4/9 Cubs (Hendricks) @ Diamondbacks (Greinke) 7:10 CSN

[Ski]

Bah. Shut them down, Rondon.

[TruffleShuffle]

11 LOB, annoying.

 

c'mon rondon, finish it off.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

I sort of worry we will regret not getting that one hit to score another run along the way. Or maybe we won't.

[UMFan83]

16 base runners for the Cubs today but only 4 runs

[Ski]

Rondon looking filthy so far.

[Derwood]

easy breezy

[Andy]

Well that was remarkably easy.

[Ski]

Cubs win! ^_*

[NOLA]

Rondon (and all of us) needed that.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

good job, boys

[Sammy Sofa]

Well, that was a delightful close.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Yeah, Bryant and Heyward are both amazing base runners. Part of the reason is because they are both amazing athletic specimens. They, deceptively, are burners, especially when doing things like stretching a single into a double or going first to third. It might take them awhile longer than some smaller speedsters to get going at their peak speed, since they are so big. But, they are both very fast, as we've seen with Bryant beating out so many infield hits.

 

They both are fantastic at picking and choosing when to take an extra base, too, though. Neither gets thrown out very much, which is impressive because they are both very aggressive.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Rondon looked great. The whole pen has been pretty sharp -- save for last night -- even though we haven't needed them much.

 

Fun stat: Our pitchers have walked 7 guys this year, and our hitters have taken 26 walks.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Just like last year, the three best teams in the NL come from the Central. And the Cardinals aren't one of them.

[BigSlick]

This team is, uh, good

[mul21]

They've taken advantage of a terrible Braves team the last 2 nights while losing to a likely very good Pirates team. I'm curious to see how they fare against some of the more middle of the pack teams.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, Bryant and Heyward are both amazing base runners. Part of the reason is because they are both amazing athletic specimens. They, deceptively, are burners, especially when doing things like stretching a single into a double or going first to third. It might take them awhile longer than some smaller speedsters to get going at their peak speed, since they are so big. But, they are both very fast, as we've seen with Bryant beating out so many infield hits.

 

They both are fantastic at picking and choosing when to take an extra base, too, though. Neither gets thrown out very much, which is impressive because they are both very aggressive.

 

And just to keep picking on the guy, it's why Soler is frustrating me so much. The guy looks like such a physical specimen that I thought we'd be saying the same things about him. Now we're basically just praying he can hit enough to offset how much he sucks at everything else.

[NOLA]

Fun stat: Our pitchers have walked 7 guys this year, and our hitters have taken 26 walks.

That is a very fun stat. We are going to drive up pitch counts all year.

 

I heard on MLB Network that the Cubs were built for 100 wins but not a great postseason team. This plus the bullpen says [expletive].

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Yeah, Bryant and Heyward are both amazing base runners. Part of the reason is because they are both amazing athletic specimens. They, deceptively, are burners, especially when doing things like stretching a single into a double or going first to third. It might take them awhile longer than some smaller speedsters to get going at their peak speed, since they are so big. But, they are both very fast, as we've seen with Bryant beating out so many infield hits.

 

They both are fantastic at picking and choosing when to take an extra base, too, though. Neither gets thrown out very much, which is impressive because they are both very aggressive.

 

And just to keep picking on the guy, it's why Soler is frustrating me so much. The guy looks like such a physical specimen that I thought we'd be saying the same things about him. Now we're basically just praying he can hit enough to offset how much he sucks at everything else.

 

Yep. Soler just looks like he should be a beast: The big, sexy bod; the cannon of an arm; the Ding Dong Johnsons that get out of the park in a millisecond. It's hard to give up hopes on something like that. I've long been a sucker for him. I always will be, to a fault.

 

He's definitely no Bryant or Heyward, though. And I love Heyward for a lot of the same reasons that I love Bryant -- there's hidden value everywhere in his game. We've heard a lot of complaints about Heyward, like, "Oh, they are overpaying for defense, blah blah blah." Well, it's not just the defense. That's a large part of it, sure, and it's definitely a larger part of his value than the other, smaller stuff, like base running. But, he just accumulates value in everything he does. It goes largely unseen. But, then I watched him more since he was with the Cards last year, and he is doing something neat every game: Tagging up when you wouldn't expect it. Over-running a fly ball so he can then come back in at a proper angle to unleash a laser throw home. He does so many fun things like that, and he does them all the time.

[CubInOK]

Fun stat: Our pitchers have walked 7 guys this year, and our hitters have taken 26 walks.

That is a very fun stat. We are going to drive up pitch counts all year.

 

I heard on MLB Network that the Cubs were built for 100 wins but not a great postseason team. This plus the bullpen says [expletive].

Whoever said that should watch every Red Sox/Yankees series in the early 2000s.

[Banedon]

Guys, I think Soler is gonna look like this for a while here. Coming back to Chicago weather is going to do him absolutely no favors. With the rest of this lineup, I fully approve of letting him get out there and work out his kinks...but the better lineup may involve La Stella or Szczur.

[David]

What's the story with Zobrist? The guy wasn't ever ranked as a minor league player, and didn't break out until age 28. I just figured he had been a highly touted prospect given how successful he's been, but I didn't realize his major league time has been relatively so short.

 

Holy crap this is so mojo

[Sammy Sofa]

What's the story with Zobrist? The guy wasn't ever ranked as a minor league player, and didn't break out until age 28. I just figured he had been a highly touted prospect given how successful he's been, but I didn't realize his major league time has been relatively so short.

 

Holy crap this is so mojo

 

That I don't know the pre-majors career path of Ben Zobrist? Come on.

[David]

What's the story with Zobrist? The guy wasn't ever ranked as a minor league player, and didn't break out until age 28. I just figured he had been a highly touted prospect given how successful he's been, but I didn't realize his major league time has been relatively so short.

 

Holy crap this is so mojo

 

That I don't know the pre-majors career path of Ben Zobrist? Come on.

 

 

the whole late bloomer thing is pretty much common knowledge at this point...or at least you'd think among people with 10's of thousands of posts on a baseball message board.

 

i mean i don't follow the rest of the league that closely either and i'm pretty sure i was curious enough to look him up when he led baseball in WAR through those 3-4 years or whatever it was.

[Sammy Sofa]

I don't follow a ton of baseball anymore outside of the Cubs (and especially not the minor league careers of players on other teams), so I asked a question; relax.