Chicago Cubs 6 @ St Louis Cardinals 5
Anyone else kind of baffled that this Cubs team has 13 walks in a two game stretch? I really don't get it. The Junior Lake Show was 2-4 with a double yesterday. He just keeps going. Welington Castillo's quietly solid second half is becoming less and less quiet of late. He was 1-1 with two walks and a homer last night. Dioner Navarro seems to have recovered well from that brutal looking strain from the other night in Philly, as he legged out a close pinch hit double in the eighth. Starlin Castro was 2-5. For as nice as his July hot streak was, he's cooled off in august, and his post-ASG OPS is actually lower than his first half thus far. Anthony Rizzo was 1-5. Darwin Barney was 1-5 and had the knock of the night, a huge bases clearing double against Rosenthal in the eighth that took the lead. I don't even know.
Carlos Villanueva had a pretty meh game, working six innings and allowing 4 runs on seven hits, a walk, and 4 Ks. Blake Parker and Pedro Strop each worked the next two scorelessly, then Gregg had to go and make things interesting by giving up a ninth-inning homer to Matt Holliday to get the Cards within one. He Groggled his way out of it though and got the save. Bully for him.
Iowa Cubs 3 @ Fresno Grizzlies 0
Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-3 with a 2B and a walk. Brooks Raley tossed 8 innings of shutout ball on 2 walks, 2 hits, and 3 Ks. It's stretching the definition of the term to suggest that these were the only interesting things that that happened in this game.
Montgomery Biscuits 10 @ Tennessee Smokies 2
I was gonna make some awful food puns, then it occurred to me that Tennessee's basically named after sausages. Minor League baseball is weird.
Jonathan Mota had a pinch hit triple in what was pretty much the performance of the day. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-4. Javier Baez was 0-4, including a gross AB where he flailed wildly at three straight pitches with two men on. Christian Villanueva was 1-3.
Nick Struck was struck hard, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks in 4 innings in his southern league debut. He struck out 2. Struck struck struck. A.J. Morris tossed three innings and was worse, getting knocked around for five runs (2 earned) on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 4 Ks. P.J. Francescon worked the final 2 and allowed a solo home run on 4 hits and a K.
Tampa Yankees 3 @ Daytona Cubs 6
When this Daytona team can actually get on the field, they're a pretty solid squad. Zeke DeVoss was 1-5 with a double. Pin-Chieh Chen went 1-5. West Darvill was 2-5. Bijan Rademacher had the game of the day, going 3-3 with a walk. Dustin GEiger went 1-3. Elliot Soto was 1-1 with 2 walks.
C.J. Edwards' impressive streak of allowing zero home runs as a professional is unfortunately over. He gave up a 3-run shot last night for his only damage in 3.2 innings of work, allowing 2 hits and 4 walks. Even though he didn't have it, he still managed to strike out eight. The kid definitely misses bats. Zach Cates worked 2 in this one, allowing a hit and 2 walks on 2 Ks, but preventing any runs. Frank Del Valle finished off the game, striking out four on a hit and no runs in 3.1 innings.
Cedar Rapids Kernels 6 @ Kane County Cougars 0
The Cougars were getting no-hit through 5, and ended up getting 2 hits and a walk, total. Dan Vogelbach was 1-3. Jose Dore was 1-3. And Jeimer Candelario was 0-2 with a walk. Every Cougar except Candelario and Carlos Escobar had a K on their line.
Felix Pena was not very good, allowing 6 runs (2 earned) on 9 hits, 3 walks, and 3 Ks in 5.1 innings. Sheldon McDonald worked the next 2.2 without blemish, allowing a hit, 2 walks, and a K. Stephen Perakslis had an issue-free ninth.
Vancouver Canadians 2 @ Boise Hawks 9
Kris Bryant did Kris Bryant Things, going 1-4 with a double, a walk, and 2 Ks. Yasiel Balaguert continues to be quietly good for the Hawks, going 2-4 with two doubles last night. Kevin Encarnacion was 2-5 with a double. Rony Rodriguez was 2-4, as were Trevor Gretzky and Lance Rymel. Carlos Penalver had the game of the day, though, going 3-4 with a double and a bomb.
On the pitching side, Dillon Maples was quite solid, scattering a run, five hits, a walk, and 5 Ks across five innings. Corbin Hoffner worked the last 4 in relief, allowing a run on 4 hits and 2 Ks.
Brian Bogusevic was 0-2 with a walk. Charcer Burks was 1-3 with a walk. Burks is having kind of a hilarious season in the AZL, as he has a sub-700 OPS despite a .350 OBP. He has 1 double in 71 ABs for his only XBH. Just zero, zero pop in that bat. This amuses me.
Trey McNutt showed up again, working an inning and allowing 3 hits on 1 K and zero runs. Also notable was a Trevor Clifton sighting, who got 2 outs and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits, two walks, and a strikeout.
Comments
I’m a little out of touch. After signing IFAs Eloy and the guy from Asia, have the Cubs gone after anyone else, sunce they’ve blown the budget?
SVBQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ SVB:
No one signifacant though really isn’t anyone left.
dmick89Quote Reply
Breaking Bad is so soon! Did I mention that I started watching this 2 years ago because you guys talked about it so much? I’d like to say thanks a million.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
@ JonKneeV:
Hope the final season is as good as those involved with the show think it is. Sucks there are only 8 left.
dmick89Quote Reply
Theme files had been hacked at old host. Will work on this one over the next few days.
dmick89Quote Reply
Oooh…North Carolina blue.
I’m not sure I like this hahaha /Duke’d
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Me neither, but as the Great Dusty Baker used to say, it is what it is. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
I’ll pretend it’s more Royals blue. I can live with that better.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2013/08/11/1542052/el-pelotero-cubano-abreu-abandona.html
GWQuote Reply
If you don’t know who I am, tread lightly.
Not Stationary WaLiQuote Reply
Should I start a Breaking Bad thread so we can talk about the episode? I don’t want any spoilers here.
dmick89Quote Reply
whoa new format
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
Couldn’t hurt
WaLiQuote Reply
Breaking Bad thread: http://obstructedview.net/unobstructed-views/breaking-bad-blood-money.html
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Recalcitrant Blogger Nate:
Will be closer to old format soon.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
i don’t mind it. I definitely like the new commenting format, which for me has always been what drives OV and previously ACB
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
can abreu play LF? sign him, its just money (dying laughing)
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
Reports I’m reading suggest he’s Dunn-esque in left. Bad 1B or DH. Still want to sign him. Hell, put Rizzo in left if you have to.
sitrickQuote Reply
how soon til the NL gets the DH, realistically? 5-10 years?
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
I’m really hoping that the DH goes away.
You figure that MLB has two issues to consider re: the DH. Long games, and too little offense. NL games are faster. More pitching changes between innings instead of during. But AL games have more scoring, and seem to be considered more exciting on average.
I really hate the slippery slop aspect of the DH. The whole premise is based on replacing shitty hitters (pitchers) with good hitters to increase scoring and thus attendance. Guys who bat 8th tend to be shitty too nowadays. Why not DH for them, etc. If we’re going to compensate for some players with a poor skill, why not have a designated fielder too? I think it’s silly. I want the nine men in the field to be the nine in the lineup.
Another factor is that the era of big money DHs is basically gone. There’s still David Ortiz, but teams aren’t spending big money otherwise on players in their mid 30s to play DH anymore. I don’t think owners would mind if that roster spot went away. Most teams just use it to rest other starters anyway. MLBPA has fewer players to defend than they did 10 years ago. There aren’t as many roided up brutes to find a spot in the order for.
The owners will need to make a concession somewhere, but I could see them pushing out the DH. It could be something as simple as raising the base salary. I’m not sure how the negotiations would work, but if they sell it as a move to speed up the game, it could get some traction.
JQuote Reply
There’s no way in hell the DH is going away in the AL. Players don’t want it to go away, owners don’t want it to go away, front offices don’t want it to go away. There’s far more momentum for bringing the DH to the NL, which is why it’s going to happen in the next 5-10 years.
sitrick2Quote Reply
@ J:
I think the player’s association wants to extend the DH to NL. I’m also not sure how getting rid of the DH actually speeds up the game that much. It’s slower because of the number of pitching changes, the frequent time-outs during AB’s, and the commercials every half inning. Also, I think in general there is a consensus to reduce the risk of injury to pitchers, who are fragile enough as it is. The NL is pretty much the only place that there isn’t a DH. College, minors, AL.
I also don’t get the logic behind “replacing pitchers” with better hitters. Pitchers get taken off the mound when they get tired/shitty and replaced by relievers. Players are pinch-hit for all the time. Want to do away with that too? Teams build 25 man rosters and its the managers job to maximize it. Also, I think some of the lowered DH production in the AL has to do with teams utilizing it to rotate and give rest to regulars, plus the fact that the increased focus on defense has made it harder to justify giving a 25 man spot to someone with absolutely no defensive value. Again, maximizing the value of the entire 25 man roster. Just my .02.
NateQuote Reply
I’m fine with doing away the DH if any on if pitchers learn how to hit. As a fan, I think it’s somewhat outrageous that we even accept the pitcher batting at this point. People pay money to go watch this and 5-6 times per game they get to watch an unbelievably shitty batter who isn’t just bad, but barely even bothers to improve.
dmick89Quote Reply
The main reason at this point that the DH is coming to the NL at this point is that there are inter-league games nearly every day. It gives AL teams with home games a significant roster advantage that will need to be balanced. There’s simply no way the MLBPA is going to allow 15 clubs to get rid of a position that employs members of their union.
NateQuote Reply
at this point (dying laughing)
NateQuote Reply
@ Nate:
Agreed. The DH is here to stay and it’s only a matter of time until it’s in the NL.
dmick89Quote Reply
Can we just stop with the Smokies sausage jokes already?
Anyone ever heard of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee? Also known as the Great Smokies, or the Smokies.
I’m not sure, but I think the team name probably has something to do with that, and just maybe that’s why there are mountains on their logo.
JasonQuote Reply