Cubs 3, Padres 1

In Postgame by berselius210 Comments

OSS: 5-1 against the Padres ain’t too shabby…I guess the Cubs are good again.

Three up:

  1. With several regulars out for scheduled days off or fighting nagging injuries, the backups had yet another big day. Sergio Alcantara hit his first Cubs homer, and Patrick Wisdom had the Cubs highest WPA play of the day when he singled off Darvish in the seventh to put runners on first and third with no outs in a tie ballgame. Somehow this team keeps finding ways to win. The Hope Monster must be feeling quite welcome after his long vacation.
  2. Unlike his shaky outing last week, in which we later found out that he was suffering from food poisoning, Jake looked pretty sharp today. His final line was 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K. More innings would be great but at least he was locating. Food poisoning aside I still expect about one stinker in three from Arrieta but he stepped it up against the guy he more or less replaced.
  3. The bullpen had yet another solid outing against a great lineup, striking out five with no hits or walks in four innings of relief. After years of indifferent play at best it’s odd to see a Cubs bullpen being the strength of the team.

Three down:

  1. Darvish is a tough cookie, but it felt like the Cubs should have dinged him up for a lot more in the seventh. They got the go ahead run, but double play runs are rarely what you want to see. Amusingly enough the play in which the Cubs took the lead was the third worst play of the game by win expectancy.
  2. Small sample size, blah blah blah but PJ Higgins has looked pretty bad both at and behind the plate so far. It’s not a surprise that Willson has caught the most innings in the majors this year. I don’t think Romine looked so sharp either before he got hurt. But if we’re complaining about backup catcher production I guess the team is in pretty good shape (dying laughing).
  3. Bullet number three here is Jake pitching at all in his last start when he had food poisoning. Pitching through it is one thing, but something makes me think that teams are trying to be extra cautious with health-related things right now for some reason….

Next up:

The Cubs have their first off-day in nearly three weeks, then face the Cardinals at 1:20 PM on Friday.

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  1. Author
    berselius

    (dying laughing), Cardinals fans enjoying that HOF defensive performance from Yadi out there today

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  2. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat,

    Not surprised. He’s huge friends with Lester who is probably a conspiracy theorist. Rizzo is probably one of the only people in this country in favor of gun control but supported the fucks who tried to overthrow the government on 1/6.

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  3. SK

    dmick89,

    not to be that guy, but I found it hard to enjoy that awesome at bat/homerun because of this, and then watching him high five 30 guys (covid and vaccines and safety protocols don’t matter when you’re winning)….. and the full park while cool to see again just looked superspreadery af. hope the delta variant wasn’t there and rizzo and sogard et al arent’ spreading it

    grateful for the second shot I got today in a country that isn’t overflowing with vax supply like the one rizzo benefits from

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  4. andcounting

    SK,

    No worries, though, because he and his loved ones are surrounded by people protecting them all by actually giving a shit and having a clue and sacrificing for the dumber and/or greater good.

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  5. Perkins

    I had not known Craig Kimbrel is only 6 feet tall, and these navy unis make him look a lot shorter for some reason.

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  6. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s sweep aspirant squadron

    LF Pederson
    RF Bryant
    1B Rizzo
    C Contreras
    CF Happ
    3B Wisdom
    2B Sogard
    SS Alcantara
    P Davies

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  7. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    C Contreras
    LF Bryant
    1B Rizzo
    3B Wisdom
    CF Marisnick
    RF Heyward
    SS Alcantara
    2B Sogard
    P Arrieta

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  8. dmick89

    Isn’t Rizzo a cancer survivor? He was a stupid motherfucker before I remembered that, but now he’s even dumber than that. Surely one of his doctors bitch slapped him upside his head and told him that he was being a moron, right?

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  9. Rizzo the Rat

    It’s strange how Rizzo crowds the plate even more than Bryant, but the latter seems to get way more HBP-related injuries.

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  10. andcounting

    Aside from getting Brothers out of this game, here’s my idea for speeding up the pace of play:

    Start a rumor that the umpires have been instructed to contract the strike zone as time transpires between pitches. After the pitcher has had the ball for, 5, 10 seconds, the borderline pitches would be balls.

    I mean, they could actually instruct the umps to do that, but just starting the rumor would be effective.

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  11. Perkins

    Rizzo the Rat:
    It’s strange how Rizzo crowds the plate even more than Bryant, but the latter seems to get way more HBP-related injuries.

    Rizzo is beefier and I think he wears more padding.

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  12. Perkins

    Seeing the Cubs sweep the Cardinals was really fun. Staring down the barrel of a likely four game sweep at the hands of the Mets, not so much.

    That said, we could see deGrom throw an 18 strikeout game tonight.

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  13. andcounting

    berselius,

    (dying laughing), yes, I’m kidding. It is interesting that on the Mets broadcast they said he ran through a stop sign. I’ve seen no video of Harris, but that seems likely.

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  14. Author
    berselius

    (dying laughing) at the spring training lineup today. Might as well rest folks when you can against deGrom.

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  15. Perkins

    Cardinals lose. Brewers somehow losing. If MIA holds on, then this week will have gone a lot better than it could have.

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  16. Perkins

    Perkins:
    Cardinals lose.Brewers somehow losing. If COL holds on, then this week will have gone a lot better than it could have.

    Not sure why I thought the Brewers were playing MIA yesterday. I will go without dinner.

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  17. Rizzo the Rat

    I’m watching Ryan Jensen pitch. He’s looking good against these A-ball hitters and is touching 98. I don’t see any reason he can’t join the Cubs rotation right now.

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  18. SK

    there are still Democratic senators who belong to all white country clubs

    the cubs suck, per my dad

    happy father’s day to them’s that celebrate

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  19. Author
    berselius

    Rizzo the Rat: I’m worried how this will affect this ranking in the MVP voting this year.

    He’s got a long way to go before he reaches the level of Cubs Legend Shawn Camp.

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  20. dmick89

    Didn’t see the game, but the walk total reminds me of that no hitter by the Diamondbacks. I think it was Edwin Jackson. Didn’t he walk 8 and throw 140 pitches or something?

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  21. andcounting

    dmick89,

    Yes, 8 BB and 149 pitches.

    Last night was particularly crazy because a double play and a pick-off negated two of the walks, so the Dodgers wound up with only 25 at bats. Their OBP for the no hitter was .242. (dying laughing)

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  22. Rizzo the Rat

    John Smoltz is such a windbag. Wasn’t there a time when he was considered one of the smarter commentators?

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  23. andcounting

    I know Sogard probably has to play sometimes, but when he hits sixth and they just freely admit there are three worse hitters in the lineup it’s too depressing.

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  24. Author
    berselius

    I’ve been buried in work for the past week and missed most of the games…looks like that was a silver lining.

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  25. Rizzo the Rat

    Not just a rest day for Bryant. His side is sore after diving in the outfield in LA and then again a few times last night. Getting treatment and they'll see where he is after that. Rizzo woke up this morning and his back was feeling a lot better.

    — Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) June 29, 2021

    OK, this makes more sense.

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  26. andcounting

    The Brewers were essentially out of this game from the get go, but in a fit of hypocrisy, Arrieta is giving the Brewers a shot.

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  27. Perkins

    Arrieta would probably pitch better if he got the Covid vaccine.

    Or maybe he wouldn’t, but at least he’d be less of a goober.

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  28. Perkins

    Much as I’d like to see the Cubs win, any team that squanders a 7 run lead deserves to lose.

    They also should consider DFA-ing Arrieta at this point. He’s been awful this year and he can’t even give them innings.

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  29. andcounting

    So…the Cubs jumped out to a 7-run lead in the first and are now losing by that margin in the 4th.

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  30. Author
    berselius

    It’s been a minute since I wrote this post and was feeling good about the Cubs, (dying laughing).

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  31. Perkins

    Wow, I was kind of hopeful the Cubs wouldn’t see .500 again. They got hit hard with the regression stick.

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  32. EnricoPallazzo

    Perkins:
    Robinson Chirinos——->Cubs

    the last time he was on the cubs, they sucked and avoided last place only because the pirates were having a historically bad year. it’s nice of the cubs to keep things consistent so chirinos has an easy time assimilating.

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  33. EnricoPallazzo

    EnricoPallazzo,

    when he played on the 2010 squad, mike quade was the manager.

    carlos silva, koyie hill, xavier nady, blake dewitt, bobby scales, and brian schlitter were also on that team. and who could forget the cajun connection. (did you know they went to LSU together????? so cool!!)

    then chirinos got traded (with hak-ju lee, chris archer, sam fuld and brandon guyer) to the rays for matt garza, fernando perez and zac rosscup.

    there are some really, really bad names listed there. this shitty trip down memory lane to re-visit an absolute garbage team was brought to you by des moines – the S’s are silent, but the town is buzzing.

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  34. andcounting

    Whoever took over for Ross last night pinch hit Sogard for Wisdom. That decision continues to confound me to the point I can’t even bring myself to think about how bad the team is playing.

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  35. Perkins

    If that’s not Jake Arrieta’s final start in a Cubs uniform, I’ll be kinda irritated. But it probably doesn’t matter since there are likely no playoff implications at this point.

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  36. BVS

    Miss me?

    Things I’ve seen/heard enough of this year.
    1. Jake Arrieta
    2. Eric Sogard (yay IL)
    3. Willson as the everyday starter (but I’d recant on #2 if Sogard were to start at C 2x/week until he hit the 60 day IL)
    4. Ian Happ batting
    5. Rick Sutcliffe. Wow he adds less than nothing to the broadcast. He is the Jake Arrieta of announcers. Every day he starts the rest of the team has to work harder. Surprisingly, I think Dempster has been ok.
    6. Rizzo. 30 some odd 1b often don’t age well, a la Pujols. If he can’t figure out the shift and stop GIDP, then he’s not worth the contract he is asking for.

    Otoh, despite KBs June slump. I think he should be the top Cubs FA to target to re-sign, though I doubt it’ll happen.

    I’ll take the Javy Baez who can draw a walk any time. But I fear that’s just a 2-day thing in July.

    Love Boog.

    Seems like Steele has promise.

    Hit a Pelicans game a week or so ago. There’s some hope there.

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  37. EnricoPallazzo

    BVS: Hit a Pelicans game a week or so ago. There’s some hope there.

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    Who do they have that is playing reasonably well? I just took a (very quick) look at their roster and ed howard is really the only name that I recognized.

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  38. Smokestack Lightning

    BVS: This hasn’t aged well.

    It survived a lot longer than most of my other takes. (dying laughing)

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  39. BVS

    EnricoPallazzo,

    So I follow the minors somewhat more than a passing glance, but less than checking the scores each day and I don’t try to keep up with every draft pick like GW did here a few years ago. Myrtle Beach is my local team and we buy passbooks every year, which gets me to 5-10 games. I haven’t seen Howard play yet. He was only off the IL a couple days when I was last there at a game and had the night off.

    Some of the prospect raters have been pretty high on Yohendrick Piñango. He didn’t do much the last game I saw, but then he went on a tear for the rest of the week.

    I was really impressed by the D from Fabian Pertuz at SS. He also had a couple good hits.

    Jordan Nwogu also looked good. Big guy. Good power but also stole both 2nd and 3rd as the Birds were trying to come back from a deficit. He was either 3rd or 4th round pick last year. From Canada but played at UMich, which shows questionable judgment to this Spartan/Buckeye alum, but then again he also signed with the Cubs so there’s a pattern there.

    Ethan Hearn had a decent night behind and at the plate.

    A couple years ago there was excitement about Richard Gallardo, who was ranked 10-20 I think in the Cubs system. I didn’t see anything to merit that (and he’s not ranked top 30 anymore). The Charleston River Dogs had him totally figured out. He did last longer and gave up fewer runs than May/June 21 Arrieta though.

    With the minor league reorg, the Pelicans are low A instead of high A. I haven’t seen low A baseball since Corey Patterson was a Lansing Lugnut. It’s definitely a step below high A.

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  40. EnricoPallazzo

    BVS,
    Gotcha, thank you. Pinango rings a bell but the others are all new to me. Will have to start paying more attention to the minors again because I think the mlb squad is about to get totally gutted…

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  41. BVS

    EnricoPallazzo,

    I think Hearn was bought out of a college commit in ’19.

    I still have no idea who Pertuz is, other than some kid who flashed some fantastic leather and wasn’t hopeless at the plate.

    This year if I go to a game on July 29, I won’t assume that a player with buzz who is out of the lineup has been traded. Back in ’16, I was at the Pelican game on the night the Cubs traded Gleyber Torrez for Chapman. Gleyber didn’t play that night. I knew he was traded.

    Next time I go, I’ll put together a little write up, if y’all want.

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  42. Author
    berselius

    The Cubs are bad again, but a Cubs day game blowout of the Cardinals at Wrigley will always put a spring in your step going into the weekend.

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  43. BVS

    Rizzo the Rat,

    9 more new Cubs today. I’m not enough of an evaluator to make guesses on these guys, but some sound intriguing. My bet is 1-2 don’t sign and go to college.

    Though I wonder how much cutting the draft in half and minors by 1/4 will encourage kids to sign, rather than go the independent ball route instead of things don’t go well in college.

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  44. BVS

    Apparently for Atlanta’s 11th-18th ranked prospect, depending on who’s ranking. I guess that’s not bad for a guy hitting slightly below league average and owed $4M or so.

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  45. andcounting

    BVS,

    Yeah, on the trajectory the franchise has decided on, it’s a win. And bottom line, they wanted to be sellers this year. I don’t think there’s a soul in the front office who wasn’t thrilled with the losing streak.

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  46. Perkins

    andcounting:
    BVS,

    Yeah, on the trajectory the franchise has decided on, it’s a win. And bottom line, they wanted to be sellers this year. I don’t think there’s a soul in the front office who wasn’t thrilled with the losing streak.

    Is Jed Hoyer actually Ryno?

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  47. Rizzo the Rat

    I’m going to go out on a limb and award Willson Contreras the Player of the Game honors. I think he deserves it.

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  48. SK

    Just checked real time box score and from looking at who’s pitching and who’s at bat I have no clue whether Cubs are in the field or what.

    It happens more often than not.

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  49. andcounting

    Well, Bryant has hamstring fatigue, which is code for “in exchange for your best prospects please rent our injured all-star. “

    And the Cards have loaded the bases with Cubs to dangle the hopes of pissing away their five-run lead in the 9th.

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  50. Rizzo the Rat

    I left the Cubs for dead before the 9th inning started, but decided to check the score before going to bed. Wow.

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  51. andcounting

    Javy’s literal walk-off single is my new favorite movie. It has so many nuances and levels upon levels of psychological depth and cinematic brilliance.

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