6/13 - Pirates (Ortiz) vs Cubs (Taillon): 7:05pm, Marquee

[champaignchris]

Not a great inning from Mastrobuoni there. 

[mfcubs22]

Lmao. This guy is terrible. 

[mfcubs22]

Down to a 1.08 ERA in May and June combined. 

[Andy]

Madrigal and Barnhart with back to back hits twice in one game, save the box score of this one

[itisallpartoftheplan]

A luck reversing inning

[Andy]

BABIP gods shining on the boys tonight

[Derwood]

These are the Pirates that we know and love

[UMFan83]

5 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Since I'm a dork, I went and looked this up.

Games with 5 L/S starting:

4/1 - 1 run

4/3 - 1 run

4/7 - 2 runs

4/9 - 2 runs

4/12 - 2 runs

4/19 - 12 runs

5/2 - 1 run

5/13 - 1 run

5/16 - 3 runs

5/21 - 1 run

5/24 - 4 runs

5/26 - 0 runs

5/31 - 3 runs

 

Games with 6 L/S starting:

5/29 - 1 run

6/3 - 0 runs

 

So 15 times they've started at least 5 lefties or switch hitters (mostly Happ) in the lineup.  They have scored 2 runs or less in 11 of those 15 games and scored more than 4 runs 1 time.  Even with the crazy outlier 12 run game, they are averaging 2.3 runs per game when they trot out a lineup with 5+ lefties.  Remove the 12 run outlier and its 1.6 runs per game.

Oh and they are 4-11 in those games.

Reverse jinx worked!

[champaignchris]

19 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Reverse jinx worked!

This is what happens when you put in the work. 

[Derwood]

That Morel homer was a moon shot

[Tim]

Remind me again why Morel doesn't play everyday

[Transmogrified Tiger]

It was not so long ago that the Cubs gave up Jeimer Candelario to get a LH RP that threw 95.  Now every NRI/waiver wire castoff they can find does it.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, Tim said:

Remind me again why Morel doesn't play everyday

He looks really bad in the outfield and has a 28 wRC+(now like 55) since his HR streak ended

[Tim]

16 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

He looks really bad in the outfield and has a 28 wRC+(now like 55) since his HR streak ended

For an overall wRC+ of 165, which leads the team by <checks notes> infinity.

[Tim]

I admit my math was an approximation there.

[Nolansomebody]

Hey, the Cubs won against the division leader!

OK, that's a massive understatement, but at least it's not the AL Central.

[Derwood]

7 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

He looks really bad in the outfield and has a 28 wRC+(now like 55) since his HR streak ended

Sitting on the bench will fix that

[Transmogrified Tiger]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

Sitting on the bench will fix that

He's started 6 of the 11 games this month, they just aren't going to blindly pencil his name in every day, and the RH SP with velocity and extreme splits is a good example of a matchup to avoid for the time being.  The next 2 games the SP are a 27 year old debutant with bad AA/AAA numbers and TBD, so seems likely we'll get at least one if not 2 Morel starts in this series.

[Tim]

From BN this morning:

Quote

Morel hasn’t struck out once in his last 14 plate appearances. That’s wild. In his last seven games, he’s got a mere 8.3% K rate against a 20.8% BB rate.

I know he had a 1-24 streak, but he's still been doing good things. Yes, given the context of the conversation, he's been doing it while being protected from the most difficult matchups. But he's gotta get an everyday chance at some point.

[Andy]

10 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

It was not so long ago that the Cubs gave up Jeimer Candelario to get a LH RP that threw 95.  Now every NRI/waiver wire castoff they can find does it.

Thanks for bringing that one up, I'd blissfully forgotten we ever wasted resources on Justin Wilson.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

35 minutes ago, Tim said:

From BN this morning:

I know he had a 1-24 streak, but he's still been doing good things. Yes, given the context of the conversation, he's been doing it while being protected from the most difficult matchups. But he's gotta get an everyday chance at some point.

This is a little devil's advocate but not entirely: does he?  Morel has undeniable tools but he also is a 45 prospect who hadn't had excellent minor league results until this most recent stint at Iowa.  His future role is along the lines of second division starter or utility man on a good team that plays more often than not.  His recent usage is the likely good outcome, and doubly so when you consider that he's been a negative with the glove(that part I don't think is permanent).  Now if the Cubs are 15 games out in August I'd rather he get the reps than Mastrobuoni even in a bad matchup, but I also don't fault them for playing to win at this point in the season.  Morel is likely Wisdom reincarnated, which is a useful thing and great to have at 24 instead of 31 but also a player who will be exploited and you know you need to hedge against from a roster perspective.

[CubUgly]

11 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

He looks really bad in the outfield and has a 28 wRC+(now like 55) since his HR streak ended

He's looked bad at every position we've tried him at defensively.