OSS: Cubs file an insurance run claim, hang on to win it.
Three up:
- Addison Muscle had a great day at the plate, driving in three runs on two hits that seemed to land in the exact same place down the right field line. Kemp got to the first one a little faster than the second, which led to Javy being held up at third and a TOOTBLAN for Russell, but the hit was great. He got the triple the second time around.
- Ben Zobrist continued his ridiculous hot streak, going 4-4 with two RsBi. If he keeps this up they’ll be measuring this hot streak in electronvolts.
- Hector Rondon slammed the door on the Padres with two strikeouts and a grounder, which was a relief after the rest of the pen largely shit the bed today. Rondon lowered his FIP to -0.17 with the outing.
Three down:
- It’s not great when you have to burn through six relievers on the day before a doubleheader, day of rest or not. I was a little surprised to see Joe go with Cahill so soon after his three-inning outing (heh, inning outing) on Sunday, and the rest of the crew aside from Strop and Rondon were pretty sloppy. And there was that whole giving up a grand slam thing thanks to the work of Grimm and Warren. It’s a good thing the Cubs tacked on those insurance runs. Bullpens implode from time to time so I’m not too worried about the runs, just the pre-doubleheader timing. At least the Cubs can call someone extra up tomorrow (Edwards?) and have an off-day on Thursday.
- Heyward is still struggling at the plate, though it was nice to see him poke one through the other way against the shift. He might want to take a page from Rizzo last weekend and try to bunt himself on against that shift.
- Not an efficient night for Lester, though at least he managed to get through six. There were several points early on where I wasn’t sure he’d even get through four innings. When he gets into trouble closing out a batter, his pacce gets slower and slower, though I don’t think anyone will ever be able to beat Steve “Human Rain Delay” Trachsel.
Next up: Split doubleheader – Rea v Hendricks at 12:05 followed by Pomeranz v Lackey at 7:05