5.9 Tailllon vs Flaherty,

[Hairyducked Idiot]

10 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

9 of the last 10 Cubs losses have been by 1 or 2 runs. The other loss was by 3 runs. So what’s missing?

Bad luck, bad managing, offense not good enough?  
 

I saw something about how the Cubs RA over their first 17 games (11-6) is virtually identical to their next 19 games (6-13). The difference is the offense went from averaging 6.6 runs per game to 3.8 runs per game 

It's just negative variance.  Winning close games isn't a persistent skill outside of some small margins 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

8 hours ago, itisallpartoftheplan said:

Morel behind Bellinger tomorrow. There was no reason for Hosmer to bat 6th with Morel 8th.

The reason is that Flaherty has been horrific against LHH this year(.450+ wOBA) and very hard on RHH(.270ish wOBA), so maximizing the at bats for LHH or split neutrals like Madrigal was preferred over people with natural platoon splits or prone to his pitch mix.  And sure enough, Madrigal went 2 for 2 with a 2B off him and Hosmer went 1 for 2 while Morel and Mervis each went 0 for 2 with a K.  Hitting Hosmer and Mervis back to back is intentional as it either continues to give Hosmer the platoon advantage against relievers, or it baits the Cardinals into using a lefty reliever and Ross can go to Mancini for Hosmer like he has many times already.  The same thing with Madrigal and Wisdom if the matchup prefers it.

 

I don't want to come across like these are immutable truths of the universe, you can have logical reasons to prefer a number of different permutations when it comes to the lineup.  It just bugs me when people apply their dislike of their least favorite players to it being an obviously dumb decision every time they get playing time.  I wish we'd have more curiosity about what the actual reasonings are instead of stopping at 'Ross loves this bad player so he makes dumb decisions to give them opportunities'.