Cubs 5, Brewers 0

In Postgame by berselius138 Comments

OSS: Jose Quintana pitches a shutout and the magic number drops to two.

Three up:

  1. Quintana was fantastic today, striking out ten and allowing just three hits and one walk. It wasn't a Maddux, but Q was much more efficient than he has been over his cubs career. Commenter mcalis2 wondered if his performance hinges on getting his curveball in for strikes – I'm not sure but it was working fairly well in this one. This was his best start since his 12 K, 0 R, 7 inning Cubs debut.
  2. Aside from Quintana, the Cubs WPA leader was Kris Bryant who went 2-3 with a walk and an RBI double. His RBI total will likely keep him from MVP consideration and he feels almost underrated this year.
  3. The other big hit came off the bat of Ben Zobrist, a two run homer in the seventh that gave Q some breathing room.

Three down

  1. The Cubs were hitting Anderson well early on, but stabbed themselves in the foot several times with double plays.
  2. Anderson also got some big strikeouts of Zobrist and Russell in the fourth inning with multiple baserunners on.
  3. I'm not sure why Schwarber didn't get the start against a RHP today, but I guess Joe really wanted Almora's glove in the game.

Next up:

The Cubs get four chances to clinch the NL Central title at Busch Stadium. :chef kissing fingers emoji:

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Comments

  3. SK

    cerulean,

    In one camp you have emoji fanatics who would go so far as to create a 25,000+ character emoji translation of Alice in Wonderland. On the other side are equally impassioned emoji haters who think the characters are unimaginative and that using emoji perpetuates “linguistic incompetence”.

    There are some very fine people on both sides.

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  4. cerulean

    In case you are worried that it would exceed the accepted level of quality for OV, it includes
    “an exceedingly ugly emoji selector”.

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  7. cerulean

    For the record—text often lacks subtext. Emoticons and Emoji can add it—adding to linguistic complexity rather than taking it away.

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  18. cerulean

    Kris Bryant may make the .300/.400/.500 club. Move over Tommy Pham.

    Also: Bryant has increased his BB-rate by 3.6% and decreased his K-rate by 3% from last year. He is striking out less than 1 in 5 PAs.

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  19. cerulean

    I thought he’d be good, but holy shit, he is really good. Better than a win every 100 PAs. Incredible.

    EDIT: Nevermind, his Clutch is -2.71.

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  21. cerulean

    dmick89,

    It’s just the low RBI numbers and random things I have heard hinted at by commentators and podcasters alike—like the fact that his clutch numbers were down both last year and this year. I don’t know how widespread the narrative is.

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  22. Rizzo the Rat

    I think there’s a plausible case for bringing up “clutch” in, say, MVP awards discussions. I think it makes sense to give the award to the guy who helped his team the most rather then whoever put up the best (context-free) numbers.

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  23. Jisht

    I’ve read some cool short stories that used what were basically emojis to enhance the story.

    cerulean:
    For the record—text often lacks subtext. Emoticons and Emoji can add it—adding to linguistic complexity rather than taking it away.

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  31. Perkins

    MLB.com is already showing Cubs stuff on the postseason merch image (not for sale yet) and has them as the #3 seed against WAS in the NLDS in the postseason bracket.

    Jumping the gun just a bit, but I don’t mind it.

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  33. Berselius is too lazy to log in

    Myles’ brother:
    The picture you have for the magic number is the greatest thing ever

    It’s from the early days of the TOOTBLAN stat. I remember it like it was yesterday – I was wearing an onion on my belt, as was the style at the time….

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  35. JonKneeV

    Perkins:
    MLB.com is already showing Cubs stuff on the postseason merch image (not for sale yet) and has them as the #3 seed against WAS in the NLDS in the postseason bracket.

    Jumping the gun just a bit, but I don’t mind it.

    Thanks for reminding me that we’ll probably face noted Cubs killer Daniel Murphy in the 1st round.

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  37. cerulean

    Okay—I can’t let this go.

    Kris Bryant:

    ——— BB% —— K% —— ISO
    2015 11.7% 30.6% .213
    2016 10.7% 22.0% .262
    2017 14.4% 19.0% .242

    When strikeouts are exploding around the league.

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  38. dmick89

    cerulean,

    The only two minor complaints I have about Bryant’s season is that his power numbers have been down a bit (ISO lower than last year) even though there’s been more home runs hit than ever before. The other minor complaint is that his defense hasn’t seemed as strong this year. Those are minor nitpicks for a player who is one of the best in baseball. His lower RBI numbers are obviously the result of having Bryant bat after guys who posted lower OBPs (Schwarber!).

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  39. dmick89

    Perkins:
    JonKneeV,

    WAS is going to be a tough series. On the plus side, they have a middling bullpen and are managed by Dusty Baker.

    I’m not looking forward to that series assuming the Cubs get in. The Nationals were the team that scared me most last season and they’re even better this year.

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  43. Smokestack Lightning

    dmick89: I’m not looking forward to that series assuming the Cubs get in. The Nationals were the team that scared me most last season and they’re even better this year.

    Neither am I. Personally, it’s not so much the Nats as the presence of Daniel Murphy. If he signed with the Reds, I would assume the Cubs would lose every game against them.

    Add to that the Cubs needing to beat two of Scherzer, Strasburg, Gonzalez… ugh…

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  45. cerulean

    dmick89,

    I don’t think .020 is statistically significant over a single season. And considering the fact that .242 is better than his career ISO coming into this year, it is even more impressive. During a time when people are adjusting to the flyball revolution, he is adjusting to making way more contact without sacrificing his power—that’s astounding.

    Defense is a fickle friend—if memory serves, Bryant, Javy, Zobrist, and Almora were grading out below average in the first few months of the year—but now they all grade out above average. With the exception of Zobrist who is an old man, I am more inclined to chalk it up to some flukey shit and regression to the mean rather than any meaningful change in that amorphous “true talent”.

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  46. cerulean

    Smokestack Lightning: Neither am I. Personally, it’s not so much the Nats as the presence of Daniel Murphy. If he signed with the Reds, I would assume the Cubs would lose every game against them.

    Add to that the Cubs needing to beat two of Scherzer, Strasburg, Gonzalez… ugh…

    If I am a Nats fan, I am not pleased about having to face the hottest team in the NL for the second half of the season with everybody but Lester seeming to return to form.

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  47. dmick89

    Let’s see how this comment voting thing works over the next 24 hours or so. If it works well, I’ll do some styling and make it even with the reply/quote line and probably add some different images (any suggestions?).

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  48. Perkins

    cerulean: If I am a Nats fan, I am not pleased about having to face the hottest team in the NL for the second half of the season with everybody but Lester seeming to return to form.

    As a Nats fan, I’m also probably fretting Dusty Baker’s bullpen management.

    But as a Cubs fan, I’m cautiously optimistic, even if the series is an uphill battle.

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  49. dmick89

    cerulean: I don’t think .020 is statistically significant over a single season.

    No, definitely not. That’s why it’s just a minor complaint. I don’t think his true talent level offensively is any worse than a year ago. it might actually be better since he’s walking more and striking out less (those tend to normalize with fewer plate appearances). The eye test is the worst, but defensively he doesn’t look as good as last year. Again, it’s a minor complaint. I don’t think his defensive true talent is any different than a year ago. We’ll need more data.

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  51. cerulean

    Not to get ahead of myself, but we do already know the outcome of any Nats-Cubs series: The Dodgers will win in five.

    #faitAccompli

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  52. BVS

    berselius,

    I’m pretty worried about Lester. Recently he’s been the 5th or 6th best starter for the Cubs. Wonder if he really is healthy.

    Without him in the rotation we have Hendricks Arrieta, Quintana, Lackey, Monty. Might work if first three are spot on.

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  53. cerulean

    BVS,

    Hopefully Lester is just going through a dead arm period and will be back to his old self soon—like in a week. He doesn’t appear injured, but he also doesn’t look right, much like Hendricks in the early going. I do worry about him injuring himself trying to push through, but with everyone else looking good—Lackey excepted—I am less worried than I was at the beginning of the month.

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  55. Smokestack Lightning

    cerulean:
    BVS,

    Hopefully Lester is just going through a dead arm period and will be back to his old self soon—like in a week. He doesn’t appear injured, but he also doesn’t look right, much like Hendricks in the early going. I do worry about him injuring himself trying to push through, but with everyone else looking good—Lackey excepted—I am less worried than I was at the beginning of the month.

    I’m not all that optimistic at this point. Something’s definitely not right. Ks are way, way down. Walks way, way up. I’m expecting him to struggle again tonight unless the BABIP gods intervene in his favor. And given the necessity of needing him right if he’s going to man a postseason roster slot, I’m kinda hoping they don’t.

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  81. cerulean

    Rizzo the Rat:
    Good Jon Lester, please.

    I am hoping that the lead makes him feel nice and relaxed—though not too relaxed—I think beer and fried chicken would count as foreign substances on the mound.

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  89. cerulean

    uncle dave:
    Gonna go grab some plastic sheeting, brb

    Hold off on that until the Cubs eliminate the Cardinals completely from the playoffs. They would still have a shot at the wildcard.

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