OSS: Cyle does his thing, the bullpen doesn’t do its thing.
Three up:
- Cyle continued his dominance of the Cardinals this season, and now has allowed just one earned run in 23 innings, striking out 13 and walking none. He had to work around a little trouble in this one at times but managed to get the job done. After a rocky start to the season in April, Hendricks’ ERA is all the way down to 3.07. The dude can pitch
- Ian Happ picked up his first RBI of the year on a single that scored Kris Bryant from second base. I would need to double check to be sure, but I think this is the Cubs first non-HR with RISP since May 7 or so. It certainly feels that way.
- The bullpen didn’t shit the bed, though Kimbrel came pretty close to giving up the lead.
Three down:
- Javy scored the second run of the game on a botched pickoff to 2b where he should have been dead to rights. Instead the Cardinals biffed it and he managed to trot on home while the ball trickled into CF. Reverse TOOTBLAN?
- It wasn’t the first boneheaded baserunning play of the day, as Wilson Contreras tried to follow Heyward’s example and take an extra base on his single in the second inning, only to be thrown out at second to end the inning rather than leave runners at the corners with two outs for Bryzzo.
- Two runs isn’t really going to cut it most days, but I’ll take the W. More offense would be good though.
Next up: The Cubs go for the series win with Big Jon Lester on the mound. He takes on Jack Flaherty at 6:15 PM CT.
Comments
What’s the W. More offense?
RynoQuote Reply
Oh, and congrats to the 2019 WS Champion Astros.
RynoQuote Reply
W. More, notorious fencer of the 16th century, whose aggressive, drunken technique decimated Benetti’s defense. It’s a bold choice when your opponent expects you to attack using Capa Ferro and would likely counter with Thibault, which cancels out Capa Ferro (unless your opponent has studied his Agrippa).
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
This can easily be countered if you have an umbrella and remember your Charlemagne.
berseliusQuote Reply
I have completed a hostile takeover of the W hotel chain.
berseliusQuote Reply
Hello patient motherfuckers!
Here is a walk-off double I recently enjoyed
https://streamable.com/4c8yc
SKQuote Reply
I was at the game last night and by the 8th, a bunch of Cardinals fans were heading for the exits. Given the porous state of the Cubs bullpen and the BFIBs’ self-perception, I was a bit surprised.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Perkins,
Don’t you see, they were being the best fans in baseball by leaving early so the opposing team can enjoy the game.
Also keep up whatever you are doing in the hotel to that pitching squad. If you can do something to liven up the bats too that would be great.
WaLiQuote Reply
WaLi,
I checked out already – flying home to New York today. All is lost.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Until Benetti revealed that he is not left handed.
RynoQuote Reply
Ryno,
he’d also spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Apparently, ownership coughed up whatever funds were needed to get Castellanos. So kudos to Theo for whatever sleight of hand or Trump contribution he had to make to get it.
What I don’t get is the Cubs have been among the most active teams in trade and free agency (Kimbrel) since the season began. The hell didn’t they do more of this active stuff during the offseason? I’m not talking about Harper or even Kimbrel. A lot of the woes of the bullpen could have been prevented if they’d just ponied up a relatively modest amount of money for some quality middle relief in December.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Smokestack Lightning,
Eh I mean Strop imploding like he has wasn’t expected. Brandon Morrow being hurt still wasn’t expected. CJ Edwards being called out on his new delivery and then never returning to form wasn’t expected. I know you exclude Kimbrel, but the front office knew Kimbrel would still be available and saved a draft pick by waiting.
Even through those events, the Cubs are still in 1st place. Was it a gamble? Sure. But I think you look at the way the team (in particular the pitchers) performed the first half and it’s definitely in the lower quartile of most projections outside dm’s.
WaLiQuote Reply
I actually think Brandon Morrow being hurt was entirely expected and I still have no clue what the Cubs were up to with CJ’s delivery at the beginning of the season. Someone like CJ needs to simplify the delivery, but that was the most complicated delivery in history.
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
And he was mostly dead for a bit.
RynoQuote Reply
I think what Thoyer did was offer DET more prospect value.
RynoQuote Reply
I think that’s true as well. But according to BN through Patrick Mooney, ownership increased the budget to make the deal happen.
Maybe it was just the cost of a bus ticket from Detroit to St. Louis and a night at the Super 8, but it appears they did chuck a couple of bucks into the pot.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron, brought to you by Humperdinck Lemon Juice:
Heyward CF
Nicholas “Have Fun Storming the” Castellanos RF
KB-3B
Rizzo 1B
Javy SS
Willson C
Schwarber LF
Tony “To the Pain” Kemp 2B
Lester P
Humperdinck Lemon Juice: now THAT’S a nice paper cut!
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
Maybe I’m reading too much into things like baseball statistics, but I’d say this is precisely the sort of matchup Castellanos shouldn’t get the start for.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Smokestack Lightning,
I agree, but he was getting the start today no matter what. Joe at this point is kinda like a kid getting a bike for Christmas: fuck the snow, I’m testing this baby out.
andcountingQuote Reply
Holy shit, I just saw the clip from the Reds-Pirates fight the other day. Garrett basically charged the entire Pirates dugout.
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
I wonder what the Pirates were saying to him to get him to charge the dugout. Obviously this isn’t just about that game. They’ve had issues for awhile, but that was crazy.
dmick89Quote Reply
What’s the point of starting Castellanos against a right-handed starter?
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
To avoid playing Almora?
WaLiQuote Reply
WaLi,
Sure, but you’d think Happ would be a better option against righties, at least.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
He’s not going to have him on the bench his first game with the team. It’s not a statistically based decision.
andcountingQuote Reply
The Cubs offense is worthless. I think we could field an offense of commenters at this blog that’s as good or better.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Pretty sure we could keep up with the zero runs in this game at least.
andcountingQuote Reply
Holy fuck, Heyward.
andcountingQuote Reply
This offense blows. I feel like every passable Lester start might be his last, and they’re wasting it.
Granted, Flaherty is pretty good, especially at home, but still.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Why is it that every time the Cubs botch a foul pop, the hitter responds by hitting a double?
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
(dying laughing) the Cubs couldn’t score 6 in a week.
dmick89Quote Reply
“One hit? That’s all they got? One Goddamn hit?”
“You can’t say Goddamn.”
“Oh nobody’s listening.”
PerkinsQuote Reply
dmick89,
I really can’t bat against Pittsburgh. I’m sure Hurdle will order a pitch at my head because I’m smarter, better looking, and know more digits of pi than him. But I’m not really fast enough to avoid the high heater.
BVSQuote Reply
RynoQuote Reply
Hopefully he has more than fluids or he’s going to be starving when he gets to the majors.
andcountingQuote Reply
BVS,
But then you could always charge into their dugout and yell out “Leeroy Jenkins!” and start punching people.
PerkinsQuote Reply
I swear, half the headlines anymore look like they’re AI generated. Like this one:
Jason Witten unfazed by Ezekiel Elliott trip to Cabo.
I refuse to believe a human being wrote an entire article about that.
andcountingQuote Reply
Perkins,
Did anyone every figure out what the Pirates said to Garrett? Either way, it takes balls to charge a dugout.
dmick89Quote Reply
andcounting,
The best way to get into any shape is to be fluid.
RynoQuote Reply
RynoQuote Reply
andcounting,
I checked Alvin’s latest headline just to compare. His are still worse:
RynoQuote Reply
Ryno,
Ai > Al.
andcountingQuote Reply
RynoQuote Reply
Ryno,
(dying laughing) Al is still an idiot. Good to know some things never change.
dmick89Quote Reply
andcounting,
I’m going to try a thing and see if it’s better than Alvin’s writing. I took the recap text from this thread and removed some subjects and verbs (I removed the first verb after the first noun, then the next noun after that verb, then the next verb after that noun, etc):
RynoQuote Reply
dmick89,
I read that tweet and Alvin’s comment at least a dozen times trying to make sure I wasn’t missing something.
Maybe Alvin’s next-level trolling all of us.
RynoQuote Reply
dmick89,
Ben Franklin said, “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”, but he wasn’t alive when, Al Yellon was born, so I’d like, to add a third, – Al being, an idiot.
WaLiQuote Reply
Ryno,
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
Also, actually, it was Al who tweeted that.
andcountingQuote Reply
Ryno,
I might try something similar, deleting every comma and the word directly preceding it.
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
Never mind. I read a few lines and subconsciously attempted suicide. I don’t think it was going to be as funny as your editing results, so I’ll just back away slowly.
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
You have to build your immunity to Alvin.
RynoQuote Reply
Ryno,
*Sniffs*
ALVIN. I’d bet my life on it.
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
What you do not smell is called Alvin. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadlier poisons known to man.
RynoQuote Reply
Cubs lose
dmick89Quote Reply
Ryno,
Alvin, as everyone knows, is from Australia, and Australia is populated entirely by criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them as Alvin is not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
andcountingQuote Reply
Hey Hey!
WaLiQuote Reply
SKQuote Reply
I really hate Ryan Braun.
PerkinsQuote Reply
RynoQuote Reply
El Mago!
My sister made this monstrosity:
WaLiQuote Reply
Cubs must be playing at home, even Quintana getting an RBI
WaLiQuote Reply
Castellanos is officially a Cub now that he’s got a TOOTBLAN under his belt. The hits and walks are nice too.
andcountingQuote Reply
M————> inverted.
Cardinals————-> taking Friday off.
andcountingQuote Reply
rainout or something?
dmick89Quote Reply
I haven’t been around and you guys probably already covered this, and it’s a Friday afternoon so no one’s going to see this anyway, but it seems kind of selfish of Zobrist to just stroll in at this point in the season and say OK he’s ready now., give me a month of rehab and then a spot on the 25 man when I’m ready. I dunno. Maybe it’d have been different if it was all arranged like that at the beginning of the season when he first went on leave. Waiting until Thoyer said it’s now or never at the end of July seems … very understanding of Thoyer, but kinda shitty of Zo towards his team…
SKQuote Reply
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
But he is Zobrist the White. And he comes back to us now—at the turn of the tide.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
dmick89,
Scheduled off day. WTF?
andcountingQuote Reply
Smokestack Lightning,
you got me there
SKQuote Reply
andcounting,
Cubs had a Friday off earlier. It’s a new weird thing that happens now. I’m fine with it.
SKQuote Reply
The Orioles and Padres had Wednesday off.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Wednesdays off has been uncommon, but I can remember the occasional off day on Wednesday. Usually a Monday-Tuesday series followed by an off day and then a 4-game weekend series.
dmick89Quote Reply
I don’t have a problem. Life gets in the way sometimes and you’ve got to take care of yourself first. If Zobrist wasn’t going to be any good to the team and needed to be away, that’s fine. He wasn’t paid. If the Cubs had acquired someone in the meantime that made having Zobrist pointless then so be it, but they didn’t.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I guess we will see. He probably won’t play good enough to make the playoff roster. I just hope he isn’t a distraction or isn’t forced upon the roster because of time served. Considering the roster expands to 40 in September it probably isn’t a big deal, but I couldn’t imagine a divorce being an acceptable FMLA excuse in any other job (yeah I know sports isn’t comparable).
WaLiQuote Reply
I think most teams with a 38-year-old player near the end of his contact would be happy if the took unpaid leave.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
My guess is that Zobrist offered to retire, but Thoyer suggested keeping this potential window to return open and I think it was a good decision. Hopefully he can help the team out down the stretch. They’re probably going to need it.
dmick89Quote Reply
If you’ve ever been around somebody going through a nasty divorce, you know it’s better for everyone if they stay the fuck away for a bit. (dying laughing)
andcountingQuote Reply
WaLi,
I think a nasty divorce would likely be acceptable for FMLA leave where I work. In fact, if one of my supervisees applied for FMLA because of divorce proceedings, I’d probably endorse it.
BVSQuote Reply
I think the only way Zobrist isn’t on the playoff roster if the Cubs make it is if he appears to be so overmatched that he’s of no use whatsoever. If he shows even an ounce of potential, he’ll be on that roster.
dmick89Quote Reply
Seriously, when there are kids involved it’s a whole different scenario, too. I don’t think we know how custody of their kids has been laid out during this time, but if Ben has had them for any stretch, MLB life would not have been ideal—his time off may have been a basis for retaining custody during the divorce process. If children’s well being is a priority in our society, flexibility around employment during divorce should be commonplace.
andcountingQuote Reply
dmick89,
Yeah I agree. Should have said he won’t play good enough where he should make the roster.
WaLiQuote Reply
Morrow’s injury and treatment are weird. It’s almost like carpal tunnel in his elbow.
andcountingQuote Reply
Brach——————> DFA. Try to carry on without him, friends.
andcountingQuote Reply
Brach ————> DFA
🙌🙌🙌
berseliusQuote Reply
andcounting,
Oh Noooo.
I’m going to have to have my wife exit off the Andy Griffith parkway so I my wails of despair aren’t too distracting.
BVSQuote Reply
Some potentially DFAs this week that could be interesting depth, sorta like de la Rosa turned out to be last year.
Lucroy
Tony Sipp….
BVSQuote Reply
The Blue Cross ads on Cubs radio broadcasts every year are always terrible, but they’ve really topped themselves in their ability to cram a billion cliches and mealymouthed marketing crap into a single ad that tries to pretend their goal isn’t to suck as much money as possible out of everyone.
berseliusQuote Reply
Phelps fits right in. I think if the Cubs had drafted Mariano Rivera he’d have a career 4.60 ERA.
dmick89Quote Reply
How did Contreras miss that?
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
RIP Willson’s hamstring.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
The Cubs should just forfeit the rest of the season. Only about 15% of the players are bothering to show up anyway.
dmick89Quote Reply
Almora!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Javy!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
M ———> inverted
berseliusQuote Reply
Good thing they got Martin Mal…….dammit
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
I shouldn’t have mentioned Lucroy earlier
BVSQuote Reply
I wonder if Schwarber can still catch.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Cubs————> 1st place
andcountingQuote Reply
It’s definitely my most hated ad right now. I hate the xfinity ads with a ferocity that makes a rabid pitbull look like a bunny rabbit in a poppy field. But somehow the bcbs ad people manage to out-shitty the xfinity ad people. Not an easy feat.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
But they have a culture of commitment, and are all about removing barriers by the people you’ve always known.
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
And somehow they manage to make it sound like Sam Elliott is endorsing them even though it’s a knockoff voiceover guy.
andcountingQuote Reply
To-day’s get away day squadron
CF Heyward
RF Castellanos
1B Rizzo
SS Baez
LF War Bear
C Caratini
2B Kemp
3B Bote
P Darvish
berseliusQuote Reply
https://twitter.com/mike_petriello/status/1158008115952082944
GWQuote Reply
God, Rizzo is slow.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo runs as fast as the average person crawls.
dmick89Quote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Yeah so very slow
WaLiQuote Reply
Nice day so far for Heyward.
PerkinsQuote Reply
I miss when Rizzo was a power hitter.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Schwarber!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Conan dot gif
berseliusQuote Reply
I don’t think we talk enough about how great Heyward has been this year. This is exactly what we were hoping to get.
JKVQuote Reply
JKV,
Trying not to jinx it.
andcountingQuote Reply
Cardinals lose.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
JKV,
Darvish has been wonderful lately as well.
WaLiQuote Reply
https://twitter.com/ckamka/status/1158122126844542977?s=20
PerkinsQuote Reply
Perkins,
That’s a pretty good K:BB ratio
WaLiQuote Reply
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
He also gives up a lot of ground balls, but his walk rate has gone up way too much this year.
dmick89Quote Reply
http://www.obstructedview.net/cubs-7-brewers-2/
berseliusQuote Reply