Brett Jackson went 3-4 with a triple and a SB. It was Jackson's 9th triple of the year and while has walk rate is down and his average is as well his slugging has stayed pretty consistent with his minor league career average. Vitters was 1-3 with a BB and continues to improve his walk rate.
Matt Cerda went 3-4 with a HR. Cerda has always had a very good OBP and there is a chance he could make it as a utility guy. Stuck worked 5.2 scoreless IP and Jeffery Antigua earned the save.
This was a stupid game. No comment
Micah Gibbs hit a HR. Who the fuck is Micah Gibbs you ask? Good question. PJ Francescon worked 5 scoreless innings striking out 2.
Hit another HR.
The Boise Hawks kick off their season tonight and I was excited to watch on milb.tv but I have softball tonight and a travel tourney tomorrow. Thats the price you pay to be a world class athlete.
Castro:
Weren’t both of those pitcher on the Cubs that year? Oh wait, I guess the Jays played the Cubs in ILP.
well if his swing rate at pitches out of the zone wasn’t up I would tend to agree with him (dying laughing)
@ Suburban kid:
From wikipedia on Reedz:
Johnson was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 17th round of the 1999 MLB Draft. In the minors, he was a Southern League All-Star in 2001 with the Tennessee Smokies, while hitting .314 with 13 home runs and 74 RBI.
I know minor league teams change affiliations, but it’s still kind of weird to see that.
@ dylanj:
Yeah, but of course Sullivan writes it up salaciously, as if Castro is refusing coaching. All Castro seems to be saying is that he’ll adjust when the pitchers adjust. The shocking thing is that he seems not to realize that pitchers are already adjusting, while he’s still swinging away.
@ Mish:
Mine was “Batman.”
@ josh:
Somehow I got “Two-Face”…I’m doing it wrong.
I want to punch Jeff Garlin in his doughy, triple-chinned face.
@ Mish:
Prince’s Batman name is Bat.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Was that the guy in the booth yesterday?
@ mb21:
Yeah…they posted the vid on MLB.com. The stretch was okay, but the interview was painful. You could tell that Len Kasper was in full “WTF” mode.
If it is, I agree. He had to be the biggest douche I’ve ever heard in that booth.
@ mb21:
Yes. What a complete piece of shit.
Have you guys never experienced the joy of Jeff Garlin in the booth before? He’s just that painful every year, but they keep asking him back.
@ josh:
He’s a Chicago-based celebrity. Like Vince Vaughn and John Cusack.
I think they should always have Bill Murray there, though.
Non sequitur…
The whole idea of being hopeful they trade someone like Soriano shows a level of ignorance that I don’t think anybody can comprehend. The Cubs are still going to be paying him so what difference does it make? You want him traded just because you don’t want to see him. Fuck you! (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
I’m not an adult and I’m not a child at heart. I’m also not in organic chemistry class.
I have no identity.
I forgot which SNL skit it was but Bill Murray made a cameo during a debate parody and asked if they could finally get the Cubs to win the World Series. The look on his face during that appearance was priceless.
@ mb21:
I like how he then doubled down by welcoming Milwaukee to “enjoy” Aramis Ramirez.
when can they bring up brett jackson and avoid super two?
@ mb21:
What if you were simply on a rollercoaster?
For those who missed Garlin’s Paul Sullivan imitation:
http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/june/comedian-jeff-garlin-says-he-hopes-alfonso-soriano-gets-traded-on-live-tv.html
@ gaius marius:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/06/update-on-timeline-for-calling-up-prospects.html
Now!
But I’m sure they’ll wait.
@ gaius marius:
I think they can bring him up any time now. But they have to wait on Rizzo, because he already has 86 days of MLB service time.
FWIW, I don’t think Jackson’s ready. He’s whiffing way too much.
@ gaius marius:
I wrote this awhile back: http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/when-will-we-see-brett-jackson-and-anthony-rizzo.html
Basically, the first game after the all-star break UNLESS they were to call them up now and send them back down. That’s not likely to happen so look for them to be called up after the break.
@ Rice Cube:
I think they wait until there’s a 100% certainty they can’t be super 2s. May as well at this point.
As long as they have less than 86 days of service time this year they cannot qualify to be a super 2. That date is the first game after the break if I can count worth a shit. (dying laughing)
They gotta trade a couple guys first before they can call up Rizzo and Jackson, methinks.
@ mb21:
You’re not a True Fan, mb. Don’t forget the 2007 Rockies. Or whatever year that was. (dying laughing)
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I honestly don’t think Jeff knows shit about baseball. He’s never struck me in past interviews as someone who had any idea what was going on. Casual fan, at best. He always came across to me like he would rather be anywhere else in the world.
i dont think we will see Jackson until Sept barring some injury outbreak
He’s one of the big reasons I’m completely sick of the seventh inning stretch bullshit. John Cusak can at least name some Cubs of days past.
josh wrote:
He always came across to me like he would rather get his drunk ass back to the bar
@ mb21:
I just hope someday I can ride the coattails of Conan O’Brien and Larry David to a career, so I can become morbidly obese and while away my days criticizing people who have more skill, desire and want-to than my disgustingly fleshy carcass could ever muster.
If you wanted to see a better celebrity interview, MLB.com has a clip of the Royals guys interviewing Alice Cooper.
@ Rice Cube:
rizzo’s on the 40 already, but jackson isn’t. so yeah, somebody gotta go.
i expected a lot more discussion about my softball abilities than what I’ve seen so far. Focus!
I’d be fine with trading Soriano if he was blocking a red-hot Jackson, but if Jackson still needs work, then whatever. Sori could probably stand to sit one day a week, though, to preserve his knee. Is anyone going to take him, even for free, with his knee obviously bothering him?
@ gaius marius:
DFA Baker. Or Stewart. Or basically anyone in the bullpen.
@ gaius marius:
I was thinking more of the “play every day” thing.
If Rizzo is called up he has to play 1B. That means they either trade LaHair or they stick LaHair in LF or RF and trade or release an OF. If Jackson also comes up then they have to trade another or demote Campana. So I think two pieces have to go before they call both up. Rizzo would be easier because they could just release Reed Johnson or demote Campana to give LaHair the playing time. I agree with DJ that Jackson doesn’t come up until September.
@ dylanj:
Your new baseball pants are sweet:
@ dylanj:
If you call your shot tonight, please put it on Youtube.
@ Berselius:
Actually, yeah, that does fit. How did I miss that?
@ josh:
Yeah, they need to cut this shit out and just play a tape of Harry. Perhaps if we had some sort of jumbotronic device in centerfield where some sort of newfangled “video” could be “played” and the fans could sing along with “crystal clear digital image.”
I know, I know; real tinfoil hat stuff here on my part.
@ dylanj:
I bought a new glove yesterday at Dick’s. Breaking that bad boy in right now.
Naah…Dick’s.
Our Boise roster is pretty good this guy starts tonight- he’s huge http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=593507
@ Berselius:
Those pulled pork nachos at Harry Caray’s aren’t going to eat themselves.
sadly MO sometimes you see shit like that in central KS slow pitch softball
@ dylanj:
I can only imagine.
Rice Cube wrote:
rizzo will be a while on the service time, so for now maybe just demote campana and johnson and flank jackson with soriano and dejesus.
by the time rizzo comes up, lahair might be back to coming off the bench. or soriano goes under the knife and lahair inherits left.
i do agree that jackson fans way too much, but what is he really going to learn in triple a about that? if he ever learns anything — i’m not necessarily convinced that k rate is something that can be learned. his last 20 games down there are 315/354/616, bb% 6.1, K% 30.5. if you wait, imo it’s perhaps a normalization of his bb% to his career-to-date baseline 11-12%.
mb21 wrote:
It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do, that defines you.
most of the time though you just see chunky dudes in stupid jerseys with names like “ANARCHY” or “XPLICIT”
thats why I play for the Hesston Possums.
@ Mish:
Is that a Batman quote? That’s a Batman quote, isn’t it?
@ josh:
Mish only speaks in Batman quotes.
@ dylanj:
In college, our intramural team was called the Robot Weasels.
@ josh:
Correct.
Mish wrote:
dude, i’m completely going to drop this on my kids when they’re bitching about picking up toys.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I think Stewart hits the 60-day DL when Geo comes back, and gets nontendered this offseason. The trade was worth a chance, but it didn’t pan out. It’s not like Colvin was going to do anything.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
If you leave them out in the sun long enough, they might
@ Berselius:
Maybe it’s Coors Field and his sporadic playing time but Colvin has a OPS+ of 119 so far. Still doesn’t walk and still strikes out a ton.
@ dylanj:
These Hesston Possums?
You must have a helluva mascot!
Rice Cube wrote:
he’s a true cub
That’s what John Kruk said.
(and now back to summer vacation–which means crawling under the house to reroute some electric)
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
This should be DJ’s avatar, doncha think?
One…more…month…
Preview up
http://www.obstructedview.net/previews/series-preview-boston-red-sox-31-32-at-chicago-cubs-21-42.html
@ Berselius:
i still want to believe. stewart has never had much of a contact%, but he draws walks decently and so he shouldn’t need a massive BABIP to get a survivable OBP. and with an ISO near .200, that’d be good enough. (he’s putting up a .134 ISO this year with a GB% of 56.5% — impressive!)
i’m even willing to toss out last year. the guy had a linedrive% of 11%. that’s little league. something wasn’t right.
this year his LD% is up to 16% anyway — and with a .270 BABIP he’d be hitting near .240 with a .330 OBP. that’s good enough — he’s been a 2 WAR player like that in the past. but his BABIP is .242 and so i think some bad luck may be playing a role. his swing% and K% is down, so it’s not like he’s hacking.
dunno. inclined to let him keep playing and see. but i’m getting soft.
Micah Gibbs is a Texas boy and future MLB hall of famer. And when he gets called up I’m coming up to Chicago and kickin a few smartass writers butts for not recognizing it.