7/17 Cubs (Hendricks) @ Braves (Teheran) 6:35 CDT, CSN

[sontensei]

This game is a great example of why it's pointless for anyone to try to look ahead and get all excited about a bunch of below .500 teams that the Cubs have on the schedule.

 

They can't score against anyone.

They're 1-3 in this easy stretch that was supposed to catapult them. I get that they're young but the NL is so wide open right now it would really suck if they blow it this year.

 

It wouldn't suck man. Where did you except them to be back in march?

[DiamondMind]

That was a really ugly game. Lot of stupid mental errors.

[Sammys Boombox]

This game is a great example of why it's pointless for anyone to try to look ahead and get all excited about a bunch of below .500 teams that the Cubs have on the schedule.

 

They can't score against anyone.

They're 1-3 in this easy stretch that was supposed to catapult them. I get that they're young but the NL is so wide open right now it would really suck if they blow it this year.

 

It wouldn't suck man. Where did you except them to be back in march?

 

It wouldn't suck? Back in March I was hoping for a wildcard spot and was not ruling out the division either. The pitching has been fantastic, Coghlan has not been embarrassing, and key young players are playing very well, but key offseason acquisitions (Fowler and Montero) have sucked while Castro has regressed signifantly, again. That third of the lineup right there is why this season will suck if we miss out on the playoffs as it will largely be due to their general awfulness.*

 

*We're still only just a little over halfway through the season.

 

Not to mention Lester's ERA is crap despite him having a really good FIP and xFIP. So, that acquisition hasn't necessarily equated to a ton of wins to this point.

[Ski]

Would have been nice if the Cubs could have exploded out of the gate and set the tone for the rest of the season.

[UMFan83]

Record wise the Cubs are right at my expectations, maybe slightly exceeding. I didn't expect the offense to be this dismal though. Even Rizzo stopped hitting.

[Sammys Boombox]

Record wise the Cubs are right at my expectations, maybe slightly exceeding. I didn't expect the offense to be this dismal though. Even Rizzo stopped hitting.

 

Right, that's what frustrating. The pitching has been so good. We can't get on any sustained runs with this offense this bad.

[Ski]

Also, the power hitters aren't hitting for power.

 

I don't know if there's any quick solution, but firing the hitting coach would be awfully cathartic.

 

As nice as it would feel, telling the offense to stop sucking wouldn't accomplish much.

[ARCubsFan]

Record wise the Cubs are right at my expectations, maybe slightly exceeding. I didn't expect the offense to be this dismal though. Even Rizzo stopped hitting.

Can't rely on the pitching for long, you're already seeing the pitching start to decline a little (they've been so good this was going to happen anyways). Also you have no clue how long you're going to have a fully healthy pitching staff.

[Clem Fandango]

Also, the power hitters aren't hitting for power.

 

Pretty much this, but it's not just power, it's everything. Bryant has been fine, actually, but everyone else has been abysmal. Here's the slashlines for most of our primary guys over the last 14 days:

 

Bryant: .244/.380/.512/.892

Rizzo: .256/.412/.359/.771

Montero: .182/.250/.303/.553

Soler: .233/.258/.300/.558

Denorfia: .235/.278/.265/.542

Fowler: .200/.280/.244/.524

Castro: .159/.224/.205/.429

Russell: .121/.237/.152/.388

Coghlan: .138/.286/.138/.424

 

Rizzo's would be fine if others were hitting the ball like they should, but they're not so our offense pretty much lives and dies with the tandem performance of Bryant and Rizzo. In this stretch run of awfulness, Rizzo would still at least be providing a great OBP allowing for opportunities to get driven in, but when nobody can drive you in it's useless. And since no one can drive him in we need to rely on him for power, and his SLG has been embarrassing in this stretch.

 

With Schwarber up, and his solid performance today, if he can keep that up and Rizzo bounces back then the team is totally different, even if the others keep performing like jerks, but this team-wide swoon really needs to knock it the [expletive] off.

[Ski]

Also, the power hitters aren't hitting for power.

 

Pretty much this, but it's not just power, it's everything. Bryant has been fine, actually, but everyone else has been abysmal. Here's the slashlines for most of our primary guys over the last 14 days:

 

Bryant: .244/.380/.512/.892

Rizzo: .256/.412/.359/.771

Montero: .182/.250/.303/.553

Soler: .233/.258/.300/.558

Denorfia: .235/.278/.265/.542

Fowler: .200/.280/.244/.524

Castro: .159/.224/.205/.429

Russell: .121/.237/.152/.388

Coghlan: .138/.286/.138/.424

 

Rizzo's would be fine if others were hitting the ball like they should, but they're not so our offense pretty much lives and dies with the tandem performance of Bryant and Rizzo. In this stretch run of awfulness, Rizzo would still at least be providing a great OBP allowing for opportunities to get driven in, but when nobody can drive you in it's useless. And since no one can drive him in we need to rely on him for power, and his SLG has been embarrassing in this stretch.

 

With Schwarber up, and his solid performance today, if he can keep that up and Rizzo bounces back then the team is totally different, even if the others keep performing like jerks, but this team-wide swoon really needs to knock it the [expletive] off.

Good lord, that's abysmal. There's no way that's sustainable, right?

 

Right?

[ARCubsFan]

Also, the power hitters aren't hitting for power.

 

Pretty much this, but it's not just power, it's everything. Bryant has been fine, actually, but everyone else has been abysmal. Here's the slashlines for most of our primary guys over the last 14 days:

 

Bryant: .244/.380/.512/.892

Rizzo: .256/.412/.359/.771

Montero: .182/.250/.303/.553

Soler: .233/.258/.300/.558

Denorfia: .235/.278/.265/.542

Fowler: .200/.280/.244/.524

Castro: .159/.224/.205/.429

Russell: .121/.237/.152/.388

Coghlan: .138/.286/.138/.424

 

Rizzo's would be fine if others were hitting the ball like they should, but they're not so our offense pretty much lives and dies with the tandem performance of Bryant and Rizzo. In this stretch run of awfulness, Rizzo would still at least be providing a great OBP allowing for opportunities to get driven in, but when nobody can drive you in it's useless. And since no one can drive him in we need to rely on him for power, and his SLG has been embarrassing in this stretch.

 

With Schwarber up, and his solid performance today, if he can keep that up and Rizzo bounces back then the team is totally different, even if the others keep performing like jerks, but this team-wide swoon really needs to knock it the [expletive] off.

Good lord, that's abysmal. There's no way that's sustainable, right?

 

Right?

Offense was supposed to "heat up" when the weather heated up.

[Deeg]

It would be a mistake to count on Schwarber to bail out the offense, and not just because he's a rookie. Until the Cubs commit to using him in left, he's likely only going to be play 40% of the time. His catching is not major-league ready.

 

As soon as he's healthy and gets his timing back, Baez needs to get a shot. He almost literally could be no worse than Castro and Russell have been the last month.

[UMFan83]

That's insane..Bryant is the only hitter with a slugging % over .360 over the last 14 days

[Gilby]

Given the offensive struggles, I'd imagine he starts out catching 3/5 of the SP's. Hopefully he can be trusted with Arrieta in the not-too-distant future as well.

[DiamondMind]

It all starts with Fowler. He's not getting on base.

[Guest]

Fowler got on base 3 times today

[Clem Fandango]

This game alone put's Schwarber's July fWAR at 0.2. Here's a screencap of depression. Keep in mind, this is for offense only. So 2 of our 6 positive offensive WAR players are pitchers this month.

 

http://i.imgur.com/JRTdGRH.png

[Bryants Disco Ball]

It all starts with Fowler. He's not getting on base.

 

The time has long passed that we can focus on just one person. No, it all starts with almost every single batter that comes to the plate.

 

As The Logan documented, this has been a total team breakdown of the very worst kind.

[Guest]

You guys need to [expletive] relax. You don't look at this stretch of "easy" schedule and expect them to win every game. You look at it 3-4 weeks in and expect a pretty good record.

 

Anyway, I missed the second half of this game. Had dinner plans. How'd everyone feel about Schwarber overall. I saw the one bad throw.

[UMFan83]

You guys need to [expletive] relax. You don't look at this stretch of "easy" schedule and expect them to win every game. You look at it 3-4 weeks in and expect a pretty good record.

 

Anyway, I missed the second half of this game. Had dinner plans. How'd everyone feel about Schwarber overall. I saw the one bad throw.

 

I think it's been pretty reasonable discussion about how while the team as a whole is performing to expectations the entire offense has been sucking for a fairly lengthy stretch. Pointing out negatives doesn't necessarily equal freaking out.

 

Didn't watch the game but heard about a bad throw and a catchers interference. Might have been another miscue I missed

[Guest]

You guys need to [expletive] relax. You don't look at this stretch of "easy" schedule and expect them to win every game. You look at it 3-4 weeks in and expect a pretty good record.

 

Anyway, I missed the second half of this game. Had dinner plans. How'd everyone feel about Schwarber overall. I saw the one bad throw.

 

I think it's been pretty reasonable discussion about how while the team as a whole is performing to expectations the entire offense has been sucking for a fairly lengthy stretch. Pointing out negatives doesn't necessarily equal freaking out.

 

Didn't watch the game but heard about a bad throw and a catchers interference. Might have been another miscue I missed

 

You know that every time we lose a game in this 3 or whatever week stretch, people are going to be flipping out about losing to a bad team or whatever the [expletive]. And there was already some of it in here.

[Guest]

i just realized lester is starting today and that probably means no schwarber (assuming ross is good which i haven't really heard either way but i think the 7 days have passed) and that bums me out. Edited July 18, 2015 by David

[Bryants Disco Ball]

You guys need to [expletive] relax. You don't look at this stretch of "easy" schedule and expect them to win every game. You look at it 3-4 weeks in and expect a pretty good record.

 

Anyway, I missed the second half of this game. Had dinner plans. How'd everyone feel about Schwarber overall. I saw the one bad throw.

 

At least for me, it's not about being relaxed.

 

We are closing in on August. What they are is what they are. I'm still highly optimistic about the future of this franchise and love the things that have taken shape for the long-term health of the organization. I believe Bryant, Rizzo, Soler, Schwarber and Russell are going to make one hell of a batting order.

 

But not this year. They just can't score runs. I appreciate those who are optimistic and believe things have to turn around. I'm just not at that point anymore, and I so very much hope I'm wrong.

 

It does not matter who we play. It does not. If you are only going to score two or fewer runs per game, you can't enjoy any sort of sustained stretch of success. And I have stopped believing that the offense is going to heat up at this point.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

i just realized lester is starting to day and that probably means no schwarber (assuming ross is good which i haven't really heard either way but i think the 7 days have passed) and that bums me out.

 

I think you're going to be disappointed when he doesn't start tomorrow, either.

[Guest]

You guys need to [expletive] relax. You don't look at this stretch of "easy" schedule and expect them to win every game. You look at it 3-4 weeks in and expect a pretty good record.

 

Anyway, I missed the second half of this game. Had dinner plans. How'd everyone feel about Schwarber overall. I saw the one bad throw.

 

At least for me, it's not about being relaxed.

 

We are closing in on August. What they are is what they are. I'm still highly optimistic about the future of this franchise and love the things that have taken shape for the long-term health of the organization. I believe Bryant, Rizzo, Soler, Schwarber and Russell are going to make one hell of a batting order.

 

But not this year. They just can't score runs. I appreciate those who are optimistic and believe things have to turn around. I'm just not at that point anymore, and I so very much hope I'm wrong.

 

It does not matter who we play. It does not. If you are only going to score two or fewer runs per game, you can't enjoy any sort of sustained stretch of success. And I have stopped believing that the offense is going to heat up at this point.

 

How can you possibly think this with a lineup full of 22 and 23 year olds as the key players?

 

what the hell does any of that even mean?

 

"just not at that point anymore?"

 

And i'm going to go ahead and state confidently that we will not score 2 or fewer runs per game the rest of the season. Comments like that are EXACTLY what i'm talking about and referring to as needing to relax. WTF?