Reds (Lodolo) vs Cubs (Soroka): 8/4/25, 7:05pm

[CubUgly]

7 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I'm guessing he access to all the data including medical reports and, after consultation, deemed Soroka a risk worth taking?  Or, is this another Neris and Pressly for Jed?  Any word on the injury, is it the injury of the year oblique?

I'm heard nothing but very seldom is something like this not an IL stint that lingers longer than the original report says. 

[gflore34]

1 minute ago, CubUgly said:

I'm heard nothing but very seldom is something like this not an IL stint that lingers longer than the original report says. 

Great, just when we thought they may be done with horsefeathers bullpen games, here we are again.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, JD94 said:

Annoying 2 months of baseball. 27-25 over the last 2 months. Don’t really care why we are losing specific games as much as it’s happening too often. 
 

You would think that all your big bats wouldn’t slump at the same time and for such an expanded period of time. I know Kyle’s slump is better than most people’s slumps, but like come on… it’s time to start turning it around at some point. PCA has taken some atrocious AB’s lately. Seiya is in a major funk. So on and so forth. 
 

Then the whole Soroka fiasco. Your big deadline deal for a SP is an average guy when healthy that is already experiencing a velo dip and now he’s out after 2 innings for no telling how long. 
 

I still believe we will be fine. Still one of the best records. Milwaukee just continues to win over and over and over. I’m not saying it’s the end of the world. It’s just frustrating. I guess it’s just a part of the ebbs and flows of a baseball season. This one just feels bigger and more annoying than most all things considered (the way Milwaukee is playing, the failure of the TDL, subpar baseball for 2 straight months, big bats with a prolonged slump, etc). Lot of baseball left though. 

You're right, they were 13-13 in June also.  How annoying.

[muntjack]

The Cubs have the 2nd best record in baseball.  

I mean, I certainly have concerns moving forward, but some perspective is healthy. 

[Cubs420psd]

Really scary place when you need to rely on Matthew Boyd and Cade Horton as heavily as the cubs will have to. 

 

Especially when the goal is to make a deep playoff run.

Edited August 5, 2025 by Cubs420psd

[CubinNY]

What a night to be a Cub fan. 

[gflore34]

Is Birdsell a possibility?  Has made 3 starts at Iowa, only 14 IP though, so maybe after another start at Iowa?  Noland as well?  Given Soroka is done for a while, if not the remainder of the season, have to start thinking outside the box.

Edited August 5, 2025 by gflore34

[Rex Buckingham]

 

I've seen this photo pop up a couple times, and I can't help but wonder if Dansby looking to see if he beat the throw contributed to his missing the bag... didn't notice it on replay, but it looks kinda obvious here that he's looking for the throw and not the bag

[Stratos]

18 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I know it's a possibility, it's baseball almost anything is possible.  This team is in such a deep funk I'm really questioning whether they're capable of better baseball at this point.

Busch and Seiya have each hit around 50 wRC+ since the break and Tucker also hasn't been himself.  This won't continue, it's just a perfect storm right now.  Pen has also had some natural regression.

Good thing is Shaw is hitting and Kelly is back to form, and Taillon/Assad/Amaya are on track.  We just need to keep things in perspective while suffering through this patch.

[Rcal10]

36 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I know it's a possibility, it's baseball almost anything is possible.  This team is in such a deep funk I'm really questioning whether they're capable of better baseball at this point.

But even if they are not they are still playing .500+ ball. With 50 games to go that gives them 26-24 to finish the season. That is still 91 wins. And we all agree they are playing poorly now. 91 is a playoff team. Not a division winner, but a team in the playoffs. As I said, just worry about the Cubs. 

[muntjack]

Bobby Witt Jr would have the 6th highest wRC+ in our lineup. 

Just trying to stay positive. 

[Rcal10]

20 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Is Birdsell a possibility?  Has made 3 starts at Iowa, only 14 IP though, so maybe after another start at Iowa?  Noland as well?  Given Soroka is done for a while, if not the remainder of the season, have to start thinking outside the box.

No idea who can help. But someone has to step up. Brown has looked good his last 2. He has the talent to step up. Maybe it is him🤷. 

[Rcal10]

18 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Busch and Seiya have each hit around 50 wRC+ since the break and Tucker also hasn't been himself.  This won't continue, it's just a perfect storm right now.  Pen has also had some natural regression.

Good thing is Shaw is hitting and Kelly is back to form, and Taillon/Assad/Amaya are on track.  We just need to keep things in perspective while suffering through this patch.

The pen has had some natural regression, but it was also bolstered a bit. Like the guys they brought in. I think it is deep enough now to not be a liability. Most if the guys who regressed are now gone. We need a couple starters to step up. And we need to start hitting. 
 

Also, can anyone confirm this? I was at the game on Friday and the scoreboard said the Cubs starters had the lowest era in the NL during the month of July. I find that hard to believe. Did I read that wrong? 

Edited August 5, 2025 by Rcal10

[UMFan83]

I'm not sure why people keep saying PCA is "ice cold" right now.  Yes he had a bad weekend and is 0 for his last 10 with 8 strikeouts, no doubt terrible.  But his 6 games prior to the last 3 he had a 1.036 OPS. 

I think with PCA there are just certain pitchers that he doesn't hit well against, but outside of the first 2 weeks of the season he's largely avoided lengthy slumps.  His season OPS has hovered between .840 and .870 pretty much the entire year.

[Wilson A2000]

33 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

 

I've seen this photo pop up a couple times, and I can't help but wonder if Dansby looking to see if he beat the throw contributed to his missing the bag... didn't notice it on replay, but it looks kinda obvious here that he's looking for the throw and not the bag

He looks like he was more focused on waving the safe sign than hitting the bag

[gflore34]

5 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

He looks like he was more focused on waving the safe sign than hitting the bag

Don't believe it matters, with the lack of hitting, they would have lost 4-3 instead of 3-2.

[UMFan83]

5 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

He looks like he was more focused on waving the safe sign than hitting the bag

Maybe.  To me he slowed up because he realized he was missing the bag and if he took another full stride he'd miss the bag again on the next step.

[JBears79]

Wicks is likely the next man up🤮

[mul21]

12 hours ago, Randall Simon said:

But they'll still horsefeathers the bed in the playoffs

Last night I told a buddy they're either winning the world series or are going to implode the first week of September and I don't really see any in between.  Either the playing way above their heads will continue or injuries and reality will catch up to them.

[gflore34]

7 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Wicks is likely the next man up🤮

Why not?  Orioles threw some horsefeathers schmoe call up out there Sunday and he was effective, why can't the same thing happen for the Cubs?

[Stratos]

51 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

The pen has had some natural regression, but it was also bolstered a bit. Like the guys they brought in. I think it is deep enough now to not be a liability. Most if the guys who regressed are now gone. We need a couple starters to step up. And we need to start hitting. 
 

Also, can anyone confirm this? I was at the game on Friday and the scoreboard said the Cubs starters had the lowest era in the NL during the month of July. I find that hard to believe. Did I read that wrong? 

Looks like Cubs SP era in July was good for 2nd in NL.  3.19 ERA

[Stratos]

40 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

He looks like he was more focused on waving the safe sign than hitting the bag

Nah, he stretched his stride to try to reach the bag quicker and just didn't make it.  If he didn't do that it would have taken an extra step to get to the bag and probably still would have been out.  He did everything he could,  i can't hassle a guy for effort,

[gflore34]

Why not sit Suzuki for a while or, at least, the remainder of this Reds series?  Go with Tucker at DH, Castro in RF?  I think there's a greater chance of Busch coming out of his slump while playing than Suzuki.

Edited August 5, 2025 by gflore34

[UMFan83]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Why not sit Suzuki for a while?  Go with Tucker at DH, Castro in RF?  I think there's a greater chance of Busch coming out of slump while playing than Suzuki.

Maybe sit him tomorrow with the off day Thursday to give him 2 straight days off, but then again we're facing a tough lefty in Abbott so tough to leave him out of the lineup even if he's been awful.  Unfortunately there's not a lot of great options, he just needs to figure it out again.  He's always been pretty streaky so hopefully he's at the tail end of his slump and ready to bust out again.

Edited August 5, 2025 by UMFan83

[Connor McConnor]

At the end of the day, this is the Cubs.   1984, up 2 convincingly on San Diego, couldn't win another one.  2003 fiasco.  Other than 2016, they have always found ways to drive their fans insane.   Younger folks should be prepared for the worst, because it's likely to happen.