Cubs 11, Twins 10

In Postgame by berselius109 Comments

OSS: Cubs finish off the sweep with a bit of late drama to close it out.

Three up:

  1. Jon Lester hit his second career homer to get the Cubs eight run rally started in the second inning. He almost batted again in the inning, and a second homer in that spot would have been pretty much perfect for how crazy the conditions were today. He gave up nine hits and three walks in five innings, with two runs, but that feels like a rousing success given how the ball was jumping.
  2. Ian Happ had the other Cubs homer on the day, and he reached base in all five of his PAs.
  3. Unlike yesterday’s singles party, the Cubs were hitting for extra bases today. Rizzo and Schwarber had RBI doubles, Baez hit two, and Contreras added a triple for good measure.

Three down:

  1. Addison Russell left the game with a hand injury after a great catch/collision in the sixth and is day to day, as are we all.
  2. Dillon Maples shat the bed with two outs in the eighth and almost gave the game all the way back.
  3. Judging from the comments Willson had a lousy game behind the plate, but it’s tough to blame the guy for flagging a bit after catching two games in these conditions.

Next up:

The Cubs have an off day, then host another AL Central punching bag in the Tigers for a two game set. Kyle Hendricks takes on Michael Fulmer in another day game for some reason on Tuesday.

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Comments

  1. EnricoPallazzo

    according to bref, kevin mitchell is known by the following nicknames:

    – World
    – Mitchell Monster
    – Boogie Bear
    – Tatonka

    let me know if you guys have any other questions

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  2. Rizzo the Rat

    Mozeliak on Fowler: “I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and question his effort and energy level. And those are things I can’t defend. I try to create opportunities for him, but not if it’s at the expense of other players who are hustling and playing hard.”

    Jesus. https://t.co/Bh1lpXSfi3

    — Trevor Vallese (@TVallese) July 2, 2018

    Here’s hoping no free agent ever signs with St. Louis again.

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  3. Rizzo the Rat

    Anyway, I finally filled out an All-Star ballot today. I was pleasantly surprised that I picked two Cubs. Unfortunately, I also wound up picking two Brewers.
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic

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  4. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    Almora
    Heyward
    Zobrist
    Rizzo
    Baez
    Schwarber
    Contreras
    Russell
    Hendricks

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  5. Author
    berselius

    Bryant is eligible to come off the DL today but looks like no roster move so far. The Cubs might wait until Friday and give him a few more days off.

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  6. Myles

    andcounting:
    I don’t know what other team turns that double play.

    Nobody really cares about it because it’s not dingers, but in 30 years, I feel like you could look at the mid-10s Cubs as perhaps the best defensive team of all time (or perhaps the team that ushers in uber-athletic defenses).

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  7. andcounting

    Myles,

    Uber-athletic, uber-versatile, and uber-unorthodox. There are things they’ve done on defense other teams don’t even attempt.

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  8. Rizzo the Rat

    #Cubs Maddon says Bryant won't be activated on Wed. Still feeling something in shoulder

    — Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) July 3, 2018

    Ugh. At least there’s another off-day Thursday.

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  9. Rizzo the Rat

    The Twins somehow only struck out twice against Hader in three innnings, but still didn’t get any hits.

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  10. dmick89

    The highest fWAR for a reliever since 2010 is Kenley Jensen’s 3.6 last year. Hader is probably going to sail past that. Eric Gagne had 4.7 in 2003. Hader won’t catch that, but he’s having a ridiculously awesome season.

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  11. dmick89

    Since 1980, he’s probably going to end up around where Mariano Rivera (1996) and Rob Dibble (1990) ended their seasons (4.3 fWAR). Mark Eichorn has the highest fWAR among relievers since 1980. He had 4.9 fWAR and threw 157 innings (all in relief).

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  12. Rizzo the Rat

    Having Mariano pitch over 100 innings in relief was a terrible idea. It completely ruined his arm and shortened his career.

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  13. North Side Pat

    Happy 4th of July to the best discredited Cubs blog out there. And welcome back Caratini. Go Cubs.

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  14. Rizzo the Rat

    I just realized I misspelled “Gimenez” earlier and there’s nothing I can do about it.

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  15. Rizzo the Rat

    I’m sure Quintana practices bunting and hitting, but he always looks like someone who’s never held a bat in his hands before.

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  16. andcounting

    Rizzo the Rat:
    I also have no idea why Russell didn’t take second on the play.

    This is why I disagree with the criticism the play was too risky. You have a chance to score and advance the trailing runner to second. Addison is a poor baserunner, but if he had used his head and run to second, that play looks a lot smarter and the gamble much more worth it.

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  17. dmick89

    andcounting: Addison is a poor baserunner

    I wouldn’t say he’s a poor baserunner. I think he’s a poor base stealer. Maybe. I honestly don’t know, but he’s above average in his career in BsR and he’s having his best season so far. He ranks 16th in MLB this year with 3.4 BsR.

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  18. Rizzo the Rat

    Len: What an escape job by Anthony Bass.

    You mean how he gave up a rocket single that somehow turned into an out at home? I’m sure he meant to do that.

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  19. Rizzo the Rat

    andcounting: This is why I disagree with the criticism the play was too risky. You have a chance to score and advance the trailing runner to second. Addison is a poor baserunner, but if he had used his head and run to second, that play looks a lot smarter and the gamble much more worth it.

    Well, their win expectancy at the time was around 58%. If Javy scores and Russell goes to second it increases to 63%, but if Javy is out, it falls to about 50%. In other words, win expectancy falls more if he gets caught at home than it rises if both runners are safe. Maybe he had a very high chance of making it, but I doubt it since it was a close play and he had to take evasive action to reach home safely. Personally, I think it would have made more sense to wait for one or two outs, where there would be a greater incentive to take a risk. (And, two batters later, Ian Happ did hit a fly ball deep enough to drive Javy in). That said, I’m not complaining about the play because it was exciting to watch, even if I don’t think it was wise.

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  20. Rizzo the Rat

    Heh, just checked to Fangraphs game log to see how the actual play affected win expectancy. Before the steal of home, it had the Cubs at 59.5%. After the steal of home (with Russell staying at first for some reason) it was 60.3%. All that excitement over a play that barely increased their chances of winning at all!

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  21. dmick89

    Not surprisingly, the optimistic return date for Yu Darvish is late July. I’m still betting that he doesn’t return before the final couple weeks of the season, if that. Why even bother at that point unless you are certain he’s 100% healthy.

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  22. Myles

    I’m certain that this is Pat Hughes’ favorite year in baseball history because Eugenio Suarez is so good that he gets to say his name nearly every day.

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  23. dmick89

    As for all the Fowler talk lately, I think Joe said it best.

    “I don’t have any idea what’s going on there in St. Louis. I just know my personal relationship with him is outstanding.”

    I don’t watch enough cardinals games to have an opinion about what was said about Dexter’s play this season. Dexter is an adult and he can defend his effort this year. I don’t really care what it’s been. I’ll always have fond memories of him when he was with the Cubs.

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