Cubby-Blue

Bringing out the Luck Shark for Jeff Samardzija

Tonight it's the Cubs vs. the Washington Nationals - good guy Anthony Rizzo vs. bad guy Bryce Harper, low expectations team vs. high expectation teams, Jeff Samardzija vs. Ross Detwiler .
In a way it's also Samardzija vs the Cubs, since either the bats or bullpen have let him down so many times already this season.
Of his last 5 starts, two were no decisions where he left the game tied or with a lead, and 3 were one-run losses.
The last time these two teams met with Samardzija on the mound?
The Adam LaRoche homer?
Nats 2 Cubs 1.
Even I can do that math: another one-run loss.

So you've got Bryce Harper fear, right?
Well, he loves hitting against the Cubs.
So far in his tiny career, here's what he's doing: .462/.533/1.154.
That's only 13 at bats, but um..wow.
Anthony Rizzo, in 25 at bats vs Nats, is doing this: .400/.531/.880.
Not bad. 

But this is kinda shocking.
The Cubs are NL ranked #6 in OPS with a .711, Nats are 13th with a .675.
And that's with Harper's currently #4 ranked 1.012 OPS, so they must have some holes that hopefully we'll get to see in the next couple days.
In the meantime, good luck Shark.

 

 

 

Yadier Molina must have thought he was invisible or something.

Yadier Molina.
Sometimes, the word "crafty", as applied to "crafty veteran", is revealed to actually mean "prone to hallucination".
I guess. 
Because Yadier Molina walked from second base to third base last night.
To make out number 3.
In the top of the 8th.
With the Cubs up by one.
With Carlos Marmol pitching to Pete Kozma, a situation you HAD to think was about to go the Cardinals way.
The only explanation I can come up with is Yadier thought he was invisible.
Here's why:

Yadier had just stolen 2nd base.
Wellington Castillo's throw was difficult for Starlin Castro to handle, but it clearly beat Molina to the bag.
So there's Starlin with the ball, and instead of tagging Molina as surely Molina thought was about to happen, Starlin tagged at the air. He tagged at the ground. He tagged all around Molina except he missed Molina.
And that's when, and this is just my theory, that's when Yadier thought "Awesome. I'm invisible."

So with the game on the line, and the camera trained on Marmol's back about to pitch to Kozma, you could see that Yadier just..started to...walk to third.
Because he was invisible.
Luckily for the Cubs, Carlos Marmol has X-Ray vision in the eyes on the back of his head, because he turned around and (seriously, did you see how big Marmol's eyes were? HAHAHAHAHA) tossed to Valbuena who was waiting with the ball for Molina and tagged him out without incident.

In less than a second, there were 297 new tweets that all said, "YADIER MOLINA IS THE SMARTEST MAN IN BASEBALL".

Okay so sorry I got all tangled in that because in reality, this was an evening of total Cub Fabulousness.
And the most enjoyable win of the season.

Travis Wood.
Travis Wood shut down a Cardinal lineup that had been mashing homers and scoring runs at will.
They came to Chicago with a 6 game winning streak during which they'd scored 35 runs and an undefeated pitcher in Lance Lynn.
Travis Wood.
Who came to the Cubs with Dave Sappelt in a trade for Sean Marshall.
Marshall, who we all loved, got a big contract with the Reds but has been injured and has pitched just 5 innings this year (insert Dusty Baker joke here).
Travis Wood.
What if that guy's for real?
Beating the Cardinals in 2013 is a pretty amazing little W to have on your resume, I'll tell you that. 

So...amazing night and we've got another day game happening today and if I wasn't swamped I'd SO be sneaking over to the el about noonish.

Go Cubs! 

 

Cubs 9 Rangers 2. It's a Cubs' Group Hug. (gif)

Man, did this Cubs team ever need that.
A 9-2 laugher over the Texas Rangers.
Felt like a big group hug, didn't it?
Scott Feldman - what is up with that guy anyway?
He's turning out to be... more than I expected!
Had a little panic at the end, but I guess it was just a cramp.

And tonight it's MY FAVORITE RIVALRY IN ALL SPORTS!

The Cardinals are coming to Chicago.
They've won 6 in a row after taking 2 of 3 from Cincinnati and a 4 game sweep of the Brewers, so..you know...probably not gonna be pretty.
But the hell with all that.
It's the Cubs vs. the Cards.
CAN'T WAIT.

GO CUBS.

Aroldis Chapman: God or Man?

I dont' know why, but the name "Aroldis" sounds like it's from Greek Mythology or something.
Like a God of something.
Speed?
Lightning?
Really fast fastball?
Aroldis Chapman is one of those guys with a fastball that just puts the Fear of God in everyone, every time he takes the mound.
Now he's lost some - you don't really see the 104s any more, but he's still God in your head, right?

Not to Dioner Navarro.
Not in the bottom of the 9th with the Cubs down 2-6 to the Reds at Wrigley.
He pinch hits a single.
Dave Sappelt gets one too.
And then...Holy shit!
Starlin Castro hits another one!
NOBODY LOADS THE BASES AGAINST GOD!
Okay so Anthony Rizzo strikes out and Alfonso Soriano flies out.
Nobody scores.
Back to normal.
But then Scott Hairston thinks maybe God can't throw it over the plate.
God can't.
Hairston walks, Navarro scores, angels sing.
Then Wellington Castillo actually prays.
"Oh God, I have to make up for my lack of hustle yesterday. How about a little hit right here?"
God listens.
Sappelt and Castro score, and now it's just 5-6 Reds.
Cody Ransom hits for Valbuena and suddenly he's walking on water because he got ball 4 from God.
Bases loaded.
Again.
I am in heaven.
Dusty Baker walks out to the mound, tells God to hit the showers.
In comes J.J. Hoover and up comes Darwin Barney.
"Aw Hell" I say.
He strikes out. 
Cubs lose again. 

Anyway, once in awhile, it could be that Aroldis Chapman is just...a man.

Is Shawn Camp used up? And the Bulls are red hot. (cartoons)

Well, the way Shawn Camp was used last year... I mean he was about the only reliable bullpen guy on the Cubs.
He threw 1185 pitches (career high, but not by much) in his 77.2 innings.
Carlos Marmol only threw 55.1 innings, but because he's Carlos he also threw 1106 pitches - another story.
Anyway, makes me kinda sad seeing Camp struggle like this, and yesterday's awful passed ball and walk to the only batter he faced didn't help any.
The passed ball tied the game for the Pads, in fact.
Then James Russell can't hold and the game gets away, Cubs lose 2-4.
Too bad for Travis Wood.



Next, I'm driving back from a meeting at the end of the day, and I turn on ESPN.
It's like somebody died.
I hear that on top of the injuries, the Bulls have got some kind of virus, and everybody's sick.
Serious tones of doom.
I switch over to The Score just in time to hear somebody announce that another Bull is sick, which totally cracks up Bernstein and Boers.
Cracked me up too, actually - couldn't help it.
Just...absurd. 
The game wasn't so funny.
Incredible, hurl-filled and valiant effort, but Bulls lose 92 - 95 and now gotta go win game 7.

Anyway, all I got today.