Baseball

Series Wrap – Cubs Sweep Mariners: Stop Playing Pearl Jam

By Sam Fels 2011 0

Game 1 Box Score: Cubs 6, Mariners 5

Game 2 Box Score: Cubs 11, Mariners 0

The thing is I like Pearl Jam. It’s like this..

They’re fine. And I get that Eddie Vedder has nominated himself the #1 Cubs fan forever, even though he doesn’t know who Steely Dan is according to his own goddamn documentary (not that he should, but if you’re going to be music’s self-appointed ambassador, you’d better). But if you’re in Seattle and you’re going to make a big deal of your intro and outro music, try someone else. Off the top of my head I can name a dozen better Seattle bands:

Nirvana, Soundgarde, Dinosaur Jr. Screaming Trees. Green River, Mother Love Bone, Alice In Chains, Mad Season, Mudhoney, Sunny Day Real Estate, Heart, the Sonics. There, done. Try any of them. Honestly.

Oh right… the baseball…

The Two Obs

-Here’s something I like. With Jason Heyward and Willson Contreras cooling off just a bit, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo have arrived. Bryant might not have enough to show for it, but last night he managed four balls with an exit velocity over 100 MPH, and Rizzo added two homers in two games, including a big one last night. And let’s not forget The War Bear, who has hit .381 the last week and won Tuesday’s game with a homer that turned the baseball oblong. If the thunder don’t get ya the lightning will.

-It’s been overshadowed by his injury absence, but the Cubs are getting serious work from Jon Lester. He’s got a WHIP of 0.96 on the year. So far this season he’s eschewed his four-seamer for more cutters and more change-ups, and if these are the results I’m here for it.

-You still can’t trust this pen as far as you could throw it collectively, but I’m hoping that just one day off after whatever that was on Sunday just wasn’t quite enough. But then I also think that Brad Brach just sucks, so here we are. I hold out some hope that Brandon Kintzler has some use, and he did get a seriously needed double-play last night. But he also served up one to Edwin Encarnacion that landed somewhere near Victoria.

-Cole Hamels had to get too many outs, and two earned over 5.2 innings should be enough normally. He wasn’t hit all that hard so we’ll just let it pass.

-Good lord are the Mariners helpless defensively. In my shitty high school league the first thing our coach told us was, “Get the ball in play. In this league, amazing things will happen.” That’s the same for the Mariners. We said it in the preview but Encarnacion and Santana should be DHs and Bruce probably should too. But because Dan Vogelbach would probably just eat his glove, they all have to play in the field. This could be a pretty good offense and if King Felix can at least be competent it’s not a hopeless rotation, but they’re going nowhere because they’re never going to catch the ball.

-I will take anything I can get when it comes to Dillon Maples, and striking out the side in the 9th in an 11-0 game is still that. Encarnacion was diving out of the way of strikes. So was everyone else. If he could ever just keep his fastball in the zip code, he’s the doomsday device out of the pen we’ve wanted. Seriously, he could be Josh Hader from last year, if his control wasn’t a Pollock painting.

-I guess that was Javy’s response to being asked if he wants to give up shortstop.

Onwards…

 

–

Baseball

Series Preview – Cubs vs. Mariners: Into The Grey

By Sam Fels 1340 0

vs.

RECORDS: Cubs 14-12   Mariners 18-13

GAMETIMES: 9:10 Tuesday, 5:40 Wednesday

TV: NBCSN Tuesday, WGN Wednesday

FRANCES FARMER WILL HAVE HER REVENGE: Lookout Landing

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Cole Hamels vs. Felix Hernandez

Jon Lester vs. Marco Gonzales

CUBS PROBABLE LINEUP

Daniel Descals0 – 2B

Kris Bryant – LF

Anthony Rizzo – 1B

Javier Baez – SS

Jason Heyward – RF

Willson Contreras – C

Albert Almora – CF

Kyle Schwarber – DH

David Bote – 3B

PROBABLE MARINERS LINEUP

Mitch Haniger – CF

Domingo Santana – LF

Dan Vogelbach – DH

Edwin Encarnacion – 1B

Jay Bruce – RF

Tim Beckham – SS

Omar Narvaez – C

Ryan Healy – 3B

Dee Gordon – 2B

 

When they designed inter-league play, this wasn’t a matchup they were thinking about. Still, the way it’s worked out it’s become kind of intriguing, and not just because the Cubs end up in Seattle twice a decade. The Mariners are the surprise team in the American League, if not the whole of MLB, and the Cubs are rounding into sharpness.

So what are the Mariners doing crashing the private party that the AL West was supposed to be for the Astros again so far? Well, they’re pretty weird. They’ve had an offensive bonanza, with basically every fly ball they hit landing out beyond various walls. Four players are currently seeing a quarter of their flies turn into homers, and six are seeing 20% or above. That’s almost unheard of, even in this era of baseball where they’re using swollen Titleists as baseballs. You’d think that has to come down at some point. Jay Bruce’s .192 average and yet .552 slugging is particularly goofy.

And yet, there is some validity to some of it. Bruce, large adult son Dan Vogelbach, and Brewers castoff Domingo Santana are all hitting the ball extremely hard and aren’t benefitting from a bloated BABIP or anything like it. Santana has done this before in Milwaukee, and then was squeezed out by the Yelich and Cain acquisitions, as well as Jesus Aguilar‘s emergence (how’s that look now?). Vogelbach always threatened this in the Cubs’ system, he just needed a DH spot to do it at the top level as putting a glove on him would cause various air-raid sirens to sound off.

Tim Beckham might see his bubble burst, but Omar Narvaez’s on-base skill aren’t on luck either. Edwin Encarnacion is apparently not dead. and Mitch Haniger has been a plus-plus as well.

The flip side to this is that the Mariners are one of the worst defensive teams in recent history, as they have three or four players who should be only a DH for their own safety but only one spot occupied by Vogelbach. So Encarnacion has to be in the field. So does Bruce. Dee Gordon has to be at second, and he played himself out of there once already in his career. You know what Tim Beckham at short looks like. They’ve given up an unearned run per game so far this year.

The staff that has to work around this includes yet another undead ballplayer in Felix Hernandez. There was a real fear of what watching Hernandez this season could be in spring training, such has been his decline since being maybe the best pitcher in the American League for a minute. But Felix has been able to be better than simply a seat-filler or place-holder so far by cutting his walks down to next to nothing and upping the grounders he gets. He’s using his curve more for both, and pounding the strike zone with the rest of his arsenal.

The other hurler the Cubs will see is Marco Gonzales, who’s been magnificent through not giving up homers at all. He doesn’t get a lot of grounders but a lot of harmless flies. Gonzales flashed this a bit last year with a 3.5-fWAR season no one noticed, and being let down by a dreadful defense. The last part is still there of course, but he’s doing even better by also throwing nothing but strikes.

The pen is something of a cast of thousands, with six different yahoos collecting at least save. Old friend Zac Rosscup is here but he can’t hit a bull in the ass with a snow-shovel at the moment, which has helped him collect Ks but a ton of walks. Roenis Elias and Brandon Brennan have been the best out of there. The rest have benefitted from fortune, and this is the unit probably headed for a collapse first.

The Mariners have been fun thanks to all the fireworks, but they’re likely to not out-homer their Python-esque defense or Felix’s age for too much longer. But until then, it’s a fun ride.

 

 

Baseball

Series Preview – Orioles vs. White Sox: Building In The Muck

By Sam Fels 1349 0

vs.

RECORDS: Orioles 10-19   White Sox 11-14

GAMETIMES: Monday-Wednesday 7:10

TV: NBCSN Monday and Wednesday, WGN Tuesday

GIARDELLO’S ARMY: Camden Chat

PROBABLE PITCHERS

John Means vs. Manny Banuelos

Andrew Cashner vs. Ivan Nova

TBD (maybe David Hess) vs. TBD (possibly Carlos Rodon, possibly Dylan Covey)

PROBABLY ORIOLES LINEUP

Jonathan Villar – 2B

Trey Mancini – RF

Dwight Smith Jr. – LF

Renato Nunez – DH

Rio Ruiz – 3B

Jesus Sucre – C

Joey Rickard – CF

Chris Davis – 1B

Richie Martin – SS

PROBABLE SOX LINEUP

Leury Garcia – LF

Tim Anderson – SS

Jose Abreu – 1B

James McCann – C

Yoan Moncada – 3B

Jose Rodon – 2B

Yonder Alonso – DH

Ryan Cordell – RF

Adam Engel – CF

 

If taking two games on offer against the Tigers is any kind of signal for a turnaround, it shouldn’t be too hard to keep that going against the Baltimore Orioles. That is if they get any of these games (Tuesday looking particularly dicey), and also that didn’t work out so well the last time they faced the Charm City Orange.

We’ll start with the Sox, who will begin life without Eloy Jimenez for a couple weeks at least. Eloy won’t even be reevaluated until then, so it could be longer. Tonight that sees Leury Garcia shift over to left with Adam Engel and his pool-noodle bat move into center. He can rob a home run for you, he just might not get any ball out of the infield when at the plate. Nicky Delmonico and his handsomeness could see more PAs in Eloy’s absence, which is something that should make you shrug at best, and roll your eyes hard enough to hurt in the worst.

Also in the news is that the Sox have called up Dylan Covey, or Dylan Arrieta as Fifth Feather calls him. He will most likely help out the pen in Nate Jones‘s absence, but they have stretched him out in Charlotte and could take a spot start somewhere along the line. That will depend on Lucas Giolito‘s recovery from a hamstring twang, which he can’t come back from until next week anyway.

So to the O’s, who spent the weekend picking up various pieces of their skull that the Twins bashed out of them. They lost the three games by a combined 19-4, and it’s the kind of stretch whatever Os fans that haven’t bleached their eyes will have to get used to. As we said last week, there just isn’t anything here resembling a major league team, and the Os are going to get their bones ground up pretty good all season.

Trey Mancini has been something of a bright spot offensively, though his .413 BABIP might have something to do with that. Renato Nunez hasn’t been terrible, but is something of a lottery ticket in the hopes that he could be a fifth infielder one day. This is the best the Orioles can do, as they might not even be at Year 1 of their rebuild yet.

Their rotation has been the expected tire fire, with tonight’s starter Means the only one to not turn into something you’d find on a Nickelodeon game show, and he’s mostly a reliever and spot-starter. Still, he held down the Sox last week with six Ks over five innings, and he’ll look to repeat the feat. Other than that, god help you.

The Os and Sox in the cold and rain on the Southside. Catch the fever. Literally.

Baseball

“Stubbing Your Toe” Will Now Be Known As “Being The Chicago Cubs”

By Sam Fels 1602 0

If you thought the Cubs, and perhaps you as a Cubs fan, would escape their self-created hell of an offseason just because baseball games were being played again, then the world is going to have some awfully violent market corrections in store for you. But I admire your optimism and hope in these times. It appears that the Cubs stepped in it again, or more to the point it became public knowledge that they’d stepped in it again, yesterday with reports that the Cubs were declining access or threatening writers who did not give positive coverage of Addison Russell. With his return to Wrigley now imminent, and most everyone except Russell wishing it would never happen for a litany of reasons, the Cubs are clearly going to a prevent defense of the highest order. The problem with a prevent defense of course is that it does give up a ton of yards.

It started with Sheryl Ring of FanGraphs. That was picked up by NBC’s Hardball Talk. This was followed by a few beat writers who follow the team saying they hadn’t heard this and certainly hadn’t been threatened by the team, and then some other writers or media members not as close to the team saying they had heard this or been on the receiving end. You know us, we go by the amount of smoke something has, and this one has a ton. Sheryl Ring and FanGraphs aren’t just some yahoos in the dark, even if some would like to still portray them as such, and all this comes from somewhere and something.

And really, when you’re on the side of Bob Nightengale on anything, you’re on the wrong one.

There is nothing comfortable about anything surrounding Russell right now. His suspension, the Cubs handling of him, his impending return, but most of all who he is and what he’s done, and whether or not he has any interest in not being that (sure doesn’t feel like it). While I am as uncomfortable as anyone, just because I’m uncomfortable doesn’t mean I can’t see where the Cubs are on this at the base level. Since the suspension, which at first they didn’t handle well at all, Theo Epstein’s openness has been if not welcome, at least a change. There is no clear answer on whether or not heaving Russell out of Chicago and his job is beneficial to Melisa Reidy and to survivors at large. Some say it does worse damage, others say it doesn’t. Perhaps the Cubs cherry-picked the experts they talked to, but in this day and age a sports organization talking to anyone is a step in the right direction.

Theo has been careful to mention Melisa and their child’s interest at every turn, and even has said Melisa herself didn’t want Russell cut loose. Maybe that’s not exactly what went down, but if it went against her wishes I think we’d know at this point. And considering the hell she and their child have been through, they are deserving of whatever share of a major league paycheck they get. Maybe it’s uncomfortable and upsetting that Russell will continue to get to work here specifically for most, and I get that because no one wants this around. At the same time, it may be that it has to be somewhere. You’re not supposed to feel good about it, or like it, or comfortable, but just because it lacks all of those things doesn’t mean it’s completely wrong. Yes, the point of sports fandom is to feel good and happy and fun, but this is also real life, which is basically none of those things most of the time.

I won’t really know what’s going on until Russell screws up again, which it seems like he will because no one other than those with vested interests have made it seem like he’s even considered at least contrition. Or maybe until the Cubs make it clear what they feel like is screwing up again and then cut him loose. What’s their threshold? Then we’ll know where their interests lie, whether it truly is a life concern and helping or whether it’s simply about baseball concerns (and considering the makeup of the Cubs infield right now, even that seems like it shouldn’t be much of a concern for them either).

But with this, the Cubs aren’t taking responsibility as they’ve said they would and in some ways have. The awkwardness, to be polite, of the the whole thing is part of the story. Trying to whitewash what Russell has done and who he is  is part of the problem. Russell carries this with him everywhere he goes, and will from here on out, which is part of what I would assume his therapy is. The Cubs, by deciding to keep Russell for whatever process they want to run through, chose to take that on. They didn’t have to. So coverage of that isn’t wrong or unfair. It’s the story.

The Cubs can’t have it both ways, though lord knows they’ve spent the offseason and now into this season trying. They made work of making it clear just how transparent they’ve been to everyone about everything, but then are snippy when that bites them in the ass, however true it may have been. The Cubs could have avoided this conflict, at least on this particular problem, and these kinds of tactics by not choosing to retain Russell. Here we are. One wonders if they’re so thorny on this because they know that Russell is just a fuckwad who will do fuckwad things again and are trying to shield themselves.

Figuring out the endgame of this particular tactic is not uplifting. One can only assume the Cubs thought that a rash of positive, “overcoming” stories would make fans forget what had gone on, bringing questions about it to an end, and smoothing over as much as possible what is going to be an even stickier situation than it already is when Russell gets here (if he gets here, which he doesn’t have to, and the Cubs might want to consider that one strongly. Iowa is…well I don’t care what it is this time of year, but an extended stay there is certainly a card to play). Which is in direct opposition to the things they’ve said since Russell got suspended, which has emphasized what he did and what he must do pretty much at every point.

The Cubs keep saying they want to be part of the solution and lead. It might be just words. But if they’re truly to set a new way of sports dealing with domestic violence, that means accepting all that comes with it and not just the aspects that make yourself look good. No one is going to look good out of this. That’s the path the Cubs chose, and I don’t know if it’s necessarily the wrong one. It’s just the much harder one. And maybe they’re balking at just how hard it is. But it’s too late for that.

Baseball

Series Wrap – Cubs Win Two Of Three From The Diamondbacks: It Still Points, Doesn’t It?

By Sam Fels 1420 0

Game 1 Box Score: D-Backs 8, Cubs 3

Game 2 Box Score: Cubs 9, D-Backs 1

Game 3 Box Score: Cubs 6, D-Backs 5

While I can always find a level to enjoy #WeirdBaseball when we wade deep into the extra innings, there’s something always infuriating about it as well. Because chances are when you get to a 14th or 15th inning, chances are you’ve had opportunities to win it and/or have made some mistakes to get it there and possibly blow it. But with a day off tomorrow, and yet another series win, we’ll let this one go.

Let’s clean it all up:

The Two Obs

-The series started with Kyle Hendricks being kindling again, after a great start against these same Diamondbacks a week ago. The problems for Hendricks when he’s getting bounced around are always the same; he’s catching too much of the plate. That’s only one good start of The Cerebral Assassin, and I guess it’s somewhat fair to wonder if that new extension isn’t weighing on him a bit. It would only be natural, as along with the security is a feeling of having to perform at a different level. I still have no doubts he’ll get to where he’s been, it’s just not comfortable right now.

-On the other side of the spectrum, Jose Quintana continues to light it up. He made two bad pitches today that were thoroughly punished, but other than that he was barely touched. That change is getting used more and more, 15 times today, which is only making his other two pitches pop more. Here for it.

-And in the middle was Yu..I guess he was stuck there, huh? The first two or three innings on Saturday were painful, and it was hard to escape the feeling that Darvish, even with as good as his stuff is, is afraid of contact. Which means he’s nibbling, or losing control altogether. Then the Cubs got him some runs, and he wasn’t afraid to go at hitters. What you get is six shutout innings. With two off-days next the 110 pitches aren’t a big deal, as he won’t throw again until Saturday. Hopefully this is the start of something.

–Kris Bryant was making loud contact all over the place. That could signal big things.

-I was bitching on Saturday about Almora having to sit after a four-hit night on Friday, but I had forgotten that a change that the Cubs and Joe Maddon had made this season was planning out their lineup for the whole series in advance. I don’t mind them not deviating from it, and I would guess Almora is getting more starts in Seattle and when they return home. Adding two hits today wouldn’t hurt his cause.

-So Ben Zobrist has an extra-base hit now. That’s good. He’s doing something weird with his stance, and there’s still a huge drop in how hard he’s hitting the ball from last year to this. But he seems to recognize that if he’s volunteering Bote to be in the lineup ahead of him. That said, Bote then went ahead and left seven on today. No good deed goes unpunished.

-That was eight shutout-innings from the pen until Kyle Ryan got a little goofy. My hopes for Dillon Maples are still on very shaky ground. When you need Tyler Chatwood to save you…

Onwards…

 

 

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Sweep Tigers: Shenanigans Edition!

By Andy Jonathan 1599 0

Holy shit, what a weird-ass series.  Night one featured some weapons grade wackiness, and one call that I’ve never seen before in MLB. Night two never happened because it fucking snowed the last Saturday in April, and Sunday featured the White Sox setting a team record for Ks in a game.  There’s a lot to unpack, especially with only two games to talk about.

TO THE BULLETS

– Carlos Rodon had a night he probably wants to have Total Recalled from his memory.  Everything he threw was barreled up hard by the Tigers, and quite a few of them left the yard.  After his previous two performances I’m willing to chalk this one up to just not having it, but he’s yet to make it through the 7th inning and that’s mildly concerning.

– Jose Abreu had a memorable night for multiple reasons, first of which was that he poked a dinger over the left-center field fence, but was too busy watching the flight of the ball to notice that Tim Anderson was also watching the flight of the ball and preparing to tag up from first base.  So nobody was watching anybody since Mr Boston missed Jose chugging down the line, inadvertently passing Timmy at first base and getting not only Anderson out, but having his HR turned into the weirdest single in Sox history. This also cost the Sox at least one run, which the Tigers managed to scrape back immediately the next inning.  That was all right because it set the stage for…

-TIM ANDERSON’S BAT FLIPPING, GAME WINNING EXTRAVAGANZA.  Seriously, I’m falling in love with this guy. I hope he starts throwing the bat farther and farther every dinger until he knocks out a kid up on the Skillz Deck.  He’s the kind of guy the Sox have been missing since Sale left; the type of player who people buy tickets to see.  Butts in seats, baby.

-The night was not all roses and cherry bombs (T-T-T-TIMMY BOMBZ!  Sorry Sam).  Unfortunately, Eloy Jimenez managed to sprain his ankle trying to rob the 5th HR given up by Rodon that night.  Honestly, he was about two miles away from even touching the ball, so it was kind of a useless gesture.  It was later diagnosed as a high ankle sprain, so we will see just how long Young Skywalker will be out of action, but were I to guess I’m thinking its gonna be June-ish

– Game 2 was fucking SNOWED OUT.  Seriously, spring can bite my ass.

-Game 3 was all about the Lopez four-seamer.  The Kid had all of his pitches working today, but none more so than the 4 seamer.  He threw it 69 times today (NICE), and used it as his punch out pitch on 13 of the 14 Ks he had.  This might be the best I’ve ever seen him throw the ball, and he’s improved on every start this season.  Once he realized home plate umpire Tony Randazzo was going to give him the outside corner, he was spotting his pitches right on the edge of the black all game long.  His last strikeout happened on the 104th pitch, and he touched 96 with it.  The Sox rotation needed a start like this, especially after DFA’ing Ervin Santana a few days earlier.

–Alex Colome worked the 9th in both games and came away with a win and a save.  Can’t complain about that trade at all, as he’s come as advertised.
-Jose Abreu seems to be shaking off his slump nicely, as he went 6 for 8 with 5 RBIs (should’ve been 7).  Now if we only had a league average OF to talk about this team might be sniffing .500

-The Sox now stand at 11-14, with 2 more games against the Orioles due up.  Don’t stop now, boys!

Baseball

Series Previews – Tigers vs. Sox, Cubs vs. Diamondbacks: Oh, You Again?

By Sam Fels 1725 0

You’ll have to excuse me a bit, and I will not make this a habit. But with both teams in town playing the same teams they played last weekend, there isn’t that much to discuss. So we’ll just combine these into one preview, and you’ll give me a pass, and we’ll all be very happy. Besides, how much do you really want to read about the Detroit Tigers? Exactly.

First, the series happening locally:

vs.

RECORDS: Tigers 12-12   White Sox 9-14

GAMETIMES: 7:10 Friday, 6:10 Saturday, 1:10 Sunday

TV: NBCSN Friday and Sunday, WGN Saturday

SONS OF SPARKY: Bless You Boys

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Daniel Norris vs. Carlos Rodon

Ryan Carpenter vs. Reynaldo Lopez

Matthew Boyd vs. Manny Banuelos

PROBABLE TIGERS LINEUP

Jeimer Candelario – 3B

Nicholas Castellanos – RF

Miguel Cabrera – 1B

Niko Goodrum – LF

Brandon Dixon – DH

Ronny Rodriguez – SS

Gordon Beckham – 2B

Greyson Greiner – C

JaCoby Jones – CF

 

PROBABLE SOX LINEUP

Leury Garcia – CF

Tim Anderson – SS

Jose Abreu – 1B

James McCann – C

Yoan Moncada – 3B

Eloy Jimenez – LF

Yonder Alonso – DH

Jose Rondon – 2B

Ryan Cordell – RF

 

Who doesn’t love more Tigers? Then again, this didn’t go so well for the White Sox in downtown Detroit (then again, when does it?). The Sox were awfully charitable to Daniel Norris last Sunday, where he tossed five shutout innings for his first win in over a year. There’s being nice and there’s being a doormat.

The Tigers took both halves of a doubleheader in Fenway after dealing with the Sox, but then lost the next two games to the still-trying-to-care Red Sox. Because of that DH, they’ll be calling up Carpenter to take a spot start on Saturday to keep Matthew Boyd and Spencer Turnbull on their normal rest. The Tigers offense is starting to sputter out, with Castellanos hitting .200 over the last week and JaCoby Jones hitting .091. Josh Harrison has been hot over the past seven days though, along with Brandon Dixon.

For the Sox, Rodon gets to try and add to his excellent start to the season, with only one bad start in five and even that was only four earned runs. He held these Tigers to just one run over six last time out, and maybe just maybe is starting to look like something. The hope is that Reynaldo Lopez has turned a corner as well, as his last two starts have seen him surrender three runs in 12 innings while striking out 13 and walking two. Certainly an upgrade over how the season started for him.

Eloy Jimenez returns from bereavement leave tonight, he missed the Baltimore series. Oh, and it’s supposed to snow tomorrow, which seems just about perfect for a Sox-Tigers series, doesn’t it?

vs.

RECORDS: Cubs 12-11   Diamondbacks 15-11

GAMETIMES: Friday 8:40, Saturday 7:10, Sunday 3:10

TV: NBCSN Friday, ABC Saturday, WGN Sunday

UNPAINTED HUFFHINES: AZ Snakepit

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Kyle Hendricks vs. Robbie Ray

Yu Darvish vs. Zack Godley

Jose Quintan vs. Luke Weaver

PROBABLE CUBS LINEUP

Albert Almora – CF

Kris Bryant – LF

Anthony Rizzo – 1B

Javier Baez – SS

Willson Contreras – C

David Bote – 3B

Daniel Descalso – 2B

Jason Heyward – RF

 

PROBABLE DIAMONDBACKS LINEUP

Jarred Dyson – CF

Eduardo Escobar – 3B

David Peralta – LF

Adam Jones – RF

Christian Walker – 1B

Ketel Marte – 2B

Nick Ahmed – SS

Carson Kelly – C

Meanwhile, the Cubs head out on a very convenient trip to Arizona followed by a short jaunt the width of the nation to Seattle before settling in St. Louis next week. They’ll catch a Diamondbacks team that swept the Pirates in Pittsburgh after exiting Chicago, which sent the Pirates away from the top spot of the Central and handed it to West East St. Louis. They gave up all of seven runs over four games, so the staff is rolling.

The Cubs will catch a break in missing Greinke this time around as they didn’t have an answer for him last Saturday. Godley is one they didn’t see last week, and much like Robbie Ray the key to him is just waiting him out. He’s walking nearly five hitters per nine innings, though is having terrible luck with an abundance of runners getting all the way around the bases. The Cubs will also get introduced to Luke Weaver, whom they missed last week. Weaver has been dominant so far this season, getting five Ks for every walk and 50% ground-balls. Weaver has a wicked change that he pairs with a plus-fastball and cutter, and was the centerpiece of the Goldschmidt deal. So get to Ray and Godley before having to deal with that shit.

The D-Backs offense went to town on the Bucs, putting up a 12- and 11-spot in that series. Everyone aside from Ahmed comes in hot to this one, and whatever they call that thing with the pool in Phoenix these days has generally been a hitter’s paradise. Gotta keep it rolling.

 

 

Baseball

Series Wrap – Cubs Take Two Of Three From The Dodgers: That’s How Javy Does It

By Sam Fels 1360 0

Game 1 Box Score: Cubs 7, Dodgers 2

Game 2 Box Score: Cubs 7, Dodgers 6

Game 3 Box Score: Dodgers 2, Cubs 1

At the end of last year, and the beginning of this one, the Cubs made a lot of noise that they let games pass last year. Specifically, getaway days/chances to sweep a series were eschewed and taking two of three or series splits were settled for. So I suppose through one prism, this is one of those games the Cubs couldn’t bring home last year and didn’t this year. I think it’s a load of shit when a team wins 95 games but here we are. Also, the Dodgers are really good and it’s somewhat unfair that they can just move Ross Stripling to the pen to accommodate the cares-so-much Rich Hill. And taking two of three from them after they’d paddled the Brewers ass red is almost certainly something to feel gratified about. Let’s do the thing.

The Two Obs

-Perhaps the most exciting thing of the series was Jose Quintana adding a third straight dominating start to the previous two. Yes, the Dodgers are not as effective against lefties but that doesn’t mean they’re helpless. Q’s first two get-healthy outings were against Miami and on a frigid day against Anaheim without Trout, so this was a higher-level test. And he clearly passed it. he’s not throwing that change-up a ton but he’s throwing it enough to be accounted for and he’s throwing it effectively enough to get whiffs and off-balance swings. He’s allowing way less contact and striking out nearly a third of the hitters he’s seen so far. While you could count on Q to be solid this year, him taking a star-turn would definitely be a bonus.

-The other two lefties sent to keep the Dodgers’ doomsday device from going off did their jobs as well. Lester looked good in his return, giving up a solitary run. Hamels somehow dodged six walks to keep the Cubs in Javy-range. The rotation is shaping up better than we hoped, which makes this a very good team despite the assholes and dipshits that come out of the pen.

-I don’t understand how anyone hits Walker Buehler, his stuff is that good. And yet something happens to pitchers when Javy is at the plate. They have to make a breaking pitch perfect, hang it, and this is what you get. Someday some pitching coach is going to tell his guys to throw nothing but fastballs at his letters and above. Then again, that’s what Joe Kelly tried to do in the 8th today and Javy somehow got on top of a neck-high fastball to bang it off the wall.

-Javy’s decision to try and steal in the first with Descalso up and two outs was a little iffy, as Descalso has been nails in leverage situations. But these are the things you just excuse.

-I was curious at Joe Sheehan’s Albert Almora/Kyle Schwarber treatise on Twitter yesterday. I haven’t totally given up on AA but I can see that landmark from where I am. Then he homers off Kenley Jansen. I wouldn’t be opposed to getting him more ABs at the expense of Ben Zobrist right now, who can’t seem to do anything but give you weak grounders up the middle. That doesn’t mean Zoby 18 won’t have a role to play later in the year. We know he will, but this is probably AA’s pivot year and we aren’t going to get answers without at least a third of the season as a starter. The offense is clicking with Zobrist and Schwarber as black holes, it can survive Almora taking one of their spots.

-Fire Randy Rosario into the sun. I keep saying it, but he’s never been good, his stuff isn’t interesting, and now he can’t get it over the plate. The Cubs probably have to redo their entire left side of the pen, although I’ll give Kyle Ryan a touch more leash. Just don’t make me go through that again.

–Brad Brach was hitting 94 today, which has to be the hardest he’s thrown all season. If that continues, I have slightly more patience for him. Just not much.

Onwards…

 

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Lose 2 of 3 to Orioles: Whatever, Endgame Comes Out Tonight

By Andy Jonathan 1145 0

Sorry for the delay in this, it’s not AJ’s fault. I was drinking. – ED

There’s really not much to say about this.  The Sox came out and absolutely pasted the O’s Monday night to the point where they were pulling fans from the crowd to pitch.  I made the mistake of thinking that all three games would be like that, but forgot that Ivan Nova and Ervin Santana are paid to pitch for this club and (much like the rest of life), you get what you pay for.

Anyways…

-James McCann had four RBIs Monday night, thanks to a mammoth home run to left field on a hanging curve from David Hess.  The Jose Abreu of old made an appearance as well, with four RBIs of his own, and a nice opposite field dinger onto the porch in right field.  If the Sox are going to give Abreu a contract extension past this season, we’re gonna have to see a lot more of stuff like that.

-Monday night also featured the starting debut of Manny Banuelos.  He went a solid five innings and kept the meager O’s lineup in check, and really with this rotation that’s all you can ask for, especially after watching Ivan Nova night 2.  Everything that Banuelos did well, Nova did the exact opposite.  Nearly every pitch was hit hard, and it seemed like even pop flies had triple digit exit velocity.  Add the fact that the Brewers signed Gio Gonzales for pennies on the dollar, making this performance for $2 million more than he’s getting even more insulting.

-Not that Nova got any help from the offense.  One meager run against triple reclamation project Andrew Cashner and his arsenal of two pitches.  Moncada, Tim Anderson and Abreu went 4-11 and stranded 1 runner.  Everyone else went 2-20 and left 15 people on base and god dammit just looking at this box score makes me furious.

-Ervin Santana was just kind of there.  The O’s jumped on him early for 4 quick runs, and by the time he settled in the damage was already done.  The Sox treated rookie John Means’ changeup like it was a gyroball from another dimension, staring at it apparently blinked in and out of this reality. Although to be fair, expecting any different results from a lineup that has James McCann hitting cleanup is probably an exercise in futility.

-It’s not even May yet, and I’m starting to lose faith in the rebuild.  This is the season where we’re supposed to see marginal improvement.  Granted Anderson and Moncada have been pretty otherworldly, and Eloy will eventually turn into a Sun Crusher but everyone else could be replaced by a folding chair with a hat on it and I’d be hard pressed to tell the difference.  Every time I watch Nicky Delmonico bat, I want to turn off my TV because I know the outcome.  Spoiler Alert: it’s a weak grounder to second base.  Yonder Alonso is a giant bag of meh, and Ryan Cordell and Adam Engel are…Ryan Cordell and Adam Engel.  Whatever excitement I had watching Timmy and Yoan is fading rapidly, helped along by another 42-pitch inning from Ivan Nova.

Anyways, that’s two terrible teams in a row that the Sox managed to lose a series to, and guess what?  They get to play them again starting Friday!  Three game series against the Tigers starts Friday, plenty of good seats available!  Let me know how it goes, I’ll be at the movie theater seeing Endgame.

Baseball

Series Preview – Dodgers vs. Cubs: Here Comes The Boom

By Sam Fels 1448 0

vs.

RECORDS: Dodgers 15-9   Cubs 10-10

GAMETIMES: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:05, Thursday at 1:20

TV: NBCSN Tuesday and Thursday, WGN Wednesday

THINK BLUE: True Blue LA

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Kenta Maeda vs. Jose Quintana

Walker Buehler vs. Cole Hamels

Ross Stripling vs. TBD (possibly Lester, possibly Hendricks)

DODGERS PROBABLE LINEUP

Joc Pederson – LF

Corey Seager – SS

Justin Turner – 3B

Cody Bellinger – RF

A.J. Pollock – CF

Max Muncy – 1B

Enrique Hernandez – 2B

Austin Barnes – C

(note: with lefties on tap, Freese could start at first, Taylor could move into the outfield with Bellinger moving to first, or some combo thereof)

PROBABLE CUBS LINEUP

Daniel Descalso – 2B

Kris Bryant – 3B

Anthony Rizzo – 1B

Javier Baez – SS

Jason Heyward – CF

Willson Contreras – C

Kyle Schwarber – LF

Ben Zobrist – RF

(note: Could see Bryant move to right with Bote at 3rd)

If the Cubs had gotten somewhat healthy by getting to face some dregs and drain-scrapings in Arizona and Miami, and to a lesser extent the Angels shorn of Mike Trout, that all changes tonight as the Cubs welcome the National League’s aristocrats in the form of the Los Angeles Dodgers. If you want to know how the Dodgers have ascended to the top of the league’s standings, I’ll refer you to John Paul Jones’s impression of all drummers who were foolishly compared to John Bonham, “UGH. BASH. UGH. BASH.”

The Dodgers are second in the NL in homers to the Brewers. They lead in runs, and only trail the Mariners in all of baseball. They’re second in OBP. First in slugging. First in wOBA. So yeah, they pack something of a punch.

The Dodgers are led by the infuriatingly good and handsome Cody Bellinger, who you’ll never convince me doesn’t have Rohypnol somewhere in his house, who already has 11 homers, is slugging around .900, and is carrying a wRC+ of 252. So don’t pitch to him. Corey Seager has returned from missing all of 2018 and is doing Corey Seager things. Joc Pederson and his moon-face are having a career year, as he’s got 10 homers as well. Even Enrique Hernandez, the one you know as the one you’d like to hit with a tire iron, is slugging .551. There are very few places to hide. Pollock is struggling but has historically killed the Cubs. Tormund Turner hasn’t hit his stride yet but always looks like he’s about to. Austin Barnes seems to be the only breather here. And that’s before they bring Bruce Banner’s brother Chris Taylor off the bench.

What the Dodgers haven’t gotten is the starting pitching they were expecting, but once they do it’s a problem for America. It’s been fine, and certainly good enough when they’re turning every game into pop-a-shot. Walker Buehler has been let down by his defense a bit, has seen an ungodly number of runners score instead of stranded, and his strikeouts are down just a touch. But you’d bet on him figuring it out. Clayton Kershaw isn’t really a descendant of Zeus anymore, but you’d bet on him finding a way to carry a sub-3.00 ERA anyway. Ross Stripling is getting a ton of grounders, Julio Urias has started to look like what they said he would three years ago, Ryu has been even better, and Rich Hill isn’t even around yet to scream and make sure everyone knows just how much he cares. It seems like every season the Dodgers have seven or eight starters and none are worse than a #3. Fuck these guys, seriously.

If there’s one problem area, it’s in the pen. The Dodgers signed Joe Kelly to try and bandage that from last year, except Joe Kelly has always sucked no matter how many lame-ass YouTube videos he comes up with or how much he parades around his ring that the Red Sox were terrified of letting him try and contribute to. Kenley Jansen hasn’t been automatic this season, and neither has human filibuster Pedro Baez. Caleb Ferguson has been the best weapon out of there so far.

For the Cubs, they’re likely to try and stack their lefties against the Dodgers, as the main threats of Seager, Bellinger, and Pederson all hit from that side and with Turner still finding it they don’t have much of a counter. It’s just less bad with a lefty, not advantageous. Lester is eligible to come off the DL for Thursday’s matinee, though that isn’t much of a landing for him. The Cubs will see three tricky-to-tough righties, which means Anthony Rizzo coming in from the cold would be welcome. Of course, when the Cubs get into their pen, and the Dodgers will almost assuredly make sure the starters aren’t around that long, it’s going to be an adventure and a half right into hell.

There probably is no path out of the National League without seeing these guys. Might as well see how you stack up.