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Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 77

A huge two-run double by Justin Ruggiano in the seventh leads the Cubs to a win in the series opener.

Hey, is that Old Spice you're wearing?
Hey, is that Old Spice you're wearing?
David Banks

The slide job into third base that followed it wasn't exactly a thing of beauty, but at least he and Anthony Rendon got a good laugh out of it.

Graphs for Game 77 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Game-77

Stats for Game 77:

Pitcher

IP

H

HR

ER

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

P Strop

1

1

0

0

0

0

1.44

0.072

H Rondon

1

0

0

0

0

1

0.94

0.071

N Ramirez

0.1

0

0

0

0

0

0.77

0.020

T Wood

6.2

7

0

3

5

4

1.34

-0.021

Total

9

8

0

3

5

5

1.3

0.141

Batter

AB

R

H

HR

RBI

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

J Ruggiano

4

1

2

0

2

0

0

1.27

0.306

A Rizzo

4

1

3

0

0

0

0

0.71

0.149

D Barney

3

1

1

0

0

0

0

0.84

0.040

S Castro

4

1

1

0

2

0

0

0.83

0.035

W Castillo

3

0

1

0

1

0

0

0.78

0.023

C Coghlan

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

2.15

0.021

T Wood

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.53

-0.026

L Valbuena

4

0

1

0

0

0

1

0.55

-0.031

N Schierholtz

3

0

0

0

0

0

1

0.82

-0.061

R Sweeney

4

1

0

0

0

0

0

1.18

-0.096

Total

31

5

9

0

5

1

2

0.89

0.359

Writer's Note: The daily selections of the three Heroes and three Goats are based solely on the top three and bottom three WPA scores for the game. The selections are not based on my subjective opinion.

THE THREE HEROES:

  • Superhero - Justin Ruggiano (.306). The first time this season he's seen the top of the Hero podium by himself.
  • Hero - Anthony Rizzo (.149). Did a lot of table-setting on Thursday night.
  • Sidekick - Pedro Strop (.072). Induced a clutch double play after the shift-breaker bunt by Adam LaRoche.

THE THREE GOATS:

  • Billy Goat - Ryan Sweeney (-.096). The way that leadoff hitting has gone for the Cubs lately really makes me miss Emilio Bonifacio, even if he was crashing back to the mean when he got injured.
  • Goat - Nate Schierholtz (-.061). Seriously, this guy is getting way too comfortable with the Goat podium.
  • Kid - Luis Valbuena (-.031). He did have the triple, but with a 3-1 score and two outs it didn't have a lot of impact.

UPDATED RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 77 (Changes in Bold):

Heroes

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Starlin Castro

11.5

6.5

6.5

54

Anthony Rizzo

10

7

8

52

Luis Valbuena

8

7

2

40

Jeff Samardzija

6

2

2

24

Jason Hammel

5

3

3

24

Welington Castillo

5

3

2

23

Nate Schierholtz

3

5

3

22

Travis Wood

4

4

1

21

Emilio Bonifacio

1

7

1

18

Justin Ruggiano

1.5

5.5

2

17.5

Mike Olt

3

2

4

17

Darwin Barney

3.5

2.5

1

16.5

Junior Lake

3

2

3

16

Jake Arrieta

3

3

0

15

Brian Schlitter

1

3.5

4

14

Edwin Jackson

4

0

0

12

Ryan Kalish

3

0

1

10

James Russell

0

1

6

8

Chris Coghlan

1

2

0

7

Ryan Sweeney

0

2

3

7

Hector Rondon

0

0

6.5

6.5

John Baker

0

2

2

6

Justin Grimm

0

1

4

6

Pedro Strop

0

1

4

6

Wesley Wright

0.5

1.5

0.5

5

Carlos Villanueva

0

1

3

5

Neil Ramirez

0

0.5

3.5

4.5

Zac Rosscup

0

2

0

4

Blake Parker

0

0

1

1

Goats

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Nate Schierholtz

5

9

6

39

Starlin Castro

4

4.5

11

32

Mike Olt

5

3

5

26

Edwin Jackson

6

3

1

25

Luis Valbuena

4

3.5

5.5

24.5

Emilio Bonifacio

1

8

4

23

Junior Lake

3

5

3

22

Justin Grimm

6

0.5

1.5

20.5

Welington Castillo

2

5.5

3.5

20.5

Jason Hammel

6

1

0

20

Travis Wood

4

3

2

20

Anthony Rizzo

0

6

6

18

Justin Ruggiano

1

5

2

15

Ryan Sweeney

2

3

1.5

13.5

Carlos Villanueva

4

0

1

13

James Russell

2

2

3

13

Jeff Samardzija

3

1

1

12

Hector Rondon

3

1

1

12

John Baker

2

1

4

12

Brian Schlitter

2

2

0

10

Chris Coghlan

2

1

2

10

Wesley Wright

2

1

2

10

Jose Veras

2

1

1

9

Ryan Kalish

1

2

2

9

Darwin Barney

0

4

1

9

Jake Arrieta

2

0

2

8

Pedro Strop

1

1

1

6

Eli Whiteside

1

0

3

6

Neil Ramirez

1

0

0

3

Blake Parker

0

0

1

1

Overall

Hero

Goat

+/-

Anthony Rizzo

52

18

34

Starlin Castro

54

32

22

Luis Valbuena

40

24.5

15.5

Jeff Samardzija

24

12

12

Darwin Barney

16.5

9

7.5

Jake Arrieta

15

8

7

Jason Hammel

24

20

4

Brian Schlitter

14

10

4

Zac Rosscup

4

0

4

Welington Castillo

23

20.5

2.5

Justin Ruggiano

17.5

15

2.5

Neil Ramirez

4.5

3

1.5

Travis Wood

21

20

1

Ryan Kalish

10

9

1

Pedro Strop

6

6

0

Blake Parker

1

1

0

Chris Coghlan

7

10

-3

Emilio Bonifacio

18

23

-5

James Russell

8

13

-5

Wesley Wright

5

10

-5

Hector Rondon

6.5

12

-5.5

Junior Lake

16

22

-6

John Baker

6

12

-6

Eli Whiteside

0

6

-6

Ryan Sweeney

7

13.5

-6.5

Carlos Villanueva

5

13

-8

Mike Olt

17

26

-9

Jose Veras

0

9

-9

Edwin Jackson

12

25

-13

Justin Grimm

6

20.5

-14.5

Nate Schierholtz

22

39

-17

The top and bottom of the plus/minus chart extend further outward as Rizzo and Schierholtz both continue to charge in opposite directions.