Did The Cubs Win?
OSS: Hammel outduels Tanaka, and Lou Goodvalue gives Masahiro fits.
Three Up
1. Luis Valbuena doubled twice and singled once. On the season, he’s .261/.384/.434. Last year, he was .218/.331/.378 on a .233 BABIP, so we should have seen this coming. It’s insane to me that Valbuena isn’t considered a long-term solution at 2B or 3B; he’s quietly been the 3rd most valuable position player on the team this year after being the 2nd most valuable last year. Oh, and he’s arb eligible for the first time next year.
2. Jason Hammel has been absolutely nails this year. The only blemish was failing to get out of the 6th, but the overall line (5.2 IP, 1 BB, 6 SO, 0 HR, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER) is a quality start in every definition of the word except the technical one.
3. Emilio Bonifacio deserves to be here, but I have to include John Baker because he had 2 hits, and that’s probably the last time that’ll happen in his career.
Three Down
1. None. Everyone was a positive this game.
Quick Hits
Don’t buy into the narrative that this was Tanaka’s first lost in 40+ games, he lost in the playoffs…Ricky used 5 (!) relievers in this game to record 10 outs (3.1 IP, 3 BB, 3 SO, 2 H, 0 R)…Rizzo is now 2nd among NL 1B in OBP (.400)…Rizzo has 32 walks and 30 strikeouts…Castro is now 3rd among NL SS in OBP (.339), despite having a 4.9% walk rate…Castro has a positive FRAA (4.6), almost half a win on defense thus far…Cubs have more runs scored than allowed…Mike Olt update: still bad…Javier Baez doubled twice and did not strike out yesterday…Arismendy Alcantara went 2-4.
Next Game
Today, 1:20 PM CT (Whitley v Samardzija)
Tickets (cubs.com ONLY):
$46, Terrace Reserved Outfield
$67, Bleachers
Will The Cubs Win?
