What?
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down was J. Baez’ only #1 hit. Tonight, another J. Baez is (hopefully) going to get his #1 hit as well.
Did The Cubs Win?
It’d be hard to say otherwise. Javier Baez is being called up today.
For a measured take on expectations, look to Brett’s take on Bleacher Nation for now. I promise, I’ll have words on Javier today. Most relevant piece at BN:
Baez might struggle at the big league level this year. You better be prepared for that. As exciting as it is to see him up, and tease the future, the entire point of his call-up is to expose him to the difficulty of succeeding against big league pitching. I expect a whole lot of strikeouts, punctuated by things that make your jaw hit the floor.
For the most part, that’s exactly where I come down. For all of Baez’ strengths, the best hitter to come out of the PCL with a strikeout rate over 27.5% is Justin Ruggiano. I won’t say too much right now, because there will be article about it.
Around The League
Jeff Samardzija pitched 7 innings of solid, 2-run ball, but his team just didn’t give him any run support. That was for the A’s last night, who eventually won in 10. Samardzija on the game:
“Seems to be my M.O. since I’ve been here,” he said. “Go out and throw some innings and then watch these guys put on a show at the end of the game. I love this team, man. I love how they play, they don’t quit. Every at-bat means the world to each guy, and you see that in their emotions, how they react to each at-bat.
It seems like a little jab at us, no? Even if it is, I don’t blame him one bit. Baseball players want to play winning baseball, and the Cubs just weren’t winning this year. The A’s/Tigers ALCS will be must-watch baseball.
Tyler Flowers was a double away from the cycle as the White Sox beat the Rangers in a rain-shortened affair 5-3.
Garrett Richards pitched a 5-hit shutout and the Angels beat the Dodgers 5-0.
Slapfight!!!
Sahadev Sharma needled Alvin Yellon on twitter yesterday.
Credibility is earned by being able to consistently provide cogent, intelligent and thoughtful analysis. Al fails to do that time and again.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 4, 2014
Yellon responded:
You know, I don’t usually do this. But I read the tweets in question. What a pompous ass he is.-Al — Bleeding Cub Tweets (@BleedCubTweets) August 4, 2014
It was mildly interesting. Sahadev’s criticisms of Al were rather muted compared to the invective Al normally gets (from here and other places), but he’s probably already done arguing with us. Worse, I think the return criticisms actually got to Sahadev a little bit:
@liamogi it was a general criticism, but either way, it was unnecessary on my part. I’m done doing that, unproductive and unfair.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 5, 2014
Slightly concerning to me.
Quick Links, Javier Baez edition
Sahadev joins Effectively Wild to talk about the newest national holiday.
This is his boomstick.
Another scouting report from BP.
Enjoy today. The game is at 7:40 CT.