Aaron Kennelly

Back to what you were doing in the first, Kyle.

Get hot, Rizz!

Dammit

I think it should be going now.

Great first inning for Kyle.

Without caring too much about this, having those two out front allows you to pinch hit Schwarber and Zobrist in front of Bryzzo if we are trailing late and facing a righty out of the pen. If we get up, who cares, and those two stay in for defense. But, really, I can't be bothered to care too much about an "F it" lineup.

We're going to dong the hell out of this fool. And 2016 Hendricks will be back, throwing 88 mph gas.

And it did.

Broxton in to pitch. This oughta do it.

The Cardinals are bad enough that, even with Pixie Dust [expletive] being used on their rotation, they're still going to finish under .500.

I didn't realize Cueto pitched pretty well, outside of the bombs. He had the ol' John Lackey Special tonight.

I saw Robinson pitch in Burlington. They don't have a gun there. But he definitely wasn't bringing much heat. I assumed it was high 80s-low 90s. But his curve did look good. He had hitters looking foolish against it the whole game.

I'll take one more Jon Lester, please.

Jon Lester is a magnificent human being.

Never mind.

Any idea when this thing might start?

Mariotti's twitter feed is the saddest thing ever. He posts links to his podcast everyday and practically all of them have no likes, retweets, or replies.

This is getting pretty funny. But it's actually been a big help with the rotation struggles and some extra-inning affairs and double headers.

Jon's going to make them glad that they didn't have to play a 5th game last year.

I should mention that Pereda only reminds me of Willson because they look similar behind the plate. He definitely doesn't have that kind of athleticism and doesn't play with the same kind of passion, not to mention the differences with the bat.

I wish I could see Vlad Jr. some more, though. He's mesmerizing. And it's freaky how much he's like his dad. It's hard to wrap my mind around a Vladimir Guerrero clone that is patient at the plate.

I forgot to mention about the South Bend game I went to on Friday. Pereda was catching and he looked good behind the plate. He's got a lot of tools and some sneaky athleticism. He reminds me a little of Willson. He's got a freaking cannon. He threw behind a runner at second, and, though he didn't get him, it was a really strong throw -- right on the money. There was a lot of zip on that thing, too, and it elicited a number of gasps from people around me in the stands. He also did a nice job of blocking a couple of pitches in the dirt. And he made a nice leaping snag of a wayward pitch way above the zone. I couldn't tell much about his framing, as I was right behind the plate and blocked by the ump. But he looked pretty quiet when he was receiving the ball. I thought he had some nice footwork around first when I've seen him play there, too. With the bat, I wasn't very impressed. He takes some nice ABs, but he doesn't do much beyond just putting it in play. Zack Short was playing short, and he looked good. He ranged way over to make a play on a ball on the other side of the second base bag. I've mentioned before that he has a strong arm, and it's looked accurate every time I've seen him. I'm more convinced that both he and Paredes could play short after seeing them a couple more times. Their arms can play anywhere on the infield. And they both look smooth and fluid. I don't know enough about scouting and haven't seen them enough to be positive, but, sure, I can buy it. I'm not a fan of Yeiler Peguero. He just doesn't do anything well enough to intrigue me. And he doesn't seem to have his head in the game very often. Parades is composed at the plate, seems to have a good idea of what he's trying to do, and hits the ball hard. I'm not sure why the results haven't been there. I like him quite a bit. I've mentioned how I was wowed by D.J. Wilson's tools. And I still believe he is the best prospect on the team. I haven't seen where the strikeouts are coming from. He's looked fine at the plate when I've seen him. I know Tom asked about Vladdy Jr. I can't believe that kid just turned 18. He's so freaking big. He's a grown-ass man. And he's definitely the real deal. He's got a great approach, a great eye, good bat speed. His swing is a lot like his dad's, but it doesn't look as effortless. Still, he's the real deal at the plate, and I can only imagine what kind of a beast he'll be if he starts tapping into that power. He didn't look very smooth at third. I'm not sure he'll stick there. It wasn't too terrible or anything. He might just need some more work over there. I'd read his arm wasn't that great -- certainly not like his father's -- but, it actually looked strong to me.

We Got The Whole 9 mentioned how he'd like to see Trackman data from minor league stadiums. And Zagunis is a guy I'd like to see that data on. It definitely seems like he's trying to get the ball elevated more, based off of that Fangraphs batted-ball data you mention, and the simple fact that he's hitting for more power. He might be trading some BABIP for some ISO, but I'd wager it would be worth it if he keeps driving the ball out of the park. Maybe it's just a product of the PCL and those changes won't benefit him at the major league level, though. From seeing him in person, I was surprised by how hard he hit the ball. But it was definitely more of a line-drive swing. If he is hitting the ball hard, and can elevate it without sacrificing too much contact, he's definitely interesting with his on-base skills.

Well, that sucked.

Why did Joe waste Schwarber when we were down 5?