Cubs 2, Cardinals 1 (4/19/16)

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius125 Comments

OSS: Cubs grind out PAs and chase Jaime Garcia early, and Jason Hammel takes care of the rest.

Three up

  1. This makes two games in a row where Hammel was both the Cubs leader in offensive and pitching WPA. Hammel struck out six and didn't walk anyone over six innings, though he did have one HBP. He got into and out of a number of jams, most notably in the fourth inning. The Cardinals had runners on second and third and nobody out but got Grichuk to pop out, followed by Heyward gunning down Matt Holliday at home on a potential sac fly to end the inning. Hammel also drove in both of the Cubs runs with a bases-clogged single in the fourth, which was all the Cubs needed. 
  2. Heyward's start at the plate has been pretty brutal by most stats other than statcast's batted ball velcoty, but there's nothing wrong with his glove. Prior to the above-mentioned play at the plate, Heyward nearly gunned down Adams at second base after playing a perfect bounce of the corner at Busch. He would have had him if Russell had gotten a good handle on the ball. 
  3. Pedro Strop was the Cubs second-biggest WPA contributor on the day, which was also nice to see. You got the sense in yesterday's game that Maddon put him in to get his toes wet after all the meatball commentary about Strop having trouble pitching in Busch. Today Maddon put Strop into the fire in the eighth with one on and nobody out. Strop got two strikeouts and forced a groundout from Matt Holliday. Hopefully we can put this dumb storyline to rest.

     

     

     

    3a. Len and JD's developing obsession with the number of time Jaime Garcia went to the rosin bag and/or the dirt had me cracking up today. 

Three down

  1. The Cardinals only run came on a Yadier Molina 'triple' resulting from Jorge Soler badly misplaying a deep fly ball. Maybe he lost it in the lights or something, but he hit the wall a few feet away from where the ball landed and collapsed to the warning track. Luckily he wasn't hurt. It certainly makes you appreciate the insane defensive play of Heyward in RF.
  2. Miguel Montero must have run over home plate umpire Gerry Davis's dog on the way to the ballpark. He had multiple strike calls on pitches way outside, the worst of which was his strikeout in the seventh which was both low *and* outside. I don't think framing could even be credited for that one.
  3. There was a scary moment in the seventh where Baez appeard to be hit in the wrist by a pitch, but luckily turned out to be okay. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes a break the next few days though. The Cardinals successfully challenged the play, seeing/hearing that the ball hit the end of the bat first before hitting Baez, which felt like a kind of dick move, and the probably still very sore Baez had to go back to the plate, where he ended up striking out. This isn't a situation that crops up that often (and clearly not at all historically), but you'd think a situation like this would be as unwritten rule-y as giving. say, an umpire that took a foul tip to the face or nuts some leeway. 

Next game

Cubs go for the sweep at 12:45 PM CT, Hendricks vs Martinez. The weather forecast is fairly dicey for most of the afternoon, so we'll see if they manage to squeeze this one in. Rain delays seem like a great time to have as many long men in the pen as the Cubs have now.

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  13. cerulean

    dmick89: I had to flip this one off. (dying laughing)

    Of all the things to finger, I have trouble fingering out why you would finger that one. Even diminutive Cubbies are nothing to be trifled with without some sort of protection. Them be trouble.

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  42. umbra

    Suburban kid:
    Surely there’s a lineup or game thread to stop this madness

    To-day’s base ball squadron
    Fowler
    Jason Fowler
    Dexter Zobrist
    Anthony Dexxo
    Kris Bryler
    Tommy La Stella
    Miguel Montowler
    Javier Baex
    Kyle Hendrexter

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  45. Author
    berselius

    umbra,

    I think wp default is that only people with admin access can post images for security reasons. dm usually fixes it when people point this out, but whenever there’s an update it reverts.

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  49. dmick89

    umbra,

    That’s on my short list to fix. I just haven’t gotten around to it. Sorry about that.

    Regarding images, WP automatically updates itself and writes over that file I edit to allow images. I don’t know when it updates. Apparently it has since the last time. It’s pretty simple to edit, but I’m. Not at my computer to get it done. Will do so this evening.

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  61. Author
    berselius

    The Cardinals must have realized that they’re up against the Five Back Rule, and if they lose this game they might as well punt their season and go for the number one draft pick.

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  88. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat,

    What bugs me the most about is they have 8 relievers and most of them are struggling to get work. 8 relievers is and always has been stupid in the first place. I hate that more teams are switching to that. I hate 7 man bullpens, but finally accepted that as normal.

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  90. Akabari

    dmick89,

    I get the whole SIX INNINGS OF WORK streak or whatever, but it seems…dumb? The leash has been way longer this year so far than I expected, especially when struggling early like today.

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  96. Rizzo the Rat

    I wouldn’t mind large bullpens if managers pulled their weaker starters earlier. Say, before the third time through the order.

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  97. Rizzo the Rat

    Mucker,

    I’d be happy if they took two out of three from the Cardinals on the road. I don’t need them to win every game. As long as they beat their team record of 116 victories and win the World Series, I’ll be happy.

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  99. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat,

    Right, that’s the only purpose for the large bullpen, but teams don’t use them for that. It’s almost like 8 relievers has become the norm and that’s that. Today’s game probably doesn’t turn out differently if they pinch hit for Hendricks in the 5th, but it’s a dumb decision to let him hit for himself there. The Cubs were too far behind for almost any of their starting pitchers to be hitting in the 5th hitting. If Arrieta was pitching, pinch hitting is probably the best move in that situation and Hendricks is no Arrieta.

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  100. Rizzo the Rat

    I also wouldn’t mind going back to the days when relievers could rack up triple-digit innings pitched totals.

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  106. Perkins

    cerulean,

    I’m surprised there are people who WANT Cruz to be president. I would be okay with him in the sense that, “at least he’s not Trump.”

    Also in the sense of, “I guess losing my left arm would be better than losing my right arm.”

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  110. uncle dave

    Rizzo the Rat,

    I would shit my pants laughing if they came back and won after a three-hour delay.

    I’m also assuming that the mood in the press box (especially on getaway day) is really cheerful at this point.

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  116. Author
    berselius

    (dying laughing), I hope the Cardinals lose after their obvious attempt to fuck with the Cubs on getaway day

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  119. cerulean

    Perkins:
    cerulean,

    I’m surprised there are people who WANT Cruz to be president. I would be okay with him in the sense that, “at least he’s not Trump.”

    Also in the sense of, “I guess losing my left arm would be better than losing my right arm.”

    Lindsey Graham said that Cruz was poison and Trump was a gunshot to the head. He is now endorsing Cruz because at least poison typically has an antidote. (dying laughing)

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  120. cerulean

    dmick89:
    I’ll take 2 of 3 in Redneck Stadium.

    We don’t need that kind of optimism around here. If you don’t like it, you can go start your…own…bl—oh, right.

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  121. dmick89

    Perkins: I’m surprised there are people who WANT Cruz to be president. I would be okay with him in the sense that, “at least he’s not Trump.” Also in the sense of, “I guess losing my left arm would be better than losing my right arm.”

    I think the number of people who actually want Cruz to be president is smaller than the number who want Trump, which frightens the hell out of me. Both of them frighten me, but all I have to do is ask myself a simple question to realize that Trump is way fucking scarier than Cruz. "Would the candidate nuke someone if they said something really, really bad about them?" I'm as close to 100% certain as I can be that the answer to that question for Cruz, Clinton and Sanders is No. I'm only 97.5% certain Trump wouldn't and that number falls to 50% if the person who said it is currently in another country.

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  123. Perkins

    dmick89: I think the number of people who actually want Cruz to be president are smaller than the number who want Trump, which frightens the hell out of me. Both of them frighten me, but all I have to do is ask myself a simple question to realize that Trump is way fucking scarier than Cruz. “Would the candidate nuke someone if they said something really, really bad about them?” I’m as close to 100% certain as I can be that the answer to that question for Cruz, Clinton and Sanders is No. I’m only 97.5% certain Trump wouldn’t and that number falls to 50% if the person who said it is currently in another country.

    This. A fucking thousand times this. Petulance and vanity are extremely dangerous qualities in any executive, let alone one who commands the most powerful military in the world.

    At least when President Obama is petulant, he’s just complaining that Congress disagrees with him and it generally doesn’t go much further. I can only assume that on some level, Trump understands what a colossal piece of shit he actually is, hence all the childish posturing.

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  124. cerulean

    Perkins: I can only assume that on some level, Trump understands what a colossal piece of shit he actually is, hence all the childish posturing.

    Trump is a brat. Maybe it’s all for show, but I don’t think so. He has been so lucky that he thinks it is a skill, and the irony is, his self-delusion is almost certainly what gives him that confidence that holds the furry little animal on his head.

    We see this with athletes all the time—self-reflection while performing is negatively correlated with performance. So many athletes just cannot comprehend how tremendously lucky they are. They may work hard, but youth has trouble understanding that most people simply cannot work that hard no matter their will to do so. Professional and Olympic athletes are the ones who find their sport easy enough to do—which is to say, difficult, but not impossible—the greatest of them almost certainly find it the easiest. We like the stories of the underdogs who rise above the biggest and baddest by sheer force of will, but if said force of will was the Dex factor (couldn’t resist) and not just a fluke, then it too is a skill that others simply do not have.

    As someone has a special diet to manage pain, I have come to notice how we will equate numbness with toughness. The truth is, being tough without pain receptors is easy (and deleterious). Try being tough with the Cruciatus curse cast upon you. I really do not think Donald Trump has truly encountered such misfortune as that—and because it has worked, why doubt it. I also think that if I had his good fortune, I would likely be a similar kind of asshole, especially while young. (Truth be told, I would probably be more of a George Eastman or Steve Jobs variety.)

    When I see Trump, I see pure confidence, confidence that other people want for themselves. It’s shameless in a very fundamental and innocent meaning of the word, like the shamelessness of a two-year-old. That has made it so easy for him to be a public figure. And that’s what will make him such a poor leader—well, that and his business accumen.

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