Dreamcast 88: Counting Our Blessings

In by Rice Cube156 Comments

Somehow the Cubs are still winning, so we got together to talk a bit about the frustrating slumps and silly losses in between the fact that the Cubs continue to stay near the top of the standings. We discuss the stupid injury luck, poor yet strangely effective bullpen performances, the rotation depth, and some bonus talk about the awesomeness that is Pat Hughes.

You can check out the podcast page or just click on the embedded players below. You can also use the sidebar to get to our Apple Podcast pages and leave a nice review and rating if it pleases you.

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  5. berselius

    Rice Cube,

    I had the same thing happen for a few minutes, I figured it was some dumb firewall thing on my end (dying laughing). Seems to be okay now.

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  7. Perkins

    Not that I’m complaining, but it seems like the Cardinals fired Mike Shildt and Mike Mathemy for a whole lot less than Oli Marmol has failed to do.

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  8. Author
    Rice Cube

    Perkins,

    We don’t know enough (nor care) about the Cardinals to really discuss it intelligently but I think we were just delighted that they suck, the Contreras injury did suck though /podcast plug

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  12. Author
    Rice Cube

    Whether you believe the injuries are “legit” or not, that’s pretty rough luck

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  20. andcounting

    Whew. First Counsell ejection and a flashback to that one flyball that Suzuki lost in the lights last year. (He caught this one, thank goodness.)

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  35. andcounting

    Rice Cube:
    andcounting,

    Extremely poor decision to swing first pitch especially when it led to that result

    I want to comment on this and the rant I just heard Matt Spiegel (who really does seem to be getting dumber by the day) go on comparing the best at bat (not an at bat) ever by Morel to the mortal sin of Happ’s GIDPOTFP.

    It wasn’t a bad decision by Happ. The only difference between Happ’s at bat and Morel’s walk is that Morel swung and missed on the first pitch. That’s it. Happ’s swing/timing/vision/mojo is just horribly off right now. It’s toxic-zombie-shit bad right now, but it will get better eventually. I’m sure he could change something about his approach and it would have been better in that situation, but I doubt it’s any one thing he could do differently. He made the worst kind of contact and it was hugely frustrating, but it wasn’t a bad decision per se. Dude’s throwing 95 with a nasty slider, it’s not like you can just decide your way to a hit. He’s in a funk and it sucks.

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  36. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    I think it was good that he hit it hard, it was bad that it was pounded into the ground right to a guy to start a DP, so in retrospect it was a bad decision but had he gotten a different result nobody would have complained, we’re only human

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  42. andcounting

    andcounting,

    Like, if the dude can’t find the strike zone, swinging at the first pitch is not great. But if a guy is pumping fastballs over the heart of the plate there’s no benefit to working the count. It’s Happ’s execution that is hot garbage right now. You don’t get extra points for taking the first strike. It was a good pitch to swing at and a fine time to do it. He needs to hit better, not decide better.

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  48. berselius

    Did I miss Jed’s entrance to Cubs Con swinging a black cat while walking under a ladder and stepping on a mirror?

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  50. berselius

    (dying laughing) at Bert’s turn of phrase

    You know that expression, when it rains, it pours? This is like that, except instead of raining, it is pouring deluxe turds. Just an absolute monsoon of shit.

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  58. Author
    Rice Cube

    Perkins,

    We were remarking near the end of spring that the Cubs had been remarkably lucky, but just like Shohei’s salary, most of these injuries appear to have been deferred

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  63. andcounting

    Somewhere Ron Washington is driving backwards in a bus straight for PCA for failing to get the bases-loaded bunt down. (dying laughing)

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  68. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    I don’t mind bunting runs in from third, I’m a big fan of the concept. But Wash’s blatant disregard of the fact that that pitcher was all over the place and the bunt had no chance of success is just a terrible look.

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  69. andcounting

    Assad is 100% the hero of Team Unathletic. He looks like a 5th-string JV O-lineman but he’s all-world on the mound.

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  71. andcounting

    [bart Simpson chalkboard meme dot gif; t=“I will not switch to Cubs radio in the 5th inning”]

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  76. Perkins

    Getting out of Atlanta with one of three is about the best realistic hope, so at least they managed that.

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  79. Perkins

    Cubs are 25-19 despite having played the toughest part of their schedule with injuries to multiple star players. I think there’s a decent chance this team wins 95+.

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  81. berselius

    Series Mini-Preview

    Thursday: Jared Jones vs Justin Steele 6:40 CT
    Friday: Paul Skenes vs Kyle Hendricks 1:20 CT
    Saturday: Bailey Falter vs Shota Imanaga 1:20 CT
    Sunday: Mitch Keller vs Jameson Taillon 1:20 CT

    Gonna be a tough day for the people managing the pitch cameras on Friday, they’re going to need to recalibrate every half inning (dying laughing)

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  84. berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    DH Tauchman
    RF Suzuki
    CF Bellinger
    3B Morel
    LF Happ
    1B Busch
    2B Madrigal
    SS Mastrobuoni
    C Amaya

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  94. berselius

    Perkins:
    Steele hasn’t seemed as ace-like in 2024 so far.

    I think they rushed him back too soon, though the reasons are understandable. It’s basically a mini spring training right now.

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  95. berselius

    Skenes day two point oh base ball squadron

    DH Tauchman
    LF Happ
    RF Bellinger
    3B Morel
    1B Busch
    SS Mastrobuoni
    2B Madrigal
    CF PCA
    C Amaya

    SP Cyle

    Still no Hoerner :/

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  108. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    Good luck never:

    Running
    Talking
    Having a phone
    Having a candy bar
    Having pockets
    Following a cop’s instructions
    Being near a cop
    Making a U-turn
    Driving over the speed limit
    Driving under the speed limit
    Driving the speed limit
    Rolling your eyes
    Closing your eyes
    Crossing your eyes
    Dotting your i’s
    Playing “In Your Eyes”
    Talking to cops
    Not talking to cops
    Sleeping in your bed at home
    Answering the door
    Not answering the door
    Other infractions as noted upon weapon discharge

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  113. andcounting

    That Grandal RBI single scored the guy from second because there were two outs. Had there been one out the runner probably would have had to stay at 2B. Baseball is so weird like that.

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  116. Perkins

    Rowdy Tellez is one of those guys who inexplicably always crushes me in MLB The Show, so of course he’s part of this onslaught.

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  118. andcounting

    Crane Kenney enters the booth during a game where the Cubs are getting blown out AND Kerry Wood-ed and somehow brings the mood down.

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  120. andcounting

    Perkins:
    Cubs need to lean into the Homer Simpson boxing strategy of letting Skenes tire himself out, it seems.

    Now they’re trying for a de facto rain-delay strategy where he has to come out of the game because he hasn’t pitched for an hour. Hell of an accomplishment if they can pull it off without a pitch clock violation.

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  121. Perkins

    Now I’m glad the Cubs didn’t extend Hendricks beyond this season, but it’s sad to see him like this.

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  135. andcounting

    Getting through the top of the 2nd on 6 pitches INCLUDING a strikeout is cheat-code shit, Shōta.

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  140. andcounting

    Through 7 half innings the starters have thrown a grand total of 76 pitches. We’re on pace for a double Maddux.

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  141. Perkins

    Rice Cube:
    For their next trick, the Cubs should try to avoid ground balls

    For their next trick, they should hit fly balls over the fence instead of into the outfielders’ gloves.

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