Cubs 7, Mariners 6 (7.31.16)

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius50 Comments

OSS: Screen Shot 2016-07-31 at 10.50.50 PM

Three up

  1. The Cubs won this game on a walkoff bunt by Jon Lester which was set up by a booming double to lead off the inning by Jason Heyward. That is a sentence I wasn’t planning to write any time in my life (dying laughing).
  2. Addison Russell went 1-5 with three strikeouts, but he was the WPA leader by far in this game with a whopping .514. He drove in a run on a HBP during one of Hernandez’s sporadically wild stretches, and drove in a run as part of the Cubs ninth inning rally. The biggest play though was the game tying wild pitch that sent the game to extras (.411!).
  3. Huge kudos to the Cubs much-maligned bullpen as well, who were forced to pitch a full nine innings following Brian Matusz pitching in line with what he has done over the course of his career. In total, the pen put up a line of 9 IP, 5 hits, 2 BB, 0 R, and 12 strikeouts. Special credit to Carl Edwards, Jr. who struck out five of the six batters he faced and Hector Rondon, who threw two dominant innings in a game he wasn’t even supposed to appear in.

Three down

  1. Well, I guess the Cubs starters are all rested now. Not so much for the bullpen. Matusz’s terrible start has deprived the Cubs from the 24 year old A-ball pitcher that they could have got for a guy that was released earlier this year. Who thought it was a good idea to call this a showcase? I’m guessing Spencer Patton gets called up and tries to give everyone in the pen a breather tomorrow. He’s been not great in his handsful of appearances for the Cubs, but he’s sporting a 14+ K/9 and 0.93 ERA in Iowa.
  2. The Cubs worst play of the game by WPA could have been a whole lot worse. Willson Contreras just missed ending the game on a double play in the ninth inning, just beating the throw to keep the Cubs chances alive.
  3. Heyward came up with the big hit in extras, but both he and Rizzo had pretty lousy days heading up to it. They combined to go 2-11 with three strikeouts, most notably both striking out with the bases loaded in the fifth, which look worse when you see that they bookend a bases loaded walk and HBP.

Next up: The Cubs face the Marlins, Ichiro looks for his 3,000th hit, and we wait to see which journeyman players turn into Babe Ruth/Cy Young against the Cubs.

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Comments

  1. cerulean

    I liken it to a fossilized turd that someone finds thinking it a diamond in the rough, only to find out that some extinct animal ate and shat a rock that also happened to be a diamond.

    Actually, that may be more plausible.

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  2. JonKneeV

    Rosenthal – Cubs looking for controllable SP and lefty LFer. I wonder if they are seriously going to go to a 6 man rotation.

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  3. Perkins

    JonKneeV:
    Rosenthal – Cubs looking for controllable SP and lefty LFer. I wonder if they are seriously going to go to a 6 man rotation.

    Could be that they see Hammel as part of that package and they bumped back the rotation by a day to push his next start after the trade deadline.

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  4. mikeakaleroy

    dmick89,

    Brett is reporting a release, and probably bringing Patton up to take his spot unless Cahill is ready.

    Also, I’m guessing the league is watching those type of shenanigans after the Cubs got slapped for doing that last year.

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  5. JonKneeV

    I wonder if Puig is on the move.

    Dodger’s OFers:
    Enrique Hernandez
    Joc Pederson
    Yasiel Puig
    Andrew Toles
    Scott Van Slyke
    Trace Thompson
    Andre Ethier
    Josh Reddick

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  6. mikeakaleroy

    EnricoPallazzo,

    That was the initial rumor I read, yeah. If that’s the case, the Dodgers keep piling up on 4th-5th starters.

    But then again, the rest of the rotation is broken, so they need some bodies one way or another..

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  7. mikeakaleroy

    Rizzo the Rat,

    Yeah, because I think he could have opted out like today or tomorrow. My guess is that it was also to broadcast a potential trade chip as well. This all worked out perfectly as designed (dying laughing)

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  8. mikeakaleroy

    Spencer Patton has indeed been deemed worthy to take the roster spot of the dearly departed Brian Matusz.

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  9. cerulean

    mikeakaleroy:
    Spencer Patton has indeed been deemed worthy to take the roster spot of the dearly departed Brian Matusz.

    It may be enough, yet I despair nothing will fill the void left in Clayton Richard’s absence.

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  10. cerulean

    With the Rangers adding Carlos Beltran, Gallo is now more available to go in a deal for Lucroy, Haudricourt tweets.

    —MLBTR

    I get this reasoning, but I simply don’t get the equivalence. The compression of Twitter through the telephone of the blogosphere leads to absurdity.

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