Breaking Down The Cubs Home Opener
Here’s all the stuff I wrote down about Opening Day. Disclosure: I included some extremely excessive detail on what I thought was the most important part of the game. I’d be open to doing more stuff like that if you want so let me know without being a total dickhead, please.
* Wrigleyville was rocking Sunday. Absolutely rocking. Almost every bar up and down Clark was slammed. Good thing is that typically means more fun. Bad thing is it definitely means more uneducated fans. Lots of yelling at the TV from people who probably haven’t watched a full 9 innings since game 3 of the ’08 NLDS. So just be prepared to deal with more assholes and idiots in Wrigleyville.
* Yes, I’m aware that Wrigleyville is already filled to the brim with assholes and idiots. I’m just saying be prepared for more.
* Jorge Soler looked atrocious in right field but really strong in the box. He went 0-4 but managed to see 18 pitches in 3 plate appearances against Adam Wainwright. That’s both remarkably encouraging and equally indicative of his patient approach. You’d like to think that if he can do that against Wainwright, he’s due for a healthy amount of quality AB’s this year against far inferior pitching. And again, here’s your friendly reminder that quality at-bats and Yabos go hand-in-hand.
* We used 5 relievers opening night. They pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, gave up 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 5. Generally you don’t YOU NEVER EVER EVER want to use 5 relievers in an opening day shutout loss, but it was encouraging to see the potential we have with some of these power arms = Coke, Motte, Ramirez, Strop and Rondon all showed 94+ on heaters.
* Speaking of pitchers, I’m not sure how I feel about them hitting 8th. Bill James would say it doesn’t matter (or even better, that he can’t prove it matters) and he’s a pretty smart guy so maybe I’ll agree with him? I mean, what matters is hitting with runners in scoring position, and we didn’t do that at all. So yeah, it sucks that Lester found himself in the box with 2 outs and a runner in scoring position while La Stella was on deck in the 9 spot. And it’s no surprise Lester struckout and finished the game 0-1 with RISP. But what really sucks is the rest of the lineup going 0-12 with RISP.
* Finally, here’s an overly detailed look at what I thought was the most important sequence of the game. Bottom 1 and Rizzo is up with Fowler on 3rd and 1 out. Cards are up 1-0 so they have the infield back meaning a routine groundball gets the run in. Unfortunately that’s not particularly easy when 1st base is open, Adam Wainwright is pitching, and Starlin Castro’s career .620 OPS-against-Wainwright is on deck.
That allowed Wainwright to pitch around Rizzo. He started him with a curve in the dirt for ball 1. Wainwright followed that up with a slider down and in that Rizzo swung over making it 1-1. He then dialed up a borderline perfect inside fastball to make the count 1-2. Rizzo then got pissed because he thought it was too far inside, and to be quite honest you’d be pissed too if you hit .462 in 2-1 counts vs .217 in 1-2 counts in your career and you just got hosed on a 1-1 call. Also worth mentioning that those three pitches were all part of the same near-perfectly executed sequence. Rizzo had to track three consecutive but different pitches on completely different planes all to the same side of the plate. That’s a great way to get to 1-2 and exactly why Wainwright’s command is so celebrated.
Wainwright then spiked a curve on 1-2 only to backdoor a slider at least 6 inches off the outside part of the plate on 2-2 and somehow got the fucking call. Castro would then ground out to Wainwright to end the inning, leaving Fowler at third. A few things:
1.You can’t give both sides of the plate away in the big leagues like Winters did. You just can’t. The pitchers are so, so good that you have to be an inside guy or an outside guy. Can’t do both. What’s even more surprising is that Winters historically uses a small zone and generally squeezes pitchers.
2. Speaking of squeezing pitchers, Lester didn’t get a call the next half inning against Kolten fucking Wong. Jon Lester, cancer survivor and established veteran, got squeezed on better pitches than what Wainwright threw Rizzo. That’s high quality horseshit. Lester had struck out three guys in a row at that point and then all of a sudden Winters puts his balls in a vise grip for no other reason than being the kinda guy that likes to uncomfortably squeeze another man’s balls. Fuck Mike Winters.
3. Wong would go on to walk and then scored on a 2-out hit that would not have happened if Mike Winters knew his ass from the strike zone.
4. Lester continued to struggle
5. Wainwright didn’t
6. We lost
7. On to the next one
@barstoolcarl