St Louis Cardinals 0 @ Chicago Cubs 7
How 'bout that Jake Arrieta, huh? I'm starting to think we won the Feldman trade. Arrieta tossed 7 shutout innings against the cards, allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks against 7 Ks, and was dominating. Someone asked Keith Law on Twitter if Arrieta could be "a GUY" (which, can I say, the guy vs. GUY thing is the most blindingly stupid and annoying question an ESPN personality has contrived up since "Who's more NOW?" I understand it's scout-speak, but that doesn't make it any less stupid), and his response was that he wasn't as a starter, but maybe as a late-innings guy. I'm content to see if he can continue putting up dominant starts in a league with no DH before I start judging his future. James Russell worked the eighth and got a K in a perfect inning. And Blake Parker finished it off, with a walk being his only blemish.
Offensively it was an efficient, patient day, scoring 9 runs on 9 hits and 6 walks. Welington Castillo continues to have a blistering second half, hitting .308/.452/.446 since the break. Hew as 2-4 yesterday. Junior Lake was 0-3 with a walk, reaching on an error as well. Anthony Rizzo had a 1-2 day with 2 walks. Donnie Murphy continues to be good, going 2-2 with a walk. Darwin Barney had the day's only XBH (which, what?) going 2-3 with a double and a walk.
Iowa Cubs 2 @ New Orleans Zephyrs 5
Seriously, who gives a crap? Jae-Hoon Ha was 2-4 with a double and a homer. Mike Olt sucks this year. That's all the attention I'm giving this shitty team.
Chattanooga Lookouts 6 @ Tennessee Smokies 8
You can really just start copy/pasting these Javier Baez daily lines. 2-4 with a homer, a walk, a strikeout and an error. If his second hit had been a double intead of a single it would be a trademark Baez Cycle. You really can't overstate how good Baez has done in the Southern League. a .439 wOBA and a 182 wRC+ is just monstrous. It would seem like a waste of time to me to send him back here next year. He should start the year in Iowa, and I'm going to waste so much gas driving back and forth to Des Moines next spring. Jonathan Mota had the only other really noteworthy game, going 2-4 with a homer. John Andreoli was 1-4 with a SB.
EDIT: I missed that the Baez homer was a walkoff. The video is priceless:
Matt Loosen has not exactly brought his no-hit stuff with him back to Tennessee. He walked 5 in 4 innings, fanning 5, and allowing 6 runs on 6 hits. Gross. The bullpen continued to walk the world, but kept it scoreless the rest of the way.
Brevard County Manatees 1 @ Daytona Cubs 5
Kris Bryant and Dan Vogelbach both had 2-4 days, both singles. Anthony Giansanti was 1-3 with a double, as was Elliot Soto. Dustin Geiger was 1-4 with a 2 run bomb. The heart of this order, with Geiger, Vogelbach, and Bryant to get through, has got to be absolutely pants-shittingly terrifying for opposing pitchers to get through. Just a gauntlet.
The pitching that's been sent to Daytona continues to be nails as well, and I would think Daytona would have to be the odds on favorite to win their league championship at this point. It's a stacked roster. Corey Black took the mound today and tossed 5 innings of 1 run, 8 K ball, walking just 1 and scattering 8 hits. The work got his ERA down to just over 4, and after a tough first start, he's allowed 1 run in his last 11 innings. Zach Cates worked the next 3 and was insane, allowing a hit, a walk, and striking out six. Jeffrey Lorick closed it out with a perfect ninth, fanning one for good measure.
Kane County 1 @ Burlington Bees 5
This roster just isn't that interesting with Vogelbach's promotion and Almora's injury. If Candelario and Amaya aren't doing anything, not much going on. They didn't yesterday.
Boise Hawks 6 @ Tri-City Dust Devils 2
Kevin Encarnacion was 2-4 with a double. Shawon Dunson was 1-2 with a double and 3 walks. Jacob Rogers was 2-4 with a walk. Yasiel Balaguert was 0-4.
Jose Rosario got the start, working 5 innings and allowing a run on 1 hits, a walk, and 3 Ks. Jose Arias worked the next 3 perfectly, striking out 3. And Tyler Bremer closed it out shakily, allowing a run on a hit, 2 walks, and 2 Ks.
Trevor Graham put up 3 innings of 0s, including 0 Ks. Tyler Alamo DHed and was 1-4 with 2 Ks.
Comments
I’m starting to think mike Olt just sucks.
dmick89Quote Reply
Fucking Castro. That was Lake’s ball anyway.
I would bench him tomorrow for that shit.
JQuote Reply
I’m also wondering about Baez’s error counts. How much of that can we attribute to MiLB field quality or MiLB first basemen that can’t save some throwing errors.
JQuote Reply
J wrote:
It matters very little because he’ll be playing an entirely different position in the big leagues.
sitrickQuote Reply
This is just a reminder that on Keith Law’s midseason top 50 he had Baez ranked last among the Cubs big 4 prospects.
sitrickQuote Reply
Yadier Molina is as prime a steroids candidate as I’ve ever seen. He blew in his first few MLB seasons. Well, maybe he didn’t suck, but his number exploded after 2010. The ISO numbers double. Molina is fishy as hell to me. It’s not like the Cards have no history of covering for substance users. I think this team is better at drugging than any other.
The Cubs have obviously been shit at drugging lately.
JQuote Reply
@ sitrick:
I’m not sure we can count on that. Castro isn’t a good fielder or anything so pick the best defender if the two and move the other.
dmick89Quote Reply
J wrote:
….what
sitrickQuote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
I suppose. I guess I’ve just figured that if Castro’s defense can’t hold up, Alcantara would be a better replacement than Baez.
sitrickQuote Reply
@ sitrick:
Pretty sure Alcantara is seen as a 2b. A lot of games there.
dmick89Quote Reply
Missed the game. So Castro was benched mid game. Wow.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
I’m glad the Cubs have finally taken the kid gloves off when it comes to Castro.
dmick89Quote Reply
It was a particularly egregious mental lapse on Castro’s part but it looked like the entire Cubs defense fell asleep. Castro just happened to be the one with the ball and did fire to home (late tag, close play) but it should never have come to that. I support that benching and I think he’ll learn a lot from this one.
At least I hope so.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I don’t know. Seems to me Castro just makes the same type of mistakes over and over. I hope the newer approach they’re taking pays off. Not much else has. He’s been productive despite all this until this season.
dmick89Quote Reply
Was he taken out mid-inning?
dmick89Quote Reply
Video of it? Sounds pretty fucking bad.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
Article is a fun read but disappointed with f-bombs and other four letter words that add nothing of value to the story or comments other than show limitations with their vocabulary..
cubfan14Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
I mean, it’s entirely possible he has some kind of attention deficit disorder. I hope they don’t medicate him but putting some extra ginseng or ginkgo biloba into his morning coffee might not be a terrible idea haha. Heck, he might even qualify for the Adderall exemption in MLB.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ cubfan14:
Sometimes those words are just fun to say. To each their own.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I think everyone could qualify if they really wanted. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
rich hill is currently pitching in the 6th vs. the a’s. thought that guy was done…
firstimecallerQuote Reply
Kershaw’s ERA is now 1.80.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ firstimecaller:
Wasn’t he with the Red Sox or cardinals last year?
dmick89Quote Reply
@ firstimecaller:
yeah, i give him credit for sticking it out, even though he hasn’t been that effective as a loogy.
I remember being upset when the Cubs gave up on him after just a few innings in ’08. (cubs 1, gw 0)
GWQuote Reply
@ cubfan14:
stick around. it won’t be the last time you are disappointed.
GWQuote Reply
this
GWQuote Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efZQhYu1E5s
GWQuote Reply
between the twin towers of rich hill / sean marshall, it’s seemed self-evident that marshall’s twtw index was significantly higher. now, i’m not so sure, given the depths from which richie hill has returned.
firstimecallerQuote Reply
@ GW:
You thought Rich Hill was a GUY?
dmick89Quote Reply
Rizzo the Rat wrote:
Greg Maddux shrugs
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
I thought he was a Guy de Maupassant, but he turned out to be a Guy Fieri.
GWQuote Reply
Berselius wrote:
Joe Sheehan and Jazayerli were talking on their podcast the other day about their belief that Kershaw at this point is better than Koufax. I have no opinion on this, but thought it was interesting.
sitrickQuote Reply
What did Castro do?
joshQuote Reply
Nevermind, I found the story.
joshQuote Reply
Also, you guys need to knock that fucking swearing shit off. It’s god damn ridiculous.
joshQuote Reply
The Shit! It is so new! http://obstructedview.net/minor-leagues/jot-cubs-minor-league-recap-8-17-13.html
sitrickQuote Reply
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ cubfan14:
I am eternally grateful for swear word police, without them the swear words I occasionally love to use would not have the power and shock value that makes them so valuable. Keep up the good work, kind swear word policeman.
JasonQuote Reply