OSS: Eight innings from Lackey and a couple of home runs off of the Angels pitching machine extend the Cubs winning streak to eight games.
Three up:
- John Lackey allowed just three hits in eight innings, striking out six for his best start in over a month. He even managed to shut down Mike Trout, striking him out once and getting two more outs on fly balls to CF.
- After Lackey, Willson Contreras was the Cubs WPA leader on the day. He led off the Cubs scoring with a solo shot against Angels BP pitcher Jered Weaver. Just trying to read the tea leaves here, but I think Joe moved him down the order because he seemed to be pressing a bit in a lot of big-ish situations higher in the order, and it paid off well tonight.
- The Cardinals are now 12 games back. 12 back rule?
Three down:
- I guess we have to complain about something here. but I got nothing. I guess Fowler went 0-4.
- Rondon is day to day with some triceps issues. Not an area you like to hear about for a pitcher.
- We could also pick a few nits about Lackey going out there in the later innings when the Cubs are looking to save bullets in guys’ arms. With Rondon possibly unavailable, Joe was in a bind. He only has another dozen or so relief pitchers on the roster. *shakes head*
Next up: Former Cub Jason Hammel takes on Former Cub Ricky Nolasco.
Comments
The score was 5-1.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Just establishing weekly rediscreditation.
SKQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
That’s what I get for writing these as in falling asleep (dying laughing)
berseliusQuote Reply
Yeah, i was like did they score again since i checked this morning?
JoshQuote Reply
Josh,
I’m not saying Jeff Weaver is bad, but…
uncle daveQuote Reply
uncle dave,
Don’t imply what you’re not saying.
SKQuote Reply
I wonder if the Cubs knew about the Robdon’s triceps issue before the deadline.
dmick89Quote Reply
Lackey after the game was basically saying Weaver was terrible but he liked that he tried real hard.
joshQuote Reply
It certainly would help explain some things.
I still want Vogelback.
MylesQuote Reply
So I’ve chilled on the Russell for HOF talk. I started under the assumption that a few people each birth year make it, and there’s some probability Russell is the 2nd or 3rd best player born in 1994. That assumption is spurious; ’94 is loaded with talent and Russell is something like 4th to 6th on that list right now. Maybe an outside shot.
MylesQuote Reply
Myles,
I’m starting to think Pujols has an outside chance at the HOF. Who’s with me?
joshQuote Reply
Jeff Weaver was pretty bad by the time he retired.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Sounds like Zambrano stopped by Wrigley yesterday. That’s awesome, it’d be fun to seem him back around the team in some positive way.
EdwinQuote Reply
Edwin,
Maybe he can take over water cooler punching duties?
joshQuote Reply
Am I missing something in this LaStella soap opera? Some folks are going on and on about how terrible and selfish he is, while others are getting all misty-eyed at his conviction and how he is standing up for himself. While I think its silly to trash him in personal terms, I don’t see how the organization has any motivation to reward him for refusing to honor the terms of his contract. And it seems like they’d have a pretty big motivation not to bring him back after this.
URKQuote Reply
URK,
Maybe they like him. Not every decision is business.
joshQuote Reply
josh,
Bad precedent though. And, I’m not saying that what they’ve done so far–giving him a generous amount of space without closing off options is bad precedent. But it seems to me that if he plays for the big league team in September without ever reporting to Iowa, that’s a pretty bad precedent.
URKQuote Reply
josh,
That was the impression I got after reading the Carrie Muskat article.
joshQuote Reply
They could use another arm in the bullpen. He also could be a bench bat.
ceruleanQuote Reply
URK,
I don’t know. There’s probably more to the story than we know.
joshQuote Reply
cerulean,
Heck, as a switch-hitter, he could replace TLS, the selfish bastard. (dying laughing)
ceruleanQuote Reply
I’m just tired of these pro athletes thinking about themselves, without even once considering what I would like them to do.
EdwinQuote Reply
Edwin,
Well, I don’t really want him to do anything, one way or the other. My only concern here (and, its a totally idle speculating-about-bullshit-on-the-internet “concern,” not a real concern) is what the implications going forward are for other players trying to veto roster moves that they don’t agree with, by simply not abiding by them. There’s an interview with him up somewhere (ESPN I think) where he says that going to Iowa “just didn’t feel right” and that his whole identity isn’t based around being a pro baseball player. That’s totally cool, and seems like a great argument for him to just retire, since he doesn’t want to play for the I Cubs for a month. But he also says that he really hopes to be back with the big league team when rosters expand. From the organization’s point of view, that seems like an expectation that it would be counterproductive to entertain. It puts the manager in the position of saying “well, we can’t send these guys down, because they don’t have any options, but I can’t send this guy down because he might pull a LaStella.” Again, I don’t really care what he does, but I’m pretty curious about how the organization is handling it, and there are parts of that which seem weird.
URKQuote Reply
URK,
I don’t think it will be much of an issue. I doubt the Cubs let him back on the team if he doesn’t report to Iowa, they’ve made it clear they feel he needs to get some reps at the minor league level to get back up to speed. Even if they do, it’s a unique enough case that I don’t too many players would give it much thought.
EdwinQuote Reply
If they didn’t like La Stella’s bat, they’d probably just fire him…
joshQuote Reply
URK,
It’s not like TLS is doing himself any favors. He’s probably not being paid, and he’s putting a potential playoff roster spot in jeopardy. Even if he does get to come straight back to the Major League team, he’s probably going to be rusty and his performance will suffer, making it really easy to be left off the playoff roster. Most players are going to quickly realize that trying to play hardball with a FO the way TLS is doing is a losing situation.
EdwinQuote Reply
Edwin,
Maybe his mom is a really good hitting coach.
joshQuote Reply
We should sign Adrian Cardenas to replace TLS.
MylesQuote Reply
Edwin,
Yeah, it’s really bizarre that TLS thinks he’s going to come out of this in the same or better position. If he doesn’t report to Iowa, he won’t get called up and he won’t be on the playoff roster. His trade value will be next to nothing and he could find himself in the same spot next year.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
My takeaway from the article I read was he was struggling with whether or not he even wanted to play baseball, whether the stress of stuff like this was worth the reward. So it may be unique in that not every player will question that fundamental fact, and they may be giving him space to figure that out.
joshQuote Reply
dmick89,
I don’t think he cares about if he comes out of this better or not. He’s just trying to figure out what makes him happy.
EdwinQuote Reply
Edwin,
Right, that was what I got too.
joshQuote Reply
josh,
Which is why I don’t think other players will be able to use this as some kind of excuse not to go to AAA.
joshQuote Reply
Is it time for the playoffs yet? This season is sooooooooooooo long.
EdwinQuote Reply
Carlos Gomez—>DFA
GWQuote Reply
WAR since 2010: 0.6, 2.2, 2.3, 8.5, 4.8, 1.6, 0.7
GWQuote Reply
GW,
I think it’s safe to say the Brewers made that trade at the right time (dying laughing)
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
his WAR chart is like a child’s etch-a-sketch of mountains
http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=4881&legend=1&statArr=58&split=base&time=season&ymin=&ymax=
GWQuote Reply
https://vine.co/v/5bZ2YgIMPWw
GWQuote Reply
Javy!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Hammel walks Nolasco on four pitches.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Runs, please.
dmick89Quote Reply
Bryzzo!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
You should learn not to attempt those throws, Addison.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Looked like Trout got screwed.
dmick89Quote Reply
That was a perfect pitch according to gameday—it was a strike by a millimeter.
ceruleanQuote Reply
dmick89,
I think the robot-ump overlords ring him up on it.
ceruleanQuote Reply
These warning track flies are annoying.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Fowler!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Dexter!!!
dmick89Quote Reply
cerulean,
It was a nice pitch. I’m surprised it got called.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
cerulean,
I didn’t check Gameday. I can at least understand Trout’s reaction. That pitch isn’t called very often.
dmick89Quote Reply
More warning track power.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I thought Bryant got enough of that one.
dmick89Quote Reply
The way the starting pitching has been, they could justify doing a five-man rotation in the playoffs.
ceruleanQuote Reply
dmick89,
It’s probably a 5% call, which sucks, because it is probably one of the best spots that is still technically a strike.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Terrible AB by Russell.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
cerulean,
I’d rather go with 4. Question is who is the 4th guy? Lackey or Hammel? I can’t imagine that Lackey won’t be in the playoff rotation, but an easy argument could be made for Hammel instead.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I think Lackey is better. I don’t trust Hammel’s peripherals.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
That said, either one should be pinch-hit for before the third time through the order.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
dmick89,
Given the time between games, it would be asinine to go with five, but they could, and that’s pretty exciting. I think Joe talks to Lackey about coming out of the pen because I think he would be better in that role than Hammel.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Uh oh.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
This sucks.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Well, shit.
PerkinsQuote Reply
That sucks. Strop hurt, Rondon hurt. So much for that awesome bullpen. That lasted a week.
dmick89Quote Reply
Ugh.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I’d have walked Trout and let Pujols roll into 2, but I’ll take Trout striking out.
dmick89Quote Reply
Whew.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Insurance runs, please.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Addison!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
http://obstructedview.net/series-preview-st-louis-cardinals-60-54-chicago-cubs-71-41/
berseliusQuote Reply