IST: Cubs @ Rockies

[chibears55]

It doesn't matter. We're down late. It's over.

18 runs in 10 innings, and we are 1-1 in the series if we don't get a surprise in the last two innings.

What ive been saying about this offense .
Too inconsistent
No i didnt expect 18 runs again but i expected more then just the 2 they got in first inning..


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[TL1961]

Meanwhile a 17-2 team with a great offense just got no-hit by Sean Manaea in Oakland.

 

[TL1961]

Last pitcher to no hit the Red Sox was Chris Bosio.

 

[Mr. Cub]

Can we uh, go back on that Darvish deal yet? Dude is a scrub.

 

[CSF77]

Funny how April games cause such a stir in the hornets nest. Hope you guys can last all season.

 

[beckdawg]

Didn't catch tonight's game but to be honest I'm not really worried at all yet. For one thing other than minor dings they've been healthy. For two, the guys you want to step up and have a good season by in large have. I mean we can quibble about whether Heyward is average or not yet but you balance that with Almora, Schwarber and Baez having huge starts and bryant looking even better than expected. Add to that the bullpen by in large looking pretty good and that's a really good start. What they are lacking right now in my eyes is two things. First is Rizzo. I have 0 worry about him rebounding. But he and Bryant are the heart of the offense. There's been times over the past 2 years that those two alone carried the team through tough stretches. This year you got other guys performing well so if and when he gets going the offense should really take off.

The other issue is starting pitching. I'm not SUPER worried there either. Lester and Hendricks seem largely fine. Chatwood if he'd stop walking betters would be a fantastic 5. Darvish... eh idk. I think he's a stuff guy who's pitched in bad weather and at coors. I might dig more into his data to see how worried I am but my initial read is he's just had a couple bad innings which has tanked his strand rate. Q's the only starter who really worries me at this point.

Overall, I am sort of encouraged. If this level of play is still a .500 team then I think they are in good shape for when stars start making their money. Rizzo and most of the pitching are game changing players. It's really been guys we figured to be semi-role playing guys who've carried the team. Well them and Bryant/Contreras.

 

[chibears55]

Overall, I am sort of encouraged. If this level of play is still a .500 team then I think they are in good shape for when stars start making their money. Rizzo and most of the pitching are game changing players. It's really been guys we figured to be semi-role playing guys who've carried the team. Well them and Bryant/Contreras.

Besides the overall starting pitching that has been disappointing so far..

My concern is the fact that it has been the semi role players keeping them afloat at .500..
right now we dont know if those players will keep it up throughout the year or just go back to the way theyve been playing before ..


Rizzo and Bryant are the only ones we can really count on to be what they are, yet their streaky hitters..
The rest of the team , we have no clue what to expect from them all year..

Baez is hot now but he can also go 0 for his next 20 just like that..

Im just pissed a bit because they didn't take advantage of beating the teams they should of easily early on and their not taking advantage of the offense their getting from guys like Baez now..

The inconsistencies of this offense is crazy..
Score a bunch of runs one day, struggle the next..

It sucks seeing them once again at
.500 9 and 9 ..
But their just 2 games out because the rest of division isnt that great and it only April ..

I just hope at some point it in May, we start seeing this team play the way their capable of and not wait til July to do it..




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[beckdawg]

Besides the overall starting pitching that has been disappointing so far..

My concern is the fact that it has been the semi role players keeping them afloat at .500..
right now we dont know if those players will keep it up throughout the year or just go back to the way theyve been playing before ..


Rizzo and Bryant are the only ones we can really count on to be what they are, yet their streaky hitters..
The rest of the team , we have no clue what to expect from them all year..

Baez is hot now but he can also go 0 for his next 20 just like that..

Im just pissed a bit because they didn't take advantage of beating the teams they should of easily early on and their not taking advantage of the offense their getting from guys like Baez now..

The inconsistencies of this offense is crazy..
Score a bunch of runs one day, struggle the next..

It sucks seeing them once again at
.500 9 and 9 ..
But their just 2 games out because the rest of division isnt that great and it only April ..

I just hope at some point it in May, we start seeing this team play the way their capable of and not wait til July to do it..




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On Baez, I'm not really concerned about him falling off hard unless his approach totally changes back. The numbers don't really suggest this is flukey. In fact his BABIP would suggest this level of play is actually lower than it should be which is kind of nuts. The reason he was so streaky in the past was two things IMO. One was he couldn't hit RHP. So, when he ran into a bunch of lefties you can get pretty hot week/month stretches but over the course of the season you see about 3 RHP for every 1 LHP. The other thing is his K rate. When balls fell in play he'd have monster numbers but when they didn't his K rate crushed his batting average and he's not really even now a huge walk rate guy. Honestly it's the reason I am so bullish on him right now despite my past stance.

As for them not beating teams they should... I'm not sure how much of that is just baseball and how much is a true concern. For example, the Dodgers are supposed to be the best team in the NL if it's not the cubs and they are 9-10 having a 3-3 6 game split vs SF(8-12), 1-5 vs Arizona(14-6), 1-1 vs Oakland(10-11), 3-0 vs the Pads(8-14) and 1-1 vs Washington(10-11). That's not exactly a murders row of teams either. So it happens. They are also 0-3 in 1 run games. You take 2 of 3 there and they are 11-7 and are in first place in the central.

I think it's just a frustration rather than a true worry.

 

[TL1961]

Didn't catch tonight's game but to be honest I'm not really worried at all yet. For one thing other than minor dings they've been healthy. For two, the guys you want to step up and have a good season by in large have. I mean we can quibble about whether Heyward is average or not yet but you balance that with Almora, Schwarber and Baez having huge starts and bryant looking even better than expected. Add to that the bullpen by in large looking pretty good and that's a really good start. What they are lacking right now in my eyes is two things. First is Rizzo. I have 0 worry about him rebounding. But he and Bryant are the heart of the offense. There's been times over the past 2 years that those two alone carried the team through tough stretches. This year you got other guys performing well so if and when he gets going the offense should really take off.

The other issue is starting pitching. I'm not SUPER worried there either. Lester and Hendricks seem largely fine. Chatwood if he'd stop walking betters would be a fantastic 5. Darvish... eh idk. I think he's a stuff guy who's pitched in bad weather and at coors. I might dig more into his data to see how worried I am but my initial read is he's just had a couple bad innings which has tanked his strand rate. Q's the only starter who really worries me at this point.

Overall, I am sort of encouraged. If this level of play is still a .500 team then I think they are in good shape for when stars start making their money. Rizzo and most of the pitching are game changing players. It's really been guys we figured to be semi-role playing guys who've carried the team. Well them and Bryant/Contreras.

Darvish has pitched his last two starts at 42 degrees and 41 degrees. While his problems seem much more mental than physical, I will wait until he pitches a few times in actual baseball weather and see what he looks like.

His stuff is certainly good. That we can see.

 

[TL1961]

Besides the overall starting pitching that has been disappointing so far..

My concern is the fact that it has been the semi role players keeping them afloat at .500..
right now we dont know if those players will keep it up throughout the year or just go back to the way theyve been playing before ..


Rizzo and Bryant are the only ones we can really count on to be what they are, yet their streaky hitters..
The rest of the team , we have no clue what to expect from them all year..

Baez is hot now but he can also go 0 for his next 20 just like that..

Im just pissed a bit because they didn't take advantage of beating the teams they should of easily early on and their not taking advantage of the offense their getting from guys like Baez now..

The inconsistencies of this offense is crazy..
Score a bunch of runs one day, struggle the next..

It sucks seeing them once again at
.500 9 and 9 ..
But their just 2 games out because the rest of division isnt that great and it only April ..

I just hope at some point it in May, we start seeing this team play the way their capable of and not wait til July to do it..




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The rest of the division is not great, and St. Louis' record vs Non-Cincy is under .500, so the overall record is a bit misleading. But their pen is good, and will be getting more from their 100 MPH rookie, and then will add back Reyes. They can't be taken lightly.

 

[beckdawg]

Darvish has pitched his last two starts at 42 degrees and 41 degrees. While his problems seem much more mental than physical, I will wait until he pitches a few times in actual baseball weather and see what he looks like.

His stuff is certainly good. That we can see.

Yeah that was sorta my take on Darvish. Obviously the results are what they are but his numbers don't overly concern me other than the walks.

 

[chibears55]

Yeah that was sorta my take on Darvish. Obviously the results are what they are but his numbers don't overly concern me other than the walks.

What concerns me with Darvish is he relying solely on his fastballs and sliders...

These are major league hitters, he needs to mix it up with his other off speed pitches the 2nd and more so the 3rd time through the order..

I noticed Contreras was trying to get him to throw a curve and he kept shaking it off..

Im not much worried about Chatwood, all i expect from him as the 5th starter is to just keep them in games with hope that the hitters can score a few in his starts..

They need Darvish and Quintana to pitch the way their expected too, their supposed to be TOR type starters pitching in the middle and their performing like BOR starters..
They cant be losing most of their starts and keep counting on Lester and Hendricks to pick them up..
Also using up the pen to get through their games and not having them fully available to help in Chatwood starts hurts

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[chibears55]

Rockies starter today is a RH with reversed splits..

Career Splits:

Versus Lefties: .318 wOBA
Versus Righties: .369 wOBA

2018 Splits:

Versus Lefties: .186 wOBA
Versus Righties: .492 wOBA

So what does Maddon do?
He sits Russell and Contreras and has 5 LHers in lineup hitting after Almora Baez and Bryant..

Youd think he would of seen this and chose to just sit one of Schwarb or Heyward last night and the other today..

Q better be on his game today

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[chibears55]

https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/988078428749524992?s=19

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[chibears55]

So much for that reverse splits , 4 straight singles by lefties..

Hope Bryant ok..
Hit in head by pitch

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[chibears55]

Almora with another great catch..

Glad he ok

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[beckdawg]

for those who missed or are watching via game cast like me

 

[chibears55]

Javy with a blast to CF

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[SilenceS]

"Its too high, What do you mean its too high"

 

[TL1961]

"Its too high, What do you mean its too high"

And this is in response to......??????