Aaron_Kennelly

Let's rock him and ruin my fantasy team's day, with Strasburg on the mound.

Well, that's an auspicious start.

This isn't exactly an inspiring pitching match-up, but I've got faith. Let's jump on him early and get a nice cushion. Being 6-1 against the second-best team in the league would be swell.

I'd love to sign Holland, especially if we could retain his services for next year, too. I was unaware that he is planning on returning this year.

Strop was filthy tonight. And it was his heater that was the most filthy. 95 with that kind of movement? It looked like an Arrieta pitch.

I haven't read through the game thread yet, but I'm sure some people will concur that was a stupid game. Three runs, all on sac flies. Some stupid crap like the pitcher getting HBP after a bunt single, or an 0-2 HBP to lead-off an inning. Just really bad luck with sequencing. I was getting pissed off. I really liked how Joe managed that game, though. The difference between him and Dusty Baker is enormous and conspicuous. There's times I've questioned Joe's bullpen management. It's nothing too bad. I don't think he's bad at it or anything. There's just been a few times I've second-guessed him. You'll have that. And I may have (nearly certainly) been wrong anyway. But, I absolutely loved everything Joe did tonight. Kudos to him.

Great win! Nice to see Almora getting in on the fun.

12 runs and 5 homers and there is one out in the second.

Contreras is 2-2 with a double already. His average is at .357. Ho hum.

If you look at the Cardinals last year and their crazy high LOB%, it was unquestionably due to luck. They had a slightly above average defense and a merely good pitching staff. Their BABIP given up was .297. They were getting sequencing luck. We have been good at getting guys out in every situation imaginable. We have a great pitching staff and a great defense -- possibly the best in the league in both regards. And if you look at practically any way to measure what kind of contact pitchers give up, again, the Cubs are great. It's just not much of a concern at all. We really are great at every facet of baseball. As such, some things might look weird. But you can't declare it all due to luck. We're just really good. Some of it probably is luck, but I wouldn't even know how to go about quantifying how much of it is. And while we should expect some of these numbers to go up, they are still, most likely, going to be the best in the league.

Your concern is unfounded. While the BABIP should be expected to go up, we've been historically great. So we really have little reason to be concerned about anything, anyway. Also, the article mentions why were are so good at turning balls in play into outs. We have an amazing defense. And we are amazing at inducing weak contact. A lot of the stuff in that article I mentioned in my "Cubs and Weak Contact" article. But there were some things he didn't mention. He mentioned that we have a very low BABIP on fly balls and attributed this partly to having great outfield defense. And this is true. But I showed in my article that when our pitchers give up pitches that are hit in the air, they are giving them up at a high trajectory. They induce lazy fly outs. They give up fly balls at the second-lowest average exit velocity in the league, and they are getting them up in the air, and hit out to Jason Heyward. And that's not even what they are supposed to be good at. They are actually a bunch of ground ball pitchers. This is where we thrive. We give up a ton of ground balls that are hit at Addison Russell and Javier Baez. We will continue to maintain a really low BABIP and a really low LOB%. It probably won't be .250 or whatever. But it's going to be low. And it will probably historically low -- somewhere in the top 1-5% of all-time. We have a bunch of really great starting pitchers that don't often walk guys, don't often give up hard contact, and have a plethora of elite defenders surrounding them. This isn't a big issue.

I wonder if they're doing that in an effort to help him find his proper mechanics again. Or if that was the hook they used to get him to sign with us. Or if they seriously think they can Arrieta him. I like this, either way. Try to Arrieta him, and if it doesn't work he can still do the 'pen thing. And even if they aren't trying to Arrieta him, it gives us a longer look at him. And it might give him more opportunity to fix his ails.

Yay!

Good to see. His plate discipline has improved each month, to the point where he has been really great in that regard lately. And now he's starting to hit some, too.

Alright. Let's get to their 'pen and rain misery upon their fan base.

We still got this. Two dongs incoming in the 7th.

Dammit

Oh I can't wait to win this thing.

Addi!!!!!

Ian Rice homer for South Bend.

lol Zimmerman

lol Shields gives up a bomb to begin his second start.

At least he made him throw 8 pitches there...

43-19 ain't so bad.

We've got this. We're going to dong him multiple times.