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Cubs Heroes And Goats: Game 1

Welcome back to Wrigley Field, Jon Lester! Now, if you'll step right over here... Oh, the shiny podium over there? Nah, don't worry about that right now.

What does the "G" stand for on the podium, you ask? We'll explain that in a bit.
What does the "G" stand for on the podium, you ask? We'll explain that in a bit.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

If this is your first time visiting Heroes and Goats, welcome to the fun and I hope you enjoy your stay! Here's the primer for how it works in case you missed it.

And now, we present our feature presentation: "Flashback 2014, Or Forgetting How To Drive Runners In".

Graphs for Game 1 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Game 1 Chart 2015

Stats for Game 1:

Pitcher

IP

H

HR

ER

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

P Coke

0.2

0

0

0

1

2

1.01

.064

J Motte

1

0

0

0

0

0

0.26

.019

N Ramirez

1

1

0

0

0

1

0.23

.016

P Strop

1

1

0

0

0

2

0.19

.011

H Rondon

1

0

0

0

1

0

0.11

.006

J Lester

4.1

8

0

3

2

6

0.98

-.196

Total

9

10

0

3

4

11

0.69

-.081

 

Batter

AB

R

H

HR

RBI

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

A Alcantara

1

0

0

0

0

1

1

0.68

.038

D Ross

2

0

1

0

0

0

0

1.17

.031

C Coghlan

4

0

1

0

0

0

1

0.82

.010

T La Stella

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

1.19

.004

D Fowler

4

0

1

0

0

0

2

1.23

-.028

J Lester

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

1.4

-.037

S Castro

4

0

1

0

0

0

1

0.88

-.070

M Montero

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

1.46

-.082

J Soler

4

0

0

0

0

0

1

1.11

-.091

M Olt

4

0

0

0

0

0

2

0.84

-.092

A Rizzo

3

0

0

0

0

1

2

0.93

-.102

Total

32

0

5

0

0

2

12

1.02

-.419

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 - Phil Coke (.064). And that's how a reliever makes the top spot on the podium: come into a game in a tight spot and walk away with no additional damage done. Well, that and a lack of offense.
  • Hero - Arismendy Alcantara (.038). Late entrant to the game and didn't make an out until the end.
  • Sidekick - David Ross (.031). There were calls on Twitter for him to come out of the game for a different catcher after Lester got pulled. He doubled right after that. I have to admit; it made me giggle.

THE THREE GOATS:

  • Billy Goat - Jon Lester (-.196). Maybe it was too much adrenaline. Maybe it was just Opening Night jitters.
  • Goat - Anthony Rizzo (-.102). Earned a majority of his score as a victim of the wide strike zone.
  • Kid - Mike Olt (-.092). The same can't be said for Olt as he went down swinging twice.

RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 1:

Heroes

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Phil Coke

1

0

0

3

Arismendy Alcantara

0

1

0

2

David Ross

0

0

1

1

Goats

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Jon Lester

1

0

0

3

Anthony Rizzo

0

1

0

2

Mike Olt

0

0

1

1

Overall

Hero

Goat

+/-

Phil Coke

3

0

3

Arismendy Alcantara

2

0

2

David Ross

1

0

1

Mike Olt

0

1

-1

Anthony Rizzo

0

2

-2

Jon Lester

0

3

-3

With all of the Opening Night fanfare out of the way, Jon Lester and Anthony Rizzo can now focus on the task at hand, namely finding their way back over to the other podium.