IST: Cubs(13-10) at Cards(18-6)

[Ari Bear]

Oh well. .. it was fun 3 hrs ago

At least the bulls won game 1

Yep! And the Blackhawks won yesterday.

 

[Ari Bear]

Two guys on lets go!!

 

[Ari Bear]

 

[Mr. Cub]

I hate blowpen pitchers. They are less trust worthy than a crack dealer. Fuck those guys.

 

[Ari Bear]

You score 9 runs you should win the game! No excuses!

 

[Diehardfan]

Gotta keep Strop in the back of the pen....major fail in middle relief. I still say the starters are fine, not great but okay. Wood has been alright and other than a blown tire in the first, he was ok tonight. Hated to see him groove one to Reynolds...guy's a sub .200 hitter...K or a long one is his game. If its my call when Grimm gets back, I show Coke the door....not good enough breaking stuff to make him hard on the left handers.

 

[CSF77]

Few things:

Bryant took 4 BB's. Cards pitched around him. Even with Montero hitting near .300 they didn't care. This needs to change.

Russell is starting to put it together. I would really like him to get pushed up in the line up soon.

So what I was thinking was something like:

CF: Fowler
2B: Russell
1B: Rizzo
3B: Bryant
RF: Soler
C: Montero
SS: Castro
P
LF: Coghlan/ Lake...meh rather theyu promote Szczur with Denorfia going down. Szczur is more of a lead off type.

Pen they need Grimm back up. Wood most likely gassed in the 6th and at that point you would want Jackson in there to get the 6th and 7th innings. That leads into Strop in the 8th. Rosscup got owned but over all he has been pretty strong.

Tip your cap to the Cards for not quitting. Their record is not all puff wins. Stillthe Cubs need to make some adjustments to the line up to get Bryant's bat more impact. Having Soler protecting him makes sense. Russell is more of a 2 hitter anyways.

 

[Diehardfan]

When he gets his act together, then yeah I agree but not right now. Soler has struck out like 17 times already in 30 some ABs. He drifting into a serious case of Sorianoitis....can't seem to lay off the low outside shit they're feeding him. Once he does, he'll turn it around.

 

[beckdawg]

Rizzo is now tied for 9th in the majors in steals. He's only 2 off Jacoby Ellsbury and only 6 back of Hamilton. I don't want to get over dramatic about a 100 PA sample here but if you project his numbers over say 700 PAs you're talking about 26 HRs, 46 SB and a .313/.458/.530 to go along with some where between an 8-14 UZR/150(basically what he's been the past 3 years). I don't think there's any way in hell he steals 46 bases but if he gets say 20 those are near Mike Trout numbers. Trout's best fWAR season was 2013 where he had 716 PAs, 27 HRs, 33 SB, .323/.432/.557 with a 4.0 UZR/150 across all the OF positions. That was a 10.5 fWAR season.

He's got a very real shot at putting up the best fWAR season in cubs history. Top 5 right now are 2001 Sosa(9.9), 1959 Banks(9.7), 1967 Santo(9.5), 1958 Banks(8.7), and 1964 Santo(8.7). Other than Sosa, none of the other 4 have a wRC+ above 164. Rizzo currently sits at 175. Sosa was 186 but Rizzo's defense is helping him out some more than Sosa's.

The great part is i'm not seeing any clearly obvious areas that are flukey. His BABIP is elevated at .333 but it's not crazy and given he's walking more than striking out(14.0%/13.1%) and with such a high contact rate that doesn't seem that unusual. His BABIP last year was .311 and clearly he's playing better so not that surprising to see a slight bump. His power has actually been down from last year .217 ISO compared to .240. So, that's an area he could conceivably be better. The SBs might come down but they aren't *that* big a part of his value and getting 13 over 138 games when you have 7 over 26 doesn't seem crazy. Last season he had 6 over 140 and is clearly running more.

All I can say is this is going to be a fun season to watch statistically.

 

[brett05]

Rizzo is helped a ton by the better lineup the Cubs have. And there's nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[CSF77]

When he gets his act together, then yeah I agree but not right now. Soler has struck out like 17 times already in 30 some ABs. He drifting into a serious case of Sorianoitis....can't seem to lay off the low outside shit they're feeding him. Once he does, he'll turn it around.

He is still young to the league. It took Rizzo a few years to get to where he is at now. This year should be an adjustment year for Russell, Soler and Bryant. Adding vets around them is always the best choice.

 

[zack54attack]

That game was one of the most frustrating I've watched in a while. 5 run lead in the first and Wood gives up 4. Cubs score some more and the bullpen blows it.

 

[zack54attack]

He is still young to the league. It took Rizzo a few years to get to where he is at now. This year should be an adjustment year for Russell, Soler and Bryant. Adding vets around them is always the best choice.

Agreed. Though some of the pitches he's swung and missed at have just been god awful. Gotta learn to lay off.

 

[Parade_Rain]

The game was tough to watch and after blowing 5-0 and 8-4 leads, the Cardinal fans at the office today are relentless. uke:

 

[CRM 114]

That was not an acceptable loss. Can't blow huge leads. Get a lead and hold it.

View attachment 2114

 

[TC in Mississippi]

The game was tough to watch and after blowing 5-0 and 8-4 leads, the Cardinal fans at the office today are relentless. uke:

I had a phone call with a vendor and Cardinals fan that I've known for years this morning and after about thirty minutes of productive business I was thrilled that we had avoided the subject of last night's game. Then, right at the end of the call, he brought it up. Bastard. this team needs to get better if for no other reason than not having to have calls like that.

 

[brett05]

I thought with Adam hurt the Cards were to fall back to the pack...Hmmm

 

[chibears55]

I thought with Adam hurt the Cards were to fall back to the pack...Hmmm

Didn't realize Wainwright had an effect on the hitters and 4 other starters to be missed that much..

I doubt they go 0-25 in the 25 starts he misses

 

[Diehardfan]

The game was tough to watch and after blowing 5-0 and 8-4 leads, the Cardinal fans at the office today are relentless. uke:

Ask them how the Blues are making out in the playoffs or if St. Louis is gonna lose yet another NFL franchise. Fucking Cardinals better win, they got nothing else.

 

[chibears55]

Lets do this tonight...

Like the lineup, should score a few runs...
Love to see Hendricks go 7 strong