OSS: The Cubs offense takes its next steps to opening their own insurance agency.
Three up:
- The Cubs offense continued its trend of piling on late in games, scoring four runs in the last two innings to turn this from a nailbiter to a comfortable margin of victory. I’m too lazy to go back and look for it, but I seem to recall Len and JD throwing a graphic up showing that the Cubs had scored the most runs in the league after the seventh inning on the young season. I don’t know if this was one of the mysterious “things we need to fix that have been lingering for years” that David Ross has supposedly brought back to the fore, but it’s certainly nice to see.
- The Royals managed to cluster a few singles against Darvish’s fastball in an inning or two, but he emerged mostly unscathed and finished the day with seven innings and just one run allowed. The Cubs starting pitching and defense has been on point so far.
- The insurance runs were great, but so was the bullpen today. Jeffress and Rea combined for two scoreless innings with three strikeouts and no hits or walks.
Three Down:
- I got nothin’ to complain about here. The Cubs are beating up on a bad team, which is what they should be doing.
Next up: The Cubs go for the four-game quasi-sweep and their seventh win in a row. The resurgent Tyler Chatwood faces Brad Keller at 6:07 PM CT.
Comments
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/you-cant-fit-yu-darvish-into-a-pitch-type-box/
PerkinsQuote Reply
I’ve not been following the season too closely, but it seems like there are 13 teams that never win, 13 teams that never lose, and four teams that will likely have a handful of players die by the end of the year. Is that about right?
uncle daveQuote Reply
Here’s hoping the Cubs and the rest of the NLC can avoid outbreaks. The Cardinals have to play 55 games in 52 days and that sounds pretty grueling.
PerkinsQuote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
3B Bryant
1B Rizzo
SS Baez
LF Schwarber
C Contreras
RF Heyward
DH Caratini
2B Hoerner
CF Happ
P Chatwood
berseliusQuote Reply
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2020/08/06/mlb-tightening-up-safety-protocols-violators-could-be-suspended-for-the-rest-of-the-season/
berseliusQuote Reply
http://www.havethecubsclinchedaplayoffbirthyet.com
GWQuote Reply
MLB has to know that not every team is going to get 60 games in, right? I assume they will go with winning percentage for playoff qualifiers. Then they will have to set a minimum games limit, to keep the Marlins from cruising into the second round with their .704 over 27 games, or whatever. There might be some dubious PPDs late in the season, even so.
GWQuote Reply
Not great, Bob.
PerkinsQuote Reply
I hate these virtual crowds so much.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Chatwood is back in midseason form.
GWQuote Reply
It’s not what you want.
berseliusQuote Reply
Thank you, whoever it is that has retracted the monkey’s paw wish.
Taylor Shatwood is back. All is right with the world.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
God’s in his heaven.
berseliusQuote Reply
I’m starting to think the Cubs might not win this one.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Preposterous.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Kimbrel finally got some hitters to swing at his curveball. Progress?
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Picked a good night to skip out on watching the Cubs it seems
WaLiQuote Reply
WaLi,
At least the Cubs did us the favor of getting blown out early.
berseliusQuote Reply
Ugh.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
If you want to jab a rusty spoon into your brain, some of the replies to this tweet are something else
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1291762084724834304/photo/1
berseliusQuote Reply
There’s talk that they could still play a doubleheader on Sunday, which, (dying laughing)
berseliusQuote Reply
Welp, no Cubs baseball until Tuesday
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
I imagine you could swap in just about any tweet ever tweeted and say the same thing.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
It seems like there was an assumption across MLB that infections would occur in batches of one or two players at a time, making roster switches without gaps in play relatively easy to navigate. I’m beginning to think that’s not how it happens.
andcountingQuote Reply
berselius,
At least the ratio of ignorance to defensible comments is pretty low, unlike comments on a tweet about, say, BLM, or Covid19. If people want to argue that Griffey at 1200 games > Trout, they can make a case.
For even more mystifying Twitter conversation, look up #wormgate and Science Twitter. (dying laughing)
BVSQuote Reply
BVS,
Tweet with ref to article here
You’ve been warned.
BVSQuote Reply
andcounting,
What I don’t understand is this assumption MLB teams apparently had that all you had to do was give it a day to see if you tested positives. I’ve known for months that it could take up to a week or on occasion for a test to come back as positive. How the fuck did MLB teams not know this? The way Mozeliak was talking yesterday, he sounded dumbfounded that this could happen and I’m dumbfounded that an MLB executive didn’t already know this.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Yeah, I’m sure it’s a combination of not wanting to know and hoping they could get lucky.
andcountingQuote Reply
dmick89,
This is like the GA governor finally locking down his state weeks later than everyone else when he discovered that asymptomatic people can spread the virus.
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
It’s exactly like that. MLB’s policy on this has been so ridiculous from the start. The entire problem with this season from the start was that any team that had a positive while that player was around any other player needed to isolate two weeks effectively ending their season. It’s ridiculous. Nobody seems to understand (or care) about the severity of this. It’s so fucking pathetic. Grown ass adults care more about some made up right to not wear a mask than they do about preventing others from getting sick.
dmick89Quote Reply
andcounting,
Magical thinking makes the world go ’round — at least, that’s what all the magical thinkers say.
ceruleanQuote Reply
you sure about that though
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
ok I was trying to insert the image of bernie lomax at the royales games but I think I fucked it up
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
the “dicussion” between bruce and sportsfactlover was a debate I recently enjoyed
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
dmick89,
The Univ I work for in the South recently released guidance for people whose housemates test + for covid. They assume you are now exposed and therefore you are on WFH or virtual classes for 24 days. 10 days for your housemate to cease being contagious and 14 days afterward for you to clear your potential contagious period. Can’t remember exactly when this was released, but sometime in June.
BVSQuote Reply
how has the season not been cancelled yet
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
It’s pretty surprising that there have not been more cases. The two teams (Marlins/Cardinals) that have had outbreaks clearly had broken protocols with players going out and about while traveling. The teams who have been taking precautions though seem to be clear so far.
NFL is going to be a fucking mess though, that’s supposed to start in a month.
WaLiQuote Reply
I think the Marlins and Cardinals should just have to forfeit the games that were postponed due to their outbreaks. From the sound of it, players broke protocols and it seems unfair to make a bunch of other teams play doubleheaders to make up those games. Plus then there’s actually a chance of finishing the season in a satisfying way.
PerkinsQuote Reply
So much this
I wouldn’t mind to see the teams stuck with half the games as losses and no wins going to the opponent (because that would be unfair to the rest of the league)
ceruleanQuote Reply
I think the Marlins and Cardinals (and the next team this happens to) should lose all games that were postponed due to Covid, but there should be no wins given to the other team. Just use their winning percentage in all other games played as their final record at the end of the season.
dmick89Quote Reply
It would’ve been nice if they had arranged a plan for this or at least designated a special season commissioner to rule on this kind of thing. But I guess what I wish for most is that someone of significant influence would have fostered an environment in which just about everyone took the containment effort seriously.
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
At least the Cubs have been on top of things so far. I think I saw something about how MLB contacted them to figure out if they can get other teams to do what the Cubs have been doing.
berseliusQuote Reply
Speaking of, looks like CLE scratched their SP tonight because he broke protocols. Good on them.
berseliusQuote Reply
the cubs are the paragon of operational efficiency? dark times are upon us, my frents.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
It makes sense that the Cubs aren’t fucking around with this – Lester and Rizzo are both immunocompromised (cancer survivors), and apparently Hottovy got it in the spring and had a pretty awful case.
I’d also agree with having the outbreak teams take the missed games as losses without awarding wins to their opponents. Kind of surprised that MLB doesn’t seem to have had a plan for this despite having had months to prepare.
PerkinsQuote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
3B Bryant
1B Rizzo
SS Baez
LF War Bear
C Contreras
CF Happ
RF Heyward
DH Caratini
2B Kipnis
P Lester
berseliusQuote Reply
J Hey!
berseliusQuote Reply
Heyward!!!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
A lot of unexpected things happening in 2020, including 538 deciding to Make Clippy Great Again.
berseliusQuote Reply
berseliusQuote Reply
Rizzo!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Just tuned in – based on Carrasco’s pitch count it looks like the Cubs have been working some ABs.
berseliusQuote Reply
RBI TOOTBLAN!
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
(dying laughing), I came here for the sole purpose of posting RBI TOOTBLAN!!! but alas, I am too late.
andcountingQuote Reply
Oh good Bryant’s hurt but at least it’s an out for now cool cool cool cool.
andcountingQuote Reply
I guess Bryant’s wrist is OK.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
I’m ok with everything I said proving to be false.
andcountingQuote Reply
I’m also ok with the Cubs social distancing from save opportunities.
andcountingQuote Reply
M ——-> inverted
berseliusQuote Reply
Gotta say I’m pretty happy with Ross so far. The Cubs just have not been making many of the dumb/sloppy mistakes that became all too common from 2017-19. And given that there hasn’t been a major roster overhaul, they look a lot more disciplined and persistent at the plate.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Perkins,
Given that the opportunity to make dumb/sloppy mistakes is now a 24/7 situation that includes things like “going out” and “doing things that were perfectly normal six months ago,” it’s no small feat.
andcountingQuote Reply
CIN, STL, MIL———->all five games (or more) back.
PerkinsQuote Reply
andcounting,
Yeah, I’m enjoying the apparent accountability. It seems like the group regained some intangible thing it had lost.
I’m also kind of surprised and impressed by his bullpen management, given that he has arguably less talent there than Maddon had for most of his tenure.
Granted, bullpen decisions were always a weak spot for Maddon, but it’s refreshing to see a Cubs manager kind of get it right.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Perkins,
Situational hitting that produces runs helps with bullpen management.
BVSQuote Reply
http://www.obstructedview.net/series-preview-cubs-12-3-at-brewers-7-9/
berseliusQuote Reply