OSS: Cubs bats wake up in a rout.
Three up:
- Jason Heyward was the WPA winner of the day, getting the vaunted game winning RBI with his three run homer in the first. It was his third of the season, and his slash line now reads .294/.342/.456.
- The other WPA winner on the day was Addison Russell, who drove in the first run and had a four hit day.
- Finally, it was Ben Zobrist who really got the rout going with a bases loaded double in the second inning, with an assist from RF Jose Osuna's not so sharp outfield defense. The relatively anemic Pirates offense is certainly missing his bat, but they might be missing his glove even more.
Three down:
- Brett Anderson put together a 'quality' start that included six walks and an ill-advised barehanded snag on a comebacker. It worked out in the end, but even with a giant lead most Cubs fans do not have a ton of confidence in him. The same goes for Joe, who had Grimm warming up in the second inning.
- You really have to reach to find something to complain about in a huge blowout. The Cubs rested a bunch of their regulars as the game went on, but not Bryzzo. This would have been a great time to get TLS in there were it not for the eight man pen.
- The Cubs can't take some of these runs into tomorrow's game.
Next up: Kyle "gotta earn back that Cyle nickname" Hendricks takes on Gerrit Cole at 6:05 PM CT.
Comments
I’m so very, very happy to see Heyward hitting like he has been these last few games.
URKQuote Reply
Top 10 snapshot, Ryno?
Berselius is too lazy to loginQuote Reply
Addison Russell leads the team in fWAR and bWAR.
MylesQuote Reply
A while back, I was ask folks here which team they thought was the one that MLB could most easily lose without anyone caring. I’m pretty sure that the news that the Marlins have apparently been sold to Jeb Bush and Derek Jeter answers that question (with unexpected style).
uncle daveQuote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
Schwarber
Bryzzobrist
Russell
Heyward
Contreras
Hendricks
Almora
Berselius is too lazy to loginQuote Reply
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/kyle-hendricks-has-been-too-easy-to-hit/
BerzeliusQuote Reply
Can we get comment sentiment metrics back? I need some kind of interactive mechanism when I’m scrolling through a winning night game thread in fake time.
SKQuote Reply
I think Jesse Rogers wrote a column about Russell making his debut last year and then deleted it.
https://twitter.com/ESPNChiCubs/status/856986128569614336
SKQuote Reply
That’s such an old man mistake. (dying laughing)
ceruleanQuote Reply
SK,
I looked briefly the day after I disabled the last one and didn’t find much. Same problem before I found the last one.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I think comments in general are dying—save for on social networks. This is literally the only place I comment on the internet anymore—but that’s because I am weird and have killed or ignored all of my social presences because I found them to be corrosive.
Are these things little javascript or php plugins? I don’t know a damn thing about wordpress but I might could take a look when I have a break in the next few weeks.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
They can be javascript and php. If you want to, that would be great. My suggestion to get started would be to search the wordpress codex on how to create a plugin and maybe even downloading a plugin to look at it to get a better idea. I can give you the name of the plugin we used if you’d like.
It’s not a big deal to me to be honest. I miss it at times, but I’m fine either way. If there’s a consensus in the other direction then it might be worth looking into.
dmick89Quote Reply
Are you asking for consensus on whether you’re fine either way? If so, +1 on No and Thumbs Down on Yes
Wenningtons Gorilla CockQuote Reply
Velocity still down.
dmick89Quote Reply
If schedule Hendricks for an MRI for when they get back to chicago. Something isn’t right.
dmick89Quote Reply
Looks like he’s up a bit relative to his last couple starts, though. He’s sitting at 86/87 instead of 85/86. Still needs another tick or two to regain the right separation between the fastballs and change.
PerkinsQuote Reply
More defensive sloppiness form the Pirates!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Perkins,
Looked mostly 85-86 from what I saw. I did miss a few pitches so he must have hit 87 a few times. Wish we could get that info in gameday. I hate that they stopped having that data available in-game with the exception of the current batter.
dmick89Quote Reply
How did these guys sweep the Cubs a few days back?
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Mostly dumb luck and sequencing.
PerkinsQuote Reply
God, Kyle really looks off. (This is the first I’ve seen him this season.)
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
This is about how it’s been for him. Usually more home runs.
dmick89Quote Reply
Kyle should go to the nearest MRI after this game. He’s either suffered from the worst decline in stuff from one year to the next for no reason or he’s injured.
dmick89Quote Reply
Kyle has been extremely lucky so far. I hope Joe keeps him on a short leash.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/kyle-hendricks-has-been-too-easy-to-hit/
PerkinsQuote Reply
Hendricks is looking a little better, but still not missing many bats.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Cole could pitch 10-12 innings tonight if necessary. Probably the easiest night of his career.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
It would own if he lost anyway (dying laughing).
uncle daveQuote Reply
I think this comment broke my brain.
ceruleanQuote Reply
The Cubs used up all their offense yesterday.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
cerulean,
I just assumed it was something the kids are saying these days. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
I think it comes down to Cole actually being really good, especially against the Cubs (which would also explain why the Cubs aren’t the best team in baseball…in his estimation).
ceruleanQuote Reply
Kyle has looked a lot better the last three innings.
dmick89Quote Reply
cerulean,
Cole being an idiot does a better job explaining it.
dmick89Quote Reply
He hit 88 at least once or twice.
PerkinsQuote Reply
An effective idiot, at least for today.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Fast enough to travel through time.
ceruleanQuote Reply
That was slick, Heyward.
ceruleanQuote Reply
dmick89,
Uh, thanks, I think (dying laughing).
uncle daveQuote Reply
Not good defense by Schwarber.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Big strikeout.
dmick89Quote Reply
Whew.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Where we’re going, we won’t need strike zones.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Good to have Cole out of the game, but was looking forward to seeing him throw a Maddux* and lose.
(*Maddux modified to include starts with 0 ER.)
uncle daveQuote Reply
uncle dave,
I thought the Maddux also had a time limit.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I think it’s less than 100 pitches, no runs, no walks. Looks like Cole left after 78.
uncle daveQuote Reply
dmick89,
Pretty sure a Maddux is a less-than-100-pitch complete game.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Contreras had a great jump.
EDIT: But not that time 🙁
ceruleanQuote Reply
Ugh.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
That could have gone better.
dmick89Quote Reply
FTR: A Maddux
99 pitches or less complete game shutout.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Bryant!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Whew again.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I would be in favor of adding some nuance to the Maddux:
A Pure Maddux has no walks.
A Fast Maddux happens in less than two hours.
A Dirty Maddux has runs scored.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Screw the closer, please.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
An insurance run would be nice.
dmick89Quote Reply
An obnoxious fan heard on the broadcast:
Baseball speak can get really douchey.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
A Poor Man’s Maddux is anything Kyle Hendricks does.
dmick89Quote Reply
Rizzo should stop talking those pitches right down the middle.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
That’s called a Maddicks.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Welp. Time to get my nerves racked again.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Lots of hard outs today. I’ll take them.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Filthy first strike.
ceruleanQuote Reply
That ball carried. Yikes.
ceruleanQuote Reply
This outing isn’t helping Davis’ xFIP.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
That was exciting.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Davis’ reaction was priceless.
ceruleanQuote Reply
A lucky win is still a win.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
(dying laughing)
uncle daveQuote Reply
I thought he did a great job inducing those long fly balls.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I like it when the Cubs play good enough to be lucky.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Hanson was involved in three of the game’s biggest plays:
He made the error allowing Russell to score.
He flied out with runners on first and second and one out.
He struck out with one out and the tying run on third.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Teams expected to be good or decent that are at least five games back right now:
Mets (5.0)
Dodgers (5.0)
Rangers (5.0)
Mariners (6.0)
Giants (7.0)
Blue Jays (8.0)
It’s not yet May.
ceruleanQuote Reply
With the exception of the Padres, the NL West is bizarro land.
ceruleanQuote Reply
In other news, Chris Coghlan did a thing:
https://twitter.com/BlueJayHunter/status/857055735037014020
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Holy shit, that’s amazing.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Yeah- I’d love to see likes/dislikes/whathaveyou on here. Sometimes I read the comments on BN, but I always regret it. The dialog here is great, though, and anything that makes it more conversational adds a lot of value. I mean, I won’t go away, regardless, but it would make my lurking and occasional comment more satisfying. So therefore I think you should do it no matter how much work it is for you, because i like it!
URKQuote Reply
Fresh shit http://obstructedview.net/cubs-1-pirates-0-4-25-17/
berseliusQuote Reply