04/29 CUBS (Zambrano) @ Arizona (Galarraga) 8:40 CDT, CSN+

[Careless]

Hey, we have a lead

[CubColtPacer]

Soriano's line now on the season: .250/.274/.590

 

That is a crazy good ISOP. And that's with a BABIP of .220 so far.

[justin23iu]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Nice, relatively easy inning for Wood there.

[AlwaysaCub]

If castro ends up breaking his left hand on that pitch, that will be a pivotal moment in his career and not in a good way.

[Sammy Sofa]

Baker giving all of complaining about him against righties a hearty "[expletive] you" so far.

[Sammy Sofa]

Man, Byrd is just awful at keeping the ball off the ground so far.

[Guest]

Pleasant surprise tuning into the game now.

 

Good to see Z settled down after allowing two in the first. For those who were watching, how did he look?

[Irrelevant Dude]

Good to see Z settled down after allowing two in the first. For those who were watching, how did he look?

Chubby.

[DivineBovine]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

 

 

Whenever he gets moved into the middle of the order, he stops hitting homers and starts sucking. At least that's my perception. I wonder if the stats back it up. I'd bet he has a much higher home run rate with no men on base, as opposed to when there are men on base.

 

Of course, no one here believes in "clutch" so if it's true, its probably pure coincidence.

[Sammy Sofa]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

 

 

Whenever he gets moved into the middle of the order, he stops hitting homers and starts sucking. At least that's my perception. I wonder if the stats back it up. I'd bet he has a much higher home run rate with no men on base, as opposed to when there are men on base.

 

Of course, no one here believes in "clutch" so if it's true, its probably pure coincidence.

 

Giving that he's spent most of his career hitting first in the lineup that shouldn't be too hard to understand at all.

 

And his career numbers hitting 5th or 6th are fine.

[CubColtPacer]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

 

 

Whenever he gets moved into the middle of the order, he stops hitting homers and starts sucking. At least that's my perception. I wonder if the stats back it up. I'd bet he has a much higher home run rate with no men on base, as opposed to when there are men on base.

 

Of course, no one here believes in "clutch" so if it's true, its probably pure coincidence.

 

The last 3 years:

 

2008

Nobody on: 284 AB's, 18 HR, .885 OPS

Runners on: 169 AB's, 11 HR, .860 OPS

 

2009

Nobody on: 311 AB's, 10 HR, .685 OPS

Runners on: 166 AB's, 10 HR, .802 OPS

 

2010

Nobody on: 269 AB's, 10 HR, .720 OPS

Runners on: 227 AB's, 14 HR, .934 OPS

 

And so far this year (excluding tonight):

 

2011

Nobody on: 38 AB's, 5 HR, 1.087 OPS

Runners on: 47 AB's, 2 HR, .524 OPS

 

So perception is not reality in this case. As for the middle of the order, he only had 76 AB's total for the 3-5 spot from 2008-2010 so very little to go off of.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

 

 

Whenever he gets moved into the middle of the order, he stops hitting homers and starts sucking. At least that's my perception. I wonder if the stats back it up. I'd bet he has a much higher home run rate with no men on base, as opposed to when there are men on base.

 

Of course, no one here believes in "clutch" so if it's true, its probably pure coincidence.

 

The last 3 years:

 

2008

Nobody on: 284 AB's, 18 HR, .885 OPS

Runners on: 169 AB's, 11 HR, .860 OPS

 

2009

Nobody on: 311 AB's, 10 HR, .685 OPS

Runners on: 166 AB's, 10 HR, .802 OPS

 

2010

Nobody on: 269 AB's, 10 HR, .720 OPS

Runners on: 227 AB's, 14 HR, .934 OPS

 

And so far this year (excluding tonight):

 

2011

Nobody on: 38 AB's, 5 HR, 1.087 OPS

Runners on: 47 AB's, 2 HR, .524 OPS

 

So perception is not reality in this case. As for the middle of the order, he only had 76 AB's total for the 3-5 spot from 2008-2010 so very little to go off of.

I would say that perception is skewed by the fact that he strikes out a lot, which makes it seem like he is performing poorly with runners on base because his strikeouts are magnified.

[DivineBovine]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

 

 

Whenever he gets moved into the middle of the order, he stops hitting homers and starts sucking. At least that's my perception. I wonder if the stats back it up. I'd bet he has a much higher home run rate with no men on base, as opposed to when there are men on base.

 

Of course, no one here believes in "clutch" so if it's true, its probably pure coincidence.

 

Giving that he's spent most of his career hitting first in the lineup that shouldn't be too hard to understand at all.

 

And his career numbers hitting 5th or 6th are fine.

 

 

 

 

 

I was referring to his home run RATE. Not total home runs. Rate has nothing to do with where you're hitting.

 

So I looked it up. He's hit 204 HR's in 3704 AB's (1 per 18.15 AB's) with no men on base. He's hit 117 HR's in 2288 AB's (1 in 19.6 AB's) with men on base. His career numbers .281/.520/.845 with bases empty, .269/.490/.815 with bases occupied. Maybe not that big of a gap, but clearly there's a gap. Of course, you might argue that he spent the prime of his career batting leadoff. But even if you're cleanup you come up with the bases empty and you hit with men on base batting leadoff, especially in the AL on teams like the Yankees.

 

I would argue that Soriano is unclutch.

[Sammy Sofa]

That's not an "unclutch" line at all, so that seems like a reach of a conclusion.

 

And he wasn't playing on the type of Yankees teams that were 1-9 worldbeaters every year. 2003 was pretty much the only year he was on a Yankees team where you had decent OBP performances up and down the lineup so you have to ignore a lot to argue that batting leadoff for so much of his career didn't impact whether he'd hit a home run with or without guys on.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Sammy Sofa

[Sammy Sofa]

Hey, Cubs win!

[BCVM22]

Huh. How about that.

[Guest]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

 

 

Whenever he gets moved into the middle of the order, he stops hitting homers and starts sucking. At least that's my perception. I wonder if the stats back it up. I'd bet he has a much higher home run rate with no men on base, as opposed to when there are men on base.

 

Of course, no one here believes in "clutch" so if it's true, its probably pure coincidence.

 

Giving that he's spent most of his career hitting first in the lineup that shouldn't be too hard to understand at all.

 

And his career numbers hitting 5th or 6th are fine.

 

 

 

 

 

I was referring to his home run RATE. Not total home runs. Rate has nothing to do with where you're hitting.

 

So I looked it up. He's hit 204 HR's in 3704 AB's (1 per 18.15 AB's) with no men on base. He's hit 117 HR's in 2288 AB's (1 in 19.6 AB's) with men on base. His career numbers .281/.520/.845 with bases empty, .269/.490/.815 with bases occupied. Maybe not that big of a gap, but clearly there's a gap. Of course, you might argue that he spent the prime of his career batting leadoff. But even if you're cleanup you come up with the bases empty and you hit with men on base batting leadoff, especially in the AL on teams like the Yankees.

 

I would argue that Soriano is unclutch.

 

A 15-point difference in BABIP (.310 with bases empty vs. .295 with runners on) could account for the difference in batting lines, though it won't affect the home run rates.

[BCVM22]

Moreland doesn't have much in the way of a HR call.

[CubColtPacer]

Two more Alfonsolo homeruns tonight. 7 of his 9 homers this year have been solo shots. But that's cool, Quade, no reason to move him up in the order at all.

 

 

Whenever he gets moved into the middle of the order, he stops hitting homers and starts sucking. At least that's my perception. I wonder if the stats back it up. I'd bet he has a much higher home run rate with no men on base, as opposed to when there are men on base.

 

Of course, no one here believes in "clutch" so if it's true, its probably pure coincidence.

 

Giving that he's spent most of his career hitting first in the lineup that shouldn't be too hard to understand at all.

 

And his career numbers hitting 5th or 6th are fine.

 

 

 

 

 

I was referring to his home run RATE. Not total home runs. Rate has nothing to do with where you're hitting.

 

So I looked it up. He's hit 204 HR's in 3704 AB's (1 per 18.15 AB's) with no men on base. He's hit 117 HR's in 2288 AB's (1 in 19.6 AB's) with men on base. His career numbers .281/.520/.845 with bases occupied, .269/.490/.815 with bases empty. Maybe not that big of a gap, but clearly there's a gap. Of course, you might argue that he spent the prime of his career batting leadoff. But even if you're cleanup you come up with the bases empty and you hit with men on base batting leadoff, especially in the AL on teams like the Yankees.

 

I would argue that Soriano is unclutch.

 

On the other hand, you could argue that Soriano tends to hit his home runs in close games if they be solo shots or homers with runners on base. For example, Soriano has hit 33 home runs in the last year+. How many do you think were in non-close games (which I'm defining as when Soriano steps to the plate, the Cubs are either up by more than 3 runs or down by more than 3 runs. That's when you see pitchers start to pitch a little less carefully or the relievers not be quite as good who are sent into the game)?

 

Answer is in spoiler tags:

 

 

The answer is 2. One with a 5 run deficit in a game the Cubs lost by 1 run, and another with a 6 run lead

 

[weis21]

Worst game thread ever for an April game?

[TruffleShuffle]

love that an april game thread is 2 pages long and very little of the talk had to do with the game. catch the fever!

[SouthSideRyan]

love that an april game thread is 2 pages long and very little of the talk had to do with the game. catch the fever!

 

It was a Friday night.

[TruffleShuffle]

love that an april game thread is 2 pages long and very little of the talk had to do with the game. catch the fever!

 

It was a Friday night.

 

here's a link to the only weekend/going out night game the cubs played in 2008. you may note that the thread is 31 pages long. it appears the shortest game thread from april 2009 was 11 pages long.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, but this is a crappy team following up a crappy season and it's the weekend. That's a team we had high hopes for coming off of an awesome season.