Cubs 5, Reds 9 (6.5.16)

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius82 Comments

OSS: Four homers not enough to overcome a lackluster Lackey.

Three up

  1. Addison Muscle had a big day, hitting two home runs and raising his slash line to .242/.338/.416 with a wOBA of .323, not too shabby from the shortstop position. He might not be the best choice to start for the NL in the ASG, but at least he’s not Omar Infante out there.
  2. Bryant and Baez also homered in this game, but despite that they both ended up with negative WPA, probably because both of them were just solo shots.
  3. Since a scoreless inning by Joel Peralta was the only other performance of note, I’ll give this last slot to Yadier Molina needing to buy a ticket if he wants to get into this year’s ASG.

Three down

  1. Just a lousy performance all around for Lackey. I listened to this game on the radio and was in and out for the early innings, but it sounded like there were some issues with the umpire. If I remember my umpire rotations right, that’s the same guy that Rizzo was bitching at yesterday. Let’s not turn into the Cardinals here, fellas. And do your fucking jobs, blue. Good on Lackey for at least wearing all those runs and pitching six innings anyway.
  2. Ben Zobrist went 0-5, leaving three men on, most notably during the Cubs failed rally in the sixth inning. All in all the Cubs left 18 men on base today, though there is some double counting in that stat. That number at least should turn around, hopefully pushing the Cubs out of these blahs.
  3. The worst play of the game, by both WPA and the Mark-One Eyeball was Javy Baez attempting and failing to sac bunt with two on and no out in the sixth. Javy is good at bunting for a base hit, not so much at giving himself up. Seeing as he homered earlier in this game, it sure would be great if he were swinging away instead.

Next up: Adam Warren faces Anthony DeSclafani, 1:20 PM CT. Huzzah for all these day games!

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  3. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat:
    ftr, I’d be fine with the ASG instituting a rule preventing members from one team from taking too many places in the starting lineup. I’m not sure what kind of rule would work for that, though.

    I’d be in favor of a rule that eliminated the fan voting. I’d much rather the manager of the team picked the players or let the players in MLB vote for who starts with the manager picking the rest.

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  6. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat,

    I think the last two games have shown quite clearly that it is not the fans’ favorites playing in the game. Cubs fans dominated the voting in the NL this year and Royals fans in the AL last year.

    I don’t care that much about the all-star game anymore. I used to be willing to discuss what I think is wrong with it for quite awhile, but it’s not worth it in my view. All I’ll say is that if you’re going to insist on the winner of this game being the league that is then home team in the World Series, the rosters and game itself should be taken very seriously. That eliminates the fans. Let them vote on a few of the reserves since the all-star roster has 300 players on it.

    In a game that’s actually as important as the all-star is, it couldn’t be taken less seriously by Major League Baseball. If he was healthy, Kershaw should be penciled in to throw around 6 innings with Syndergaard finishing the game. If Syndergaard needs help to finish the game out in the 9th, go to Arrieta or Cueto or Bumgarner. That’s taking the game seriously.

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  11. dmick89

    Myles,

    I think there should be a fan game at the end of the season where all of you can enjoy such a game. Fans vote in all players, they vote in the starters (those who are eligible of course) and even let some lucky fans come into the dugout and pretend manage the game with the help of an actual manager and coaching staff. The losing team gets to buy the Oreo ice cream cake after the game.

    I just have a hard time with the fact that Omar Infante was an all star. While not nearly as ridiculous, I also can’t believe Addison Russell is now an all star. In a game that determines home field advantage in the World Series, I think that’s just crazy.

    The easier solution to all of this is to just get rid of the home field advantage rule, but I don’t see that happening.

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  13. Myles

    dmick89:
    Myles,

    I think there should be a fan game at the end of the season where all of you can enjoy such a game. Fans vote in all players, they vote in the starters (those who are eligible of course) and even let some lucky fans come into the dugout and pretend manage the game with the help of an actual manager and coaching staff. The losing team gets to buy the Oreo ice cream cake after the game.

    I just have a hard time with the fact that Omar Infante was an all star. While not nearly as ridiculous, I also can’t believe Addison Russell is now an all star. In a game that determines home field advantage in the World Series, I think that’s just crazy.

    The easier solution to all of this is to just get rid of the home field advantage rule, but I don’t see that happening.

    Big problem with your proposed solution: I prefer Reese’s ice cream cake.

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  21. EnricoPallazzo

    as dumb as the whole fan voting/home field thing is, i have a really hard time believing that this will ever change. the two things combine to create interest and revenue among a shitty but huge group of fans. this is here to stay unless someone comes up with something even dumber.

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  22. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat:
    LaHair was voted in by the players, which tells you how flawed that process is.

    He had a 136 wRC+ in the first half that year. He probably shouldn’t have been in the ASG, but he had a really good first half (great April as I recall).

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  33. SK

    Seeing as Warren is only going to be able to throw 4-5 innings, I don’t see how this will help. Unless the extra day will allow the other guys to all pitch complete games between now and Sunday.

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  37. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat:
    dmick89,

    Yeah, but he was mostly a platoon player with dubious defense.

    I’m not arguing that he should have been an all-star, but the guy had a good first half. I’m also not sure who else was on the team from the Cubs that year and since you need at least 1 from every team (another stupid rule), that may have come into play when the players were voting.

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  38. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat:
    Warren is improving his K/BB ratio today.

    Yeah, good to see. I was expecting to come out of my meeting to find the Cubs were down 6-0, so I’m pleasantly surprised to see it’s 3-1 Cubs.

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  40. Author
    berselius

    Myles:
    We can finally begin to compare Addison Russell to Ron Coomer. Both 1-time All-Stars.

    I would agree with that, Pat

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  41. Author
    berselius

    dmick89: I’m not arguing that he should have been an all-star, but the guy had a good first half. I’m also not sure who else was on the team from the Cubs that year and since you need at least 1 from every team (another stupid rule), that may have come into play when the players were voting.

    You’re forgetting Travis Wood, the 2013 Cubs MVP (non Shawn Camp division)

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  42. Author
    berselius

    dmick89:
    I agree with SK. These uniforms are awesome.

    I’m not so sure. I just tuned in and thought that I was watching a White Sox game.

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  43. Author
    berselius

    dmick89: I’m not arguing that he should have been an all-star, but the guy had a good first half. I’m also not sure who else was on the team from the Cubs that year and since you need at least 1 from every team (another stupid rule), that may have come into play when the players were voting.

    Also, from what I remember it’s the manager’s job to figure out the every team gets represented part, not the players’

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  56. Myles

    I’m ok. It’s just that life is pointless and nothing matters and I’m always tired. Also, I can’t sleep, I’m overeating, none of my old hobbies interest me…

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  62. dmick89

    EnricoPallazzo,

    The Reds looked like a championship team the last two days. Their bullpen, minus that 7-run inning, has been lights out against this team over the last week. They can’t get any player out who isn’t a Cub, but that’s not the point.

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  63. dmick89

    dmick89,

    Part of that probably has to do with this team blowing out the Pirates and Cardinals so early where as the 2008 team had the Brewers on their heels right up until after the break when the Cubs swept the Brewers in 4 games in Milwaukee.

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  65. Rizzo the Rat

    This team definitely spoiled us in the early going. Last year, they trailed the Giants by half a game before sweeping them over four games.

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  66. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat,

    Yeah and the injuries finally caught up to this team. Hopefully when they get Fowler back we start to see them play at a high level again. It would also be nice to see Heyward hit, but for the time being I like that he’s hitting lower in the lineup finally.

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  67. Rizzo the Rat

    Eh, I honestly don’t think the Cubs have five better hitters than Heyward against righties. At least, I’m not convinced there’s anything wrong with him right now.

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  70. EnricoPallazzo

    when you’re going up against a guy as good as billy hamilton, there’s only so much you can do.

    *checks hamilton’s stats against anyone who isn’t the cubs*

    motherfucker.

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  72. Rizzo the Rat

    The thing about the last few weeks is the Cardinals could have pounced on the opportunity, but didn’t.

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  74. Rizzo the Rat

    Matt Carpenter—————->DL, probably
    Cardinals————————>Third place

    The Cubs picked a good time to suck. I just hope they hold their own against the Pirates this weekend.

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  75. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat: The Cubs picked a good time to suck. I just hope they hold their own against the Pirates this weekend.

    The Pirates have nearly cut their deficit in half. They could be within 5 games by the end of the end of the weekend. They could also be more than 12 out again.

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  77. SK

    Hmmm. Some limited form of the login glitch occurring now.

    I click to login but it looks like it didn’t take, and then my guest details filled in below (including my email).

    I’m sure once I submit this comment it will normalize….

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