Cubs 2, Pirates 1

In Postgame by berselius30 Comments

OSS: The Cubs might be meh overall this year, but it looks like Suzuki is going to be pretty fun to watch.

Three up:

  1. Seiya Suzuki provided all of the Cubs offense today, thanks to two solo shots. SSS applies of course but his slash line currently sits at .417/.529/1.167, with three homers and eight RsBI. And four walks! It’s so strange to see someone come to the Cubs and look completely comfortable from the jump.
  2. Drew Smyly also looked pretty sharp, netting tons of weak contact over five innings of scoreless work. He might as well have a gigantic “SHIP AT DEADLINE FOR PROSPECTS” sign on his back, and outings like this can only help.
  3. The bullpen was also pretty good today, giving up just one run in four innings, striking out six, and perhaps most importantly not walking anyone. The Pirates might be the worst team in the NL but you gotta start somewhere.

Three down:

  1. The rest of the offense not named Suzuki or Happ looked pretty bad against Jose Quintana, who it’s safe to say the Cubs know the book on.
  2. “Heart of the order” batters Wisdom and Schwindel went 1-7 with a walk and five strikeouts. Not what you want.
  3. Nick Madrigal also went oh-fer, including a double play in the second that was the Cubs most negative play by WPA on the day.

Next up: Cyle takes on Zach Thompson, who had a surprisingly solid partial season as a starter for the Marlins last year after being shelled in the minors past few seasons, primarily as a reliever in the White Sox system. Looks like he’s mostly a fastball-cutter pitcher. First pitch is 11:35 AM CT; love to have Pat Hughes in my earballs while working!

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  1. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    DH Ortega
    1B Schwindel
    C Contreras
    LF Happ
    RF Suzuki
    CF Heyward
    2B Villar
    3B Wisdom
    SS Hoerner

    P Cyle

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  3. Author
    berselius

    Hoping to get up to Colorado for at least one game this weekend. Too bad the Cubs weren’t there last week, the wind has been absolutely INSANE out here in the Rockies for the past week.

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  4. andcounting

    I see the Pirates are spending money like they want to avoid arbitration with good players.

    Which makes me want to comment on how ridiculous it is for players’ pay and bonuses to be tied to baseball statistics as though owners have some kind of significant interest in baseball outcomes. It’s just weird. The conversation should be about revenue generated or cutting expenses. Baseball performance is a factor in that, obviously, and stats give you a supply of revenue-adjacent data. But I don’t know why the players continually allow owners to discuss pay as a function of baseball production when it is, at best, a tertiary pursuit of MLB teams.

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  5. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    DH Frazier
    2B Madrigal
    SS Villar
    1B Schwindel
    RF Suzuki
    C Gomes
    CF Hermosillo
    LF Happ
    3B Wisdom

    SP Steele

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  10. Author
    berselius

    I waved at the Cubs as I drove past the stadium on I-25, surely that was the cause of their early offensive outburst.

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  11. dmick89

    Rice Cube,

    here’s what I said on twitter:

    MLB is focused on the shift and you’ve got stupid fucking manager taking the bat out of the best players hands. This is the shit MLB should be banning.

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  12. Author
    berselius

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  25. Author
    berselius

    TIL that the Rockies bullpen somehow had a sub-2.00 ERA last year, if the scoreboard “personality” is to be believed.

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