IST: Cubs @ Cards

[SilenceS]

Ive been waiting for the shoe to drop on Warren. He hasn't looked good the last couple of outings but was getting away with it.

 

[A.C. Milan]

Baez looked awful all night

 

[SilenceS]

Baez looked awful all night

His timing is off. He needs reps. I have watched Baez a lot and even when he was more funky with his swing. He could turn around any fastball. He has been late since he has been activated.

 

[SilenceS]

Also, he needs to work on selective aggression. You cant let a closer like Rosenthal pump two strikes on you then decide to take a hack.

 

[fatbeard]

Anyone read the article about the T-shirt controversy? The shirt says "Try not to suck" and it has Maddon type glasses in the middle. Ushers told people the shirt is offensive. The proceeds of the shirt go to charity. Maddon tells players before they go to bat to "try not to suck". Its why the shirt was made. People be cray now a days

Busch stadium has strict standards for personal appearance.

https://mobile.twitter.com/nsbbcom/status/722635147703623682/photo/1

 

[TL1961]

Shocking!

I wish I had worn my Try Not to Suck T.

Maybe I will get a "Caucasians" T and wear that.

 

[JZsportsfan]

Nice to see the team winning despite their top players struggling. Rizzo, Heyward hitting below .190, Zobrist .212 and Bryant hitting .233

Great that they have been finding ways to win. No need to panic, can't wait till these guys start to turn it on

 

[DanTown]

Ive been waiting for the shoe to drop on Warren. He hasn't looked good the last couple of outings but was getting away with it.

K
BB
E
1B
Ground Out
K

Yeah, he really got roughed up there.

 

[beckdawg]

So I'm sure the cubs will slump at some point but they are presently on pace for 119 wins. At this point 100 seems perfectly reasonable.

Edit: for those curious(IE me) Washington who's been the "yeah but" comment with regard to the cubs started 7-8 in their first 15 games last season.

 

[TL1961]

He walked a guy, and then moved him to 2nd before allowing a single.

He helped the opponent get a run on only a single. That is as rough as giving up three straight hits.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Nice to see the team winning despite their top players struggling. Rizzo, Heyward hitting below .190, Zobrist .212 and Bryant hitting .233

Great that they have been finding ways to win. No need to panic, can't wait till these guys start to turn it on

That's the new pitching dynamic in 2016, I think the lower mound may happen in 3-5 years.

 

[chibears55]

So I'm sure the cubs will slump at some point but they are presently on pace for 119 wins. At this point 100 seems perfectly reasonable.

Edit: for those curious(IE me) Washington who's been the "yeah but" comment with regard to the cubs started 7-8 in their first 15 games last season.

All they need to do is stay away from long losing streaks..

If they can stay between 5 and 5 and 10 and 0 for every 10 games here on out they will finish with over 90 wins..

Right now .500 baseball puts them at 84 wins

Sent from my LG-V495 using Tapatalk

 

[brett05]

Cubs first game at Wrigley Field was a 100 years ago today. I think a 100 years in the same ballpark without a championship is a record that will never be broken.

they just don't make anything like they used to.

 

[brett05]

Anyone read the article about the T-shirt controversy? The shirt says "Try not to suck" and it has Maddon type glasses in the middle. Ushers told people the shirt is offensive. The proceeds of the shirt go to charity. Maddon tells players before they go to bat to "try not to suck". Its why the shirt was made. People be cray now a days

You are just coming to this conclusion now????

 

[TC in Mississippi]

A few quick takeaways from this series:

- It's clear the that the Cardinals are no longer in Cubs player's heads. It would seem that any nervousness towards playing the long time class of the division was swept away in the NLDS last year. They respect this team but they aren't scared of them. Mike Metheny, Matt Holliday and others made a bunch of noise prior to this series that the Cubs had a burden of living up to their own hype. I think this was their effort to get back in their heads. It didn't work.
- The Cubs are not likely to get outpitched by the Cards in the remaining 16 games of this series. Even in the one game where the pitching failed early Hendricks managed to right himself some and pitch the innings his team needed him to. When the Cubs bats wake up they'll win some games like yesterday against the Cardinals or anybody.
- The Cardinals remain a talented team but have less room for error than in past years.

I know a lot of us wanted a sweep of this series and while that would have been nice 2 of 3 ain't bad. I still think that the Cardinals will stay close all year, closer than the Pirates will, but it is going to be difficult for them to get in 1st place an sustain it.

 

[SilenceS]

K
BB
E
1B
Ground Out
K

Yeah, he really got roughed up there.

Have you actually watched his pitching? He has not been crisp. I actually watched him pitch last year. He was a lot sharper. He is struggling with his command which is important to him. But, thanks for the box score. You really showed me.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Have you actually watched his pitching? He has not been crisp. I actually watched him pitch last year. He was a lot sharper. He is struggling with his command which is important to him. But, thanks for the box score. You really showed me.

He hasn't looked great. I think this is a guy that needs to pitch some innings to really get his groove and he's not getting them.

 

[SilenceS]

He hasn't looked great. I think this is a guy that needs to pitch some innings to really get his groove and he's not getting them.

He is an absolute control pitcher. He has to hit his spots to be effective. His stuff alone will not get batters out. He has been struggling hitting his spots, but he has gotten away with it. That will come to an end if he doesn't start feeling it. It was one run yesterday and the outcome may have been the same, but one run in that situation is huge. It gives the closer a total different mindset going out there. It allowed Rosenthal to attack hitters because if they hit one. The Cardinals are still in the lead then he can change up strategy.

 

[Diehardfan]

Have you actually watched his pitching? He has not been crisp. I actually watched him pitch last year. He was a lot sharper. He is struggling with his command which is important to him. But, thanks for the box score. You really showed me.

I don't care what his resume says....four walks in 2 innings pitched ain't getting it done.

 

[DanTown]

Have you actually watched his pitching? He has not been crisp. I actually watched him pitch last year. He was a lot sharper. He is struggling with his command which is important to him. But, thanks for the box score. You really showed me.

Yeah, he looks like he's trying to get more swings and misses than he did last year when he was a part time starter. The walks are an issue but he's faced 20 batters and given up 2 hits and 3 walks; how is that "struggling"?

You're a huge Starlin guy so it doesn't surprise me you see negatives in Warren and say shit that stats doesn't back up and then make it an "eye test".

Percentage of pitches thrown for strike 2015
62.1

Percentage of pitches thrown for strike 2016
62.1

He's had a few terrible pitches and that's why guys aren't really offering at his balls (20% swing rate on pitches out of the zone) but it's a sample of 20 freaking pitches. I'm not saying he's been perfect but my point is that his "lack of control" is a few bad pitches but it's not like he can't throw strikes or he's missing the plate.

Overall, it's 59 fucking pitches over 5 innings where his stat line is 5 innings, 2 hits (singles), 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. He's inducing more groundball outs than he did previously in his career too. But no, let's have a great conversation about a guy 60 pitches and five innings into the year who's the Cubs fifth reliever.