OSS: The Kyle Schwarber Game?
Three up
1. Kyle Schwarber had a hell of a game, going 4-7 with a game tying and game winning home run. He posted a .860 WPA on the day, which seems safe to be in the top 10 across all MLB on the season. They were two completely different types of home runs – the first was a moonshot that I’m amazed didn’t land in the Ohio river, and the second was a scorching laser beam into the right field seats. A great moment for him, made even better by the large contingent of his friends and family in the area that were at the game.
2. Chris Coghlan drove in the Cubs other run, a solo shot that bounced off the top of the wall and a fan before coming back into the field of play. I meant to go back and look at it, but I swear the umps took 15 minutes to figure out the call.
3. Fowler had an error that led to a run early in this game, but it’s nice to see him (hopefully) starting to break out of his slump. In the extremely large sample of five games since the break, he’s had six hits and seven walks.
Three down
1. The only time Rizzo was on base today was due to an intentional walk in extras. I’m not worried, but it would be nice to see more than one player in the Cubs lineup get hot at a time.
2. Travis Wood and Pedro Strop combined to blow the lead late, or at least what we thought was late. I don’t have a problem going with Wood there for a few innings, given the double header tomorrow, but I find it tough to blame Strop for giving up the RBI – Frazier made an awkward swing on a good pitch and managed to punch it over the infield.
3. Skip Schumaker is still employed by a professional baseball team.
Next game(s)
Kyle Hendricks vs Mike Leake, 11:35 AM CT – Schwarber will probably get the start here, and I’m looking forward to some mid morning baseball at work.
Dallas Beeler vs Tony Cingrani, 5:10 PM CT – Cingrani’s coming off the DL from a shoulder problem and was in the pen for the first half of the season. Expect many, many fastballs, which is what these Cubs hitters hit best. Or don’t expect them. I can’t tell you what to do.