Baseball

Is Kris Bryant Still Hurt Or Just Weird?

By Sam Fels 2699 0

Well that’s easy. Bryant is weird, in that he might be the blandest person in baseball who really only just wants to play baseball. But I’m not here to discuss whether this guy is the human interpretation of beige or not.

And I’m certainly not here to claim that Bryan is bad, or disappointing, or anything remotely close. He’s been the Cubs best player in fWAR, and in wRC+. In the former, he’s the 7th-best player in the NL, and in the latter category 10th. So if I were to call these kinds of performance disappointing, I’d be perhaps the biggest asshole in the world (and I yet may be). Bryant has an outside shot at having his fourth 6.0+ WAR season, which would be every season he’s been healthy. He’ll have to hustle, but it’s possible. Also, since he came into the league, the only two players better than him are Mike Trout and Mookie Betts, in terms of WAR.

Clearly, Bryant is still very, very special.

Still, I have thought all season that with baseballs flying everywhere, former squeegee-holders now surpassing 30 homers, that it’s a touch weird that Kris Bryant isn’t anywhere near his career-high in homers or slugging. His career-high in homers was 39 in his MVP-year of 2016, and he’s at 25 now. It’s not that he couldn’t go nuclear in the season’s last six weeks here, and get up around that 39 number. It’s just unlikely, along with improving his slugging some 19 points to get to the .554 mark, also from 2016.

When digging into this a bit, it was a little startling to see that Bryant doesn’t really hit the ball all that hard.

Bryant’s hard-contact rate is 35%. That ranks 61st in the National League, which is only 16 spots ahead of last of all qualified players in the league, and really doesn’t compare to the likes of Yelich and Bellinger, who are over 50%. Bryant also only has a line-drive rate of just 19.5%. That’s not that far off his career-mark of 21%, and you’ve never really think of Bryant spraying line-drives everywhere. Actually, in his injury-ravaged season of ’18, he had a 25% line-drive rate, but that could be attributed to his shoulder problems and an inability to get the ball in the air as he had before.

Still, Bryant is hitting more grounders than he ever has, which can’t really be explained away as good in any fashion. If you go by exit velocity, his 87.6 MPH average is very pedestrian. It’s behind by two MPH what he did in 2016, but again, this is a season where the baseball is souped up with nitrous to be labeled all over the field.

In fact, if you go by StatCast, Bryant is lucky to have the numbers he does. His expected slugging and weighted on-base, based on the kind of contact he’s making, are both some 40 points below what his actual slugging and weighted on-base average are. Bryant’s 17.7% home run per fly ball rate is a little high, but not obscene to what he’s done before. But again, in this environment, it feels like it’s a touch low.

One angle could be is that Bryant, at least this season, has developed something of a hole in his swing up in the zone:

Bryant for his career was still pretty deadly high and high and inside in the zone, and that hasn’t been the case this year. I don’t think however, that if he were getting to those pitches as well it would do something about his contact numbers. It would affect his slugging and homers, at least you’d think so. He would be hitting more of those towering homers that just never seem to come down, that you’re picturing in your mind right now.

Still, Bryant only has one season of making hard-contact over 40% of the time, which again, was his MVP year. And for comparison, his 40.6% hard-contact rate that year ranked fifth in the NL. That mark would be 15th now (tied with Kyle Schwarber, strangely).

There is something about Bryant’s swing and style that just don’t make you think he should be hitting the ball viciously hard every time, while still being awfully productive. Again, the numbers are the numbers and no one should be upset with what Bryant has given.

There’s just this feeling that the atmosphere has changed, more and more hitters have caught up to what Bryant was doing, and he hasn’t geared up with them. Essentially putting up the same numbers and rates with this baseball suggests moving backwards a bit, or that he’s not completely healthy either. Being weak high in the zone, which he wasn’t before, could also suggest that shoulder isn’t quite 100%, but that’s just speculation. And last year, when he was definitely hurt, he was actually worse lower in the zone.

Look, this is Kris Bryant we’re talking about. GALACTUS. There might be only one player in the NL you’d even consider trading him for (Bellinger, and that’s mostly due to age). It just seems weird that Bryant isn’t putting up Belinger or Yelich numbers when everything is bent for him to do so.

Then again, this is probably complaining about the back of Penelope Cruz’s knee or something.

Baseball

Series Preview – Sox at Twins: Again?

By Andy Jonathan 1519 0

vs.

 

Records: Twins 76-48   White Sox 55-68

Gametimes: Monday/Tuesday 7:10, Wednesday 12:10

TV: Monday WGN, Tuesday/Wednesday NBCSN

Where The Wild Things Are: Puckett’s Pond

 

Ugh, these assholes again.

Since the last meeting between these two teams (in which the Twins took three of four from the Sox) life has been somewhat of a mixed bag for the Towering Terror of the Twin Cities. After winning the series against the Sox, the Twins took two of three from Miami and swept the Royals. All good, right? Well then the Braves came to town and took the series against them, then shortly thereafter Cleveland showed up and not only took three of four, but tied them for 1st place in the Central in a Sunday afternoon matchup that saw Carlos Santana plunge the dagger in Taylor Rogers heart with a walk off grand slam in extra innings that wiped out a nice Twins comeback in the bottom of the 9th.

Unfortunately the dagger wasn’t made of silver, because since then the Twins have won five of six, including a four game sweep of the Rangers this past weekend and have retaken first place from the Tribe (who now sit 2.5 games behind). They just won’t die. The Twins still sit at 4th best in the AL for hitting, having fallen behind the Yankees only because the Yankees played the Orioles seven times so far in August alone. The Twins still inexplicably lead the entire league in slugging percentage at .499, almost a full .010 ahead of the second place Yankees. The fact that they’re able to power the ball so much when they play so many games in their stadium with the cavernous outfield is even more impressive. Marwin Gonzalez has caught fire after a slow start, having hit .362 since the page flipped to August. Max Kepler continues to hit for power, mashing 10 taters since he last saw the Sox. Byron Buxton is still on the IL with a laundry list of maladies, this time with his shoulder. It’s severe enough that the Twins aren’t expecting him back until at least the beginning of September.

The rotation for the Twins is still scuffling a bit as Kyle Gibson and Jose Berrios both have seen their respective ERAs rise more than a point in the month of August. Michael Pineda has returned from his stint on the IL and righted the ship, having only given up 11 runs since the beginning of July, and despite his peripherals looking hilariously bad Jake Odorizzi has a 2.08 ERA so far this month and managed to shut down the Tribe in their only win that series.

The Twins bullpen has been a mixed bag since trading for some fresh faces at the deadline. Former closer now LOOGY Sergio Romo has appeared in nine games and given up three runs in that span, all in one game against the Braves. The other big acquisition Sam Dyson has gotten shelled out of the gate with his new team, giving up seven runs in 3.1 innings. In addition to that, closer Taylor Rogers hasn’t been as sharp as he was in May and June. He got charged with the loss against the Indians mentioned above and blew two other saves since the trade deadline. With Dyson being so shaky his job seems safe for the time being, however.

As for the Sox, they seem to have corrected the offensive malaise that infected them throughout the entire series with Oakland, having pounded out 40 runs in their last seven games. Ivan Nova has continued his excellent run since the All-Star break, having only given up 12 earned runs in 53 innings since the beginning of July. This has included some starts against pretty stalwart offenses like Houston, Philly, Cubs, and these Twins. I’ve said since the beginning that Nova would be a fine 5th starter on a contending team, and he’s making his case to stick around to see that possibility. The Sox will also toss out Lopez and Giolito, both of whom have had pretty good success since the break.

The key to this series is the same as it was against Houston last week. The starters need to keep the Twins big bats off the board, and the offense take advantage of a middling bullpen where they can. It’s looking like Yoan Moncada will be back for this series after his rehab stint in Charlotte, which will be a nice boost both offensively and defensively. Having him and Leury Garcia back in the lineup will make the Sox offense as potent as it’s been all year. Well, at least until Luis Robert gets here in a few weeks. Fuck the Twins, take two of three from them.

Lets Go Sox!

 

Baseball

Twins Spotlight: Rick Hahn

By Andy Jonathan 1649 0

Seeing as though this feels like it’s the 63rd time these two teams have played each other so far this season (with still an additional series to go after this), I figured I’d eschew the normal Twins Spotlight this series and talk a little about the NBCSN podcast our Sox Overlord Rick Hahn went on last week. In said podcast, Hahn was asked if he was ever active on social media at all and what he thought about the general pessimism of Sox fans on Twitter. What follows are direct quotes lifted from the podcast:

“…If I was 12, 13 years old, I’d have some strong assed opinions of what my favorite teams were doing, and I’d make sure I’d probably post them on Twitter and be a pain in the ass.”

“The executive side of me, you know, obviously finds it somewhat unfortunate. Whether it’s because certain things leak out creating issues with potential trade partners, or it starts issues internally with a player’s name being out there you have to deal with…”

“…There’s some areas right now, whether it’s White Sox blogs or the Twitter universe or whatever that just everything is negative. The glass is always half empty. And there’s almost like this momentum towards feeling they want the rebuild to fail because they can say ‘I told you so’ more so than they want to celebrate a championship, and that’s unfortunate.”

“It’s one thing to be critical and scrutinize and take the facts and eventually then decide ‘I don’t like this. It’s another thing, and it’s a little bit fed by this age of Twitter to have this instantaneous 45 second response of ‘this is horseshit’ ya know, without even thinking anything through. Which is fine, because whether it’s next year or the year after or whenever this run begins and we start getting closer to having parades around here…all that will be forgotten.”

 

Huh. Those are some…interesting opinions there. While my first instinct here is to get fired up and write 12 paragraphs of “fuck you” retaliation to these statements, I’m going to do what Rick Hahn wants us all to do and take a pause an analyze what he has to say in the podcast.

Right off the bat, Hahn goes right for the timeless putdown used by jocks against nerds everywhere, implying that everyone complaining on Twitter and other social media outlets are 13-year-olds sitting in their mom’s basement bitching about everything. It wouldn’t shock me if Hahn fantasized about doing the scene in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back where they get the list of people who talked shit about them online and go house to house punching movie nerds in the face. That being said, pretty much anyone who’s ever been on Twitter has had that fantasy, so I have to give Rick that one. If I had my druthers, I’d spend the rest of my life going house to house kneecapping every chud on Twitter who thinks trolling is hilarious.

The second quote is where I start to have an issue with some of his opinions. The implication that Twitter causes Hahn headaches in the way he does business is somewhat unacceptable. This past off-season the rumor was the Sox either had a deal in place, or were close to one with the Dodgers for Joc Pederson and it was leaked on Twitter which resulted in the Dodgers pulling out. Hahn himself spoke about it previously back in March with Chuck Garfien on his podcast. In it, he implies that the ask from the Dodgers changed after the information showed up on Twitter. I can somewhat feel for him here, at least a little bit because that has to be frustrating as fuck.

That being said, my issue with it is the fact that the call is coming from the inside of his own house. I get being pissed about the deal being torpedoed, but if someone in the Sox front office is leaking details about this deal to Twitter, then he has bigger issues than Twitter. That’s like getting mad at a dog for sniffing another dog’s ass. It’s just what they do. Twitter spews out a shitload of rumors, a microscopic portion of which end up being true. I suppose the leak could’ve come from the Dodgers side of the camp, but I don’t know why they would then pull out of the deal. If that was the case the deal must not have been that solid anyways. Does Twitter suck? Absolutely. It’s a fucking hellscape where your soul goes to die 145 characters at a time. Doesn’t mean that absolves the Sox front office for blabbing about potential deals before the ink is dry on the paper.

The third quote deals with an area that I myself am part of, the Sox blog-o-sphere. Hahn is of the opinion that overall we bloggers have the overall attitude that leans toward the dark side. That the glass is always half empty for us. To this point, all I can say is “no fucking shit.” Look, I get that constantly hearing negative stuff online about the team you’re personally trying to build can piss you off. I really do. That being said, Hahn should perhaps try and look at it from our prospective, which is that the Sox have been absolutely brutal to watch more often than not these last few years. That combined with the kind of injury luck the Sox have had the past few years has a tendency to make a fan of a team supremely pessimistic.

I totally understand that we are in the middle of a rebuild that was necessitated by years of Kenny Williams attempting to delay the inevitable by trading the prospect cupboard bare, and we all knew there were going to be some lean years ahead. To imply that I want the rebuild to fail just so I can keep complaining about it is disingenuous. You think I WANT the team to stay like this? I want to keep watching AJ Reed and Yonder Alonso flail about when it could be Luis Robert? That I want to waste my time watching Welington Castillo look like he’s being attacked by fire ants behind the plate when I could be watching Zack Collins develop at the major league level? I have no interest in any of that shit whatsoever. I’m negative online because I’m tired of the Sox sucking worse than the drain in Marlon Brando’s bathtub. When the team has a possibility to suck less and it’s squashed because you want another year of team control on a guy murdering AAA pitching right now (or this time last year with Eloy) it’s not because I want the rebuild to fail, it’s because I really fucking want it to succeed.

Moving to the last and most terrifying quote, Hahn implies that when the run truly begins all will be forgiven we will get to watch a bunch of parades. This may be true, because I would be hard pressed to argue with a guy who built a championship squad from the nothing that was here. The issue is the quote implies that the Sox are going to BE a championship quality squad, which also implies that the front office is going to be able to fill the holes in the roster through free agency. For a guy who has shown the inclination to go dumpster diving to fill needs rather than shopping at Best Buy, the thought that the Sox are going to be throwing parades seems to be based on filling holes internally rather than on the market. He implies that the Sox run is going to begin “next year, or the year after that or whenever”  and that says to me that the timeline for the rebuild is in flux and seems to have been pushed back. Granted, I may have been hearing just what I wanted to hear about timelines from him in the past, but this quote does not inspire much confidence in the rebuild from here on out. Hopefully I’m just reading too much into this, and he was just speaking off the cuff, but I wonder.

Overall, most of what Hahn is saying in the podcast feels more like an “I’m not mad, YOU’RE the ones who are mad” comment and that he’s sort of just shouting at the rain. I get that, because that’s how I feel writing about this team sometimes. The internet is a shitty place, and it can wear on you after awhile. If Rick Hahn wants any of that to change in the slightest, the Sox are going to have to do more than tell us “Don’t worry, the good times are coming soon” and actually show us that they are through their actions. I would love nothing more than to watch the Sox dominate the AL Central for years to come, and to contend with the Astros and Yankess and Red Sox in the postseason. I want that in the worst and best way possible. If that makes me pretty negative when I’m sitting through the Sox losing three of four to the Angels when they really could’ve swept them I guess that’s fair. It’s going to be the norm until the Sox front office shows me that I should be something other than that.

 

 

 

Hockey

Here They Come With This Happy Horses**t Again

By Sam Fels 1875 0

Y’know, I thought we were done with this kind of story about the Hawks. It had at least been a while since the Hawks came out to proclaim they’re ahead of the curve when it comes to analytics, even though I’m fairly sure they can’t even spell “analytics.” And then everyone would lap that up while they continue to run their team in almost purposeful spite of what analytics would say. And then we would spend the season screaming until your eyes bled about how what they’re doing makes no sense. Then they would come out and say they’re ahead of the curve on analytics and just trust them, and the whole cycle would start again.

I guess I missed it.

First of all, if you were so “ahead of the curve,” you would boast about how big your analytics department is. That you had a team of people working on this and presenting it to the GM and coach. You would show off your computer room or something. Fuck, look at the Cubs and all the bleating and boasting they did about their “pitching lab,” which still has produced dick when it comes to pitchers but hey, they’re at least showing you they’re working on it.

The best part of this article, a deep focus on the Hawks trying to blow themselves, is that the counterpoint to it is right in the goddamn middle. The Hawks have one guy, ONE, listed under “Hockey Analytics” on their website. Their department that’s so fucking cutting edge has one dude, and like, maybe an intern or two. Al MacIsaac, who’s basically been a fucking plague in this front office for a decade, mentions “young people.” You know what that means, right? Kids they don’t pay who also get lunch and help the marketing people stuff the blimps that drop t-shirts or whatever. This is not a department. It’s a dude in a dark room with some students sentenced to go visit him once a week for credit.

“Everybody is at a certain place right now,” MacIsaac said, “but they don’t know if they’re in front or they’re way behind.”

They sure don’t, Al.

If the Hawks paid any attention to analytics, they wouldn’t have traded for Olli Maatta. They wouldn’t have thrown in Teuvo Teravainen merely to get Bryan Bickell off the books. They wouldn’t have traded for Andrew Ladd. As mentioned in the article, they wouldn’t have given Brent Seabrook a million years on a contract. They wouldn’t have spiked Q with Brandon Manning (well, knowing the dysfunction in this front office, that still might have happened). They wouldn’t have traded Henri Jokiharju. Good god do you know how long this list could go on? I’m not going to do that you with so little summer left.

Still, the Hawks were one of the worst expected goal teams in the league last year, and the year before that, and yet all they’ve tried to do to turn that around is acquire road-graters on the blue line to block more shots. They just traded one of their d-men who can, supposedly, transition the team from defense to offense, which is what they don’t do well at all and the analytics tell you that. Their hopes to turn that around are pinned to Adam Boqvist and basically Adam Boqvist alone. They will try and sell you that Duncan Keith can still do it, even though he has been declining in possession for a while now. And you expect us to believe they actually pay attention this?

Of course, all this is topped by MacIsaac pretty much dismissing player-tracking. Now, he can get away with this, barely, for now because no one is quite sure when player tracking is actually going to be ready. And when it does roll out, it of course will have some kinks.

But if you’re so far ahead of the game, as the Hawks want you to believe without actually doing anything to back it up, why wouldn’t you gobble up all the data you can? Try and get out ahead and figure out where the kinks are first, but more importantly glean what is viable from it before anyone else? Wouldn’t that be your attitude instead of waving your grandpappy hand and dismissing it at gobbledygook, as MacIsaac does here? How can you be that advanced when you’re not even paying attention?

Once again, the best thing the Hawks front office does is telling you how great they are at something, without actually doing it. They’ve been doing Trump’s act longer than he has. “Oh we’re the best at this, you can’t believe how good we are at it and we really are the envy of the league when it comes to this.” And then you don’t actually do that thing.

McDonough is going to be president in like 2024.

 

Football

The Sons Of Wilber Marshall – Preseason Week 2 Roundtable

By Sam Fels 1118 0

That time again. Our Bears wing breaks down whatever they thought was important, and wasn’t, from the Bears’ trip to New Jersey. 

What did we learn in the second preseason game?

Tony Martin: Marvin Hall does not make this team, unfortunately. If Kerrith Whyte Jr can provide 4 phase special teams play, Hall is toast since Whyte can return kicks if Patterson can’t and will have more use in the offense. I was pumped to see what Marvin Hall could bring to the team, but he’s really just mini Taylor Gabriel and with how low-accuracy Trubisky has been on his deep throws, we don’t need two pure burners on the 53.

-James Vaughters looked good, and the backup LB competition is going to be the most fun story these last few weeks of preseason.
-Do the Bears have any serviceable tight ends behind Burton? Is Burton even going to be healthy this year?
-Kyle Long is making me nervous.
Wes French: Matt Nagy is making himself the story, and it might be that he’d stupid like a fox…or John Fox is going to be super excited to rip him when this blows up in his face. 

The head coach’s decision to keep his first unit out of the preseason almost completely is the new narrative for me. Teams have come to treat preseason about the same all around the league for years in the four game format, with starters playing maybe 1-2 series in game one, a quarter or so in game two, a full half+ in the game three “dress rehearsal” and then not at all in the final game. Recent years have seen more discussion about the length of preseason, if it’s necessary, if the risk of injury is worth it as men work to get up to game speed. 
To my knowledge, Nagy and Ryan Pace are the first HC/GM to use the padded practices (also becoming increasingly restricted) mainly on the first units and leave the preseason games to focus on the deeper aspects of the roster. There won’t be any way to tell what effect it has on those units until the season opens for real, but I have to admit I’m a fan of the process so far. More reps against tougher competition for the guys fighting for roles and roster spots will give Nagy and Pace that much more to work with when final cuts come at the end of the month. 
Maybe we’ll get the first teams for a few snaps in the penultimate game, but I say they should just lean into this exercise fully and let anyone currently “on the bubble” start next week. I want to see if Kerrith Whyte can do more than 10 yards on six carries or James Vaughters can repeat that electric performance against a very good Colts offensive line. 
Oh, and just toss Carolina a conditional pick for Joey Slye already. Fry missed his lone FG attempt, Pineiro was 2/2, but it just doesn’t feel like they believe in him. Slye is now 5/5 with two of those from over 54 yards, one of which came at Soldier Field. 
Tony: I like Nagy’s approach, not gonna lie. Keep the starters out of the preseason. Might it affect how quickly they start executing when the season begins? Possibly, but I would gladly trade a slow start in week one for the ensured total health of the starters for this team.
…Aaaaaaaand Fry got waived. Hello Canada!
Wes: Good for him.  What’re your thoughts on trading for Slye? I know they already did that for Pineiro but teams don’t just discard kickers anymore when they’ve got one. I think if there was someone worth signing off the street they’d already be here. 
Brian Schmitz: I am a firm believer that whatever the patriots do is the right thing to do, so in this case, I’m with Wes in thinking that the starters need to get a little burn in the preseason so the live bullets aren’t completely foreign to them when they line up against the pack in less than 3 weeks. 

Pat O’Donnell has had a great preseason thus far. This is important because of the subpar season Pat-O had last year. Punting is a position that is as much about confidence as it is about talent, so for a guy who may have some doubt in his mind coming it to this season, coming out and averaging over 50 per pop is a huge relief for a team that is not very good on special teams at this point. 
Sidenote: John Franklin had one of true great pass break ups these eyes have ever seen…just sayin. 
Tony: People like Slye a lot, and I can see why. Screw it, bring him in. Can’t hurt.
Baseball

Series Recap – Cubs Take Two Of Three From Pirates: At Least It’s Over

By Sam Fels 1260 0

Game 1 Box Score: Pirates 3, Cubs 2

Game 2 Box Score: Cubs 2, Pirates 0

Game 3 Box Score: Cubs 7, Pirates 1

It was inches away from being a sweep, and coming home with a 5-5 road trip, which would not have been acceptable given the circumstance but wouldn’t have felt like some punitive prison punishment that this has turned into. And yet, despite all their cock-ups and idiocy, the Cubs end this roadie in first place, though having to share it. And they’ll return home for six games, where they’re 12-3 since the break. And while they do that, the Brewers and Cardinals will be throwing their fake teeth and harvested manure at each other, so if the Cubs continue to play at home as they have they’ll be gaining games on someone. Thanks to the balloon-handedness of the division, and despite their own nincompoop ways, they still have it all in their own hands.

Right then, let’s…

-I guess we’ll start with Friday night’s what-have-ya. First off, you should never be muzzled by Joe Musgrove like that unless you’re intentionally trying to do so. The Cubs didn’t much look interested Friday night, which is a luxury they’ve lost with all the other games they’ve spent trying to light their own farts.

But hey, Maddon even got away with letting Tony Kemp bat, against a lefty no less, and you get the lead. There was sone consternation about bringing Brandon Kinztler straight from the DL into this bonfire, but what choice was there? Cishek and Kimbrel are hurt. Strop is broken, and along with Wick was part of the monk-immolation in Philly the night before. Really, the only mistake was Kintzler not throwing the ball down the middle to some rookie hitting .196 and seeing just exactly how far he could hit it.

-There was also daggers being tossed at David Bote, and the whole rigamarole about using Bryant as a defensive replacement is a touch weird. Bote is just unlucky to get another ball like that, and one if he even fields cleanly he might not have a play on. This is just sequencing again. Whatever the faults of Bote, defensively he’s been just fine, and more so at third. Proclaiming him a plague on society is overly strong.

-The Cubs didn’t look all that more interested against Steven Brault either yesterday afternoon, but  the Pirates can’t even take two games in a row that they’re being handed. Lester made some huge pitches and dodged and weaved out of trouble, and while he’s not what he was and probably won’t be again, he still can pull these efforts out when the Cubs need them most.

-Use Chatwood for multiple innings more often. Thank you for your time.

-Kris Bryant to the rescue again on Saturday, but it still feels like he’s having a weird season. Given the baseball and what others are doing, shouldn’t he be heading for a career-high in homers too? Or anywhere near it? Or are the 39 in his MVP year the aberration? His slugging is the second-highest of his career, so you can’t complain, it just seems like it would have been more.

-Since July 1, Jose Quintana has been the seventh best pitcher in the NL in terms of fWAR and FIP. But keep stabbing yourself in the heart about Eloy Jimenez and his .293 OBP.

-I would like to think getting to do something as goofy as play in Williamsport for a night and hang out with the kids will remind this team what it’s like to have fun again, but I became way too cynical about these sorts of things way too long ago to truly mean it.

Onwards…

Baseball

Series Recap: Sox Lose 3 of 4 To Angels – And Lo, The Angels Hath Smoted The Sox

By Andy Jonathan 1194 0

BOX SCORES

Game 1: Sox 7 – Angels 8

Game 2: Sox 7 – Angels 2

Game 3: Sox 5 – Angels 6

Game 4: Sox 2 – Angels 9

 

Smited? Smote? I dunno, but “cast back into hell” also works for the way the Angels pummeled the Sox pen this weekend. This is one of those series where if Rick Hahn had any interest in making the Sox good this year this series is at minimum a split and most likely they take 3 of 4. It’s frustrating because it doesn’t have to be this way, and doubly so because the front office doesn’t seem to care what we think. Meanwhile Zack Collins, Luis Robert, and to a lesser extent Nick Madrigal continue to steal the lunch money of the middle school children in AAA and would be almost instant upgrades over players on the major league roster but instead we get to sit here and scream at the rain. Tiger isn’t going to change his stripes just because we want him to put a better product on the field, but I digress.

I actually had pretty high hopes for this series based on the way the Sox had played against the Astros, and losing 3 of 4 to an Angels team that’s had trouble getting anyone out since the calendar flipped to August definitely hurts. That being said, if you sift through the rubble there are actually a few positives to take away from this fetid pile of baseball excrement. Let’s take a look, shall we?

 

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

-I said in the preview that if the Sox hit and the starters were able to hold the Mighty Trout off the scoreboard they would stand a good chance of winning this series or at least splitting. Well, that turned into somewhat of a mixed bag for results. Lucas Giolito picked up where he left off, going 6 strong innings and striking out 11 Halos en route to the only win of the series for the Sox. It’s good to see that the bumps in the road he encountered just before the All Star Game are now merely a memory, as the last 2 lineups he’s faced have been stiff challenges. On the other side of that coin, Reynaldo Lopez couldn’t get Mike Trout out to save his life. That in and of itself is not much of a shock, as the number of pitchers who have the same distinction could fill up the Cook County phone book. What was unfortunate for Lopez was that the offense didn’t show up until after he left, and the fact that he had to leave was because Wellington Castillo is a burning clown car behind home plate. Lopez had multiple chances to get out of the 5th inning unscathed but Castillo got crossed up twice behind the plate and it kept the inning alive and 3 runs scored. Castillo has been hitting better of late but he’s just plain terrible behind the plate and I have seen enough.

-Dylan Cease pitched decently today, but made a few mistakes with his curve and they haven’t landed yet. He still struck out 6 and looked in command of his stuff for the most part, though Trout got the day off so take that for what you will. I still feel like Cease is going to end the year on a tear and get everybody excited for him in spring training where he will get bit by a brown recluse spider and his pitching arm will become necrotic and need to be amputated.

-Hector Santiago was fine and his 4.2 innings were fine until Evan Marshall showed up and did his best Rick Ankiel In The 2000 NLDS impression and walked everybody including the churro guy working behind 3rd base. Marshall’s peripherals have been teetering lately, and the axe finally fell this series. He managed to get 1 guy out in the 2 games he appeared in. Meanwhile he walked 3 and plunked one. He only got charged for 1 ER Saturday night thanks to a Goins error, but we all know it was his fault and he should feel bad.

-James McCann has shaken off the malaise of late July and early August to get back to mashing dongs. Eloy likewise had a very good series going yard twice and notching his first career triple, scoring (who else) McCann. Abreu and Timmy continue to hit as well, and the imminent return of Yoan Moncada bodes well for this offense going forward.

-Game 4 of this series the Sox looked like they wanted to be anywhere but SoCal, and played accordingly. I can only hope they’re a little more geared up to face the Twins this week or it could be ugly.

-The rotating cast of characters in the booth with Jason Benetti this weekend was very entertaining. I enjoy Benetti and Stone quite a bit, but switching things up occasionally can be fun and this was. Listening to Bill Walton call his first ever MLB game was the equivalent of watching your buddy get shitfaced for the first time and laughing at him trying to strike up a conversation with the water fountain outside your dorm. Ozzie is entertaining as ever, but also has some quality insight that’s delivered in the way that only Ozzie can. Ken Tremendous (AKA Michael Schur of Parks and Rec, The Office, and The Good Place fame) was very very good, and I would absolutely like to have him be the permanent substitute for Stone any time he’s away. Alas, he’s a busy man so this was probably a one off, but awesome all the same.

-The other thing this weekend did was prove that Jason Benetti is an excellent announcer, as he was able to adjust his style constantly and keep the broadcast not only listenable but very fun. If you haven’t heard him call basketball games for ESPN, he’s excellent there too. My fear is that the NFL is going to realize that and lure him away from the Sox with big money, but for now I’m just going to enjoy it while it lasts.

-Next up for the Sox is the fucking Twins again. God I hate them.

Football

Bears Preseason Game 2 Lightning Reactions

By Tony Martin 1372 0

AKA “The James Vaughters Game”

-If it wasn’t for James Vaughters and Kerrith Whyte Jr, tonight would’ve been a total waste of a Friday, even though it’s not like I was doing anything else. Two of my favorite bottom of the roster skill position players had a bad night, Marvin Hall trying his “bad Devin Hester” impression on for size, and Smoke Mizzell fumbled twice as a running back.

-Whyte makes Hall expendable, and he and Javon Wims looked awesome tonight. Fuck it, put Tarik, David Montgomery, Kerrith Whyte, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Allen Robinson out there for a play or two and see how weird Nagy can get.

-Clifton Duck had the best defensive play of the preseason so far, and I’m excited to see what else he can do this preseason. I also think Duke Shelley looked good, and once again safety play was solid. The backup spots in the secondary are up for grabs, so it’s nice to see a couple young guys come in and compete.

-Bradley Sowell got WORKED multiple times in this game. Tight end is not going to be a team strength going into this season. Can Akiem Hicks play tight end? Ian Bunting was nowhere to be found tonight.

Pace, your tight end room. WOOF.

-But really, let’s talk James Vaughters. He looked great again tonight, and he was blowing up on Twitter after his flawless strip/sack/recovery. I’m hopeful that he continues to push to make this roster, since I don’t have much faith in the rotation behind Mack/Floyd/Lynch. Seems like the Bears draft a lot of linebacker projects and they kind of just hang around until their rookie deals expire before they are cast off into the ether. Vaughters was screaming off the edge all night tonight. I could say something that makes me sound like a “football journalist”, like “Well, I need to see the all-22 tape of every one of his snaps”, but that’s not realistic. He passed the eye test tonight and last week as well.

However, it needs to be said that we fall into this trap every single year. “The preseason is boring and doesn’t matter” always turns into “________ needs to be on the 53 man roster and should see meaningful game time this season.” It was Tanner Gentry before him, because every season it seems like we do the same thing as sports fans. We want this to mean something, because we’re excited to be watching football again. We want this to be important, because we want these guys to have jobs this year. We want this to matter, because we love the underdog. James Vaughters is totally the underdog.

Is James Vaughters going to be remembered after tonight? Do we go back to think pieces about the kicker battle, or are we going to fall for the former UDFA who has bounced around both the NFL and their non-union Canadian equivalent for the last four years? I think you’ll see some big time Bears writers doing pieces on his history, because the narrative is so good and everyone loves a good story.

Inspiring story aside, the dude had 11 career sacks up in Canada, which is worth at least 8 sacks here in the US.

Baseball

Series Preview – Cubs vs. Pirates: Because They Say You Have To

By Sam Fels 1066 0

vs.

RECORDS: Cubs 64-57   Pirates 50-70

GAMETIMES: Friday 6:05, Saturday 12:35, Sunday (In Williamsport) 6:10

TV: WGN Friday, ABC 7 Saturday, ESPN Sunday (oh boy)

THE ALREADY DEAD: Bucs Dugout

I can’t decide if it’s better that the Cubs get right back at it tonight at whatever the fuck that was in Philly or if they should have to stew on it for a day, like a child sent to his room. The fear is that whatever hangover/malaise/soul-death is emanating from those three games carries over and the Cubs continue to play like the undead. Which still might be enough against this outfit, as the Pirates have called it a season but keep showing up because it’s mandated. Fuck, both of these teams feel like they’re here this weekend merely because they have to be.

This series takes place in two locations, as Sunday night they’ll decamp for Williamsport to add to The Little League World Series, which in no way has gotten creepy and weird tanks to television and sponsor money. It also could be considered child abuse to make kids watch the Pirates right now.

Because this team is a bloated carcass being poked with a stick some kids found. They’ve gone 11-27 over the past six weeks, put up a 4-18 stretch after the break and clearly just want things to be over. They’re fighting with each other and their coaches. When they’re not doing that they’re fighting with other teams. Or they’re throwing at people, leading to the aforementioned bullshit. In the middle, they suck at actual baseball. Or at least they suck at pitching it.

The offense has been somewhat ok over the last month. Bryan Reynolds and Starling Marte have hit over .330 in that span. Josh Bell has cooled off but can still pop here and there. The rest of the infield is a major issue, as Colin Moran, Kevin Newman, and Adam Frazier are basically taking cardboard up to bat right now. Get through the outfielders and Bell, and this team can’t really hurt you.

The pitching staff is where the fun starts. With Jameson Taillon now down for good and for next year as well, there’s just no frontline starter here. They are “guys” at best, with Chris Archer decomposing in front of everyone’s eyes. The Cubs will see Musgrove, Brault, and Keller, the latter of which has some eye-popping numbers at AAA but is far from the finished product. Brault is just back from the IL and has been getting turned into pudding since. There are no monsters here.

It’s even better in the pen, where everyone hates Felipe Vasquez because he’s actually good and the rest are Kingston coal bags. Michael Feliz has been all right over the past month, but the rest of the crew have hitters sprinting to the plate. And apparently Kyle Crick and Keone Kela are raging assholes that have the rest of the team unable to wait to get to their offseason homes. A very healthy outfit here.

Which should make it the perfect tonic for the Cubs, who haven’t won a road series since there was snow on the ground. If they can’t get it together, no matter the morale, against this collection of fuckwits and dipshits for at least two wins, you can give up hope. The Pirates are begging for it to be over and would just like you to help them along to the back of the barn where they can be put out of their misery.

The Cubs should get Brandon Kintzler back this weekend, and Craig Kimbrel shouldn’t be far behind. It won’t feel good, but take all three from this roadkill and it’s a .500 road trip and you can at least argue it’s a starting point. Otherwise, what the fuck are we even doing here?