Cubs 3, Cardinals 4 (6.21.16)

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius17 Comments

OSS: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Three up:

  1. Addison Russell had a three hit day, pacing the Cubs by far with a .316 WPA. All three hits were rally starters/continue-rs but he never found his way home, which is pretty much the story of this game.
  2. Gerardo Concepcion was solid in his MLB debut, striking out two and allowing no baserunners in 1.1 innings.
  3. Heyward doubled to drive in a run and also walked in this game. Fangraphs hasn’t included today’s game yet which should bump this up a bit, but he is hitting .284/.351/.463 in June. It is great to see him heating up at a time when 60% of the opening day outfielder roster spots are on the DL.

Three down:

  1. Albert Almora had an absolutely brutal day at the plate today, posting a -.324 WPA erasing Russell’s great day. A decent chunk of it was on a run scoring DP in the fourth, another came from striking out with the tying run in scoring position in the ninth.
  2. Almora’s bad night overshadowed a rare bad one from Zobrist as well (-.263 WPA), who killed an emerging rally against Siegrist in the eighth with yet another double play. The Cubs had three total on the night.
  3. Hammel was not his best today, only striking out three in his five plus innings of work while allowing six hits, a walk, and a hit batsman.

Next up: The Cubs look to avoid the sweep with Jake Arrieta on the mound facing Michael Wacha. 1:20 PM CT gametime.

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  1. SK

    allowing six hits, a walk, and a hit batsman.

    I’ll never understand why cricket terminology is still used in this one context only.

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  2. dmick89

    It took me a couple tries to get a complete site backup yesterday, but I was able to upload to a different server and get the database installed. I wasn’t able to edit my hosts file so I could test the site out until this morning. It’s all up and working. I’m going to be gone all day today, but will keep working on getting this login issue fixed once and for all. Still several days away, but the hardest part is done.

    Berselius, Myles, if you get a chance to do a game thread today, go for it. I won’t be able to do one.

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  3. josh

    Jake Arrieta v Michael Wacha should be a 20-0 win, but I’m sure the Cubs will find a way to succomb to the Cardinals devil magic (in case anyone thought they had lost it permanently).

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  4. dmick89

    I’m just glad the Cubs have such a huge lead. The last two losses have only been mildly irritating because of all the wasted opportunities. If the division was close, it would have really sucked.

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  5. dmick89

    I didn’t see the second inning that Concepcion worked. He looked great in that strikeout to end the 6th. How did he look in the 7th? Gameday said he gave up a couple line drives. Were they hard hit?

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  6. dmick89

    Was it just me or was Contreras a lot better behind the plate in his second game? There was a lot less movement from him from what I saw. He still needs to work on framing pitches quite a bit, but he’s really good at blocking balls in the dirt. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s catching Arrieta in a month or so.

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  7. cerulean

    Rizzo the Rat,

    I am guessing they start an hour late, that’s all. Another cell or two may develop later in the afternoon, but those seem like they will be scattered and generally punchless because it isn’t ninety degrees.

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  8. cerulean

    dmick89,

    Two Ks and two upper-nineties exit velocity liners—one of which Addison made a beautiful cat-like grab to rob a single. I missed the other liner, but it seems like it required nothing spectacular.

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  9. cerulean

    cerulean:
    dmick89,

    I missed the other liner, but it seems like it required nothing spectacular.

    Found it—a looping liner that caused Almora no issues. It was a pretty good pitch. The seventh starts at about 8:30 in the Condensed game.

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  10. cerulean

    dmick89,

    I am starting to think that Arguello wasn’t seeing him through rose-colored glasses. He looks good. This FO is just extremely conservative. That’s probably a good thing.

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