Jim French Stepstool

Counsell used to talk about the 'next hit'. That's been missing, sometimes due to bad ABs, sometimes just not finding a hole. Contreras put a decent swing on an 0-2 pitch from a guy you don't want to fall behind on. Allllmost.

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The law of averages usually doesn't leave someone thirty-some games over .500 three-fourths of the way through a season. Winning fifteen out of sixteen guarantees nothing the next day. Neither does dropping three in a row.

After Mondays' game we had beaten them four out of five, and had won 15 out of 16 games. Why would anyone think we could lose the next three? Baseball.

They're up six games right now. If they win they'll be up seven. Unless you're saying it's impossible they can win tomorrow?

When I first saw stats people years ago keeping track of run differential, I thought it was a joke.

I've said this often-----It's not WHO you play, but HOW. Chi is playing pretty well right now, but this isn't a Saturday afternoon in the fall with Alabama playing Middle Tennessee. It's baseball. Unless you get into the final maybe 7-10 games I think looking at the sked can be overrated. And save for a Turang error on Sunday, Vaughns' bad throw yesterday & too many inopportune walks by a few different guys I don't think we're playing as badly as some probably think.

I'm going to go to bed tonight focusing on just how a 7-0 win is lucky.

This played out as the type of game expected, given the conditions, Not many big hits, but they had one more than us. With the wind blowing in, walking three in an inning is inexcusable, and both pitchers accomplished that feat. Unfortunately it was Busch in their opportunity, while we had Perkins who is scuffling & Ortiz who really doesn't seem to have a plan when he goes to the plate. Two ugly pop ups on 1st pitch swings. Miz..........a leadoff walk, missing with two breaking balls after 2-2 (again with the wind blowing in). A little pressure, a little noise from the inmates. Another walk. A little more, which leads to another walk. After the damage was done, pressure off, he mostly looked great. First two innings, great. Bottom line, we just need for Ebby Calvin LaLoosh to grow up. The tools causing all the hype are there, as always. Just not all the time. Again, breathe. Grow up. I imagine there's gnashing of teeth over Seigler hitting in the 9th. The thought process there was probably that Murphy liked him a little better than Perkins & Ortiz. So that's two PHs. And if Jansen DOES reach (he did) you just know that if Lockridge isn't available to run for him, the next batter is going to single to LF & Jansen won't be able to score. Monasterio is the other option and while that's a decent argument, Palencia might not come in throwing strikes & Seigler is more apt to extract a walk than Mona. And L vs R. Arguable, but I can see the thought process. Turang is turning into one hell of a ballplayer. Bottom line, like I said this smelled like one of those games down there that's 2-1 or 3-1, and save for Misiorowski's momentary Turnbow impersonation it probably is, and we most likely win.

Yep. Too bad there isn't another 2-3 inning guy available to pitch. Gasser just threw. If not for the 40-man roster thingie I wouldn't mind seeing Yeager. @Joseph Zarr, how has Yoho looked to you since going back down?

Yeah, Hoskins might not 'like' a rehab until 9/1. But short of an injury to someone else that looks to be in the cards. And he'll be looking for a deal come off-season so there should be no lack of intensity/keeping himself ready. Certainly him & Vaughn in the lineup together at 1B/DH makes sense vs some LHPs. Any PH opportunities that come up in September will have more fleshed-out options with Hoskins (or maybe every once in awhile Vaughn) available on the bench, as well as whoever might be sitting that day after Chourio returns. Also pleasantly surprised to hear Ortiz is right back in the harness.

I don't think they swung the bats badly yesterday. Easily could've had double-digit base hits in game two. But looking for Collins to get things cranked back up after sitting all weekend. And Chourio going out on a rehab on Friday is great news.

When Misiorowski was promoted my biggest concern was starts like the one he turned in in Cincy. But really that was his only outing where he couldn't find the dish for a stretch of 4-5 hitters, and it came after a long layoff & without any rehab appearances. So hopefully a bounceback. I'll give those guys one thing---they avoided the knee-jerk, flashy deadline move that I imagine many of their fans wanted re Suarez & stuck with Shaw, who is probably playing better on both ends than Suarez right now.

The way it was described in the presser, no one. It's not an IL thing unless something they're unaware of is discovered.

Oh, they like to get confident. They just like doing 180s at the slightest provocation.

Contusion, which is what I expected when he was allowed to run the foul line. Murphy said he probably isn't playing tomorrow.

I thought the top of the 2nd inning was key. After the Jansen double, Ortiz put up a very strange AB. Battled, saw a lot of pitches, but on his way to 3-2 swung at one or two that were not close, then took one right down the middle for the K. For those who wonder about him sometimes getting PH for--it seems like Murphy just doesn't trust his approach, and it's something he certainly needs to improve. Then Frelick rips one, but right at Busch. After that Taillon really settled in. A guy that was making his 1st start in a long time was at 49 pitches through two then just flipped a switch. And Woodruff was curiously off with the command & really felt the need to lean on the changeup. Didn't scroll back (yet) but I hope no one was complaining about the Turang tag up. There are scenarios where you don't go----If Martin Maldonado was the runner at 3rd, or if there's no one out, or if the RF is Clemente. All season we've forced people to make plays. They often don't. This time Castro uncorked a good one. For the rest of this season & if it's a proper situation, any opponent capable of laying down a bunt that doesn't make Aaron Ashby field & throw is just lazy or has a lousy advance scout.

Or when Bill Schroeder says "Not even close". He's not being used on a regular basis anymore though, so if you're big on inebriation it might not work.

Sunday & today, he's looked really good.

I thought he had issues settling in, but overall Patrick gave you about what you could hope for from a spot starter who hasn't been up in awhile & has been getting cuffed around recently in N'Ville. Dillard mentioned the two walks to Suzuki, which weren't headliners but cost him maybe much more than the two runs Suzuki wound up scoring. And the error, of course, which was on Vaughn but maybe to me a 75-25% thing. A poor feed but not one that's impossible to catch. The plate discipline vs Boyd wasn't bad, but especially good in the 2nd inning. I like them having to go to their BP for 3.2 with another game to play. And he's the enemy now, but you really have to give it to Pomeranz for coming all the way back at this stage in his career. A kid with not much of a 'book' on him hit an opposite-field HR today. His 1st in the big leagues. Wrapped around three Ks in the inning. I wouldn't be too quick to jump on Shelby Miller.

Of the top ten reasons for playing splitters, that's #s one through ten.

Game has just been postponed. Split DH tomorrow.

Also for anyone interested CC said after game 1 that Kyle Tucker would be sitting tonight. Sounds like it may be for more than one day, too.

I agree with this. Everyone on Sunday was talking about the BP being Myers, Anderson, and ???????????. If they needed to use a 3rd arm I suspect it would've been Miller.

Losing it like he did for 3-4 hitters then snapping right back is certainly worthy of some major maturity points. He's never screamed 'ace' to me but deserves major props. Next step (if he can attain it) is to make the 0-2, 1-2 pitches look more inviting to hitters w/o actually leaving them in the zone. That can be really tough to do. If he can then IMO it's lights out. He DOES do that sometimes with the FB just above the zone.