So the Reds are starting a relief pitcher in centerfield tonight. Good to see they’re are putting forth the effort to try and win or compete. With all the call ups, they don’t have an outfielder to play?
WikiWhen Slaughter was a minor leaguer in Columbus, Georgia, he went running towards the dugout from his position in the outfield, slowed down near the infield, and began walking the rest of the way. Manager Eddie Dyer told him, "Son, if you're tired, we'll try to get you some help". During the remainder of his major-league career, Slaughter ran everywhere he went on a baseball field.
Pretty big momentum shift today. A lot of pressure was just relieved. Being able to lose 3 of 4 in Chicago and still be a game up is a nice luxury.
Great results today! Was hoping for an 18 inning game for the Cubs tonight, with a loss!
Probable pitching match-ups for the huge series this weekend at Wrigley:
Thursday: Flaherty (10-8, 3.05) ERA+ 140 FIP 3.64 vs. Hendricks (11-9, 3.26) ERA+ 137 FIP 3.73
Friday: Wacha (6-7, 4.76) ERA+ 89 FIP 5.69 vs. Quintana (13-8, 4.37) ERA+ 102 FIP 3.87
Saturday: Hudson (16-7, 3.35) ERA+ 127 FIP 4.99 vs. Hamels (7-7, 3.92) ERA+ 114 FIP 4.21
Sunday: Mikolas (9-14, 4.29) ERA+ 99 FIP 4.26 vs. Darvish (6-7, 4.02) ERA+ 111 FIP 4.29
I don't know if it matters at all but I added ERA+ and FIP to the pitching match-ups just out of curiosity. I really don't understand much about the new stats that are used these days.
FIP is the best one to look it. It just tries to assign pitcher value to the ones doing the work. So Hudson has a poor FIP and better ERA, because he induces a bunch of groundballs of which the very good Cardinal infield defense takes care of and doesn't really strike anybody out. That's why Fangraphs WAR uses FIP instead of ERA (baseball reference uses ERA), it gives Kolton Wong/ Paul Dejong that value on defense instead of giving it to Hudson, since they did the work.
Heard Hamels is out tomorrow, shoulder soreness, never heard of his replacement.
Whoa! I’m pretty bummed Jack got robbed of a wonderful start. Carlos was just being Carlos. I wish Shildt had pulled him earlier. The cubs live off of those emotional swings. Thank goodness Miller is clam in those situations, especially as of late.