GAME 42 PREVIEW
HOUSTON ASTROS (15-28) at CHICAGO CUBS (19-22)
Wrigley Field, 7.05pm CT, TV: CSN, Fox Sports SW
| SP *Glendon Rusch |
SP *Wandy Rodriguez |
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| CF Willy Taveras |
2B Jerry Hairston |
| LF *Todd Self |
SS #Neifi Perez |
| 2B Craig Biggio |
1B Derrek Lee |
| 1B #Lance Berkman |
3B Aramis Ramirez |
| 3B Morgan Ensberg |
RF *Jeromy Burnitz |
| RF Jason Lane |
LF Jason Dubois |
| SS Adam Everett |
CF *Corey Patterson |
| C Brad Ausmus |
C Michael Barrett |
| Pitcher's spot |
Pitcher's spot |
They're like buses - you wait ages for one, and then two come along at once. Rookie opposition starters that is. Yesterday the Cubs got Brandon McCarthy, but they didn't manage to actually get
to him. In fact, McCarthy was very impressive, striking out the first ever major league batter he faced (Hairston) and pitching a very solid five and a third innings before Guillen very cautiously lifted him. Today the Cubs get Wandy (yes, Wandy) Rodriguez, who starts in place of Andy Pettitte, and hopefully they'll at least give one of these two rookies a major league welcome to make them wish they'd never been promoted. Rodriguez doesn't have the same prospect calibre of McCarthy though, nowhere near - he's a 21, no, 25, er 26 year-old soft-tossing lefty out of Venezuela with a fastball, changeup, curveball arsenal that he throws for strikes, and at best he projects as the lefty out of the 'pen that makes up the numbers. He's going on just three days of rest and will be looking to end a five-game Houston losing streak.
[Update] According to Bruce Levine at least, the Cubs are about to pull off a big trade, but that's all he's saying! Talk about keeping us on tenterhooks! Anyway, speculate away amongst yourselves. All I have to say is that I hope that Corey Patterson, whose name seems to be getting bandied around quite a bit, isn't involved. This is no time to give up on him.
Recent comments
First.Pitch.120 06/08/2023 - 06:16 am (view)
I think crunch nailed it... MLB pitchers who can effectively work the edges of the zone are brutal on "see-ball / Hit-ball" types who haven't developed that next level discernment. Ditto the BB% being a good harbinger.
I do wonder if the AAA robo-ump has a disparate impact on a player like NM... less guessing at what the random edges of the zone are going to be on a given day. Not sure...
Another thing to keep in mind when looking at AAA stats & sample sizes is that they now play the same team/park 5-6 games in a row. Potentially compounding the impact of a +/- pitching staff, park factors, and/or match-up implications (ie, I'd give advantage to Madrigal if he is seeing the same SP x2 or RP x3 in a week). Not sure if this is relevant to Nick M. right now, but it's on my mind after watching a week's worth of line drives die in the coastal night air.
Finwe Noldaran 06/07/2023 - 06:09 pm (view)
Seems like they were on to something, but I'd still rather see Morel in there, he's more valuable than Mancini in the short and long term; hard to accumulate numbers against a pitcher, if you're on the bench.......
crunch 06/07/2023 - 06:39 pm (view)
mancini was a numbers game. he's like 3 for 7 off the reds starter or something similar...read something about it in some pre-game notes.
Finwe Noldaran 06/07/2023 - 06:01 pm (view)
How would Morel being the DH have been worse than Mancini? The Morel doing worse at DH thing is likely an anomaly, but then just put him at 3B; not sure how people can make stuff so complicated............
Finwe Noldaran 06/07/2023 - 06:59 pm (view)
That makes sense, plus, it seems like the hitting coach in Iowa is just locked in, just about everyone that goes there rakes, or at least improves in some way (less strikeouts, more walks, et cetera).......
crunch 06/07/2023 - 06:45 pm (view)
probably the lack of quality control/command over offspeed stuff for the AAA pitchers leaves more in the zone for him...dunno, though. his 7 walks in such a small about of PA is more impressive to me than his 17 hits. his game in the bigs is nearly 100% put it in play with very few Ks and even less walks.
Finwe Noldaran 06/07/2023 - 06:33 pm (view)
You think something actually clicked for him, or is he just that much better than AAA pitching?
crunch 06/07/2023 - 06:31 pm (view)
madrigal starts off the night in iowa 2 for 2 (double, single) and he's hitting .500 now...17 hits in 34ab.
crunch 06/07/2023 - 06:07 pm (view)
e.rios to the 10d IL, rucker up. left groin strain. the bad news it's retroactive to june 4th rather than starting to today which could speed his return.
azbobbop 06/07/2023 - 06:11 pm (view)
DJL…I know he had to face three batters. Two right handed after Shonei one of them being Mike Trout. Ross needed a better plan. Much better.