Baseball

Gotta Win Sometime – Cubs/Mets Series Review – Cubs Win Series 3-0

By Summer Corson 952

Well, at least we know there’s a team somewhere in this league that sucks more than we do.

The Mets were honestly atrocious to watch nearly all series. Their fielding sucks, their batting sucks, their bullpen sucks…I was going to say their pitching generally sucks, but we didn’t see Jacob DeGrom this series. (And even when he does play, the Mets tend to lose anyway.)

At least the Cubs have won a series and looked…not horrific doing it?

April 20, 2021
Cubs 3, Mets 1
WP: Arrieta (3-1) LP: Walker (0-1)
Box Score

Contreras continues to be the biggest piece of trade bait on the Cubs. Although this 8-game hit streak ended the game before this, he was a part of two of the Cubs’ three runs this game. First he was able to reach first base in the 3rd inning, allowing Eric Sogard to score. He also walked in a bases-loaded situation in the 4th to score Sogard again.

Speaking of Sogard, yes, David Bote, was out of this game because he had some sort of stomach bug, and Sogard took his place. He was more than an able replacement, as he was able to top even Contreras as a part of all three Cubs runs this game. He scored twice and singled to score Heyward in the 4th. Other Cubs that got hits were Kris Bryant and Heyward, and that’s about it.

It’s been a hot minute since Craig Kimbrel had to make a save, but today was his big opportunity. He got himself into a bases loaded jam in the 9th, and every Cubs fan watching was probably at least a little skeptical about whether he could get out of it. But he was able to get a strikeout and a ground out to end the game, thankfully.

April 21, 2021
Cubs 16, Mets 4
WP: Mills (1-0) LP: Peterson (1-2)
Box Score

Good grief, the bats are either on it or they aren’t, huh?

The Cubs’ team batting average is officially at .201, thanks to a .12-point increase from this game alone. Things didn’t start out so pretty, however; the first inning started with a Mets home run off Zach Davies for the second batter to open scoring. Then we watched some hilarious Mets baserunning in the 2nd when Bote dropped the ball and couldn’t get the out at second base. The Mets baserunner, however, decided to run to third base anyway for kicks, where Matt Duffy promptly tagged him out.

The baserunning didn’t help the Cubs for long, as it only took some time in the 3rd for Davies to give up a single, a walk and a double to make it 2-0 Mets. Although the bats were dead for the first three innings, something sparked the Cubs in the 4th, because Contreras, Bryant and Anthony Rizzo singled three guys in a row and were able to score two runs. It also didn’t help that the Mets made another egregiously horrible baseball play, as it was now their time to drop the ball at second base. Unlike the Cubs, however, quick thinking didn’t save them any outs.

Matt Duffy, in at third base today, was able to walk soon after that, and a Bote single (wow!) scored two runners. Jake Marisnick scored Duffy, Sogard singled to score Bote, Ian Happ singled to score Sogard and things started to look pretty good for us. I don’t Sogard after these two games, but also the Mets are a really bad baseball team. Let’s see some more from him.

At this point, the score was 7-2 and it seemed like this game was pretty much in the bag, even though Rex Brothers came in to replace Davies in the 5th and immediately gave up a single and a homer to tighten the score slightly to 7-4. However, more horrendous fielding screw-ups by the Mets and then a Duffy single was able to score two Cubs to make it 9-4.

In the next inning, the Mets bullpen allowed three walks to load the bases and then a Baez grand slam just completely slammed the door shut for any Mets comeback, the score being 14-4. The Cubs weren’t done yet; they had a walk and three hits in the 8th inning to score two runners for that final score of 16-4.

April 22, 2021
Cubs 3, Mets 2
WP: Winkler (1-0) LP: Diaz (1-1)
Box Score

Well, Joc Pederson is on the 10-day IL thanks to an injured wrist, which means Nico Hoerner is officially up and available to play for the Cubs. We’ll see how that goes; for tonight, however, Happ was shifted to left to replace Pederson, Marisnick replaced Happ in center field, Kris Bryant in right field to give Heyward the day off, and Duffy at third base.

The Mets continued to be absolutely horrendous on the field, allowing a Contreras infield hit to score a runner to put us on the board. Not soon after, Bryant was able to double and score two people thanks to another overthrow to the catcher. Contreras and Trevor Williams scored on this play.

Speaking of Trevor Williams, although his outing wasn’t the best, it certainly wasn’t his worst either. He had 6 strikeouts, 5 hits, only 1 walk and 1 home run allowed. His outings still greatly excite his father, who is still doing the scorebook, which is quickly becoming the staple camera pan during every Williams start for Marquee.

Things were going okay until the 4th inning when Pete Alonso hit a 2-run homer to make this game close. Soon after, a double was reviewed to see if it should’ve been a home run because it hit the outfield netting. Luckily, the double call on the field was sustained, allowing the Cubs to cling to the one-run lead.

Williams was pulled for the 6th, being replaced by Jason Adam, who struck out one guy and allowed the defense to clean up contact with a fly ball and pop-up. After hitting Jonathan Villar in the 7th, he was pulled for Ryan Tepera who gave up a big double to center field that allowed the Mets to tie it up. Andrew Chafin replaced Tepera to get the important out.

Baez got on base in the 7th as the go-ahead run; he hit a fly ball to center field but the incompetence of the Mets’ fielding allowed the ball to drop on the ground. However, the throw to 1st was almost in time and Javy almost got caught off the plate. The ruling on the field was out but after a challenge that was overturned. It didn’t matter, however, because then Baez actually got caught stealing second base. Fantastic job, everyone.

Kimbrel closing the 9th allowed us to get to extra innings. Marisnick had a huge triple to start off the bottom of the inning, but in true Cubs fashion they were unable to bat in the runner in scoring position and got tagged out baserunning because of course. The Cubs got out of a huge jam in the 10th thanks to a double play. Heyward pinch batting won the game, scoring Baez at third base.

Did you enjoy not having to watch a team from the NL Central for the first time in over a year? Too bad. The Cubs now must prepare to get skulled by the Brewers again, who are sitting at the top of the division with an 11-7 record. See you then.

Hockey

The Time to Hesitate is Through – Blackhawks/Predators Games 46, 47 and 48 Preview

By Summer Corson 1019

Records: Predators 24-21-1 (49) Hawks 21-19-5 (47)
Puck Drops: 7:00PM (4/19, 4/23), 6:00PM (4/21)
TV/Radio: NBC Sports Chicago (4/19), NBCSN (4/21), NBC Sports Chicago+ (4/23), WGN-AM 720
Kings of Leon Fans, but Unironically: On the Forecheck

vs.

It all comes down to this. All the garbage (and not-so-garbage) games we’ve watched all season long have culminated into this three-game series against the Nashville Predators, one of now multiple teams who are vying for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central.

Since we last saw the Nashville Predators, they’ve gone 4-3, beating Detroit, Dallas, and Tampa Bay, respectively. However, they are currently on a two-game losing streak thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes putting a stop to the hole they were tearing in the Central Division spacetime continuum. (The Predators have gone 0-5-1 against Carolina this season.)

Nashville fans are feeling the same sort of upcoming dread about this series as we are, understanding the importance of these next three games as it will likely determine their playoff fate the same as ours. If anyone remembers, the Predators were as good as dead just a month or so ago, getting completely pummeled with injuries and getting ready to sell everything they had at the deadline after going 11-16-1 to start the season. The injuries never end, in fact; since we last faced off it was announced Mathieu Olivier would be missing 4-6 weeks due to injury, but I’m sure Nashville won’t mind that since the only hockey statistic he cares about is getting 29 penalty minutes in four hockey games.

As for the recent trade deadline, the Preds acquired Erik Gundbranson, officially their 14th defender to dress for Nashville this season. And he sucks, by the way. He has a 44.4 CF%, a 31.6 FF%, and just take a look at this:

Yikes.

To make things even better for the Predators, Matt Duchene was finally activated from IR to play in their loss Saturday against Carolina. He hadn’t played since March 4, which is high comedy to everyone outside of their city considering the team has looked much better without him over the past month-plus. Duchene only has 8 points the whole year, and when you look at his cap hit and do some quick division that means he is getting paid exactly $1 million per point this season. He didn’t have a stellar game on Saturday by any means, posting a -1, although he did have a 60 CF% in almost 15 minutes of play?

As for the Men of Four Feathers, once again the absolute bare minimum amount of winning necessary happened last series against Detroit to keep this team’s playoff hopes alive. I don’t have a good feeling personally about this series, since Colliton’s Blackhawks have a reliable track record of spitting up all over themselves in games anywhere near the area code of having playoff significance, and there are no other games this season that will count more than these next three. You can also combine that with the fact that the Blackhawks have zero (0) regulation wins against the Predators all season long. What more fun could be had this week than watching these games?

Guess what else? Alex Nylander is finally skating! What great news! I know we should be excited, but then I remember his play from last season and I don’t know, people. Calvin de Haan was skating today, also, which hopefully means he’s back in the lineup soon and that Nikita Zadorov once again gets stapled to the bench, although it more than likely means it will be Ian Mitchell who is the odd man out of the lineup.

Colliton once again refuses to give us tonight’s line combos and starting goalie until minutes before puck drop, but I would expect Lankinen in goal for two of these games, if not all three, and maybe even some line shakeups to get things going if things go bad quickly. Lanks will have to be nails this series, and the Hawks will need to be taking zero penalties and actually convert on the powerplay in order to get these wins. Nashville’s penalty kill percentage is garbage, just three hundreths of a percent higher than ours, good for 28th in the league. Score on the powerplay and score relentlessly, thank you.

The Hawks will really need to win two out of these three games, in regulation, to have even a chance at sniffing the playoffs this year. Three regulation wins would be preferable, but I’m certainly not holding my breath. It’s now or never. Let’s go Hawks.

Hockey

High On The Hog: Drizzling With Thoughts

By Jon Fromi 983

The Rockford IceHogs have been limited on game action in recent weeks due to some schedule changes. That should change on Wednesday when the Hogs play four times in an eight-day span.

After defeating the Chicago Wolves for the second straight time at the BMO Harris Bank Center, the piglets get the opportunity to knock off the Central Division leaders in Hoffman Estates Wednesday night. A weekend set in Iowa follows on Friday and Saturday, then Rockford heads to Grand Rapids for a rescheduled date with the Griffins on April 28.

 

Rainy-Day Thoughts

  • It was against a Wolves team that was down a few scorers, but Saturday’s shootout win was arguably the most satisfying win of the year for Rockford. The IceHogs had to erase two deficits, including a desperation goal in the final moments of regulation. In a rare display of offensive push, Rockford managed to tip the rink toward an opponent’s zone and generate some real scoring chances.
  • Ivan Nalimov wasn’t razor-sharp, but he did pick up a win in his second start against the Wolves. It was an upgrade over his debut when he got lit up by Chicago to the tune of six goals. Nalimov and Cale Morris are looking at some work over the next two weeks unless Matt Tomkins is sent back to Rockford from the Blackhawks taxi squad.
  • On Sunday, F John Quenneville, who missed the last 40 minutes of action Saturday night, was called up to the taxi squad. I assume it is injury-related. It has been a trying season for Quenneville; he has just two points (1 G, 1 A) in 16 games.
  • Anton Lindholm came back to Rockford Sunday. The defenseman last skated for the IceHogs on April 3. He is pointless in six appearances.
  • There was another Brandon Pirri sighting at the BMO Saturday. The veteran forward logged an assist on the MacKenzie Entwistle goal that tied the game late in regulation and contributed a successful shootout attempt. He also looked to have scored in the third period on a breakaway attempt, but the AHL is not reviewing goals this season. Pirri had to settle for extending his point streak to four games (basically every game he’s played in Rockford this season).
  • IceHogs captain Garrett Mitchell had himself a rare two-fight evening Saturday. He dropped the gloves with Josh Healey in the second period and had to head to the locker room for a little maintenance. Midway through the third, he stepped in to tangle with Cavan Fitzgerald. Mitchell was then sent to the locker room, not to heal, but with a game misconduct.
  • After leaving Wednesday’s game in Iowa with a leg injury, Evan Barratt did not skate Saturday. It is possible that we get more details this week from the IceHogs.

 

Saturday, April 17-Rockford 4, Chicago 3 (SO)

Rockford capped off a blue-collar effort at the BMO, rallying in the final minutes and besting the Wolves for the second straight game between the clubs.

The IceHogs took advantage of a Wolves miscue to take a 1-0 lead 5:56 into the contest. Chicago defenseman Frederic Allard whiffed on a one-time attempt at the IceHogs blueline, allowing D.J. Busdeker to lead an odd-man rush the other way. Busdeker found Reese Johnson at the right circle; the resulting shot beat Wolves goalie Connor Ingram high to the glove side.

Chicago scored the next two goals of the game. Cole Smith redirected a Joey Keene blast past Hogs goalie Ivan Nalimov, who had lost his stick trying to handle a dump-in behind the net, to tie things at one goal at the 14:11 mark. The Wolves quickly picked up a power play after a cross-check by MacKenzie Entwistle. At 14:46, David Cotton put Chicago up 2-1 right off the faceoff with his eighth goal of the season.

Rockford was able to draw even late in the middle frame. Busdeker sent a shot to the Wolves net that Ingram appeared to handle. However, the puck came out and the Hogs rookie was able to regain possession. This time Busdeker sent a backhand attempt that glanced off of a Chicago defender and found Andrei Altybarmakian at the right post. Altybarmakian shoveled the puck into the cage, making it a 2-2 affair at 15:47 of the second.

Chicago secured a late goal to regain the lead. Sean Malone brought the puck into the Rockford zone, skating around the net and back up to the left dot. A quick backhand pass to Smith in the slot resulted in a one-timer that beat Nalimov with eleven seconds left in the second period. The IceHogs entered the second intermission down 3-2.

The IceHogs pressed for the equalizer for most of the final period. It would not come until the final minutes, with Nalimov on the Rockford bench in favor of an extra skater.

Brandon Pirri hustled to beat a Wolves defender to a pass attempt by Cody Franson at the right circle before threading a pass of his own to Entwistle in the slot. Entwistle stickhandled to the net, only to see his initial shot stopped. Gathering in the rebound, Entwistle sent a shot off the back of Ingram.

The puck caromed into the air in front of the crease. Smith attempted to knock it down and inadvertently batted it into the Chicago net with 2:11 remaining in regulation. After a scoreless overtime session, it would come down to penalty shots.

Tim Soderlund and Pirri drew cord for the IceHogs, while Nalimov denied Patrick Harper and Cotton to earn Rockford the victory.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Josiah Slavin-MacKenzie Entwistle-Brandon Pirri

John Quenneville (A)-Reese Johnson-D.J. Busdeker

Matej Chalupa-Dylan McLaughlin-Tim Soderlund

Andrei Altybarmakian-Garrett Mitchell (C)-Michal Teply

Issak Phillips-Cody Franson (A)

Cole Moberg-Michael Krutil

Alec Regula-Dimitry Osipov

Ivan Nalimov

Cale Morris

Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for my thoughts on the IceHogs throughout the season.

Hockey

More of the Same – Cubs/Braves Series Review: Cubs Lose Series 2-5/13-4/4-13

By Summer Corson 1003

This season has been nothing but a clownshow thus far. What does a 13-run game mean for the Cubs when the Braves can turn right around the next day and score 13 runs right back? The Braves themselves were severely underperforming to start the season like we were, but they obviously came out the better team here, and now I’m wondering if we’ll ever win against anybody ever again. Nothing like being a pessimistic Cubs fan to remind you there’s no bright side to this season so far.

If you’re lucky enough to not spend your free time watching this garbage team play and you only make yourself susceptible to it through my overly descriptive writing, be glad. This team is legitimately awful and not fun at all to watch. Even during the second game of the series where they were offensively competent, we were all thinking in the back of our minds that the fun couldn’t last long, and it didn’t. Let’s look at the games.

April 16, 2021
Cubs 2, Braves 5
WP: Tomlin (2-0) LP: Davies (1-2)
Box Score

Zach Davies was the starter, lobbing balls over the plate and only getting one strikeout the whole game, early in the 2nd inning.

The Cubs were able to get on the board in the 2nd thanks to Javier Baez getting hit by a pitch. Eric Sogard was able to make himself useful despite his .120 batting average, RBI-ing Baez to give the Cubs the lead.

However, going up one run early only to squander it with no more offense to be seen for the rest of the game is something the Cubs do quite easily. By the 3rd inning, Davies’ walks came back to haunt him when Travis d’Arnaud hit the ball to left field and Joc Pederson dropped the ball while trying to field it, allowing a runner to score.

Ronald Acuna Jr. has one and a half times the batting average of our best batter, Kris Bryant, and showed how helpful it can be to have hits that aren’t just solo shot home runs all the time. He hit a pitch to the outfield in the 4th inning, allowing the Braves to score two runners.

After four straight Braves hits, Baez slipped while fielding a ball with two outs in the 4th. He could’ve dived to second base, just a few feet away from him, to end the inning. Instead he threw to first base, which did nothing because the runner was already safe. The very next at-bat, Baez fell while fielding another hit and made a really bad throw to the plate that ended up popping out of Contreras’s glove. Suddenly it was 4-1 Braves and they never looked back.

Contreras was the other hitter of the game with a (who could’ve guessed) solo shot home run in the 5th inning. He also was part of a big double play throw in the 5th to get Guillermo Heredia caught stealing at third base. He was the best player on the Cubs by far, and did we mention he got hit by another pitch this game? It never ends for this guy.

The Braves were able to extend their lead back to three in the 7th, however, with a sacrifice fly ball by Ehire Adrianza. The Cubs were never able to get back, although they once again had a 2-out “rally” in the 9th where they had bases loaded and a home run could win them the game…and then it ended with an amazing flop as Pederson struck out swinging. Some upgrade from Kyle Schwarber he was, huh?

April 17, 2021
Cubs 13, Braves 4
WP: Williams (2-1) LP: Ynoa (0-1)
Box Score

This game started out the way we’ve seen too many of these games start: first an early-inning home run, again from Contreras. But unlike the games in the past, the Cubs’ offense actually crushed it today, making up for the lack of offense all season. The Cubs scored runs in back-to-back innings for the first time since April 3rd and scored runs in three straight innings for the first time all season.

Contreras had two home runs in the first 3 innings of this game, meaning at this time he had hit 4 of the last 5 Cubs home runs, and can claim home runs in three straight games. David Bote, who has the worst batting average of all Cubs starters, hit a double RBI in the 2nd inning. Couple that with a walk, a Bryant single and a 3-run homer by a suddenly rejuvenated Baez, and it was 6-0 Cubs.

Both Bryant and Bote homered in the 5th inning, RBI-ing three other guys combined. Bryant had a second homer in the 6th, scoring Anthony Rizzo. Overall, the Cubs had 14 total hits (highest of the season so far) and 13 RBIs (more than doubling the Cubs’ second-best RBI number this season at 5). Bryant and Rizzo led the team with three hits each. The Cubs jumped from a .166 batting average before this game to a .184 batting average after an over two-week-long narrative that the bats just weren’t happening for this team.

It was another start for Trevor Williams today, and he had 4 strikeouts, 4 hits and 3 walks. He worked himself almost into a jam in the 2nd inning with Braves runners on second and third and only 1 out, but he then worked himself back out of it quite quickly by striking out the next two batters to keep the Braves off the board. Williams played 5 full innings, getting pulled when he loaded up the bases in the 6th. Ryan Tepera replaced him, and although the Braves were able to make contact off his pitches, the Cubs defense was able to get out of that inning only allowing one Braves run.

By the 7th inning, the bullpen wasn’t spectacular, but when you’re up 11 runs you can usually just let the bullpen do whatever it wants and you can still win the game. The Cubs…well, they just rolled out everybody, as Shelby Miller, Brandon Workman, Dan Winkler and Jason Adam all saw an inning (or less). Miller gave up 3 hits for 3 runs, had 2 walks and only 1 strikeout, but also got the save. The rest of the bullpen combined for no hits, no runs, no strikeouts and only one walk.

April 18, 2021
Cubs 4, Braves 13
WP: Wilson (1-0) LP: Hendricks (0-2)
Box Score

Thought the Cubs would build off their solid offensive game from yesterday? Slow down there, cowboy. Despite Kyle Hendricks coming back from what seemed to be a very minor illness, the top of the 1st inning was an absolute nightmare, as he gave up 6 runs to Atlanta off of 4 homers. Hendricks also gave up two walks in that inning, and three total all game. He only stayed in for 4 innings and had only two strikeouts. In that 1st inning, he didn’t even give the defense behind him a chance to help out because he was just walking people and letting people homer. It was a really rough outing.

Rizzo, however, decided to try his best to get the Cubs back into this. After a double play to start out the bottom of the inning, Rizzo hit a solo homer to right. (He would also homer later in the 3rd to the Cubs’ third of four total runs this game.) The Cubs tried their best to continue the rally by hitting a single, drawing a walk, and hitting another RBI single, but then Jason Heyward grounded out to end the inning.

Even though Braves heavy hitter Ronald Acuna Jr. left the game in the 4th inning because of abdominal muscle pain after sliding into the place weirdly, the Braves didn’t miss him offensively at all. Alec Mills replaced Hendricks to begin the 5th inning, and he only lasted that full inning before he got pulled. Mills allowed three singles, two doubles, and a walk during the 5th and for the first three batters in the 6th, where he recorded no outs.

Ryan Tepera replaced Mills; he has a knack for hitting people with his pitches because he hit two of the first three batters he faced. He also allowed a sacrifice fly to put the Braves up 9-3. And then he allowed a grand slam to put the Braves up 13-3. Remember how he appealed his three-game suspension after the last Brewers series to keep playing for the Cubs in the meantime? That turned out real swell.

The Cubs tried to build a mini rally at the bottom of the 6th even though the damage was already done. Bryant walked and Pederson was able to hit a single to drive him to third base in scoring position. But if you thought Baez was going to do anything other than completely whiffing at every pitch way out of the strike zone in this situation, you’d be wrong. Jason Heyward and Bote struck out right after him, quickly ending the mini rally.

By the 8th inning, Baez actually hit the ball for once, and it happened after Pederson tripled in a two-out situation, meaning he was offensively productive for once. Just a few more feet and it would’ve been a homer. Then the Cubs decided to waste a 9th inning outing on Craig Kimbrel because why not at this point. He even put up a below-average performance also, walking two batters and striking out only one.

It’s been less than a month and this season is already in a nearly unwatchable slog. But I do it for you all so you don’t have to. And up next is a three-game series against the New York Mets, who find themselves with a 7-4 record atop the NL East and can boast to having pitchers such as Jacob deGrom…oh wait, the Mets defense has squandered 2 of his 3 starts so far this season. This series should be nothing but more of the same top-tier entertainment. See you all when it’s over with.

Hockey

Splitsville – Hawks Split Series With Scum 1-4/4-0

By Andy Jonathan 1093

Box Scores

Game 1 / Game 2

Natural Stat Trick

Game 1 / Game 2

 

Sometimes hockey is dumb. Really, that’s the biggest takeaway from this series right now. All season long we’ve been harping on the fact that the Hawks can’t continue to get pantsed night in and night out in the possession department and expect to end up in the playoffs. So in game one of the set with the Red Wings, they went out and controlled the play at a 54% clip and got skulled 4-1. Then in game 2 they went back to a 44% share for the evening and shut the Scum out 4-nil.

Whatever.

 

 

Numbers Don’t Lie

-Kevin Lankinen has looked increasingly human as the season has progressed, which really isn’t a surprise considering he’s already surpassed the normal season length in the Finnish Elite League. One nice side effect of the shortened COVID-19 season is that it’s almost like Lankinen is on an innings limit like pitchers in baseball. It’s a good way to break him into the slog that is the normal NHL season. That being said, it’s not great right now when the Hawks need him for the stretch run.

-That being said, Malcom Subban had one of his better starts last night, making some higher difficulty saves in the 2nd when the Scum real started to press the attack. If Lankinen is gassed, it will be interesting to see how Coach Galaxy Brain handles the starts next week against the Preds.

-Patrick Kane is back to looking like a world killer again. After stalling out post-400 goal, he’s netted 2 in 2 games. Needless to say he’s gonna need to take the reins offensively if the team is gonna score against Smashville.

-Ian Mitchell has looked much better the past few starts, and is picking his spots to jump in the play much better. He still needs a center fielder for him to cowboy with, and pairing him with Zadorov is not the fucking answer.

-Brandon Hagel getting an assist off his nuggets is a highlight of the season for me.

-Wyatt Kalynuk is looking more and more like “a thing.” He’s made some mistakes in his own end, but I’m willing to overlook them if it means the kind of production we saw last night.

-Next up is the 3 game series against Smashville that will pretty much determine whether or not the Hawks move onto the playoffs this season. Thus far this year they’re 0-4-2 against the Preds, and have only looked decent in one of those losses. They’re also sub-.500 in games that matter with Colliton as coach. The stats aren’t in their favor, and I’m not holding my breath. The Hawks need at least 2 of the 3, and they pretty much have to be in regulation. Hope springs eternal.

Let’s Go Hawks

air yermin
Baseball

Series Recap: Sox Split Series With Cleveland – Hard Carl Edition

By Andy Jonathan 961

BOX SCORES

Game 1: Cleveland 3 – White Sox 4

Game 2: Cleveland 2 – White Sox 0

Game 3: Cleveland 0 – White Sox 8

Game 4: Cleveland 4 – White Sox 2

 

While part of me REALLLLLY wants to get fired up and bitch about the fact that the Sox had YET ANOTHER chance to put away a team in the rubber match of a series and failed to do it, I’ve decided to take a calmer, more positive approach to this recap. Talk more about what went right than what went wrong. Then if I don’t feel better I’ll throw my laptop off the roof and drop an elbow on it’s remains.

Because in reality, there was a lot to like about the Sox performance this series. The pitching was absolutely fucking nails. Yermin hit another ball that broke orbit and knocked on of Elon’s satellites out of the sky. Moncada seems to be coming out of his slump, and Tim Anderson came back from the DL and promptly smoked 2 hits. Even Adam Eaton was less offensive to me during this series! All good things! We should talk about them, that way you don’t have to think about the Blackhawks getting fucking skulled by the Dead Wings last night.

ANNOUNCER: Aaaand here comes the laptop throw!

 

TO THE BULLETS!

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

-How cool is it that Carlos Rodon, after having what can only be described as consecutive miserable seasons, came out there and was a shoelace away from a perfect game? It’s not often anyone has to “settle” for a no hitter, but that was definitely the case here. Side note: while I really wanna get mad at Roberto Perez (not just because he looks like a bargain basement Yadi Molina) for not getting out of the way of the backfoot slider, there really wasn’t much chance of him doing that. Throughout the start Rodon was in control of the zone, changing speeds and moving up and down. Much like peak Justin Verlander, his velocity started around 92 and peaked at 98.9 MPH on the 108th pitch of his start. You can’t teach stuff like that, it has to be engrained in you. Through 2 starts, Rodon is 2-0 with 16 strikeouts and a 0.36 WHIP. If this is what a finally healthy Rodon looks like, then I’d like to rescind all the nasty comments I made about his signing back in January. Hard Carl indeed.

-The rest of the Sox pitching was no slouch either. Dallas Keuchel came in on short notice Monday night after Hard Carl’s #2s turned out to not be so hard. He went a solid 5 innings, using only 65 pitches until he hit the invisible force field that prevents him from reaching the 7th inning. The fact that this was on shorter rest than normal leads me to give him a pass on this one, and the bullpen was totally up to the task anyways. Evan Marshall came in with the bags loaded and no outs and managed to hold Cleveland to a single run. Then it was Codi Heuer’s turn to dominate, as he went 2.1 innings only giving up a single hit and striking out 4. He ended up with the win after the Sox managed some Benny Hill shit in the bottom of the 9th.

-The Aces matchup between Lucas Giolito and Shane Bieber did not disappoint. Between the two of them there were 16 innings of shutout ball and 19 strikeouts. Neither team was able to pick up the off-speed stuff, and Bieber’s curveball was the nastiest I’ve ever seen it. LaRussa certainly didn’t help the situation with his lineup, but that’s a discussion for another time. Cleveland was able to pick up the win in the Bozo Buckets Extra Inning Extravaganza after Garret Crochet was unable to field his position on an Eddie Rosario chopper. Regardless, it was an awesome display of pitching from the starters, and one that we hopefully get again this season.

-Lance Lynn pitched great again, and just made one mistake on the afternoon. Unfortunately for the Sox, that mistake was to Jose Ramierz and he absolutely did not miss. Lesson learned.

-Ladies and Gentlemen, I give to you….The Yerminator:

-While I’d love to get pissed off at Andres Gimenez for helping Adam Eaton off the bag at 2nd base yesterday, watching the play a lot of it was caused by the force of Eaton sliding into the bag. Did Gimenez “help” Eaton by giving his momentum a little nudge? Probably. Was it worth Eaton pushing him and causing the benches to clear? Probably not. I understand both sides, but ultimately I feel like it was the right call by Bill Miller.

-You can see Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada seeing the ball better from the box each game that passes. They’re both about to go on a tear, and god help whoever is on the mound when they do.

-I was under the impression that Dylan Cease had the Rona and would be out this weekend but now according to NBC Chicago he’s been cleared from the COVID-19 protocols and will be available to pitch tonight. Yay, I guess?

-Next up is (maybe) a 4 game series against the Red Sox out in Bahhston. I say maybe because the forecast for the weekend is not very friendly, with a possibility of snow (!) tonight. The Red Sox bats have come alive in the past week, scoring 30 runs in that seven days. TLR has yet to say how he’s going to set his pitching lineup after Rodon got moved around, but if the game gets played I suppose we will see Cease vs Nick Pivetta tonight. Let’s go (white) Sox.

Hockey

High On The Hog: Flexible Schedule

By Jon Fromi 1045

The Rockford IceHogs continue to maneuver through the COVID minefield that is the 2020-21 season. The IceHogs have had to adjust to several postponements throughout the campaign. This weekend may see more of that trend.

Rockford’s game last Saturday in Grand Rapids was postponed due to issues within the Griffins organization. After losing in Iowa Tuesday night, the Hogs are due to host the Chicago Wolves this Saturday before traveling to Hoffman Estates for a game with the Wolves Wednesday.

However, COVID issues affecting the Wolves forced Chicago to postpone Thursday’s game with the Griffins. This may put Saturday’s affair on hold, though the AHL has not yet postponed the contest.

All four of the Central Division teams on Rockford’s schedule have had to postpone games with the IceHogs due to COVID issues during the season. The game Rockford missed last Saturday is supposed to be played on May 3. A February 28 date in Cleveland has not yet been rescheduled.

The IceHogs have played 21 games heading into the weekend. They are 7-13-1 and in the basement of the Central Division standings.

 

Roster Moves

Goalie Matt Tomkins is currently on the Blackhaws taxi squad. Tom Aubrun is on loan to the Indy Fuel.  This leaves Rockford with just two goalies on the roster, Cale Morris and Ivan Nalimov.

Wednesday, defensemen Ian Mitchell and Nicolas Beaudin were brought up to the Hawks taxi squad, with forward Brandon Pirri being assigned yet again to Rockford. Despite playing in just three games for the Hogs this season, Pirri is second on the team with five goals.

On Thursday, the IceHogs announced that they had signed UMass forward Carson Gicewicz to an AHL contract through the 2022-23 season. Gicewicz had 17 goals and seven assists for the Minutemen, who recently were crowned NCAA Champs.

I can’t recall Rockford inking a player to a three-year deal in the past. Expect the 24-year old Gicewicz to get into some action, provided the Hogs have an opponent to play in the coming weeks.

 

Tuesday, April 13-Iowa 4, Rockford 1

The Hogs win streak ends at one game. Iowa put up four unanswered goals to beat Rockford.

With Cody Franson in the box for hooking, Rockford took the lead on a fine individual effort by Josiah Slavin. Winning a board battle in neutral ice, Slavin skated the puck into Wild territory and let fly from the right circle. The shot beat Iowa goalie Dereck Baribeau to the stick side for a 1-0 Hogs lead just 3:26 into the game.

The Wild tied the game with a transition goal that caught the Rockford defense on its heels. Damien Giroux got things started in the neutral zone and cleaned up a rebound of Connor Dewar’s initial attempt. Cale Morris was unable to make a second stop on the rush and the game was even at a goal apiece 9:03 into the first period.

Iowa built a 3-1 lead in the middle frame on goals by Will Bitten and Mason Shaw. The Hogs were unable to generate any offensive pressure in the third period, as Iowa would out-shoot Rockford 13-6 in the final twenty. Gerry Mayhew added an empty-net goal for the Wild in the final minutes to wrap things up.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Andrei Altybarmakian-Dylan McLaughlin-John Quenneville (A)

Josiah Slavin-MacKenzie Entwistle-Michal Teply

Evan Barratt-Garrett Mitchell (C)-Chris Wilkie

Mitchell Fossier-D.J. Busdeker-Tim Soderlund

Nicolas Beaudin-Cody Franson (A)

Issak Phillips-Ian Mitchell

Cole Moberg-Micheal Krutil

Cale Morris

Ivan Nalimov

 

Fingers Crossed

If all goes as planned, Rockford hosts the Wolves at the BMO Saturday night. Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for updates on the IceHogs throughout the season.

 

Hockey

All Futures – Hawks at Wings Games 44 & 45 Preview

By Matt McClure 1100

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Game Times: 6:30PM (4/15, 4/17)
TV/Radio: NBC Sports Chicago (4/15), NBC Sports Chicago+, NHLN (4/17), WGN-AM 720
White Boy Rick: Winging It In Motown

With the trade deadline having now passed, both the Hawks and whatever is left of the Wings right now are hoping to get a look at what is on their roster that could possibly be useful in the future, with the added bonus of the visiting Hawks desperately needing both of the games this weekend in regulation in order for next week’s three game set with Nashville to mean a damn thing as far as any playoff aspirations are concerned.

Baseball

The HBP Drama Heats Up – Cubs/Brewers Series Review: Cubs Lose Series 3-6/3-2/0-7

By Summer Corson 1082

The start of the season continues to slog on as the Cubs continue to suck offensively and lose by multiple runs, just like the old days. The games are honestly hard to watch when other sports are going on — the Hawks were winning this week and there was even a no-hitter across town. But here we are with the summary of the games, in case you didn’t catch them, or if you did catch them and you wanted to relive it all.

Besides pitchers being sick or in COVID protocols, this was the Willson Contreras series, as the hit by pitch saga hopefully ends with his home run to win the game. There aren’t a lot of positives to take out of this series, but that’s one. Additionally, Justin Steele and Pedro Strop made their season debuts and looked pretty good — Strop even got the win on Tuesday. Let’s break down each game.

April 12, 2021
Cubs 3, Brewers 6
WP: Peralta (2-0) LP: Alzolay (0-2)
Box Score

Things don’t get any easier for the Cubs since their atrocious last series, as Jason Adam, Dan Winkler, and Brandon Workman got placed on the COVID-19-related injured list because the Cubs’ bullpen coach Chris Young received a positive test. This didn’t stop Adbert Alzolay from starting, however, trying his best to redeem himself after his horrendous first start that put him at a 7.20 ERA. Although he did get some contact on his pitches early, the Cubs defense behind him was able to field it so there were no hits through the 1st inning.

The Cubs, surprise surprise, got on the board first with a solo homer by Kris Bryant. Bryant leads the team in slugging percentage and OPS, and he came out of this game 2nd on the team with a .233 batting average and a .361 OBP. These numbers are all about average or below average compared to all MLB players last season, which just shows you how much the Cubs offense is currently suffering.

Alzolay seemed to feel more comfortable as the game went on, surprisingly, as he continued to keep the Brewers from staying on the board for the first five innings of the game. By the 6th, however, Alzolay abruptly unraveled, as he gave up two singles and a walk. Rossy replaced him with Andrew Chafin in a bases loaded situation, and on his first pitch Luis Urias immediately hit a double that scored three runners. Then Chafin threw a wild pitch and another runner scored. Then the Brewers tripled and hit another single and suddenly, after just 12 pitches, the score became 6-1 Brewers.

So now’s as good as time as any to bring out Justin Steele on his MLB debut. Justin Steele was able to throw three strikes to finish the inning. This was just the 2nd inning in 2 games in which the Cubs have given up 6 runs, an accomplishment that encompasses the true meaning of the Cubbie Way. Steele continued through the 7th inning to try his very best: strikeout, single, groundout, strikeout, walk, HBP, and groundout was the extent of his inning. (Brad Wieck also made his season debut, in which his fastball is now hitting 93 mph instead of 91 mph like last season. He was able to get the three outs eventually.)

Meanwhile, the Cubs decided that finally, during the 9th inning, they’d try to generate offense. Bryant singled, Pederson walked, a wild pitch sent them to 2nd and 3rd base, Baez doubled to score them both, and then Josh Hader was put into the game to end it quickly and mercilessly.

April 13, 2021
Cubs 3, Brewers 2
WP: Strop (1-0) LP: Suter (0-1)
Box Score

Now that one of the Cubs’ bullpen coaches has COVID-19, the story continued to evolve when we learned that Kyle Hendricks wasn’t going to start this game because he was exhibiting symptoms of congestion, which is a symptom of COVID-19, but also just the regular cold or flu. Although he ended up testing negative, they put him out of the lineup just to be safe and he was able to drive home to Chicago.

In his place they put Alec Mills, who came up on short notice and pitched four innings this game and gave up a glorious two runs, one of them being a home run that scored the two Brewers runs of the night. By the 5th inning, it was time to head to the bullpen, where faces new and old threw some innings for the Cubs.

First, Ryan Tepera came out in the 5th and had a pretty good inning. He walked a pitcher but the defense behind him was able to get him a double play after a ground ball hit. He then closed the inning by throwing behind Brandon Woodruff after Woodruff hit Willson Contreras by yet another pitch the inning before. Woodruff was understandably angry, and it seemed to get in his head because Tepera was able to strike him out — his only strikeout of the inning. Rex Brothers came in the inning after that and was able to record a strikeout of his own.

Kris Bryant, although he did not record a hit this game, had the sacrifice fly in the 4th to score Willson Contreras after he got hit. Bryant now leads the team in batting average and OPS at .243 and .936, respectively. Rizzo also had two hits on the game, leading the team, although he was stranded on base for both of them. His batting average is still a very abysmal .162, which only gives the Rickettses more of a reason to gear up to let him walk.

Pedro Strop made his season debut, and although he recorded a walk and was the only bullpen pitcher to allow a hit, he also got the win for the day. He threw four different kinds of pitches: slider, cutter, sinker and fastball. His slider especially was his most popular pitch and had the highest whiff percentage of any of his pitches at 66.7%. That’s the same number as last year, and it’s definitely been his best pitch over time. I’m sure we’ll see more of it later this season.

The Cubs barely eeked out enough offense in this game to win it, but Willson Contreras was the hero of this game. Having three hit by pitches so far this year and after getting fined by the league for starting the bases-clearing brawl last series because of the COVID-19 protections in place, his home run at the top of the 8th that also scored Happ was what shut the Brewers up for good.

Since this is the first time in four games that the Cubs actually had a lead heading into the last few innings of the game, it was time to bring out Craig Kimbrel to get the save with one out to go in the 8th inning. And because Kimbrel seems to be back to his elite form, he didn’t disappoint. He walked only one batter and only had one strikeout. Even though the other three batters he faced made contact, the defense behind him was solid to win the game.

April 14, 2021
Cubs 0, Brewers 7
WP: Burnes (1-1) LP: Arrieta (2-1)
Box Score

Does anyone actually want to talk about this game? What a disaster, and a game that was a disaster early.

Compared to the previous game, the Brewers struck out 12 of the Cubs batters as opposed to 10. 10 of those 12 strikeouts came from their starter, Corbin Burnes, who currently has a 0.49 ERA after splitting his two starts. Burnes only allowed 2 hits and didn’t walk any batters.

Because Kyle Hendricks is still sick, Jake Arrieta took over the starter’s role. He allowed four hits, three runs, one home run, one walk, and 5 strikeouts for an ERA of 3.18. If the Cubs had any hitting ability at all they would’ve been able to overcome Arrieta’s completely average performance to at least be in this game, but that’s not what happened at all. After five innings, he was pulled for Shelby Miller for his season debut and that’s when things really went off the rails.

Miller immediately allowed the Brewers to load the bases after throwing just two strikes. Then he walked two batters to make it 5-0 Brewers. He didn’t even finish the inning after walking three batters total, allowing two hits, four of the seven Brewers runs, and recording no strikeouts at all.

Time for Justin Steele to come back out again, perhaps because Ross knew there was no getting out of this game with a win thanks with our .163 collective team batting average. Steele gave up a single immediately, scoring the 6th runner for Milwaukee, but at this point all hope was lost and nothing mattered anymore. He was able to strikeout the top of the Brewers’ batting order in Jackie Bradley Jr. and Daniel Robertson, so all in all he put on a pretty good performance and seemed to improve on Monday’s appearance.

The Cubs have a bad habit of leaving runners on base in scoring position. Joc Pederson was at 3rd base with one out in the 2nd inning, but David Bote struck out and Austin Romine flied out after him. In the 9th inning, Rizzo also found himself in scoring position after getting one of the very few Cubs hits this game, but David Bote once again was not able to deliver offensively, unceremoniously grounding out to end the game.

The Cubs have been too reliant on their home runs. Home runs are grand and all, but singles, doubles and triples are just fine too. Again, so is batting in those RISP. I have no idea how, or even if, this offense will ever get fixed. This team just seems completely broken on this end, putting in numbers that are far and away the ugliest in baseball. At this point, I’m fine blowing this all up and starting over, but can the Rickettses even be trusted to shell out money for exciting, offensively-talented players? I don’t think so.

The Cubs have a day off today, and then they will take on a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves, who have also struggled to live up to their preseason expectations. The Braves are 4-8, last in the NL East. They are also the 25th-ranked MLB team offensively. Don’t get excited, though — that puts them three spots ahead of the Brewers, who just crushed us offensively for most of this series, so take with that what you will.

Onward.