The sweep wasn’t meant to be. This is another of what I always end up using “in fairness” to describe. As in, in fairness, Logan Webb is a very good pitcher. As in, in fairness, it’s really hard to sweep a team in its own park. As in, it felt like a few feet here or there and this entire game was different. As if any of those things make a loss cost less. But no, all of them cost you one game on the wrong side of the ledger, regardless of what the “shape” of the loss was.
It felt to me like Colin
Rea pitched better than the four runs in 4.2 innings would suggest. It was one of those days. The balls hit by the Cubs seemed to find a glove. The balls hit by the Giants seemed to always find space. These games happen. It wasn’t a great matchup on paper and the breaks all went the wrong way. It happens. Under normal circumstances, this should be a quick rip the page off of the calendar and move along.
These are the days that you really wish you’d taken business on a lot more of those games with good matchups. Taken advantage of a few more of those games with decent matchups. Stolen one or two more of those bad matchups. But the math isn’t mathing well for this Cubs team right now. Too many games ended up out of reach.
There’s so much baseball left to be played. The next 45 days, we’ll find out if that means we are going to be treated to a lot of competitive baseball down the stretch or if that means we are going to have a long wait before next year gets here. Especially with a potentially looming work stoppage.
Three Positives:
- Pete Crow-Armstrong stays hot with a pair of singles and a stolen base.
- Ryan Rolison recorded four up and four down as the opener.
- Alex Bregman also had a pair of singles. The top three Cubs were 5-12, the other seven were 2-21. The Cubs drew no walks.
Game 72, June 14: Giants 5, Cubs 1 (37-35)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Ryan Rolison (.070). 1.1 IP, 4 BF
- Hero: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.034). 2-4, SB
- Sidekick: Jacob Webb (.003). 0.1 IP, 1 BF
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Colin Rea (-.159). 4.2 IP. 24 BF, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 ER, 2 K, HBP (L 5-5)
- Goat: Ian Happ (-.140). 0-4, DP
- Kid: Michael Conforto (-.063). 0-4, 3 K
WPA Play of the Game: Matt Chapman’s two-run homer with one out in the fifth inning gave the Giants a three run lead. (.150)
Cubs Play of the Game: In the top of the third, with two outs and a runner on second, a wild pitch allowed Pete Crow-Armstrong to go from second to third. (.123)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 71 Winner: PCA received 71 of 101 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Michael Busch +26
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +15
- Ben Brown +12.5
- Michael Conforto +10
- Trent Thornton/Carson Kelly +7.5
- Caleb Thielbar/Phil Maton/Jameson Taillon -8
- Matt Shaw -10
- Dansby Swanson -12
- Seiya Suzuki -23.5
Up Next: Right back at it. The Cubs host the Rockies (27-45). The good news? The Rockies have lost seven of 10. The bad? The Cubs played them three times in their park and only won once. So over the last week and a half, they are 1-6 versus everyone else and still won two of three from the Cubs. But the Cubs didn’t let the Rockies score 23 runs. That was the A’s on Sunday. Holy cow. That Las Vegas park may end up being an insane thing.
Shōta Imanaga (4-6, 4.44) gets the first game. Michael Lorenzen (2-8, 7.54) is the opponent. These two faced each other last Wednesday in a game that the Rockies scored three runs over the last two innings to win 3-2. I was stuck in travel limbo for that one and fortunately missed the beleaguered Lorenzen holding the the Cubs to a run on two hits and two walks over five innings and striking out seven. He’s been worse at home, but bad everywhere. Let’s see if the Cubs ambush him the second time around. Imanaga was pretty good in that loss, pitching well enough to win.
