OSS: Cubs eke one out in the rain
Three up:
- Jose Quintana had one of his best starts as a Cub, striking out eleven batters in seven shutout innings. It’s especially good to see given how much of a disaster his last start was. Even better, he only issued one walk.
- Daniel Descalso had the big hit of the night, driving in Heyward in the seventh for the go-ahead run. We all grumbled about the signing, but he’s been pretty good so far. From what I remember he was a swing change guy which may have explained the Cubs interest in him. Certainly there wasn’t much in StL to recommend him, but he looks like a different guy now.
- The rain let up, so the bullpen ended up closing the door without very much drama. Another week or two of scoreless outings and they might even rate out as average!
Three down:
- It looks like Victor Caratini suffered a broken hand/wrist in this one. Props to him for still belting out a double after it supposedly occurred. I’m not as bullish as some on Caratini, but he’s certainly better than Taylor Davis, who seems likely to replace him.
- The Cubs almost blew the game in Cubes-like fashion in the sixth, when Javy was at the plate with one out and runners at second and third. Javy hit a grounder to third base which resulted in not one but two outs at home, as Javy didn’t run. He had thought the ball hit his foot, but video review was inconclusive so it turned into a cheapie double play. If you do hit your foot in a situation like that, you either have to sell it or go to first anyway. Anything in between just invites what happened.
- The rest of the offense was not great today, but that’s easy to chalk up to the weather conditions. At least the Cubs were able to get yesterday’s and today’s games in, rather than burning what off days are left.
Mini Preview
It’s too late to write my already lazily sourced preview, but some quick highlights
- The Angels are coming off a sweep of the Beers. Thanks, Angels!
- Mike Trout is day to day with a groin injury. He missed Wednesday’s game but reportedly has felt better. But if the weather is still lousy-ish I would not be surprised to see him miss a game or two in this series.
- Friday’s matchup is between LHP Taylor Skaggs and Cole Hamels
- Saturday’s is RHP Chris Stratton vs Kyle Hendrics
- Sunday is former Cub RHP Trevor Cahill vs (gulp) Tyler Chatwood
Comments
If we are denied Chatwood v. Trout I will be eternally angry.
uncle daveQuote Reply
There was a graphic last night of all time top ERA among Cubs relief pitchers (min 300 innings or something) and I was very surprised to see Strop was 1st or 2nd on that list. Didn’t realize he’s been that reliable.
WaLiQuote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
CF Almora
3B Bryant
1B Rizzo
SS Baez
C Contreras
2B Bote
RF Zagunis
LF War Bear
P Colbert Hamels
berseliusQuote Reply
Is this Tyler Chatwood’s last audition?
MylesQuote Reply
Myles,
It’s not like anyone is nipping at his heels right now.
berseliusQuote Reply
I will not have you besmirch *looks at Iowa Cubs roster* Duncan Robinson’s good name, sir!
MylesQuote Reply
Anybody see the year Vogelbach is having? He doesn’t even qualify but he’s 3rd in fWAR. Leads the league in .SLG, .OPS, wOBA, and wRC+ with a 30 PA minimum.
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2019&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=21,d
MuckerQuote Reply
Tony! Willie!
/delayed comment
berseliusQuote Reply
Man, you can really feel the wind with that shakycam.
berseliusQuote Reply
Bote!!!!!
andcountingQuote Reply
Willson reboot!!!!
andcountingQuote Reply
This offense is pretty good I think.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
Pretty good outing by Hamels
berseliusQuote Reply
Trout has been ruled out for the remainder of this series.
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
I’m looking forward to dave’s eternal anger.
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
He’s been angry about a lot of things this week. A wide variety of things have pissed him off. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Trout/Chatwood, uselessness of tech industry, and public sperm extractors. Did I miss something else?
(Despite what the podcast says, I haven’t read every word.)
SKQuote Reply
Cole Hamels going 8 innings and giving up nothing but a ludicrous solo homer to Pujols (it was a fucking chase pitch) is pretty damn good.
andcountingQuote Reply
M ——–> inverted
berseliusQuote Reply
Poor Chris Davis.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
(He didn’t hit it hard, but still…)
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
The Dodgers are useless.
PerkinsQuote Reply
SK,
My dog got up an hour early today, too. Don’t think I’ve posted about it yet, tho. She’s happily asleep again.
uncle daveQuote Reply
To-day’s Bryant less base ball squadron
2B Descalso
RF Zobrist
1B Rizzo
SS Baez
CF Heyward
C Contreras
LF Schwarber
3B Bote
P Hendricks
berseliusQuote Reply
Jon Lester has been the 6th highest offensive WAR on the team.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
That’s nuts for a team scoring as much as the Cubs have.
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
Especially when you consider that Bryant has sucked and Rizzo has just been mediocre at best. Obviously the Cubs aren’t going to continue scoring this much even if those two produce at levels we’d like, but yeah, it’s kind of surprising that they’re scoring this much despite two of their best players not being much help.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
(dying laughing)
It’s a really weird statistical distribution right now. Team batting average is .274, but only 3 qualifying batters are hitting over .250.
andcountingQuote Reply
This game is subpar.
andcountingQuote Reply
I miss the days when Kyle was Cyle.
North Side PatQuote Reply
Anyone else amazed to see a pitcher pitch AROUND Jason Heyward with a strong hitter behind him?
I really, really, really, really hope the Jason Heyward of 93 EV with a launch angle of 25 and a sub 5% k rate sticks around for a while.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Zobrist got screwed.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Brach got way too cute with Pujols with the bases loaded (3-1 slider????).
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Throw fucking strikes!
Lou PineillaQuote Reply
Zagunis!!!.
andcountingQuote Reply
Extend that man!
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Smokestack Lightning,
That hit probably increased his value to 7 years and $44 million.
dmick89Quote Reply
I don’t love anything as much as Joe loves unconventional intentional walks.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Javy.
andcountingQuote Reply
Notgoodwin!!!!
andcountingQuote Reply
(dying laughing) terrible AB
dmick89Quote Reply
How did Joe not call for a bunt there?
andcountingQuote Reply
Welp.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Schwarber got hosed.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Bullshit fucking umps all game
WaLiQuote Reply
Booooooooo
berseliusQuote Reply
I hope that ump gets ass cancer.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Perkins,
(dying laughing) that’s a bit harsh. It was probably a 50/50 call. I didn’t think Schwarber went, but I think he was close enough to going that I wasn’t surprised when he was called out.
dmick89Quote Reply
Yeah, I hate seeing a game end on a subjective coin-flip call like that, but it wasn’t obviously wrong, either.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
dmick89,
Fair. I just don’t have a lot of patience for that type of ending to a game.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Today’s game ——-> postponed
Good thing the Cubs have had so many off days this early in the season. I’m sure that won’t come back to hurt them down the stretch.
PerkinsQuote Reply
It’s wishful thinking at this point to hope for the stretch to be anything more than teeth-gnashing meaninglessness.
andcountingQuote Reply
It’s gonna suck to get swept by a team as bad as the Marlins.
dmick89Quote Reply
At least this means no Chatwood start.
berseliusQuote Reply
I don’t think I’ll ever stop being pissed at the ridiculous off day after opening day bullshit that happens in MLB. It happened so frequently with the Cubs this year the only way they could afford rainouts was to suck so that’s what they’re doing.
dmick89Quote Reply
http://www.obstructedview.net/series-preview-chicago-cubs-5-9-at-miami-marlins-4-12/
berseliusQuote Reply