Aaron_Kennelly

Vogelbach had the night off on Saturday when I was there, which was disappointing. But, man, he's a big dude. It's not like he's a fat tub of lard, though. Granted, he is pretty fat. But he's got big, broad shoulders, and he's muscular. He's just got a big, strong upper half, a lot like Schwarber. I know, he's not anywhere near the athlete that Schwarber is or anything. And it probably doesn't mean anything, if he's just gonna DH. But, there is a distinction that can be made between just being fat and being big and strong. He's not as pudgy as he was when he was drafted. The highlight of the night for me was when the drunken idiot right behind me decided that he needed to start heckling people. He was yelling very loudly while Joey Gallo was at bat... "Hey batter, batter..." And then Gallo swung through a couple balls and his intensity and volume picked up, and then, "thwap," Gallo walloped one about 450 feet off the scoreboard in right-center. He shut up pretty quickly and everyone in our section turned and looked at him and several people began mocking him.

We are going to dong Scherzer to death again. The bats are about to get on a roll. Heyward's hitting. Rizzo and Bryant are donging. The Nats haven't seen anything yet.

That makes it an 18-game hitting streak. In which time, he's hit .389 with 7 doubles, 2 triples, 6 HRs, 22 RBI, 9 BB/16 K in 72 AB. I hope he's improving his framing, working with pitchers, game-calling and controlling his emotions because the Cubs (or any team for that matter) could use his bat, especially from the catcher's position. I was at the Iowa game on Saturday. As for controlling his emotions, there were two different Contreras PAs where the ump made a bad strike call. In the first one, Contreras was visibly frustrated and stepped out of the box to compose himself. It looked like he had a few words with the ump. The same thing happened on the other PA, and then there was a little kerfuffle as the ump had some words with someone in the Cubs' dugout, presumably the manager, Pevey. I was really impressed with the way Contreras plays, though. His playing style reminds me of Javy -- full throttle all the time. There was a game last week, when Len commented that Javy is looking to make a quadruple-play on every play. And that was basically Contreras, in a nutshell. He had one guy picked off at first, but the first baseman turned the wrong way and applied a horrible tag. He would have been out, if he had just dropped his glove straight down. Then, there were a couple other times Contreras thought about showing off his arm. For instance, after blocking a ball in the dirt, he hopped up looking to throw behind the runner at first. He was trying to insert himself into the action whenever possible. He wants to show off his arm. But, he wasn't reckless. He was just looking for opportunities. Contreras really impressed me on this one play, though. The bases were loaded with one out, and the hitter, James Jones, dropped down a bunt. It was a bad bunt and only rolled 5-10 feet out in front of the plate. It had a little English on it, though, and was rolling foul. Contreras got up quickly and fielded the ball right before it went foul, took a couple steps back and stepped on home plate and fired to first for a double play. The play wasn't too terribly difficult to make. But, he showed a good understanding of the situation -- surveying the field and making several plays flawlessly and in a short time frame. From my vantage point, it was unexpected to see the bunt, and I was concentrating on the ball and whether it was going to go foul or not, and I was wondering if Contreras should even field it. I wasn't even paying attention to the runner on third and had basically conceded the run in my mind. But, Contreras acted quickly, took charge, made the play and fired a rocket to first to nab the runner. And suddenly the inning was over, and I wondered how the hell all that happened so quickly. It seemed much easier than it should have been. At the plate, I was impressed, too. He's got a beautiful swing. And his approach is impeccable. He was patient, he showed a great great eye, and he jumped all over balls in the zone. It's a really smooth, effortless swing. He hit a double that jumped off his bat and sailed over the center fielder. He went back up the middle for a base hit. It was everything you'd hope to see from him. He also showed bunt in two ABs. I was like, "What the hell is this big masher doing, trying to bunt for a hit?" I wanted to see him swing the bat. But, looking back on it, what kind of catcher is confident enough in his athleticism that he thinks he can bunt for a hit? A badass catcher, that's who. As for his receiving, he looked fine to me. He shows a nice target and presents a soft, easy landing. Nothing herky-jerky. He looked smooth back there, like an actual catcher. There were a number of close calls that he didn't get, though. Maybe it's a byproduct of Iowa's pitching sucking. Or maybe he's just not good at framing. There's a difference between receiving and framing. There's an art there. A sleight of hand is required. Maybe he just is unable to sell things. I couldn't really tell very well from my vantage point. I remain hope that he can at least be not-horrible at framing once he gets a chance to work with some better pitchers and receives some more instruction and guidance from guys like Ross and Montero. Everything else looks fine with his defense. As for the other guys, I liked Zagunis a lot. He's got a thicker frame than I imagined. He hit the ball pretty hard, too. It's a nice, quick line drive swing. He runs well. Jeimer looked good at the plate, too. Great approach, nice-looking swing. Aaron Brooks was sitting 90-92 with the fastball. His command was off-and-on. He looked really good in the first inning. And then he had a little trouble finding the zone later on. He was able to get some ground balls. But he had one pitch that did him in, when a guy barreled one up for a three-run homer. I thought Brooks looked alright, overall, though. He just wasn't consistent with his stuff. Armando Rivero came in and looked really impressive in the 8th. His fastball was 93-94, and mostly was at 94. He blew some high heat past a guy. He was able to locate well. And he showed a really nasty, heavy slider. He looked really impressive in mowing guys down in the 8th. His command wasn't as good in the 9th, though, and he wasn't able to get his fastball up to 94 as often, and he looked completely different.

Javy!

I'm really starting to worry about the glaring issues.

Behind Clayton, I assume? Clayton Richard, that is.

4-0 since you said this. Dammit Duke! That's cute. I remember when we were 6 over... on April 15.

Munenori Kawasaki's walk-up song is Outkast's "So Fresh, So Clean."

Arrieta is one of the few non knuckleballers that's demonstrated the ability to generate consistent weak contact. He's definitely the exception that proves the rule. I ain't backing down on Chris Sale. I think he lost a few miles per hour on his fastball and is grasping at straws. He can do what he wants but he's looking like a vastly diminished pitcher now (though still comfortably above average.) I'll give you that, when a guy starts performing worse and says it, that's a red flag to me. But, generally, every pitcher is pitching to contact some. Whether they are trying to get first-pitch strikes, or they just don't want to waste as many pitches so they can go deep in games. I don't but it as a philosophy, but I think it's impossible to not pitch to contact at times.

Yeah, I normally think the whole idea of trying to "pitch to contact" is stupid. Most guys are "pitching to contact" because they have no other choice. But, when Jake Arrieta says it, I believe him.

I'm worried about this team, guys.

I don't want to come off too much as a Pollyanna, either. Sure, there are things I don't like about this team. For instance, my derision of Tim Federowicz and Clayton Richard knows no bounds. And I get pissed during games, too. In this very game thread, I bitched about Hammel giving up homers to scrubs and said, "This game sucks." I don't think I've ever called anyone out for being upset about specific games or specific events during games. I just get tired of seeing the sweeping claims of, "Oh this team never shows up against mediocre pitching!" or, "I'm so sick of watching this garbage!"

Yeah, definitely. I'm just more perplexed by the overarching statements about our offense sucking, or how people are worried about middle relief pitchers, or how "[expletive] is getting really old" for Ski. We're 41-18. It's all cool to me. Yes, I get mad when we lose games. It is frustrating. And it sucks seeing guys like Russell struggle at the plate. But, I also feel perfectly comfortable perched up on our throne, well above everyone else in the whole league. Actually, Russsell's struggles are one of the few things that does have me genuinely concerned. Me, too. But he's really young and really talented. I'll take the easy way out again and say that at least we're 41-18 and we can afford to go through growing pains with guys like him and Javy... and Jorge... and Almora... and whoever else. There's enough talent elsewhere that them busting out is just a cherry on the top. But, Addison needs to figure horsefeathers out, for sure. I'm very disappointed, as it looked like he was starting to blossom and then just fell apart.

If we continue to look mortal and fade back, say, to a point where the division becomes an actual race again... I'll be furious at losses like this. And if the team collectively continues to struggle a little at the plate well into the summer, then I'll panic a little. But, everyone just needs to relax and enjoy the ride. I mean, does everyone remember where we were sitting after that series against the Phillies last year, when we were no-hit, and pretty much bottomed out? I would urge the doom boners to put things in perspective when you start bitching about this team... they're horsefeathering 41-18.

I'm pretty sure everyone including Duke is frustrated/annoyed by the outcome. Yeah, definitely. I'm just more perplexed by the overarching statements about our offense sucking, or how people are worried about middle relief pitchers, or how "horsefeathers is getting really old" for Ski. We're 41-18. It's all cool to me. Yes, I get mad when we lose games. It is frustrating. And it sucks seeing guys like Russell struggle at the plate. But, I also feel perfectly comfortable perched up on our throne, well above everyone else in the whole league.

Is there no downtrend that you're not willing to completely ignore? Yeah it's amazing that they've put together a 41-18 record, but that's because the SP has masked a lot of the glaring problems. I'm actually more worried about the pitching sustaining a strand rate that is higher than what we mocked the Cardinals for last year than I am the offense which has used up all of the fantastic depth they had in March. But in the grand scheme of things my biggest worries are like a 3 on a 1-10 scale. Yes they've gone like 17-12 since their 24-6 start. But 17-12 is still like 96 win pace over the course of a season. And this is a down stretch for this team relatively speaking Well, our rotation is also much better than the Cardinals' last year. I have absolutely no worries about our starting pitching. Hammel's pitching over his head, but the other four are genuinely awesome. Also, I'm not worried about anything. We are 41-18 and own a 9-game lead on the division. And we have an historically great run differential. What in the hell is there to worry about? I mean, I can spot areas on the team I'd like to improve. But, worried? Nah.

Is there anything about this 41-18 team you feel comfortable with? Is there no downtrend that you're not willing to completely ignore? Yeah it's amazing that they've put together a 41-18 record, but that's because the SP has masked a lot of the glaring problems. Also, yes, I agree, there have been some downtrends from when we got off to the best start in the history of baseball. That's to be expected. But, I'm not going to incessantly whine about middle relievers and cry about that one game each week when the offense fails to show up.

Is there anything about this 41-18 team you feel comfortable with? Is there no downtrend that you're not willing to completely ignore? Yeah it's amazing that they've put together a 41-18 record, but that's because the SP has masked a lot of the glaring problems. They're 41-18. I don't think anything could be qualified as a glaring problem.

You are smarter than this. His last 3 appearances 1/3IP 5H 5ER 1BB 0K. Combine that with a 5.57ERA and 4.56FIP and you can't feel at all comfortable with him coming into tight games. Is there anything about this 41-18 team you feel comfortable with?

Coghlan's going to tie it with a pinch-hit blast.

Heyward and Almora in the corners isn't fair.

We're wondering if teams have adjusted and are pitching us differently, and we haven't adjusted, or if this is just an extended blip on the radar. At worst we're looking at a stretch where the offense is just good instead of amazing. It's not like they're suddenly "un-adjusting" every 2-3 games, so since were not actually not seeing a sustained stretch of struggling offense, I really don't understand stressing out like this game is indicative of a larger, continuing problem. It's a long season and even the best teams have periods where they look mortal, or even bad, and this isn't even the latter right now. Yeah, this 23-game stretch, which was totally randomly selected has seen us play to a 14-9 record. The horror.

I'm not belittling anyone over getting irked about this game. I am rebuking you for saying things like, "This horsefeathers is getting old." ... and for your general annoying manner.

I've got them at 4.35 runs per game in that stretch. But, regardless, things are so horrible that in this arbitrary time frame you've selected, they've still been only average. And we both know why you've chosen this time frame. Let's see, they scored 17 runs in the two games before that, and about a million in the 25 before that. Let's just throw them out, though, because they don't matter. Why are you going all Ski on a 41-17 team? We're wondering if teams have adjusted and are pitching us differently, and we haven't adjusted, or if this is just an extended blip on the radar. No, you're whining about an historically great team. Your shtick is nauseating.

This offense just hasn't been good for a while now. Since May 15th, a 23 game stretch, they've averaged 4.21 runs per game. During that stretch 13 of those games had 3 runs scored or fewer. Comparatively, 4.21 runs per game would place them 15th in baseball compared to the rest of the teams season long runs per game. I've got them at 4.35 runs per game in that stretch. But, regardless, things are so horrible that in this arbitrary time frame you've selected, they've still been only average. And we both know why you've chosen this time frame. Let's see, they scored 17 runs in the two games before that, and about a million in the 25 before that. Let's just throw them out, though, because they don't matter. Why are you going all Ski on a 41-17 team?