OSS: “Zobrist high-fiving so hard that he nearly fell down is a pretty good microcosm for the season.” – umbra
Three up:
- Zobrist had most of the RsBI today, with a bases clogged single in the fourth and an insurancey two run homer in the eighth. The Cubs ended up needing those extra runs, as the Nats finally broke through in the ninth with a Werth homer off Travis Wood.
- Oddly enough despite the big hits Zobrist was third among Cubs position players in WPA, behind La Stella who went 3-4 and was on base for those big Zobrist hits, and Bryant, who had the biggest WPA play of the game with a ground rule double that clanked off of Michael Taylor’s glove and got lodged in the ivy. That’s not super fair to Zobrist though, whose base unclogging single WPA value is penalized for Rizzo being thrown out at third base.
- Hendricks threw a lot of pitches early but settled down as the game went on, allowing just two hits and no runs and getting a slick pickoff of Bryce Harper at first base. He also took one for the team on a slider that got away from Ross in the fifth, which seemed to break right for his face. Obviously no intent there.
Three down
- Dex got ump-showed in the third following a fairly sedate looking argument about a high strike call to end the inning. I’d be cool with ejecting him over his disgusted bat flip after the call, but waiting that long (and stirring up shit with the Cubs dugout) before the ejection was some bush league shit.
- Anthony Rendon had one of the worst batter WPAs I’ve seen in a while (-.219). Most of it was due to an inning ending double play in the 8th in what was still a close game. Psychologically it must have felt even worse considering how shaky Strop looked that inning. The Nats 1-2 hitters went 1-8 with a combined -.343 WPA. Dusty was a great hire for this team given what a mess the clubhouse was under Matt Williams, but you have to live with things like speedy guys with sub .300 OBPs at the top of your lineup.
- Strop did look pretty shaky today, but settled down and worked out of his jam. Much like post-peak Marmol, you wonder why anyone would swing at anything when there is less than two strikes after he shows even the slightest amount of shakiness.
Next up: Scherzer v Lackey, 1:20 PM CT