8/6 Cubs (Arrieta) @ A's (Gray) 3:05 CST CSN

[Clem Fandango]

 

Ho hum. Another day, another victory for the Cubs. We finally got some donging in courtesy of Sexy Dexy and our triumphantly returning Jorge as they both unleashed monster dongs in the first inning and never looked back. And Lester kicked some ass against his former contractually obligated team. It was to be expected.

 

This is the part where I say the Cubs have a tough challenge ahead of them though because they'll be going up against Sonny Gray, one of the brighter young pitchers in all of baseball, but if you haven't been keeping up, Sonny Gray is pitching more like Sonny Chiba, a.k.a. someone who can't pitch at all.

 

I'd post a photo of Sonny Gray, but he's awfully boring this year so here's some video of Sonny Chiba beating people up and ripping a man's dick off instead:

 

 

Also, here's Sonny Gray's deplorable statistics this year:

 

                                                                      
W    L  ERA  G GS    IP BB SO WP ERA+  FIP  WHIP   H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W
5   10 5.84 20 20 111.0 42 91 15   69 4.79 1.523 10.3 1.5 3.4 7.4 2.17

 

I mean seriously, a 69 ERA+? A sub 6.00 ERA? Come on.

 

Meanwhile, in the Cubs clubhouse, Jake Arrieta prepares for his next battle as he attempts to regain a grip on being the best pitcher in the National League. He's only had two solid starts over his last 6 outings unfortunately, but one of those came in his previous start against Seattle, which is a decent team. Oakland, however, is not a decent team. I'd say they're a AAAA team, but they're not really even deserving of that designation. This should be easy work for Jake, and even easier work for our offense. Here's a picture of Jake looking exquisite as horsefeathers after he realizes his next start comes against the middling A's.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8XyjFcf.jpg?1

 

And here are his numbers on the year:

 

                                                                   
W    L  ERA  G GS    IP BB  SO ERA+  FIP  WHIP  H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W
12   5 2.75 21 21 134.1 49 139  144 3.00 1.065 6.3 0.5 3.3 9.3 2.84

 

Still with a 2.75 ERA even after giving up 4 or more runs in 4 of his last 6 starts. A 6 game swoon is nothing to fear, he's getting his groove back, like Tommy La Stella is, somewhere, and this is just going to be a tune up for the reigning Cy Young. Although Kyle Hendricks looks on with a judgemental gaze if he does poorly. And we do not want to piss off this man:

 

http://i.imgur.com/H7Dcsm5.jpg?1

[soccer10k]

The Cubs lost the only other game I've seen live this year (the Saturday game against SF). I'll be there for the next two so the Cubs better win this time.

[Cubswin11]

Time for God Mode to be activated

[Aaron_Kennelly]

No-no number three tomorrow night.

[Sammy Sofa]

Sonny Chiba mess you up.

 

Thank Christ this is an earlier game.

[Omar]

Cubs v. Gray

Name            PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP missG
Ben Zobrist      6  5 2  2  0  0   0  1  0 .400 .500 .800 1.300  0  0   0   0         0
Dexter Fowler    4  4 2  0  0  0   1  0  0 .500 .500 .500 1.000  0  0   0   0         0
Jason Heyward    3  3 0  0  0  0   0  0  0 .000 .000 .000  .000  0  0   0   0         0
Total           13 12 4  2  0  0   1  1  0 .333 .385 .500  .885  0  0   0   0         0
Has not faced: Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Chris Coghlan, Willson Contreras, Miguel Montero, Anthony Rizzo, David Ross, Addison Russell, Jorge Soler and Matt Szczur & Has not faced pitchers: Jake Arrieta, Aroldis Chapman, Carl Edwards, Justin Grimm, Kyle Hendricks, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Mike Montgomery, Hector Rondon, Joe Smith, Pedro Strop and Travis Wood

 

Athletics v. Arrieta

Name             PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP missG
Khris Davis      20 19 4  2  0  0   1  1  4 .211 .250 .316 .566  0  0   0   0         0
Danny Valencia   11 11 1  0  0  0   0  0  1 .091 .091 .091 .182  0  0   0   0         2
Billy Butler      9  7 3  0  0  0   0  2  2 .429 .556 .429 .984  0  0   0   0         1
Coco Crisp        4  4 1  1  0  0   0  0  2 .250 .250 .500 .750  0  0   0   0         0
Yonder Alonso     2  2 0  0  0  0   0  0  0 .000 .000 .000 .000  0  0   0   0         0
Total            46 43 9  3  0  0   1  3  9 .209 .261 .279 .540  0  0   0   0         3
Has not faced: Brett Eibner, Ryon Healy, Tyler Ladendorf, Bruce Maxwell, Max Muncy, Marcus Semien, Jake Smolinski and Stephen Vogt & Has not faced pitchers: John Axford, Daniel Coulombe, Ryan Dull, Kendall Graveman, Sonny Gray, Liam Hendriks, Ryan Madson, Sean Manaea, Zach Neal, Dillon Overton, Marc Rzepczynski and Andrew Triggs

[raw]

The last time the Cubs made the road trip to Oakland, they traded Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger for Pedro Strop and Jake Arrieta. Arrieta made his organizational debut in Iowa against a AAA team. Fittingly, when the Cubs return to Oakland for the first time since trading for him, Jake will again face an AAA team.

[UMFan83]

Win and we can say the Cubs are 21-21 over their last 41 games.

 

Oh and also that they will match their high water mark for the year at +27 on their way to shattering it.

[Tim]

Win and we can say the Cubs are 21-21 over their last 41 games.

That's actually quite a feat.

[fiver]

I had a dream this past week that arrieta pitched a second no hitter this season, so this is probably that game.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

isn't their high water mark 28 over?

[UMFan83]

isn't their high water mark 28 over?

 

Believe it was 47-20 after sweeping the Pirates at WrIgley. Then we immediately started our swoon by getting swept by STL

[raw]

Win and we can say the Cubs are 21-21 over their last 41 games.

That's actually quite a feat.

 

5-15 stretch to start those 41. Going for 16-6 since. #maths

[soccer10k]

Win and we can say the Cubs are 21-21 over their last 41 games.

That's actually quite a feat.

 

5-15 stretch to start those 41. Going for 16-6 since. #maths

 

And also, 42 games.

[raw]

That's actually quite a feat.

 

5-15 stretch to start those 41. Going for 16-6 since. #maths

 

And also, 42 games.

 

Ha horsefeathers. Didn't say it was good math.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

isn't their high water mark 28 over?

 

Believe it was 47-20 after sweeping the Pirates at WrIgley. Then we immediately started our swoon by getting swept by STL

I'll be damned. I've been living a life of lies.

[Buster]

Go Cubs win yeah!

[David]

Damn it

 

Also these should be our full time road unis

Edited August 6, 2016 by David

[UMFan83]

horsefeathers you Crisp

[KrisBryantisaBeast]

Ugg warning track power is no fun.

[UMFan83]

The Cubs are amazing but they are absolutely atrocious in first and second and 0 outs situations

 

*waits for someone to find a stat that proves this wrong*

Edited August 6, 2016 by UMFan83

[weis21]

Also these should be our full time road unis

 

Absolutely. Should be both teams (well the A's would be home jerseys but you know what I mean).

 

It's giving me RBI baseball flashbacks from NES. which i appreciate a lot.

[KrisBryantisaBeast]

Blah Gray got lucky in 2 straight innings.

[UMFan83]

Bryant needs to get out of this slump

 

Edit: Went to check my work, while he's definitely not locked in he's not in a horrific slump. He is striking out in roughly 35% of his ABs since the ASB though

Edited August 6, 2016 by UMFan83

[TMan92]

Let's score some runs this inning