After briefly getting the hopes up of some Cubs fans the Cubs have lost 9 of 11 and 7 in a row. They're shooting for number 8 tonight as Travis Wood makes his 2nd start of the season. The Cubs will be facing JA Happ. Here's what Berselius said about tonight's game:
Tuesday: Travis Wood, LHP (4.50, 5.30, 4.28, 4.02) vs J. A. Happ, LHP (4.96, 4.60, 3.91, 4.57), 7:05 PM CT
Wood was penciled into the rotation by most people after being picked up in the Sean Marshall deal, but following the Transformation of Jeff Samardzija and a truly terrible spring, he found himself in Iowa instead. ERA-wise he's been pretty pedestrian there (4.57) but his peripherals (3.76 FIP, 3+ K/BB) suggest that he figured something out, hopefully. His .358 BABIP could explain that ERA-FIP split. He made one fill-in start earlier this month when Matt Garza skipped a turn due to a nasty flu bug and turned in a solidly adequate start against the Dodgers (6 IP, 3 R), though three runs is often an insurmountable lead for this offense.
Happ was acquired from the Phillies for Roy Oswalt in one of many facepalm-worthy Ed Lynch moves during his tenure as GM. Happ put up great ERAs in his time with thie Phillies, while posting merely meh FIPs. In his three seasons with the Phillies, mostly as a starter, he posted BABIPs of .266, .262, and .250, while it regressed back up to .300 not long after he joined the Astros. He's got a pretty good strikeout rate for a lefty starter but he can't find the plate worth a damn.
The Cubs hit lefties pretty well so I'm thinking they win tonight.
Cubs lose
@ Berselius:
Already? I hadn’t even turned the damn game on yet. (dying laughing)
Halladay is getting clobbered.
@ ACT:
Not an Ace
TOOTBLAN
Nice play by Wood on that bunt
Wow, Carlos Pena is leading off. He also hit a 3-run homer, so that means Maddon is a genius.
Holy shit, Travis Wood gave that ball a ride
Happ is racking up the pitches. 50+ and not out of the third inning yet
Adolfo!
Wow, that was incredible from Castro
Fellow matriarch basement dwellers,
Are any of you young enough for this?
http://nerdking.net/
@ Berselius:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=21669943&c_id=mlb
@ Berselius:
Just saw. Wow!
@ shawndgoldman:
Mish is like 14, isn’t he?
@ ACT:
Jose Altuve is jealous.
@ shawndgoldman:
He’s jealous of his height, at least.
Wow, they need to put the replay of that Campy play up asap.
That was pretty awesome
God damn it Castro.
Castro ——————> Sombrero de oro
Castro is going to need to stop swinging at balls
@ Recalcitrant Blogger Nate:
Sori too.
I miss the old Castro who couldn’t field, but made great contact. I think someone replaced him with Bizarro Castro.
Then again, this Castro still swings at everything, so maybe they aren’t so different.
@ ACT:
Seems like Old Castro had bouts of noncontact like this, at least one extended one.
I do hate to see that good effort by Tony C. wasted. That stings the most.
@ josh:
Contact doesn’t concern me. Swinging it everything thrown to him does.
#1 pick!
Cubs ——> Worst record in baseball. Though I did get some small pleasure in seeing the Red Sox last in the AL East
@ Berselius:
The Sox have a +16 run differential.
I’m gunna GIF the shit out of that Campana play.
I’m enjoying the Phillies’ losing record/being in last place. Also, I like how the Yankees are fourth, and Orioles are first (wtf?).
@ mb21:
Agreed. I was just thinking he had a bout like this last season where he was swinging at pitches way out of the zone, but recovered.
@ ACT:
(dying laughing), wasn’t trying to imply that they’d stay there
@ GBTS:
I feel like I probably should’ve watched this game instead of drinking and playing Super Mario 3.
@ GBTS:
In 48 hours.
/MLB’d
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=21675227&c_id=mlb
That was a terrible baserunning decision.
@ Mobile Rice:
Pretty much. That has to at least be part of the plan. Buy low/trade high on vets, shoot for a couple years of top 5 draft picks.
New theory on Sveum: maybe they wanted someone who wasn’t afraid to lose? Seems like a tough assignment for a manager, though, since you live and die by your record, more or less, in the league.
@ ACT:
But an awesome result.
@ josh:
Why do we need a “theory” on Sveum? He’s a typical manager who makes typical manager moves. There’s no mystery to explain.
People are way over-thinking the Sveum hiring. I believe people got their hopes up too much in expecting Thoyer to hire a new super-manager who would make all the smart decisions.
@ ACT:
echoes of Willie Mays Hayes
@ ACT:
Overthinking? Me? I will consider this proposal and do some research on how much thinking is usually made by people in my demographic. Do you thinks 6-7 sources will suffice? Give me 24 hours to get you a rough draft on how I think we can approach measuring whether I’m overthinking.
Subtheories: Depressed? OCD?
False.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I never really listened to that song before. The lyrics are kinds of stupid.
new shit up