Cubs 3, Rockies 2 (4.30.18)

In Postgame by berselius76 Comments

OSS: Cubs head into May in first place.

Three up:

  1. Kris Bryant had his first big hit since his HBP scare. His triple off the top of the wall just missed finding its way into the basket, and he eventually came around to score as the game winning run. He also made a plus-plus defensive play in the top of the eighth, snagging a sharp grounder in foul territory and chucking it all the way across the diamond to beat the runner.
  2. Maddon made the somewhat odd decision to bring in Luke Farrell in relief of Lester in the sixth (more on that below), but it worked out well for him. Farrell picked up his first big league meaningless state by pitching out of Lester's jam in the sixth and then striking out two guys from the heart of the Rockies lineup as he worked a clean seventh. Not bad, rook.
  3. Albert Almora had an RBI single at the plate, and had yet another great day on defense against the Rockies bats. If he's in the lineup tomorrow they might just focus on hitting nothing but ground balls to try to keep it away from him.

Three down:

  1. It was just an okay start for Lester, though a defensive miscue or two behind him probably shortened his outing. Lester walked three and gave up five hits in 5.2 innings, and didn't seem to have as great a feel for his stuff as he did in his last start or two.
  2. Javy Baez had an uncharacteristically rough game on defense that helped lead to both of the Rockies runs. It was a quiet night with the bat too: 0-4 with two strikeouts and a GIDP.
  3. Aside from the Farrell decision above, Joe also had a head scratcher when he had Lester hit for himself in the fifth with runners on the corners and nobody out, down 2-1. Lester is a pretty good bunter, but the wind was howling out and that seemed like a good time for War Bear, platoon splits be damned. At least the Rockies returned the favor by leaving Freeland in his next time in the order.

Next up: The Cubs look to make it six in a row with Cyle on the mound against Jon Gray tomorrow. Game time at 7:05 CT.

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Comments

  1. dmick89

    I probably would have gone with La Stella as the pinch hitter. That’s a spot where contact is pretty important and La Stella is probably more likely to get that run in than Schwarber is.

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  2. Rizzo the Rat

    The line drive he dropped was ruled a hit. It was playable, but not exactly easy. The dropped throw at first was odd, though. Willson’s throw was perfect.

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  3. Rizzo the Rat

    The only errors in the game were Baez’s dropped throw and Bryant’s fumbling a grounder.

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  4. dmick89

    That line drive non-error is a play that should be made nearly 100% of the time. It was relatively well hit, but Baez was right there and it didn’t take a great deal of effort on his part.

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  5. cerulean

    GW,

    From “deliberate practice” and “mindfulness meditation” to tailored diets and sleep analysis, the game of baseball players’ health is changing. This is a good thing.

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  6. Senior Rockies Correspondent Berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    1B Rizzo
    3B Bryant
    2B Zobrist
    SS Russell
    LF Schwarber
    C Caratini
    RF Heyward
    CF Happ
    P Cyle

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  7. Rizzo the Rat

    FG also has Heyward 1.5 runs above average on offense, but 1 run below average on defense. One step forward…

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  8. Rizzo the Rat

    Wait, the batter gets to go all the way around the bases when he his the ball over the wall? It’s been so long since that happened I forgot how that works.

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  9. Senior Rockies Correspondent Berselius

    It’s gonna be a late night (dying laughing)

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  10. cerulean

    Nationals are vying for a new entry into the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences with their half of the inning going 0 0 1 1 4 6.

    What I mean is the Pirates are getting crushed.

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  11. Rizzo the Rat

    This game is infuriating. Zero runs since the first hitter with the wind howling out.

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  12. Rizzo the Rat

    I wonder if if Joe made a mistake loading the lineup with lefties and switch-hitters. The wind wasn’t helping flyballs to right field very much and Gray doesn’t have large splits. Oh well.

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  13. Rizzo the Rat

    Rizzo the Rat:
    There’s no way that deserved to be a home run.

    Anthony Rizzo hit a ball 95.5 mph with a 44-degree launch angle. It had a 1% hit probability. It carried out of Wrigley Field.

    Friendly Confines, indeed.

    — Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) May 2, 2018

    I mean, I’ll take it, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about Rizzo’s hitting.

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  14. Tyrone

    Bruce Arthur @bruce_arthur
    This went all the way into the tunnel, with Drake calling Perkins a “f—— p—-” and calling for him to come out. “I’m here in real life,” he said. He was mad.

    Kendrick Perkins: 6’10” 270 pound pro athlete.
    Drake: 6′ 170 pound “musician.”

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  15. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    CF Almora
    2B Baez
    3B Bryant
    1B Rizzo
    C Contreras
    LF Zobrist
    SS Russell
    RF Heyward
    P Darvish

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  16. Tyrone

    GW,

    I thought it was because the volleyball coach deferred to the player/girlfriend for a reference. Meaning Rosen had obviously concocted a scheme to pay for the silence of any potential detractor.

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  17. Perkins

    Pitch 1 and pitch 3 were in exactly the same location. I really like the idea of an automated strike zone.

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  18. Rizzo the Rat

    Most projection systems don’t have the Dodgers winning their division. I never thought I’d be saying that on May 2.

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  19. Tyrone

    The Cubs are currently Hardly Any Diggity. Judging by the trend (A Fair Amount of Diggity last year following their curse-busting Overwhelming Surplus of Diggity 2016), I’d assume the team will head into the 2019 with No Diggity.

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  20. Author
    berselius

    Tyrone,

    I can no longer sit back and allow the international Cardinals conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious diggity.

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  21. Tyrone

    Mucker,

    Then I would’ve posted that gif twice.

    Since Lynch said it was close between McGlinchey and Derwin, I assume he would’ve traded down and picked Derwin over trading up for McGlinchey.

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