feldman trade. If the Cubs had just gotten Strop and some A-ball lottery ticket who never made it to the majors, Strop for Feldman would still be an absolute steal.
Almora reaches on an error to lead off.Some scorers want the first hit to be a clean one and will go back and change an error to a hit once there has been a solid hit. I expect that to happen here.
Lester throwing 87 mph is not a recipe for success.
Umm, Lester has been awesome this game. Blackmon got on due to a total ducksnort. If Baez makes a little league catch it’s still a shutout.
I don't disagree with this move. All the Rockies have left are lefties.
If Rizzo was getting treated for cancer there is no way he could be playing.Probably true. Too bad we can't get a doctor's opinion. :) Then I would go with, he's not feeling good or strong, but fears getting checked out. Hopefully it's none of that.
Schwarber 1 out triple in the 7th. Really need to get this run in--they don't want to go into the 8th down multiple runs with Ottavino and Davis available.
Cubs were hitting .189/.247/.282 as a team over the last 7 games coming into today. They're slightly worse than that now.They can't blamed the weather any more. They'll have to find another excuse.
Rockies hit 2 more homers off Yu. ERA creeping towards six.
Bryant's other stats are decent, but he still struggles with men on.
Bryant has 15 at-bats with RISP the whole year.
The Rockies are playing "elevate and celebrate", and the Cubs are hitting grounders.
Except for Zobrist, who is hitting fly balls to the track with the wind howling out.
I know it's early (particularly where the length of his contract is concerned), but when should we start to be concerned about Darvish (4.18 ERA, 1.42 WHIP)? Looking to Deeg for reassurance. ;)
Cubs will have to break a string of 8 straight scoring 3 or fewer to win this game. Last time they went 9 or more with 3 or less was 2006.
I still think it'll look like a good trade for the Cubs in the end. If the defense makes easy plays in the first two innings, this is still a scoreless game.
Montgomery lifted for Happ. Not sure I'd be so quick with the hook there.Well, maybe he thinks he still has to find the one that sucks, not realizing he was our starter.
Chatwood walked 4 per nine 2 years ago, 4.7 last year and coming into this start was at 6.7. He has always been a little wild, but nothing like this. Can anyone name a pitcher doing better than his career numbers so far other than Edwards? Hickey doesn't seem to have helped anyone yet.
Still waiting for one part of this team that looks good.
I can't wait to have Harper batting in the middle of this lineup next year. Or maybe lead-off like he is now. Next year is going to be the year.
In case anyone thinks it is getting an easier for the Cubs, Jarlin Garcia in 33 innings over 6 starts this year has given up 4 runs. He has given up less than a hit per every two innings and his OPS against is .494. Just what the Cubs needed trying to overcome the hangover of a lost series and late night game. If I could put money on them being no-hit tonight I think it would be a good bet to make.As Steve Stone used to say, the effects of a game like Sunday night are felt, not the next day, but the following day. I agree.
Groin tightness for Javi
[/quoteUgh.Whenever I think about Molina's surgery, my groin gets tight too.
Not bad for a bullpen day.
Bryant hit his 100th HR on the 3 year anniversary of his first
His base running is so much better than it was on this day three years ago too.
I thought it was his defense.....
Just tuned in. Cubs leading 7-0, they have sent 8 men up and collectively hit for the cycle in the current inning.
Name 4 players who won league MVP as a Cub and later went on to manage in the big leaguesIt was amazing that Len took so long to name the last one.
Strike 3 to Hancock was nowhere close. Awful.
It was also a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded...robbed him of an RBI.
Contreras doubles in a run to RF. Think he's about to go on a run as well.
Chatwood with 5 more walks today in 4 1/3 IP. It's amazing that he has somehow kept other teams from scoring much.
No it isn't.
This just in: Javier Baez is fun to watch.
Yes, but what shoes will Ben wear today?Pink ones
Also, listening to Chip Caray is brutal. I don't know how we didn't all quit the Cubs when we had to listen to him on a daily basis for several years in a row.The MLB Network is using the WGN telecast with Len and JD. Is it blacked out for you?
The play at first Rizzo slid of the bag on a glove toss from Quintana. It was a bang bang play.
Bryant made an aggressive play on a bunt and the runner was safe at second. Of all the plays that didn’t bother me.
Baez booted a double play ball and got an out at second. That seemed to be the only play that was sloppy to me.
I didn’t get the sense that Freeman’s line drive was ever in danger of not getting caught.
Rizzo had the ball a step or two before the runner got there--the ball clearly beat the runner by plenty. Rizzo just missed stepping on the bag. That's sloppy. (Rizzo was charged with an error)
Baez had to reach far to his left and jump off second base to keep Bryant's throw from going into right center field. Bryant's throw was sloppy.
Baez's booted double play ball was sloppy.
You're right, Freeman's ball wasn't in danger of being not caught, but Almora initially went back too far by a couple of steps. I'm being picky on this one...it's something that I wouldn't have noticed if not for the other three sloppy plays in the inning.
#ratherhaveEloy
#metoo#udontcount
Holding you personally responsible, Ron.
All this talent and yet the Braves are a better team.
Braves are very talented team. I'll put Albies, Acuna, Freeman up against anyone's 1,2,3.
Cubs are 5-7 over their last 12 despite outscoring their opponents 72-56 in that span.
That's a 162-game pace for +216 runs and 94 losses.
From what I saw, Quintana seemed like he was throwing plenty of curves as well as his 90-91 4-seamer. But can't control the count throwing curves all the time.
Doesn't look like he's got much to work with. A chase curve is better when you've got something else you can throw for strikes and challenge guys with. But his 90-91 4-seam fastball doesn't seem to have much life. Looks kind of understandably scared to throw that fastball for strikes. If guys aren't chasing, what can he do?
Yeah, that's a likely result.
Several people over the past few weeks have said that the Cubs are very sloppy, sloppier than we've come to expect. Can anyone offer an opinion as to why? Sloppy fundamental practice? Nonchalance? Poor coaching? (Who is our infield coach?) Too loose a clubhouse? Too tense a clubhouse? Weather? Alignment of the stars?still waiting for opinions
What act is that and what sort of behavior do you think the faction in question would prefer?
What act is that and what sort of behavior do you think the faction in question would prefer?
craig - it was his fastball the Braves were pounding.
Is there somewhere we can find exactly how often he did throw his various pitches. Watching at the ballpark, using the scoreboard, he seemed to be throwing almost exclusively fastballs. On the few occasions I noticed him throw his curve or change up, they were balls.
I've said it before, but I don't think it's completely beyond the realm of possibility that Joe's act has lost its charm with a faction in the clubhouse.
Ron, in front of the 3-run homer, there seemed to be on TV a nice double-play ball hit on the 2B-side of shortstop. By Flowers, maybe? Just seemed like a ball that watching on TV, on contact it seemed like "DP! DP! DP!", but instead Baez didn't seem to get within 8 feet of the ball. It was significantly on the 3B-side of 2nd, so Baez must have really been positioned way towards 3B, and/or also got a terrible read and terrible jump on the ball. Just seemed weird that not only did the ball get through, but Baez wasn't even close. Just a reminder that if Baez had been positioned differently, or if hitter had pulled it just a little bit more, you get the DP and there are two less baserunners for the 3-run homer.
First late comeback win this year I believe.
I’m at the game, haven’t seen Braves fans this angry since the “infield fly” against the Cardinals.
I don't know what you fail to believe about his bat. I don't think he will hit as well as Kris Bryant, but I think that he will hit well enough to be an excellent everyday center fielder. Probably an occasional All Star.
I'm very worried about Rizzo. They won't go far without him being himself.
Edwards is so frustrating. When he's on (most of the time), he's absolutely unhittable. The rest of the time, he blows up. There's never any in between with him.
I wonder if we don't just over-rate the Cubs hitters and their talent somewhat. Can try to be a top-10 offense, but this isn't a top-5 offense in terms of talent or production.
Maybe bunching up production against bad pitchers but struggling against good-stuff relievers, good starters, and average-starters-when-fairly-sharp-on-a-given day is just the way the Cubs talent level demands.
Other than Rizzo's April, is there anybody who's underachieving or clearly performing below what's reasonable for their talent level? (I know we hoped for much more from Happ, but pitchers all know now that he can't hit fastballs middle or up, so I think the actual outcome is realistic.)
We’ve had this conversation 100 times, so I don’t feel like going into it again...but Almora hasn’t hit much as an everyday player since low-A ball. He did well last year when Maddon selectively used him, and the sample is too small this year to make any conclusions.
I'm not sure where the Cubs aren't a top 5 offense is coming from
Hopefully if they don't get it in tonight, they'll make it up on the mutual off day Monday instead of scheduling another double header later in the season. Both teams were off yesterday and the Reds are still in Cincinnati Tuesday-Thursday, so it probably makes sense for both teams to go on and knock the game out (assuming rain isn't in the forecast for Monday).Adbert Alzolay might get a call up after all.
Interesting that Heyward came off the DL and hasn’t started either game.Maddon said yesterday that Heyward would start one of the two games of the DH.
That does increase the chances that Happ gets another try for a single to fill the cycle.
By the way, Rosario really looked good today. I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to keep him up for a while. Who can be sent down this afternoon?
Why did Joe burn through Duensing (2 batters) and Cishek (1 batter) so fast? Looks like he’s found his guy who doesn’t have it today.Saving them for the second game?
That does increase the chances that Happ gets another try for a single to fill the cycle.How about Wilson?
By the way, Rosario really looked good today. I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to keep him up for a while. Who can be sent down this afternoon?
How about Wilson?
But at least they are tops in something.
FYI: 1-16 is the worst any team has batted with RISP in a game this season (min. 15 AB)
https://twitter.com/ESPNChiCubs/status/997941572187672576
I realize that you are just being a smartass, but he does have 2 options left. Unfortunately, he can choose free agency if sent down.Actually his performances, with a couple of exceptions, warrants being sent down. I'm not sure I'd lose sleep if he went FA.
And even with that poor performance, they still could've won the game if not for a couple boneheaded baserunning mistakes. In the first inning with the bases loaded, Russell ran right into a tag on a softly hit grounder by Schwarber that turned into a double play. If Russell freezes and forces Gennett to throw the ball, the Cubs score a run and they win the game. In the 6th, with a runner at third, 2 outs, and Rizzo on first, Suarez made a diving play and threw a standing Rizzo out at second by inches. If Rizzo had slid into the base instead of going in standing, he's probably safe and the Cubs score a run. This goes along with the sloppiness on defense we've seen at time this year--sometimes, they just don't seem to have their heads in the game.Agree.
And it didn't necessarily cost them a run...but when David Hernandez came in for the 6th inning, Happ and Hendricks immediately tripled and doubled. But instead of going for the huge inning with a vulnerable pitcher on the mound, Almora inexplicably tried to bunt on the first pitch, popped out, and Hernandez seemed to settle in. It was another place where a Cubs player just seemed oblivious to the situation.
Zobrist is leading off in the second game.
Cubs have first and third, no outs in the first inning of game two.
I give up. What is the lettering on the back of the mound?
Cishek in for the 9th. Good thing they limited him to 2 pitches in a tie game in game 1 so he'd be available to hold a 10 run lead in game 2.
Yes, not sure I quite see the need to use your most heavily-worked bullpen guy with a 10-run lead - especially since he already pitched in game 1. I know tomorrow is a day off, but it's a long season.
Yes, not sure I quite see the need to use your most heavily-worked bullpen guy with a 10-run lead - especially since he already pitched in game 1. I know tomorrow is a day off, but it's a long season.Tomorrow is a day off?
Almora's OPS over .800 after today.
Chatwood has faced 11 batters and given up 2 hits and 4 walks.Now 13BF 4BB and 4H
Just out of curiosity I wonder what the MLB winning percentage is when you give up 7 runs?
Happ OPS up to .905 now. Pretty much gotta play him as long as he’s going well. Not much room out there for Heyward right now.
Why Tom V instead of JD?Fox isn't using local announcers for the other two games so we are lucky to have Len.
Indians strike with a 2-out single with a man at 2nd. Amazing.
Are they allowed to do that?
Cubs lose. Shut out. Their only real threat tonight ended when their so-called hitter didn't even try to beat out a grounder.
Well except for when the manager called for a safety squeeze with nobody out.
Not pitch hitting Almora for Heyward. Heck starting Heyward.
I’m not saying this team has been fun to watch or that I’m happy. Just that the focus on the offense is misplaced.
No-out squeeze with the league leader in RBI at the plate and a double-play ties the game. That’s a colossal brain freeze by Maddon.
Yes. Was stunned Joe left Heyward in to face Miller.Maybe Joe still has some WS hangover?
Javy has to learn to make contact swinging away in that situation. It was not as if a K would have been disastrous. I think bunting was a poor decision.
ndians reliever Andrew Miller said he knew what Joe Maddon was going to do, and sure enough, Maddon ordered Javier Baez to lay down a squeeze bunt that Miller easily — easily – turned into a 1-2 putout of Anthony Rizzo at the plate late in a 1-0 game – in a 1-0 Cubs loss.
But wait. It gets worse. Maddon’s explanation was Baez had a high strikeout percentage against Miller. Baez had struck out once in four at-bats. That’s .250. Baez also had two hits in those four at-bats. That’s .500. Maybe it’s me, but I think a .500 average is pretty good. It also seems twice as good as .250, but I’m bad at math.
But wait. It gets still worse. Maddon let left-handed-hitting Jason Heyward face deadly lefty Miller while right-handed-hitting Albert Almora Jr. and switch-hitting Ben Zobrist sat on the bench. Heyward grounded out, natch. The same Maddon who cited a small sample size with Baez didn’t appear to value Miller’s troubles keeping righties off base this season.
What is it about Cleveland that makes Maddon overthink situations to the point they hurt his team?
Heyward didn't get to make his usual number of outs today so he decided to make two in his one at bat.
Is this show available on Netflix?
https://www.netflix.com/title/464246Thanks, Deeg. I found it, but I have to have parental controls to watch it.
Happ should only be in CF when Albert needs a day off.
Nice to see Almora rewarded for his big game yesterday.Surprised he wasn't sent to Des Moines in his pajamas.
Montgomery was terrific.
Schwarber homer, offense is suddenly awake.
Heyward-Lester is one of the more unlikely 2 out rallies you’re ever going to see.
Even with the bullpen being overworked lately, I’m surprised Lester took that AB. Worked out, though.
The bad thing is the Cubs' record in close games, not the blowouts.
Musgrove slid in to 2B late and hard, and Javy said something to him as Musgrove was leaving the field. Didn't seem too harsh, and the benches clearing was quite premature...much ado about nothing.
Odd thing was, Musgrove's slide was past the bag, and there was an umpire review to see if a DP should be called. Despite sliding past the bag, the play was determined to be non-reviewable because Baez didn't make an effort to throw the ball to 1st.
So...they had a review to find the play non-reviewable...
Is this the best stretch Heyward has had as a Cub? 8-16 with a few walks.
Well there's your blowout win followed by 1-run, low-scoring loss.
Well there's your blowout win followed by 1-run, low-scoring loss.
If you're wondering why the Cubs' run differential is in the neighborhood of the Red Sox and Yankees but their record isn't.
Justin Wilson in to throw balls. And he balks after a walk. It's getting close to time to just cut bait on him.
It's really good to see Rizzo spanking the ball.
It's really a surprise that anyone ever throws Baez a strike. He hasn't walked since April 11, he's going to get himself out most of the time if you just work 6 inches out of the zone.
When announcers say someone is too good at pinch hitting to be an everyday player, they're perfectly describing Tommy La Stella. He's a weak defender everywhere, and not a good baserunner...so he really is probably the rare player who gives the Cubs more value taking one high leverage AB per game than he would starting on a regular basis.
In other news, Cishek has been really good. He's going to have to be with Edwards on the shelf.
Up 5-1,3-1 count and it’s an off speedpitch?
Amazing how many dumb posts people think up just to take shots at others. I expect a better effort.
BAEZ WALKS!!!I was there for that!
Which Chatwood will we see.
so far 3 balls 0 strikes.
Chatwood's curveball was a terror for opposing hitters in 2017. It was a hit to just a .077/.111/.154 slash line, including an exceptional 72.4% ground ball rate. The 30.6% chase rate was underwhelming, but it looks more impressive when considering he threw it in the strike zone only 22.6% of the time. The 12.5% whiff rate was poor as well, but it's contact limiting abilities were good enough to make it a great pitch.http://www.pitcherlist.com/tyler-chatwood/
Almora makes a nice sliding catch in deep right center to save Chatwood for now. He didn't look any better in the first inning tonight than he has in his last few starts.And, of course, Almora leads off the second.
In situations deemed 'late/close,' Bryant was hitting .217 this year. 5 for 23....Big hit there. (Hit .173 last season)
Imagine choosing to die on the "Kris Bryant is overrated" hill.
Almora's now qualified for the batting title and enters in the top-5.
Almora's now qualified for the batting title and enters in the top-5.
Can you imagine the reaction on this board, if someone else’s version of Mike Montgomery was holding the Cubs to one hit nearly through six innings?
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That's why you don't waste glorious chances repeatedly.It would have been fantastic for someone to come up with a big hit, or even a sacrifice fly, in those situations. But deGrom’s numbers are what they are for a reason. At least we ran up his pitch count, and will be facing someone else for a few innings.
DeGrom has an ERA below 2 and is striking out nearly 12 batters a game. He’s been one of the very best pitchers in baseball.
We’re running a spot starter out there.
To be tied in the 8th inning of this game is FANTASTIC.
Why is Mazzoni with the big club rather than Hancock?
Morrow pitching the 14th, so I guess Cishek is the closer tomorrow.
That's why you don't waste glorious chances repeatedly.
Is anyone watching? Baez just stole home?!
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Not too many teams out there with Ian Happ and Addison Russell caliber players on the bench either.
Anybody else dealing with a lot of choppy video with MLB.tv this year? This wasn’t usually the case last year, but the video performance this season has been pretty lousy.I have terrific internet and am experiencing the same thing. It's been horrible so far. The app keeps crashing every other inning. Choppy picture. This is much worse than last year.
That's Hendricks getting killed, not Quintana.
Surprising to me that craig is so focused on the Wild Card on June 5, with the Cubs all of 2 games behind the Brewers, and on a good run. Pretty sure the Cubs front office and players are not thinking Wild Card.
I have terrific internet and am experiencing the same thing. It's been horrible so far. The app keeps crashing every other inning. Choppy picture. This is much worse than last year.
Being in Florida, I watch every game on MLB.COM through my ROKU. I don't think I have had the app crash more than 3 or 4 times all season. Perhaps it has something to do with the number of MLB.COM users in the area.I watch on my Amazon Fire, no problems. Last year I used my XBox and it crashed all the time. This year they won't use XBox, which was a blessing because I get a nice sharp steady picture on the Fire. Same with my phone and my desktop.
I use ROKU with good internet, and the MLB.tv picture is usually choppy and poor quality. Much worse than last year. Because this doesn't happen with the other channels I stream through ROKU (Netflix, Amazon, etc), I think the fault is with MLB.tv.This is why when they announced they were going to stop using XBox and recommended ROKU, I thought...nah.
I use ROKU with good internet, and the MLB.tv picture is usually choppy and poor quality. Much worse than last year. Because this doesn't happen with the other channels I stream through ROKU (Netflix, Amazon, etc), I think the fault is with MLB.tv.
I don't know about that. He walked the leadoff hitter (on 4 pitches, I think) and was wild to Herrera before striking him out. I think the change was reasonable once there were 2 on. Cishek doesn't give up HRs.
What are Q's numbers facing a lineup the third time through?
HEYWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HEYWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zobrist reminding everyone he's still a Cub.
Oh well, MVP is up.
Scratch that, Heyward is hitting 2nd tonight. Results should still be the same though.
Probably his best moment as a Cub?
Wouldn’t that be the speech?
The Cubs are down one game in the standings, but are up one in the loss column over the Brewers.
Happ walks to load the bases for Zobrist.
Can't ask for a better guy up in the situation.
Video of Maddon on the game, including the decision to replace Quintana with Ceshek. I admit that I found his comments to be pretty compelling.
https://www.mlb.com/news/cubs-jason-heyward-hits-walk-off-grand-slam/c-280099252
Jason Heyward gets to rest
Of the 8 position players starting for Philly, 5 are hitting .220 or under
Really generous scoring to give Almora a double there. Herrera was under the routine pop up in plenty of time and the ball went right off his glove. That'll probably be changed.Had Almora not hustled he'd have ended up at first base.
Yeah, that doesn't work for me...it's only a sacrifice fly if the runner scores.He doesn't get a hit if the bases were loaded because the out at the plate was a force out. I'm guessing that since scorers can't assume things, the "play" is to get the runner home, not get to second base.
So, if the runners were stealing 2nd and 3rd, and the guy stealing 3rd is thrown out, the guy who stole 2nd doesn't get a SB? How is his advancement explained?
I assume that it's because La Stella's out was the 3rd out of the inning...but that doesn't work for me either...if a runner gets thrown out at the plate trying to score on a single to LF, the batter still gets credited with a hit.
And yet...indifference isn't the call on a double steal of 2nd and 3rd, is it? If one runner is safe and one is out, the safe runner gets a SB, doesn't he?
Hell, that's more indifference than the Bryant/La Stella situation...they actually made an attempt to get Bryant.
Got four seats in the bullpen boxes for Monday the 18th vs the Los Doyers. Hoping for Buehler v. Quintana but will prolly get Stripling v Montgomery in which case Ron can have em ;D
Umpires:He'll still figure out to make the game all about him.
HP--Fairchild
1B--Eddings
2B--Visconti
3B--West
At least Country Joe won't be behind the plate during the series with the Pirates.
I like the idea of trying Bryant in the leadoff spot.
Who is this unfamiliar announcer on the Cubs broadcast?
Here's the Happ catch that ended the game:
https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1005201698657193984
The Cubs are in first place by percentage points: .600 to .597
No Morrow avain. Hurt?
I came into the season suspecting that Lester would be the fourth best starter. I was wrong.
The Cubs need a shut down inning here from Quintana with a lesser part of the Brewers lineup coming up.
Heyward is showing why he is worth 23 million a year.
Cain about to be screwed. Oh, they fixed it. And he singles. Figures.
https://twitter.com/kato_kaelin/status/1006382879574667265wonder how he really feels
Let's not go overboard. Plus, he's making 28M.
Chicago Cubs @Cubs 14m14 minutes agoEven our women can't hit with RISP
What a fun day for a great cause! #CubsCharities
Final: #Brewers Wives 10, #Cubs Wives 3
The Cubs have hit only 6 HRs this month. The Dodgers have hit 26.
That is almost 20 more home runs.three more than your IQ!
That's way too low.
three more than your IQ!
Cubs horribly botch a rundown in the third.if my high school did one that bad, we would work on them for an hour after the game
Signing Chatwood is still a reasonable move period. In the modern game, you need all the starting pitching depth you can get. It's just a move that hasn't worked so far. It happens.
But they're not paying him like he's depth...they're paying him like a good #3/#4 starter, which he has never been. If they had given him the same contract that Brett Anderson got last year, or even the contract that Mikolas got from the Cardinals, then it would've been a nice move.
Meanwhile, the Cubs are getting baffled by Chase Anderson again. He's been terrible this year against everyone else--5.19 ERA in 52 innings, and a 5.81 FIP overall. But against the Cubs, he has only given up 3 runs on 10 hits in 18 innings against the Cubs this year (1.50 ERA).
But I don't think the rationale behind signing him was bad
Disconcerting to see Russell getting the day off. He recently missed a bunch of games and wouldn't seem to need the rest.
Yeah, interesting choice.Much of the concern is all the K's, but this lineup puts 3 K guys in a row: Happ, Schwarber, Baez. Doesn't do any good to load the bases and have 3 K's in a row.
On season Russell is .637-OPS vs RHP, and for this season (small sample, of course), Baez is actually better vs RH than LH (.819/.726). So maybe Maddon figures he's .182-OPS better going with Baez?
Maybe Maddon wants to rest Contreras, so Giminez is a thing.
But Cubs have really been struggling to score against starting pitchers; so maybe other than Giminez, Maddon wants to prioritize hitting for the day?
Six straight lefties to start the lineup, with lefty bats over defense in LaStella, Happ, and Schwarber; and then Baez over Russell at #7? Given the ironies of baseball, maybe the Cubs will win with Baez and Giminez, the two righties, doing lots of damage! :)
I can't say this enough. The Cubs have the 8th best K% in MLB and the 3rd best in the NL. They are 4.9% less than the worst in MLB and withing 2.3 of the best K% in the majors. The Cubs *ARE NOT* a high strike out team in MLB.And despite that, they only have a few players able to get the bat on the ball in critical situations. One needs to blend the stats with the observation.
Not at all an ugly series. Excellent pitching by both sides. The Brewers hit the HRs, and that was the difference. Mostly very well played games. It's OK to give props to the opposition, guys.
Not at all an ugly series. Excellent pitching by both sides. The Brewers hit the HRs, and that was the difference. Mostly very well played games. It's OK to give props to the opposition, guys.
Yeah, just gotta tip your cap to the Chase Andersons and Jhoulys Chacins of the league. They didn't get where they are today by being mediocre...Calling them mediocre is an insult to those pitchers who really are.
Average heat index for the series will be about 110.
on MLB there is a 2 by second gase anyone konw what that means? Baseball for Dummies?
St. Louis fans are learning to count to 2 this week. They put it on the field to help them practice.Lol
Strop is good.
https://twitter.com/thepainguy/status/1008504906687418371
Coming into tonight, Heyward had hit .318/.352/.508 for the last month. He homered off a 99 mph pitch last night--I'm not sure he caught up to a 99 mph pitch a single time in his first two years with the Cubs.
I don't know if Heyward is "fixed" or whatever, but he's clearly doing something very different right now than he's done previously as a Cub. Even when he was successful in his pre-Cubs career, he wasn't doing it in a way that scouts would say was ideal, so I'm not sure a tweet from someone scouting through an ESPN broadcast means much.
Russell walks. Quintana with the bases loaded and 2 outs. NL baseball!!!
Heh heh, back-to-back bases-loaded inning, but each of them giving away one of the three outs on a Quintana K.
Yeah, the ESPN announcers keep going on about how good Flaherty has been tonight, and he's been fine. But he hasn't been great--he's been wild and in trouble. But he's gotten lucky that two of the highest leverage ABs of the game have been taken by one of the worst hitting pitchers in MLB.
Seven teams have been shut out more than the Cubs which I wouldn't have guessed. Might only be three after tonight, however.
It looked to me like KB needed a day. I like the leadoff thing, though.
So you're Chatwood's jinx? Who knew?
If I am not mistaken he has pitched some other games well.But not with you present, right?
But not with you present, right?
They're going to postpone this game. Why did they wait three hours?
I'm not a fan of Bryant leading off. That might have been something different to do while he was in his funk, but that's not something that needs to be a semi-regular thing.
Bryant hits one that wouldn't have been a home run in a phone booth.What's a phone booth?
What's a phone booth?A few years back, I was coaching at a girls basketball camp, and I told the group of girls to extend the hand and forearm as if tossing the ball out of a phone booth. Almost all of them raised their hand to ask the same question.
All these problems with Chatwood...is Ron at the game?
Wilson apparently coming in for the 9th. No Morrow?
No reason given, but I think you can assume he's hurt.br, quit complaining. The all shortened up with 2 strikes, trying to get the bat on the ball. Or was that just Rizzo? Never mind.
He hasn't looked as effective in his last few appearances, I wouldn't be surprised if something has been bothering him for a while.
Cubs lose. 13 runners left on base, this offense just has to get better at taking advantage of their chances.
What a dummy Roberts is.It was a long day. He wanted to go to bed.
Wow, way to bring home the split, guys! Man, scoring a run is tough.Rosario looks like a keeper.
I wonder if they shouldn't just put Morrow on the DL, and bring up, well, I don't know. Somebody. Maybe keep Hanson.
But this is really an Iowa bullpen these days: Rosario, Zastryzny, Bass, Farrell, Hancock.
I wonder if they're gearing up for their every-summer farm-tradeoff for a reliever?
Very fun to win a close one. Sure would have been fun to score a little more off Maeda game 1.
I don’t see any way you can take Monty out of the rotation, which certainly raises an interesting conundrum for the Cubs.
I'm concerned about Russell. He has been given too many days off for it to be only about rest.
The Dodgers started 15-27 and will have a better record than the Cubs soon.
Old man Lester is now 9-2 with a 2.10 ERA. And he has become a vocal leader on the club. Is he channeling David Ross?Yeah, but he can't throw to first. Just ask Costas.
Bottom 2nd...Baez doubles with 2 outs, steals 3rd (looked like defensive indifference to me, but I apparently don't know the difference), and scores on a wild pitch to Lester, but the 3rd base ump rules Lester swung for strike 3, and he was thrown out at 1st. Pretty horseshit call on the swing...
What a nice win for the Cubs.
Tie for first for a few hours at least!
For Ron's sake, nice for wildcard relative to dodgers and others, too. :)
Heyward now 10 pts above his career OPS.
Heyward is 4 for 4 tonight; the rest of the Cubs position players are 2 for 21.
Why wouldn’t you use Zobrist at 3B and Happ at 2nd, where he has much more experience?
Umpires for #Cubs (42-33) at #Dodgers (41-35):
HP: Angel Hernandez
1B: Bill Miller
2B: Todd Tichenor
3B: Alan Porter
Anyone keeping track of the F-Bombs Almora drops that get picked up by the field mics? Should be leading the league...
I’m not sure why you waste LaStella after that bunt. Bring back Caratini.
Zobrist and Happ have the same number of games played at 3B in their careers.
I'm not sure what's so great about Caratini. He isn't good defensively, and he hit .262/.304/.308 while he was with the major league team. If you're only getting a .600 OPS out of your backup catcher, you might as well go with the guy who is good at defense.
I'm just now noticing that there have been five games since Lester's last start (which was the last time the Cubs have won). What made him be pushed back one single day but not miss a start?
I believe Marrow will be back tomorrow.
Los Angeles Dodgers @Dodgers 9m9 minutes ago
Dodger outfielder Matt Kemp will serve a one-game suspension tonight against the Cubs for his actions during the Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game on June 13, 2018.
Rare night off for Rizzo.Thursday being a day game after a night game would have been the usual time for an off day but Rizzo is 5-14 with 2 homers off Kershaw.
Hendricks needs to be traded
Hendricks down 2-0 to Grandal, 22 pitches already. does anyone on this team throw strikes anymore?BRING BACK BOSIO!
Pitch 23 for ball 3.
LA outhit the Cubs 12 to 10.
In 9 innings the Dodger pitchers threw 120 pitches
In 8 innings the Cub pitchers threw 181 pitches.
Schwarber draws a walk. Two on, nobody out for Heyward who IS NOT A GOOD BUNTER.How is he at doubling?
So Max Muncy is the NL Mike Trout now?Okay I take that back. Max Muncy is not Mike Trout.
Hard time convincing me this isn't an underachieving team.
Didn't know there was an alternative argument.
Hard time convincing me this isn't an underachieving team.
Nope. Same old sorry ass Chatwood.
Zobrist cues a single for two runs. Russell pops out and Rizzo gets doubled off for some reason.value of making contact
Cubs hit one ball hard but get three runs. Could've easily had more.
value of making contact
This Astudillo cat for the Twins has struck out 76 times in 2342 professional plate appearances.
Home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt worked with a towel draped around his neck and frequently left the field between innings.Being behind the plate for 3:44 game with 342 pitches thrown and three players leaving because of the heat should earn him the day off on Sunday.
Nice win! Now sweep em tomorrow. Would be nice if the Reds played the Brewers as tough as they did the Cubs. They're about to lose again.
Heyward knocking on the door of .300. Wow.Maybe Chili Davis isn't such a dunce after all.
This Astudillo cat for the Twins has struck out 76 times in 2342 professional plate appearances.
I hope summer is on a weekend this year.
Lester really doing miraculous things with smoke and mirrors this year. But he just gave up a 430 ft homer to Jake Cave, he of the two previous homers all year.3 homers in 35 plate appearances isn't too bad.
Just enjoy, Chris!
Joe should get some tough questions about bullpen usage after this game...and he should.Maples was in two hitters too long.
but this team is going to score plenty of runs.
Jeez, deeg, didn't you learn from jinxing Baez?Javy couldn't have been jinxed too bad - he was just named NL player of the week.
Albert Almora is a Gold Glove caliber CF for the #Cubs. He just threw #Tigers Jose Iglesias out at home with a bullet throw. Don't run on Almora-especially with nobody out and your team down a run. That one is on the third base coach for waving him in.
The game appeared to have had a separate casualty. Manager Ron Gardenhire was nowhere to be seen in the latter innings as bench coach Steve Liddle handled the lineup card.
After the game Liddle explained that Gardenhire "got a little overheated." He said Gardenhire was feeling better by the end of the game.
2-run double Contreras.
Maybe he's starting to heat up.
Considering that Contreras' OPS is .823, I'd say he started heating up a while back.
His June OPS was .731 and his early July success had been inflated with a misplayed triple. He hasn't been driving the ball like he's capable. Today he did so twice.
Rally!I’ll say!
Chatwood is terrible. It's past time to put him in mop-up relief and find a different #5 starter.
Nothing better than Addison going to right center/right fieldYes sir!
Not sure you can send Bote down when Bryant comes back.
Who do you lose? La Stella? That’s a hard sell in a lot of ways.With three games against the Giants, an off day, and three more vs the Padres before the break, the Cubs would need only four starting pitchers. Anybody who doesn't know which one could be dropped hasn't been paying attention.
Yeah, it's a tough fit...but he's basically been La Stella with some power and the ability to play major league caliber third base.
Maybe dump the 8th reliever for a while? Tough sell with the rotation struggling as much as they have, but that reliever doesn't pitch many high leverage innings.
Javy with a rare walk. He still needs to do that more often if he's going to be a true star.
Man that lackadaisical play by Baez looms really large right now.
The two Rizzo errors loom larger. Catch Baez's throw on the grounder leading off the inning, and no one scores. Catch the Hendricks pickoff throw, and no one scores. Two easy chances to prevent the run from scoring, and he blew both of them.
The Cubs lost, it happens. They just came off a 7-1 homestand. Relax.
Losing the game sucks, but if Hendricks figured out his mechanics and can be back to pitching well that is a the most important thing.
I didn’t see the play where Rizz missed Baez’s throw, but I did see the missed pickoff. Throw wasn’t great from Hendricks, but Rizz could have gotten it.
But that’s a fundamentally different issue than Baez trotting at the end to pick up a ball without any awareness of the runner sprinting around the bases. Given how often Baez does that to opponents, he should know the danger of a defender being asleep at the wheel.
Big game tonight.
Thought it was a break that they miss Bumgarner. Starting to wonder if it even matters.
Meanwhile Q has given up nothing on 86 pitches in 6 innings and to read the board, you’d think he got rocked and lifted on the first inning.
Cishek with the save. Morrow rumored to have more back issues.
Now they're saying due to overwork.
I know lefty is a thing, with Duensing and MM, but another righty would be invaluable. Cishek is good but not sure how good he'll be if he's used so heavily. Having another good reliever would be very nice.
That Rondon fellow is having a terrific year.
Cubs strand 3 more in the 6th. Rizzo is slow--how did he not beat out that grounder?I thought it would be tied up.
Bryant hid an injury for a month. Is Rizzo doing the same thing now? He looks about like Bryant did that entire month.Maybe all those HBPs have had a cumulative effect
How many K’s looking do we have today? Seems like a ton...
Giants bullpen isn't the greatest. Keep them off the board and they have a good chance.
I imagine that this will jinx him, but Norwood has a lot better stuff than I ever heard about. 96 - 98 fastball and decent breaking pitches. I assume that lack of command has been what has been holding him back. His walk rate doesn't seem to have been horrible.
Padres and Reds scare me more than Brewers and Cardinals. We don't play well against crappy teams.
Yeah, but the Reds swept us. Those things stick with you.
At your age, and with your short term memory, it can't stick with you for more than 10 minutes or so.Who are you? Are you a newbie?
Padres and Reds scare me more than Brewers and Cardinals. We don't play well against crappy teams.
That's four consecutive crummy starts for Montgomery after five awesome starts.
Chatwood gives up a 2 out single to Clayton Richard, then a home run to Jankowski (second homer of the year, sixth of his career).Think John Lackey can be ready that quickly?
Hopefully the Cubs will have a replacement starter before the All Star break is over.
Rizzo with a rare hit with 1 out in the 5th.
Did Baez touch second base?Yes...on his way to third.
Yes...on his way to third.Reply showed his popup slide came up short but he did then tap the bag
Well, a lot of help, but fortune favors the brave.
Are there any Padre fans in the park at all?I've seen the Cubs play in a lot of parks. There are always more Cubs fans in San Diego than anywhere else.
looking back at the 2011 draft topic nobody wanted Baez:)As reported earlier in the week, Baez and Contreras were both Jim Hendry signings.
I've seen the Cubs play in a lot of parks. There are always more Cubs fans in San Diego than anywhere else.
Way to bring home the win, you guys! Tie for first, fantastic! Super fun to sneak out a win on a Chatwood start.The Cubs have now played four fewer games than the Brewers. They'll make one of them up when they play St. Louis on the Thursday after the All-Star break in the only MLB game of the day. Those doubleheaders can be tough.
looking back at the 2011 draft topic nobody wanted Baez:)
Really bad umpiring to call Heyward out there. I don't know how umpires miss calls like that.Umpires have a tendency to rule for the defense if the ball beats the runner to the bag. That's why replay is good.
I’m assuming no Morrow today, as he pitched yesterday and that’s clearly overwork.
Morrow has had a history of injury problems, and has had back problems already this year. It seems reasonable to try to reduce the chance of another injury.And this is a road game, so Mrs. M is probably not there to help him take his pants off.
Morrow has had a history of injury problems, and has had back problems already this year. It seems reasonable to try to reduce the chance of another injury.
Here's the answer:Not sure he ever really went down. With the All Star break coming up, I think he just didn't dress.
Jesse Rogers @ESPNChiCubs
David Bote up for Almora (family medical emergency leave)
Bote was listed on the Iowa roster, but didn't play.That's what I mean. He was on Iowa's roster on paper, but not in person. He HAS to be on somebody's roster to be legal.
I was a little surprised last night when it wasn't 1984 Remembrance Night at Petco, like it usually is when the Cubs are in town. Instead, during the in-between innings Stadium Karaoke segment, the song they used was Bryan Adams' Summer of '69.
Well played, San Diego.
Heyward with the weakest hit 2 RBI ground ball single I've ever seen--67 mph exit velocity right up the middle. Padres middle infielders must have no range at all. 5-0 Cubs.Most pitchers would have at least stopped that ball but Lauer's motion had him way out of position.
The next time any of y’all want to talk about moving on from Contreras and replacing him, remember that seed he just threw to pick off Pirela.
Best Cubs catcher in our lifetimes, and some of y’all can’t wait to see him gone...ridiculous...
The next time any of y’all want to talk about moving on from Contreras and replacing him, remember that seed he just threw to pick off Pirela.
Best Cubs catcher in our lifetimes, and some of y’all can’t wait to see him gone...ridiculous...
I'm hopeful that Yu will come back strong. If he does, we should be fine.
Kinda crappy they didn’t make Harper wait on his balls to land at the end.I noticed that too...of course, it wasn’t mentioned by the worldwide leader in sports...
QuoteKinda crappy they didn’t make Harper wait on his balls to land at the end.I noticed that too...of course, it wasn’t mentioned by the worldwide leader in sports...
Big break off the bat of Happ
Don't be salty.
Fowler comes through repeatedly with the clutch outs!The Card fans hate him for it.
It's pretty funny to characterize Bryant's RBI single as a "bloop hit". Revealing.
And 229 K's.
That's baseball in 2018.
You're welcome. Course, maybe it wouldn't hurt to reduce that number to 150 or so and become an elite offensive player.
The Card fans hate him for it.
3
Aaron Judge says hi.
....
Heyman says the Cubs are interested in Familia, but I sure wouldn't give up much for him. You'd always love more late-inning bullpen help, but honestly I'd be OK with letting it ride on the bullpen - it's the rotation I'd be prioritizing.
I bet Degrom and Syndergaard aren’t moved, but Archer might be.
Thanks, Dusty.
Defensive failure is not likely to be the deciding factor in a Chatwood game.With Happ, Caratini, and La Stella all unavailable after yesterday's mess, will Rizzo finally get his chance to pitch if it's another blowout? Maddon hinted that he purposely pulled him from the game so he wouldn't have to put up with Rizzo constantly pestering him.
Wild Chatwood shows up with 4 straight balls.With most pitchers, a pitch that misses the plate could be a setup for the next pitch. Not so for Chatwood. Many of his misses are so far off the plate that Javy Baez would not have swung at them in his first year.
Local FOX, Jeff...took me a minute too...
Yeah, Dave, but I'm in Houston. Usually Extra Innings carries the alternate Fox feeds. But not tonight. I'm on mlb.tv.You’re right...I forgot you are in the market of the other game option...
Not that the Cubs are going to win this but that was a nice slider by Maples to get Fowler there. He definitely has closer stuff if he can ever find the zone.
I'm more worried about trying to finish ahead of the Dodgers than anything else.Oh, sheesh, in the bag. Darvish is going to pitch lights out the last two months. A poster on here guaranteed it.
Watching Quintana's ERA reach 4 again I'm reminded that Eloy is hitting .350 in Triple-A.
took forever to tie one of his shoe laces.
Not like he was fooling anyone.Molina probably learned that from Tony LaRussa.
After today's game, the Cubs are up 3.5 games in the division (and 5 up in the loss column).
The Cardinals are 8.5 games back and in fourth place (a half game behind the Pirates).
We're going to need to put some runs on the board tonight.Yes. Yes, we are.
More first inning runs. Do the Cubs pitchers not warm up before games? Why has this been such a problem for them the last two years? This is the 5th time in 6 games since the break. And with Hendricks going tomorrow, that's almost certainly going to make it 6 times in 7 games.
The Cubs pitchers have to be the worst in the league at finishing off batters after getting to 0-2 or 1-2.
Starter average fastball velocity is 93.2 in the majors. The Cubs 25th in the majors at 91.9.How do they rank in records?
Might be just a coincidence that the starters Cubs rank 20th in ERA, 25th in FIP, 26 in xFIP.
Contreras and Zobrist with really ugly, uncharacteristic Ks in the 7th. This looks like a team that needed an off day after the 5 game series with the Cardinals.
Contreras HBP to lead off the 8th (he should've struck out looking on the pitch before he got hit).
Cubs 5-0 in Chatwood starts since 6/30.
Particularly when they can't hit in the clutch when healthy.
That was some Bote-licious stuff there.
Winning 3 out of 5 would make any Cub fan feel better, Chris.
He was still somewhat off in the second inning, but he's been great since the third inning.
I just don't understand why this pitching staff has had so much trouble in the first inning for two years running. Through six innings tonight, the Cubs have a 5.65 ERA in the first inning this year, and a 3.53 ERA for the rest of the game.
Cubs up three nothing and still batting in the first.
Naturally, the board is silent.
I don’t know what board you’re watching, but it’s mostly silent most days now.True. I've noticed that too. Trade rumors were more lively than actual game.
Hamels takes his first Cubs AB before he throws his first Cubs pitch.
Good grief, Baez walked. Maybe he really is learning at the plate which is a scary thought.
Hamels should be able to get in a good four innings at this rate.
.300 BA, .900 OPS and they still bi tch.
Why not try Chatwood?we need 20 more runs
Jesse Rogers
@ESPNChiCubs
How about this for adrenaline: Hamels threw a 96-MPH 4-seam fastball to Freese in the 1st inning -- the fastest pitch he's thrown in over 2 years (July 17, 2016 at Cubs). His overall 4-seam fastball velocity was 93.8 MPH, also his fastest since July 17, 2016
Jesse Rogers
@ESPNChiCubs
How about this for adrenaline: Hamels threw a 96-MPH 4-seam fastball to Freese in the 1st inning -- the fastest pitch he's thrown in over 2 years (July 17, 2016 at Cubs). His overall 4-seam fastball velocity was 93.8 MPH, also his fastest since July 17, 2016
I will be at tonight's game. It will be the first time I've seen Marshall pitch since he was worse than Chatwood on my first game of the season (the one in which I left in the 5th inning with the Cubs down 10-1). Hopefully he'll be much better this time. I know some others here think really highly of Marshall as a starting pitcher, and hope they will be proven right, but I confess to being a skeptic. I'm thinking the offense is going to need to on tonight.I think Marshall retired some time ago.
The Spotrac website says that the Rangers are picking up the 6 million option.
acquired by Chicago Cubs in trade from Texas 7/27/18 with $13,862,903 remaining on contract ($7,862,903 in 2018 and $6M buyout for 2019) (Rangers pay Cubs $2,862,903 as part of the deal) (if Cubs decline 2019 option and pay $6M buyout, Rangers to pay Cubs $6M)
That would probably get the attention of the Commissioner's office.So that would not be legal? Or is that some form of collusion? Only if the Cubs and Hamels have an agreement in place, right?
It's hard for me to envision a scenario where it will make sense to pick up the option on Hamels' contract next season (assuming we're on the hook for his entire salary).
The Spotrac website says that the Rangers are picking up the 6 million option.
It's hard for me to envision a scenario where it will make sense to pick up the option on Hamels' contract next season (assuming we're on the hook for his entire salary).
This thread lolikr
If Montgomery was just going to get pulled if he allowed a base runner, why didn't they pinch hit for him when they had runners on the corners with 1 out last inning?
Bote looking awfully good on both sides of the ball in limited time...
I know Maddon doesn't like to have guys practice. But I wonder if they ought to have a little defense practice for the pitchers!Cishek, like most pitchers did not account for the slope of the mound having an effect on his throw.
1. Yesterday Montgomery was late to cover first, and today Quintana was late and it took replay to overturn a safe call. Maybe some practice and "respect 60" for pitchers covering 1st?
2. We know Lester can't throw, but yesterday Montgomery threw a ball that was WAY off (trying to make a 30-foot throw in a rundown and he threw it about 20), and today Cishek had about a 40-foot throw to 2B on one-hop double play ball, but threw the ball about 15 feed wide of the base. Maybe those guys should practice some of those throws so that they don't all learn from Lester and end up with the yips?
3. The Cubs pitchers appear to be the worst bunters in the league. And the 2nd worst hitters. (I heard Giants have even lower batting average.) Seems like those guys could benefit from some bunting practice.
Beats me, maybe they do practice as much or more than anybody, but some of this seems like stuff they practice in Mesa and haven't reviewed or practiced in five months, or something.
I was not old enough to see him in his prime, but I have an older cousin who lived in St Louis all his life, and he says that Enos Slaughter was the only player he has ever seen that came close to being as exciting as Baez. And even in his prime, the exciting plays were perhaps twice a month, rather than twice a week. And never twice a day.this from a guy who served under Abner Doubleday in the Civil War.
Curt could probably tell us more about Ty Cobb and Abner Doubleday.
I think expectations for Bote's bat have gotten a little inflated due to exuberance. He's already cooling off and there's nothing in his minor league history to suggest he's going to be an elite hitter. But the defense is definitely legit - he seems to be the whole package at 3B.
One interesting conversation on Twitter this afternoon has pointed out that Javy was really lucky that he ended up with Maddon as his manager because he just let Javy be Javy. Instead of pressuring him to be a more typical ballplayer, he let Javy just go with his instincts. I'm sure it would've worked out for Javy with some other managers like Francona or maybe a player's manager like Dusty...but can you imagine how much more difficult it would have been for Javy to develop like he did under guys Matt Williams, Mike Matheny, Don Mattingly, or maybe even Joe Girardi?
If the Cubs had traded Baez for a pitcher 3-4 years ago, I really do wonder if he'd be having the same career. Maybe the talent would've been too much for anyone to ruin...but if he'd been stuck under a real traditional manager, it's possible that it would look like a good deal for the Cubs right now.
One interesting conversation on Twitter this afternoon has pointed out that Javy was really lucky that he ended up with Maddon as his manager because he just let Javy be Javy. Instead of pressuring him to be a more typical ballplayer, he let Javy just go with his instincts. I'm sure it would've worked out for Javy with some other managers like Francona or maybe a player's manager like Dusty...but can you imagine how much more difficult it would have been for Javy to develop like he did under guys Matt Williams, Mike Matheny, Don Mattingly, or maybe even Joe Girardi?
The umps are probably much better than the guys 50 years ago. Everything else is so no reason to think they are different.
I do think a rule should be adjusted in light of replay. Dave Cameron from fangraphs suggested that there should be a safe zone that runs up from the bag and, if a player got to the bag safely and is still in that zone but not touching the base, he’s safe. That removes the calls that get reversed because a guy came off for a split second and could only be seen in super slow motion. Those calls are not in the spirit of “getting it right” IMO. It’s also not really fair to the umpire to say he got it wrong when it’s pretty much impossible to see that in real time.
All that does is exchange one New York decision for another: Did he stay in contact with the base vs did he remain within the “safe zone”?
All that does is exchange one New York decision for another: Did he stay in contact with the base vs did he remain within the “safe zone”?
So you'd have called both Russell and Baez out, then, Curt? They are doing aggressive tricksy stuff, and lost contact as a result. If Baez slides straight into the bag, the momentum carries him across the bag or into the bag and losing contact is no problem. So your spirit would be to usually call them out?No. Their whole body should be clearly PAST the bag to be determined to be having lost contact.
CB Bucknor has his usual terrible strike zone today. How does he keep his job? Every time he's behind the plate, players on both teams are arguing with him all day.In about the third inning, he called a ball on a pitch that got a lot of the plate and followed it with a strike on a pitch well outside. It had to be a makeup call.
Out-homered 3-1, outscored 5-1 on home runs. Sometimes having a little more HR power would help.
Patrick Mooney
Verified account
@PJ_Mooney
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Jon Lester has an 8.53 ERA since the All-Star break and one quality start in his last eight outings: “Not really up to anybody’s expectations. We’ll figure it out. Little rut night now. Keep grinding.”
Perez HBP with an 0-2 count. Hamels is not good tonight. He's been really lucky so far.
Most of the base hits have been on soft contact. He's been fine.
https://twitter.com/Josh_Frydman/status/1026988597143064576
Season Team G PA HR R RBI SB BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+
2016 Cubs (A+) 72 313 6 55 41 6 9.90% 13.10% 0.181 0.378 0.337 0.41 0.518 0.42 158
2017 Cubs (AA) 127 536 14 65 59 5 9.10% 18.80% 0.166 0.318 0.272 0.353 0.438 0.362 130
2018 Cubs (AAA) 61 263 13 34 41 3 9.90% 24.00% 0.226 0.313 0.268 0.342 0.494 0.36 113
Three run homer, that turned really bad in a hurry.
This team just keeps underperforming. Even if they make the playoffs, it's going to be a quick exit with this pitching staff.
After seeing Bucknor, Hernandez, and West all call balls and strikes in the last week, I feel confident in saying that Joe West is the worst balls and strikes umpire in MLB.the 3 blind mice who forced baseball to use automated pitch calls
Darvish has done nothing this season to prove he's any more reliable than Quintana, Lester, and Hendricks. I hope he gets back at full strength, but I really don't expect it.
No, he hasn't. But he has in his career, which means it's at least possible he could get back to being that guy in September. Which would make him a better postseason option than the current Lester, Hendricks or Quintana.
Lester, Hendricks, and Quintana also have their career track records. How's that working out?
Lester's peripherals should be a pretty serious clue he's not getting back to what he was. Quintana was never a TORP, even at his best. Hendricks, full credit to him for a couple of great seasons with his stuff - who knows, maybe he can get back there. Darvish has the potential to pitch like a TORP, and has the kind of arsenal that theoretically plays well in the postseason - that's why we signed him. He sure hasn't been that guy this season. but the velocity is still there - there's a chance he could recapture his best form. Hell, his arm at least will be fresh.
Underperformance OR excessive expectations over the past couple of years?
I don't think the hitters are that good, or at least not better than their actual performance (which has been very good); think they are largely playing to their ability, or perhaps somewhat above.
And I think the pitchers have pretty much all over-performed. The staff has been built with oldish, heavily-used arms that are naturally in the decline phases of their careers. It's hardly surprising that Lester, Q and Darvish aren't as good as they were in their primes. Watching their stuff, not sure there's any reason to figure their performance is out of line with their stuff, or in Darvish's case with his lack of control.
The Cubs have played like a very good but not a dominant team. However, with a healthy roster, they are potentially dominant. That gives us hope for a long postseason run.
All of the AL teams of questions just like the Cubs.
What questions do the Astros and Red Sox have? They may lose a playoff series but they are powerhouses. The Cubs are a powerhouse on paper.
It's hopeless.
Have you looked at the Astros DL list? The Red Sox rotation has questions as well. The distance between the Cubs/Dodgers and the AL teams is not a huge difference.
If you don't consider Houston and Boston have more than double the run differential the Cubs do, I guess not.
Then the season should be over after the ALCS then. I wonder what the difference in run differential was between the Indians and Cubs in 2016?
Not if he is so disruptive in the clubhouse...
Then the season should be over after the ALCS then. I wonder what the difference in run differential was between the Indians and Cubs in 2016?
I think the gap is pretty large, but not nearly large enough to make a 7-game series anything except a crapshoot. That’s just baseball.
Bleacher Nation
@BleacherNation
3m3 minutes ago
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The Cubs have 4 of the top 7 hit probability balls in play in this game. None are hits.
Ball 3 to Rizzo was a strike at the letters; it's like the strike zone ends at the belt with umpires these days.
Any Cardinals fans watching right now are probably yelling at their TV screens because Martinez brought in Holland and has left him in to give the Cubs the lead.
So, why did they trade away Kinzler? had they given up on the season already, or did they just not like him?
Washington bullpen seems really vulnerable. But they are only 5.5 games out, 4.5 wildcard.
Had they been in giveup mode when they traded Kinzler? Or do they have clubhouse problems and he was a guy they didn't want in the mix? Just seems weird.
Whatever the metrics say about his framing, very few catchers ever have been able to make the plays Contreras can.Sometimes I think Contreras is too conscious of framing and he jerks the ball into the strike zone so violently that it's obvious. Sometimes he jerks so much he loses actual strikes.
Sometimes I think Contreras is too conscious of framing and he jerks the ball into the strike zone so violently that it's obvious. Sometimes he jerks so much he loses actual strikes.
Strop! K's Turner on a diving slider. Cubs win!And with one word, craig reveals his Debbie Downer true personality.
That was a really unexpected good comeback win.
And with one word, craig reveals his Debbie Downer true personality.
There's a special place in hell reserved for this thread and its negativity.Hold a spot for us, Dusty.
I hope the people who talk **** about the Cubs realize that they arent really Cub fans and choke on a big one when they come from behind and win.
I even saw Wml who posts 3 times a year say he looked forward to watching the shitty ass Bears because the Cubs sucked.
The Cubs who have the best record in the National League...
I even saw Wml who posts 3 times a year say he looked forward to watching the shitty ass Bears because the Cubs sucked.
I am glad the Bears season is starting. This team is so frustrating to watch.
This team is horrible.
It's the Chili Davis approach. He and Hickey have both been big disappointments after all the talk about how great they were in the offseason.
Nationals are going to win with one single.
Well, we can be fairly certain that the Cubs will score two runs this inning.
He's no Kris Bryant.
Imagine this is the reaction after that result. What a ****
We will destroy Scherzer.Clearly Scherzer does not read this board.
I love them all. That’s the point. If this contrarian troll thing hasn’t run its course after a World Series title and three straight NLCS appearances that’s sick.
In the highlight of Bote's grand slam they show Bryce Harper walking off the field smiling.I went back and watched. You could hardly call it a smile or even a grin. If he was smiling, I don't want him.
He's already a Cub.
:'(
br doesn't read my posts.
No...Bote was not inserted into the lineup as a pitcher.That's an old baseball joke I'm surprised you haven't heard before.
BOTE!!! Cubs legend.
It's been a while since they've played a day game on a Tuesday, hasn't it?And it is followed by a day game on Wednesday.
Seriously, Joe - you’re not gonna start him after that finish?
Quintana blows. This is just not the same guy. Or the landscape has changed so dramatically with damn near everyone throwing 97.
Zobrist ejected between innings...went back to the plate to have a few more words with Cuzzi...Kelly Crull @Kelly_Crull 16m16 minutes ago
If it works why change?
Contreras caught a really funny foul-strike-three. Fouled, went off his glove, knee, chest protector, and he got it one the rebound.Which, as JD mentioned, was only permitted because it hit glove first...
Nice. Two 1-0 games in a row. I wish we had gotten Hamels a long time ago. 7 double plays. What's the record!
Another excellent effort by Hamels.
Why did Joe pull Cishek for Chavez? Arm finally fall off?
Dickerson walk, Marte GIDP in the first.
Prediction: Cubs come back and win this one. Just a hunch.
Prediction: Cubs come back and win this one. Just a hunch.
Cubs could become the first team in the live-ball era to score exactly one run on a homer in four consecutive games.
The Twins bashed 13 baseballs out of the park in four games with Detroit, with nine different players doing the damage, an audacious display for a team that ranks 12th in the AL in long balls. And they spread them out over the weekend, launching at least three in all four games.
Did not come into play that inning but from @ESPNStatsInfo : As of this moment, the Cubs have a .146 BA with runners in scoring position in August, worst in MLB. The Padres are 29th at .216. Yikes.
Hope Murphy caught the non-stop.
Sahadev Sharma
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@sahadevsharma
2h2 hours ago
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On Aug 1, Willson Contreras went 3-for-4 with a double and a homer. Since then he has zero extra-base hits and is slashing .152/.250/.152 in 52 plate appearances.
Offense is dead again tonight through 3 innings. Cubs trail 1-0.
Contreras with some really boneheaded base running, thrown out by 20 feet at third with no outs on a Happ single.
Looks like Lester had his second solid outing in a row, eh?
Didn’t see the game, but “solid” seems about as effusive as one would be based on the numbers.
Caratini's framing numbers are bad this season, though Contreras' are still the worst in MLB by a comfortable margin.
Average exit velocity on the five Reds hits tonight has been 69.6 mph. Rarely do you see a team get more lucky hits than they have tonight.
He definitely has a chance to finish this one. 83 pitches through 7, he's cruising, and the bottom of the lineup should be pretty easy to go through next inning.
If Murphy had made a better throw in the first and the umpire hadn't made him through those 7 extra pitches in the 4th, he might be around 70 pitches right now and on his way to a Maddux.
Worked out. Doesn't make it smart.
Home run call overruled as the ball hit the end of one of the posts that holds up the basket.
I'd have kinda liked to have seen Zobrist get a shot to get a hit and drive the run in.
What's embarrassing about the K's is that they are all called thirds. I'm not sure they were all strikes, but they were ALL too close to take.
This is where Baez has a heavy tendency to press and try to blow Lake Michigan away with his swings.
Schwarber hit one down the line just foul. Pops out to left. Having a couple of .230's hitters in the middle of the lineup is kind of tough.
Of course, this means Bote sits on the bench tomorrow.
I assume so, RHP, right?LOL No, just seems like heroes sit the following day. Bote did after the Grand Slam.
I don't know why they had to add the loud crashing sounds to the video
https://youtu.be/dvE17WzmY_M
Except that he didn't actually catch it. He tried snaring it with his hat, but I believe the ball ended up on Waveland.
There aren't a ton of teams in the NL who needed Murphy when you look at the contenders. The Rockies are really the only team where it's inexplicable why they let him go by. Coors Field hides that their offense is pretty terrible outside of Blackmon and Arenado. LeMahieu is fine too, so they probably don't want to replace him...but Murphy can play first base. They have no one who plays 1B who they can't afford to lose and/or move to one of the non-Blackmon outfield spots.
Other than the Rockies, though, who has room for him? The Braves, Phillies, and Dodgers are all set on the right half of the infield. The Brewers already have 2-3 first basemen and 3 players to cover 2B/3B--they don't have the ABs for him. I guess maybe he could fit with the Diamondbacks or Cardinals, but neither team has a critical need.
Of course, this means Bote sits on the bench tomorrow.
Whether or not they needed him, or whether or not they even had a place for him in the starting line up, it was extremely foolish, in my opinion for both St Louis and Milwaukee to pass on Murphy. The key point is that the CUBS needed him, and either team could have prevented the Cubs from getting him with the expenditure of about 4 million dollars, or about 3 percent of their payroll costs for the year. It wouldn't even have cost them a Monestario-level prospect, since they did not have to offer any deal to the waiving team. If they wouldn't sell him for the waiver price, they could not trade him at all.Not sure I agree 100%, Dave. I think the Brewers and Cardinals misjudged the situation and thought the Cubs would be looking at pitchers, not hitters. They knew Bryant was coming back, we had a backup of Russell for short, Bote was playing well, and we had both Happ and Zobrist to fill second and other positions. Murphy appeared to be a luxury. I'm sure they were surprised that the Cubs claimed him.
Baez with a mini-Sosa hop on his homer, 6-2.
And Heyward has had a nice season offensively, however, I'm always amazed seeing him in the lineup between 2 - 5 in the order. Can't imagine seeing Heyward hit between 2-5 makes opposing managers unhappy.
Thanks, Jeff, that's helpful. So, if several teams post a claim, and it's revocable waivers,
1. then the Nationals (Murphy) or Reds (Harvey) can only talk to the worst claimant?
2. If the worst claimant doesn't actually make a deal, do they have the option of then redacting their claim, *IF* they wanted to do a favor to the selling team?
3. What if a team claims, but the seller doesn't even ask for any prospect, and just wants to offload the salary; is the claimant obligated to take the player and his salary? (I assume so? The seller can revoke the waiver if they don't like the return; but if they're fine even with a Monasterio, if you claim you can't assume you won't end up with the guy and his salary, correct?) .
I'm kinda wondering if Murphy and Harvey and some other pitcher are all on waivers at the same time, if Brewers might be hesitant to claim them all? For example, what if Nats, Reds, and Twins coordinate so that Murphy, Harvey, and Odorizzi are all waived; if Brewers claim them all, might they get stuck with 3 salaries and 3 roster spots? So maybe they had to choose between blocking on Harvey or blocking on Murphy, but couldn't block them both? (I have no idea, just rambling concepts.....)
You're suggesting Darvish is the Cubs' best starter?
I'll always love Jason Heyward for his leadership (particularly after 9 innings of 2016 WS Game 7), his defense and his base running; however, I just do NOT get him as our #3 hitter. That makes ZERO sense to me.
Ump really cost the Cubs in that inning too. Bruce's ball 4 should have been strike three and Frazier would have been thrown out at second.
Caratini is fine as a backup catcher.
So the suspended game will start with 0-2 count on Conforto? I take it only Cishek (of all the pitchers that pitched) can pitch, but he would have to start the suspended game to do so.Someone who was added to the roster to take the place of an injured or demoted player would be eligible.
Someone who was added to the roster to take the place of an injured or demoted player would be eligible.
What if that injured player was already subbed out last night? Would the new replacement player be eligible to play?
Still no answer to this question?
I have been trying to find the answer on ArizonaPhil's site, but haven't been able to do it, so this is from my memory so take it for what it is worth.
As I remember it, if the player was a direct replacement for the injured one (he replaced him on the roster when he was DLed, then he could not come into the game.
what happened on Fraziers 2nd at bat ESPN has it between innings....Ok MLB.com has it as Conforto got picked off...
What does Joe do if we get to the postseason with Montgomery clearly a better SP than Quintana?
What the hell was Heyward diving for that for? That was clearly getting down.
Quintana looks pretty terrible. Two-pitch pitcher, nibbling like crazy, no real out pitch.
Lester's a 13-year vet with plenty of success. I doubt Hickey has somehow ruined him. He's probably just slipping. Chatwood's about what he was. Quintana's had an off year, but then he wasn't very good for the White Sox last year either. Hendricks has lost velocity since 2016 and battles as much as he can with it. Hamels is suddenly resurgent since arriving. My guess is Hickey has little to do with any of their performances.Then who the hell do we blame?
Lester's a 13-year vet with plenty of success. I doubt Hickey has somehow ruined him. He's probably just slipping. Chatwood's about what he was. Quintana's had an off year, but then he wasn't very good for the White Sox last year either. Hendricks has lost velocity since 2016 and battles as much as he can with it. Hamels is suddenly resurgent since arriving. My guess is Hickey has little to do with any of their performances.
Then who the hell do we blame?Ed Lynch
Lester's a 13-year vet with plenty of success. I doubt Hickey has somehow ruined him. He's probably just slipping. Chatwood's about what he was. Quintana's had an off year, but then he wasn't very good for the White Sox last year either. Hendricks has lost velocity since 2016 and battles as much as he can with it. Hamels is suddenly resurgent since arriving. My guess is Hickey has little to do with any of their performances.
Mrs Chris27 must be posting because this is downright reasonable.
Q is significantly worse than he was (K rate down, GB rate down, BB rate up, HR rate up, etc.), and the notion that he “wasn’t very good with the White Sox” is laughable. He was basically Jon Lester 2.0. Yes, Hendricks’ velocity is down, but that’s some thing pitching coaches can and do help with, as evidenced by the great piece in the Athletic recently on the changes Hamels made to his mechanics while with the Rangers in order to regain his velocity and success.
Just based on the box score, it would appear that Quintana had a very good game tonight. Is that the case?
Joe wanted Schwarber to have a full day of rest. Which means he has given up a chance to win both of the last two days to get guys rest. Gutsy, with Cardinals playing nobody the next two weeks.Didn't we win yesterday?
If he continues to pitch like this the Cubs need to consider re-signing him.
Phillies manager Gabe Kapler was not happy, particularly when veteran umpire Joe West confiscated an information card from reliever Austin Davis in the eighth inning.
Kapler said Davis was using the card merely for information on the Cubs hitters. But West said it was illegal under Rule 6.02(c)(7), which states that the pitcher shall not have on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance.
"I told him we don't allow him to carry anything on their glove, person or clothing except in some cases where there's a rain situation we allow them to put a rosin bag in their pocket," West, umpiring his 41st season, said. "Other than that they can't have anything on the pitcher."
The card didn't appear to help though, as Bryant singled to right on the first pitch after Davis consulted it. West then took it prior to Davis striking out pinch-hitter Addison Russell.
"I think it's actually a really good thing for baseball," Kapler said. "I don't really quite understand this one."
West called the league office after the game and admitted the use of the card may be in a gray area.
"I didn't want to throw him out," West said. "I know it's foreign but he's not trying to cheat. Maybe he's trying to get an advantage because he's reading the scouting report, but it wasn't pine tar, it wasn't an emery board, it wasn't whatever.
"In the long run, maybe they'll let him (have the card). Right now, my hands are tied until they say yes or now. Right now, until the office says it's OK to carry this, he can't do it."
Strange that a 20-year-old might gain velocity.
It would be like 2015 Hendricks averaging 91 instead of 89.
Yes, pitchers often gain velocity in their 20's. That was my point. Nola was rather wiry in college. Not surprising as he became more of a man he got stronger.
Just for laughs, I was reading the 2014 draft topic in the archives this morning. Some of you really did not like Nola at #4.
Good call...
The certainty and arrogance is something to beholdThanks!
Thanks!
Not sure I get the comparison. Hendricks was never a hard thrower at all. Even at his peak he was 88-90. Nola was 91-93 in college. I was a big fan and mentioned his early minor league results here.
No, I meant in that thread hahaHeh, yeah, I knew that...I was saying that and agreeing with you, LOL...
Nola wasn’t 91-93.
Nice job getting to Nola today.
De La Rosa as a Cub:
11-7-1-1-3-11
Happ is like the Facts of Life. You take the good, you take the bad.
New pickup Terrance Gore in to pinch run and he promptly steals second.Lester Strode now has 00 after Cole Hamels took his #35
He's such a well-known name that I would never have guessed his lifetime hit total, which is zero.
And he used to wear number zero; this would have been a golden opportunity to have the first-ever Cub wearing number 0.
Lester Strode now has 00 after Cole Hamels took his #35
You can have both, though; can't you? The Blue Jays used to have Al Oliver wearing 0 and somebody else with 00.If you can have 1 and 11, I don't see why not.
Top of 1:
Cubs first. Murphy flied out to center fielder Cain. J.Báez singled to right. Rizzo singled to center, J.Báez to third. On center fielder Cain's fielding error, J.Báez scored. Bryant flied out to center fielder Cain. Schwarber struck out.
Runs: 1, Hits: 2
I would guess because Baez didn't score on Bryant's fly ball.The catcher tries to pick off a runner at third and throws the ball into left field. The runner easily scores and the run is unearned because of the bad throw.
I would guess because Baez didn't score on Bryant's fly ball.Now I see you were referring to the RBI. It's an interesting catch-22.
How good Justin Wilson has been this season:
https://www.bleachernation.com/2018/09/04/justin-wilson-quietly-excellent-again/
Z has been brutal from the right side. Might be a good AB to move the runner along.
Almora with a sub .560 OPS post All-Star in 100-plus AB. Yikes
Awful KB
This is pathetic. 4-1 on another Russell error.
Man, if Maples ever somehow harnesses it, he could be amazing. I've never seen movement like he gets on his slider.
I hope the "real" Cubs show up tonight!
Shameful they haven’t won every game. Should have clinched in JulyAnd now they’ve even had the nerve to lose their first series since July. What a bunch of underachieving losers!
Would be nice to somehow win this game today, take the wind out of the Brewer's sails a little. The match up doesn't look good though. Quintana vs Chacin, who has been the Brewers best starter this year.
Murphy is not that good on defense. That Aguilar grounder is routine for Baez, and is usually made by Zobrist.
Murphy can do that though
Murphy can do that though
Kyle why
Murphy can do that though
Not only does Schwarber get screwed by umps, he gets screwed by Statcast too.I thought that as well...435? Come on!
I thought that as well...435? Come on!
Quintana doesn't have much stuff and doesn't have the best control either, but man he's a really crafty guy. Veteran lefty guile and all that stuff. Got to give him credit for having nothing to work with and still being able to get by as an average guy.
Edwards warming. Ha!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The glove tap was the difference.
Bryant gets Cain without the glove tap.
Not only does Schwarber get screwed by umps, he gets screwed by Statcast too.I think that was just the first leg of the journey.
You're coaching a Little League team and tell your base runners to always pick up the the base coach. One of them replies "But coach, Javier Baez never does that". How do you convince him otherwise?
Cubs trivia - JD just plugged Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse saying it is Ryne Sandberg's favorite restaurant.
How long is the bar at the restaurant?
You're coaching a Little League team and tell your base runners to always pick up the the base coach. One of them replies "But coach, Javier Baez never does that". How do you convince him otherwise?
Cubs can't do anything else after the Schwarber walk.
Three innings against the Nationals bullpen, though. 4 runs won't win this game.
3-2 Nationals on a Reynolds homer.
Guess the Nationals aren't going to roll over like they did the last two days.
Javy with another K. Looks like he's in one of his bad streaks again.
.904 OPS in August, .905 coming in for September.
Does it seem as if Chavez' velocity is down the last couple of appearances?
If the gamecast is right Chavez' velo is definitely down.
Everything on Gamecast was 90-92.Turn your frown upside down. Chatty will turn it on soon and become our hero! And flowers will grow out of Davep's butt.
Edwards is, as usual for autumn, broken. If we go into the postseason with Edwards unusable and Morrow hurt, the bullpen gets very thin very quickly.
Turn your frown upside down. Chatty will turn it on soon and become our hero! And flowers will grow out of Davep's butt.
Turn your frown upside down. Chatty will turn it on soon and become our hero! And flowers will grow out of Davep's butt.
Hopefully they get rained out and don't schedule any make up.
Whatever happened to the spirit of Ernie Banks, "Let's play two!" We're the fricken Chicago Cubs. We have more brass, more depth, more moxy, more talent than anybody. This gives more guys a chance to play and show why they should be in on the playoff roster. It gives Lester extra rest. It gives us a chance to win two in one day and crush the Brewer and Cardinal hopes. Go Cubs.
Whatever happened to the spirit of Ernie Banks, "Let's play two!" We're the fricken Chicago Cubs. We have more brass, more depth, more moxy, more talent than anybody. This gives more guys a chance to play and show why they should be in on the playoff roster. It gives Lester extra rest. It gives us a chance to win two in one day and crush the Brewer and Cardinal hopes. Go Cubs.
Just to play devil's advocate - I wonder if you'd consider throwing Hamels out there against Scherzer, on the premise that if you can steal that game, even Garcia-Chatwood might be able to outlast TBA and you could sweep. Maybe it would be more likely if we were 4 back instead of 4 up.
Hopefully the Cubs can shake this off and salvage the second game. And hopefully MLB will do the right thing and call tomorrow's game early if it still looks like it's going to rain all day. Cubs are on fumes, and I'm worried the Brewers series could turn really ugly.Today's second game is no certainty either.
What are you hacking at Happ? Idiot
I still don't remember anything but fastballs tonight.
Nice Caratini bat flip.
Amazing bat flip by Caratini, by the way.Sqru u, br
Here's his breakdown: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?game_pk=531512&type=away_pitchers&chart_view=pitch&chart_type=sbp&inning=&count=&batter_hand=&pitcher_hand=&filter=
Almost all fastballs.
Incidentally, Len and Jim are the best in the business. Not even close.
Adrian Sanchez was hitting .174/.174/.217 coming into today. He's crushed the ball in pretty much every PA in both games and is the only reason this game is in doubt right now. How does that happen?
Incidentally, Len and Jim are the best in the business. Not even close.I think the same is true of Pat Hughes. And Coomer is pretty darn good as a color guy as well. I can’t get over the difference when I listen to just about anyone else’s radio team.
And they'll probably have to face Scherzer on Thursday.Don't forget the four game sweep the Reds pulled off in May.
This debacle of a weekend and its fallout is going to cost the Cubs the division.
The Nationals play a night game in Philadelphia Wednesday night before flying to Chicago for the 3:05 game at Wrigley.
Let's hope for a lengthy rain delay in Philly.
Wait - what? The game is in D.C. isn’t it?Now I get it.
Hurricane Florence is likely to make shore on Thursday. Scheduling a game in DC on that day seems pretty dumb.Worst case scenario: The Cubs get there, sit through another lengthy rain delay and a postponement, and then can't fly out because the airports are closed.
Best case scenario is that the forecast is bad enough that they’re never asked to make the trip.
If they don't reschedule the Thursday game, the Cubs should consider forfeiting rather than traveling to DC.
Good advice from Rozner: https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20180909/rozner-you-might-want-to-enjoy-this-era-of-chicago-cubs-baseball
I have never been a Rozner fan, but this is an excellent column. We should all take his advice to heart.
I have never been a Rozner fan, but this is an excellent column. We should all take his advice to heart.Ron, this is almost as good as when P2 posted it.
I would imagine the Cubs will try to move the starting time of Friday's game.Are they allowed Friday night games? Isn't that part of the deal?
I would imagine the Cubs will try to move the starting time of Friday's game.Maybe the will Astro them to a game Thursday at Milwaukee.
Why burn Schwarber? Let him hit
Cubs chasing 33% this game. For perspective they've chased pitches out of the zone 31% since Aug. 1, highest in baseball. Even higher tonight.
Cubs lose.
Enjoy the next 24 hours, because it'll be the last 24 hours the Cubs will be in first place alone this year.
SMH...
Surely we aint gonna collapse...are we?
Calling on Edwards instead of Chavez is the dumb move of the season. So predictable what happened. I don't even blame Edwards. He just doesn't have enough confidence to trust his stuff.
Get 'em tomorrow.
Joe’s defense on the Schwarber move is that his back was bothering him and he wasn’t hitting either way, but it was a decoy to get Hader in for Bote.
A decoy. To get Hader into the game faster.
I think Contreras earns it pretty easily if he gets a little recovery time. Caratini is a pretty crappy receiver too, and he doesn't have Willson's throwing arm or athleticism.
And until the last week or two, Caratini has been an awful hitter.
Nice win, what a fine game by Quintana. And what a nice job by De La Rosa, 1-2-3. Getting BOTH Cain and Yelich, was almost unbelievable! Russell play was incredible.
Nice to scrap out a win.
I hope Bryant gets his shoulder fixed over the offseason and is good again next year. This year has been like watching the hitter version of Mark Prior's 2004.
Back when Quintana was good, did he have good secondary pitches? His curve and change don't seem that "elite-WAR-guy" caliber nowadays, either in movement or in control-ability.
Painful watching Rizzo run
5-1. This team has completely collapsed...and they don't get an off day for another week.
They'll be 3 games back by the time they finally get an off day.
Turner lines to Rizzo to end the second.End of three.
Edwards coming in. Hopefully the good Edwards.
Once again Wilson gets the last out in relief of CJ. On to the 8th.
How so?
I don't have a problem with any of Joe's moves so far today.
Joe has to be relieved.
I hope Strop is okay. Would be devastating to lose him.I didn’t see the game, but looking at the box score Strop had already pitched 1-2/3. Was Joe really going to go nearly 3 innings with him?
I didn’t see the game, but looking at the box score Strop had already pitched 1-2/3. Was Joe really going to go nearly 3 innings with him?I believe so. I don't think he was seriously bringing in Rosario and La Stella was still available to hit.
I didn’t see the game, but looking at the box score Strop had already pitched 1-2/3. Was Joe really going to go nearly 3 innings with him?
21 pitches is high for a closer/set up guy who is accustomed to throwing only 1 inning. Trying to stretch him for a another inning, against the heart of the line up, with a 1 run lead was doomed to fail one way or another. Colossally boneheaded move.You mean similar to the same move with Chapman in the '16 Series?
Fantastic job by Rosario.Yeah, but that guy's opinion isn't worth much.
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MRI for Strop reveals a moderate left hamstring strain. That rules him out for the rest of the regular season. He'll be re-evaluated after that.
It would be his 4th in a row I think.
He was off Wednesday and 1/3 IP yesterday. All hands on deck I’d think.
That’s not a good lineup.
4th K of Bryant.
I'd say move him well down in the lineup but nobody else is doing anything either.
Bryant just isn't going to be Bryant the rest of this year--his shoulder is hurt, so he's not a power threat. It's probably going to take offseason surgery to get him back to being himself.
He did come into today hitting .300/.400/.429 in 50 PA since coming off the DL, though.
Bryant just isn't going to be Bryant the rest of this year--...Yeah, a high-K guy like Bryant with no HR-power, not sure how functional he's going to be. Probably not going to very much good and help much.
Yeah, a high-K guy like Bryant with no HR-power, not sure how functional he's going to be. Probably not going to very much good and help much.
Please confirm this is sarcasm.
This offense...with one inning left in a series against one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball, they've scored a total of 5 runs.
If they hadn't won those two games, they would have lost.
I wouldn't characterize Almora or Russell as terrible vs. LHP. Not real good, but not terrible.
Is that vs. LHP?
Bote also has pronounced splits. In limited ABs, he has mashed LHP.
Cubs are still ahead of 24th-place San Diego in HR's.
Corbin K's the side on 11 pitches.
Bryant with a really good AB, single to RF. First and third, no outs.
Bryant really should be leading off until he starts hitting for power again. He works the count, gets on base, and runs the bases well.
Yeah, Yelich is MVP...
DeGrom has my vote
DeGrom has my vote
Grace called the attempted steal "unsmart." What he wanted to say was WTF was that you dumbass?Goldschmidt was expecting "defensive indifference".
Yelich probably is the front-runner for MVP and he's been sensational, particularly in the 2nd half!
However, considering Javy's defense, versatility and base running, as well as his hitting/power and the TREMENDOUS energy he brings to the Cubs, he should be right there with Yelich.
Assuming one of Cubs or Brewers wins the Central and that both guys continue to do what they've been doing, my guess is that whichever team wins the division will have the MVP.
Or not
Also, I bet the Brewers and their fans aren't happy about that lineup. I know I wouldn't like it if the Reds were benching Votto, Suarez, Gennett, and Peraza tonight against the Brewers.
JD: He grunts like Monica Seles.
Who was the Cubs pitcher who was also known for grunting? Clue - he played for a lot of other teams.
Apparently some friction between upper management and Joe over his handling of the pitchers. Interesting.What prompted this? Any links or source for why you think this?
Should Marrow have pitched in the Mets game? No. Was it the cause of the injury? Maybe.
If pitching three days in a row once (including one 2 pitch appearance) broke Morrow, then the front office and Joe are at least equally to blame. If he's that fragile, don't sign him.
Outside of Baez's homer, it also looks like bad offense tonight.
Two hitters and a hitting coach--top of the front office's shopping list this offseason.
Hamels has some atoning to do. I'm with him, let's get it done.
How many games in a row is that against the Pirates with only a solo homer?
RD since the break has to be negative at this point.
I can't imagine Theo will be keeping Chili after this year but the real problem is that so many in this lineup are inconsistent. World beaters one day, clueless the next. I know all players have their struggles but this offense is more Jekyll and Hyde than any in the league. Something has to change, preferably the hitting coach and some of this line up.
It's possible the 2016 World Series champions were overachievers who happened to be in the right place at the right time and what we are seeing now is who they really are.
Diaz replaces Cervelli behind the plate for the Pirates Wednesday night.Pirates are toast.
For those of you not watching the game...
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180927/bf284d34744a188a93f62d35913aff0a.jpg)
The problem is pitching.
I feel like any time I've followed a Pirates game against the Brewers or Cardinals this year, Steven Brault has blown up. He's in for the 8th against the Cubs, and immediately gets a swinging bunt back to the mound.
Bartman got a lot of crap he didn't deserve. That guy though...man, how dumb do you have to be to try to catch that ball?
Almora taking the 2 out AB. We'll be going to the 11th in a minute.We are?
That’s one of the most deflating wins in franchise history.
This might be the dumbest thing ever written.
Shocking, Almora 0-2 single wins the game.
He had a Cubs cap on...LOL Bistro was better looking. And he was probably up in a box.
Maybe it was bistro?
This seems like the pivotal day of the weekend for me. If we manage to win and keep the lead going into Saturday, the pressure shifts to Milwaukee (not to mention forcing them to win tonight). If we're tied, all the pressure is squarely on us.
Yeah, if you take away all the Cubs bad games and the Dodgers good games, we actually have a better run differential. So it's meaningless...
Hendricks is through 4 innings on 46 pitches, Cubs still lead 2-0. He's in pretty good shape to go deep into this game.
Cubs offense has been shut down since the first, though. Heyward/Bryant/Contreras due in the bottom of the 4th, so not an ideal group to change that.
McCarver not pleased with Bader getting picked down 3...And with Wainwright at the plate.
Waiting for comments about Bolte/Murphy/Zobrist.....
Hendricks walks!And, of course, with rain and cool temps he does not put on a jacket.
Why didn't Bote tag up on either of the fly balls to Ozuna?
Happy to get that sixth run, but these umps seem to think that strike zone doesn't go much above the belt.
Lester and Hendricks have both come through big time the last couple of days. Hopefully Hamels will follow suit tomorrow, and the offense will do it's part as well.
Bryant didn't line into a DP, it was a 5-4-3.
It's incredible that it has come down to the last day of the season. It is obviously huge for us to win today to avoid being a wildcard team if the Brewers win, and to avoid a game to determine the Division winner if the Brewers lose. The recent vintage Cubs have given us lots of reasons to have faith in them, and I expect us to win today. Go Cubs!
This is the biggest regular-season game we've played in... decades? Just win, Cubs; just win!
This is the biggest regular-season game we've played in... decades? Just win, Cubs; just win!
With 8-2 lead and full-count on Bader, Contreras called for fastball and set target about 6-8 inches off the plate. Mills didn't miss the target by much, and of course walked Bader.
Is the pitcher supposed to throw to the target? Or are catchers expected to always exaggerate the target, so that it's easier to smoothly pull the glove toward the middle and do better at framing?
That hit the target and was a strike.
https://twitter.com/CubsUmp/status/1046510446646382593
I assume tomorrow counts as a regular game and allows for carrying 40 active guys?Yes, and stats count towards the regular season too.
That was the 1-2 pitch. On 3-2, Contreras set the glove well off the plate, and Mills walked the guy.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Doby7mfUcAAqV5S.jpg:small)
Isn't Ditka the current record holder for the worst "Take me out to the ballgame" rendition ever?
I'd vote for Ozzy. At least Ditka had the excuse of being late, as I recall.Any list would have to include Cyndi Lauper and Jeff Gordon.
How do you delay the TV without delaying the audio?
Pitching to him? This is...an interesting decision by Joe.Ryan Braun is 6-29 vs Quintana so it should have been a no-brainer.
Ryan Braun is 6-29 vs Quintana so it should have been a no-brainer.
Hey, guys, there are some hits in the opposite field. . . .
Separate feed. Playing mlbtv on my phone for audio.
Thanks.
I don't think you can let Quintana face Braun and Aguilar a third time with a runner already on base. If he'd gotten Yelich, maybe you give him a shot until someone gets on.
This is why Quintana was pulled:
Christopher Kamka @ckamka
Quintana this season - times through order (entering today)
1st time - .254/.324/.415
2nd time - .188/.261/.372
3rd time - .326/.411/.522
Joe's exact words were "pick your poison" when considering Yelich vs. Braun...
Only 15 pitches for Chavez, let him pitch the 8th too.
I still can't believe they pitched to Yelich with a runner on third in the 3rd inning. Almost a fireable offense.
Congrats to the Brewers. I guess they are the better team. Despite significantly less talent on paper and $90M less in payroll.If you were at Wrigley, would you be leaving the park now?
Stack it up against losing Strop for the season the way he did, though. Priorities.
Should be an interesting offseason...
If by some miracle we get out of this only down a run, I think we find a way to tie it up.
If not, Wild Card, here we come.
I hope they get swept.
Definitely a part of me that says it'd be almost better to lose tomorrow. We have little to no chance of getting through the NL playoffs with this roster, it'd save that much more abuse on the pitchers that matter and possibly be a little more forceful in terms of making management take a hard look at where this team needs to make changes,
They're obviously inconsistent on offense. But they're capable of getting on a roll and today would be a good time for that to start. And I wouldn't count us out against any of the NL playoff teams.
I think Joe is on thin ice here. The decision about the 2019 manager has definitely not been made.
Doesn't Joe's contract go through 2019?
No matter what happens today...they need to sign Kimbrel (big bucks) and push Morrow and Strop back it the 7th and 8th..They tried to revamp the pen this year...not the right parts...Edwards probably needs a change of scenerio...or else he is Jason GrimmII
No Carl Edwards, Jr
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dog3hiiU8Acdjex.jpg:small)
11 pitchers and 14 position players. And no jersey numbers over 50!What I miss is when players had colorful nicknames and weren't known as Anthony, David, Daniel, Albert, Victor, and Terrance.
I miss when it was like this all season long!
These ESPN broadcasters are sharp. It is there belief that, in light of the charges against Addison Russell, he may well not appear in the post season games.
That may have been the game, right there.
Why on earth would O throw anything near the strike zone there?
Didn't Saint Theo put this roster together? Didn't he sign Darvish and Chatwood, plus give Heyward 188M?
Shouldn't he be taking more heat than Madden?
This is excruciating. But I can't look away...
Heyward with a really weak grounder, 1 out.
Great game. Good season.
The Cubs have been to 4 straight playoffs for the first time ever. The lost what should have been there best pitcher, closer, best position player to injuries. Rizzo sucked because of his back in the first half, Russell sucked because of injuries and then is likely gone because of suspension. This team still almost pulled off the best record in the NL until they had to play everyday for almost two months. It freaking took Yelich impersonating Barry Bonds for the Brewers to catch the Cubs.Amen.
The Cubs are fine. I hope the add Harper or Machado, but the doom of some people on this board is rediculous.
We were almost MLB leaders in getting shut out or scoring 1 run
I'm a moderate on this, but "the Cubs are just fine" seems like whistling through the graveyard to me. It's pretty clear that the offense, as is, isn't working. We were almost MLB leaders in getting shut out or scoring 1 run, and that was just a worse version of a big problem from last year. The bullpen has been a dumpster fire going into the playoffs (including '16) every year, whether you want to blame the front office or the manager.
The Cubs are clearly a good team in a weak NL, but they have a lot of holes that can't simply be excused away by a few injuries and a rough schedule.