OSS: Castro puts yesterday’s game on repeat.
Three Up
1. How can it not be Starlin Castro? He went 3-5 with the game winning double single (he never touched second, too busy celebrating), and he looks to be turning the corner nicely. This lineup goes from pretty good to pretty great when Castro is hitting, and right now, he’s hitting. Enjoy it.
2. Chris Coghlan continues his quietly very good year. Chris went 2-4 with 2 doubles and a walk – he also gunned down Brandon Phillips at home. His wOBA sits at .331 and that’s even considering his .270 BABIP (in itself borne from a high amount of hard contact, so he’s been very hit-unlucky). Coghlan has been in front of a lot of stuff, hitting lasers to the pull side. As they start to fall in for hits, I could see Coghlan work his wOBA up another 10 to 15 points, which puts him firmly in the “average LF” tier.
3. Lester needed a great game, and he had one. 5 baserunners in 7 innings, even while only fanning 4, is awfully nice. I like that he only went 96 pitches but still saw 25 batters; that’s a game you’ll take every time.
Three Down
1. Aroldis Chapman is still warming up. Bryan Price is out of his depth as a manager.
2. Mike Baxter didn’t do himself any favors today. He had the golden sombrero at RF, which is more-or-less the most damage a non-pitcher can inflict on his own team without errors.
3. Rizzo had a forgettable night, with 2 strikeouts and 0 times on base. His wOBA on the season is just .419, which is BARELY in the Top 5 in the league. What a bum.
Next Up
Cleveland (Bauer) at Chicago (Arrieta), 7:05 PM CT
Francisco Lindor has been called up, so make sure you watch this one.