OSS: Cubs win a wild one with dueling bullpen meltdowns.
Three up
1. This Kris Bryant kid could have a future in the big leagues my frent. He scorched a bunch of hits, but the key play of the game could be him going first to third on Castro’s game-tying single. He’s been extremely aggressive on the basepaths but has somehow avoided any major TOOTBLANs that I can remember.
2. Castro had a huge game, with a solo HR to the deepest part of the park and four RBI total.
3. Beef Castle also had a great day, keeping the Cubs in it with a homer in the 8th.
Three down
1. Joe West was fucking clownshoes all game, with a stochastic strike zone and an awful call at home plate late-ish in the game that should have given the Cubs the lead (and somehow didn’t get overturned on replay).
2. The bullpen was pretty shitty today. There’s a little too much recency bias in people complaining about bullpen usage, but I was pretty surprised to see Maddon go to Schlitter yet again. It looks like he found Bob Howry’s gas can during the Wrigley renovations.
3. Rough debut by Russell, who went 0-5 with three strikeouts. But at least he didn’t have some idiot heckling him from his home ballpark.
Next Game: Tomorrow at 6:10 PM CT, Jason Hammel vs Vance Worley