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Cubs Heroes and Goats: Games 127 & 128

Here's the recap of the Friday and Saturday games against the Dodgers.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

As has been the case with previous two-game recaps, I won't be including each game's stats here in the interest of keeping the piece a bit shorter. The stats can can be found at the included Fangraphs links for those that are interested.

Also, no polls today, but feel free to leave your votes in the comments.

Graphs for Game 127 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Game 127 Chart 2015

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, GAME 127:

  • Superhero - Anthony Rizzo (.095). Breaks through the plus-50 barrier in grand fashion with his blast to center.
  • Hero - Matt Szczur (.023). Bonus points for being the only Cub to reach base twice against Clayton Kershaw. (No, there are not actually bonus points.)
  • Sidekick - Clayton Richard (.009). And once again pitching a scoreless inning in a three-run deficit earns a podium spot.

THE THREE GOATS, GAME 127:

  • Billy Goat - Jason Hammel (-.172). Everything was good until that sixth inning where everyone forgot how to throw the ball.
  • Goat - Miguel Montero (-.080). Including him, but he's not here because of his error. Although it's probably karma evening things out.
  • Kid - Chris Denorfia (-.077). Hard to believe, but he and Montero were the only two batters to leave a man on base. Well, against Kershaw maybe it's not as hard to believe.

And, for Saturday's game...

Graphs for Game 128 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Game 128 Chart 2015

THE THREE HEROES, GAME 128:

  • Superhero - Kris Bryant (.082). Earned more points on the night for advancing on a wild pitch and getting plunked than he did for actually hitting the ball, but sometimes that's the way things work out. And then you send out a couple of fruit baskets instead of one.
  • Hero - Tommy La Stella (.067). Primarily due to his table-setting effort in the fifth which was followed by Mat Latos trying to convince everyone that he wasn't on the mound when he faked to nobody in particular.
  • Sidekick - Miguel Montero (.040). This is the first time in longer than I can remember that two podium spots were earned in fruit-basket fashion, as Montero ends up here also as a result of getting hit by Jim Johnson.

THE THREE GOATS, GAME 128:

  • Billy Goat - Jon Lester (-.357). Oh, that seventh inning. That dreadful, dreadful seventh.
  • Goat - Kyle Schwarber (-.119). Had runners on in all five of his plate appearances but could only muster up a walk.
  • Kid - Anthony Rizzo (-.114). For those of you who might be asking at this point "Wait, where the heck is Addison Russell??"... he avoided the Goats by way of the previously mentioned balk, leaving Rizzo's 0-for-4 to take the spot in his place.
RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 128 ("x" indicates player not on active roster):
Bryant closes back to within six points of second place, while Rizzo finally enjoys the view from the other side of the plus-50 mark.

Heroes

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Anthony Rizzo

15

22.5

7.5

97.5

Kris Bryant

15

11

7

74

Dexter Fowler

10

5

13

53

Jake Arrieta

13.5

4

0.5

49

x-Jorge Soler

6

11

3

43

Miguel Montero

9.5

5.5

3

42.5

Chris Coghlan

8

3

8

38

Starlin Castro

4

7

11

37

Addison Russell

6

5.5

7.5

36.5

Jon Lester

7

4

2

31

Jason Hammel

7

4

0

29

Kyle Schwarber

7

2

4

29

Hector Rondon

0

9

8.5

26.5

Travis Wood

2

6

3.5

21.5

Kyle Hendricks

5

1

2

19

Jonathan Herrera

1

5

2

15

Pedro Strop

1

1

8.5

13.5

Matt Szczur

2

2

2.5

12.5

Chris Denorfia

1

2

4.5

11.5

x-Jason Motte

0

2.5

5.5

10.5

Justin Grimm

0

2

6.5

10.5

Zac Rosscup

2

0

3.5

9.5

James Russell

0

3

1.5

7.5

x-Junior Lake

1

1

1

6

Clayton Richard

1

0

3

6

x-Tsuyoshi Wada

1

1

0

5

x-Taylor Teagarden

1

1

0

5

Tommy La Stella

1

1

0

5

x-Brian Schlitter

0

2

1

5

x-Phil Coke

1

0

0.5

3.5

x-Edwin Jackson

0

1

1

3

Dan Haren

0

1

0

2

x-Welington Castillo

0

1

0

2

x-Arismendy Alcantara

0

1

0

2

x-David Ross

0

0

2

2

x-Mike Baxter

0

0

1.5

1.5

Tommy Hunter

0

0

1

1

x-Neil Ramirez

0

0

1

1

x-Yoervis Medina

0

0

1

1

Goats

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Starlin Castro

10

9

14

62

Dexter Fowler

9

8.5

8.5

52.5

x-Jorge Soler

6

12

10

52

Addison Russell

2

17

9

49

Kris Bryant

7

9

8

47

Anthony Rizzo

7

9

7

46

Chris Coghlan

3

9

15

42

Miguel Montero

3

8

8

33

Kyle Hendricks

9

2

1

32

Pedro Strop

8

2

0

28

Kyle Schwarber

3

6

4

25

Jon Lester

7

1

1

24

Jason Hammel

5

4

0

23

Chris Denorfia

3

3

7

22

x-David Ross

2

4.5

5.5

20.5

Hector Rondon

5

2

0

19

Justin Grimm

2

4

3

17

Jake Arrieta

5

0

1

16

Travis Wood

3

2

3

16

Jonathan Herrera

1

2

6

13

x-Tsuyoshi Wada

4

0

0

12

Zac Rosscup

3

1

1

12

x-Jason Motte

1

4

0

11

x-Brian Schlitter

3

0

1

10

Dan Haren

2

1

1

9

x-Edwin Jackson

2

1

0

8

x-Mike Baxter

2

1

0

8

x-Welington Castillo

1

1

2

7

x-Rafael Soriano

2

0

0

6

x-Dallas Beeler

2

0

0

6

James Russell

1

1

0

5

x-Junior Lake

1

0

2

5

Clayton Richard

0

2

1

5

Matt Szczur

0

1

3

5

x-Mike Olt

1

0

1

4

Tommy Hunter

1

0

1

4

x-Donn Roach

1

0

0

3

x-Gonzalez Germen

1

0

0

3

x-Phil Coke

0

1

1

3

Tommy La Stella

0

0

1

1

x-Arismendy Alcantara

0

0

1

1

x-Neil Ramirez

0

0

1

1

Overall

Hero

Goat

+/-

Anthony Rizzo

97.5

46

51.5

Jake Arrieta

49

16

33

Kris Bryant

74

47

27

Miguel Montero

42.5

33

9.5

Hector Rondon

26.5

19

7.5

Matt Szczur

12.5

5

7.5

Jon Lester

31

24

7

Jason Hammel

29

23

6

Travis Wood

21.5

16

5.5

x-Taylor Teagarden

5

0

5

Kyle Schwarber

29

25

4

Tommy La Stella

5

1

4

James Russell

7.5

5

2.5

Jonathan Herrera

15

13

2

x-Junior Lake

6

5

1

Clayton Richard

6

5

1

x-Arismendy Alcantara

2

1

1

x-Yoervis Medina

1

0

1

Dexter Fowler

53

52.5

0.5

x-Phil Coke

3.5

3

0.5

x-Neil Ramirez

1

1

0

x-Jason Motte

10.5

11

-0.5

Zac Rosscup

9.5

12

-2.5

Tommy Hunter

1

4

-3

x-Donn Roach

0

3

-3

x-Gonzalez Germen

0

3

-3

Chris Coghlan

38

42

-4

x-Mike Olt

0

4

-4

x-Brian Schlitter

5

10

-5

x-Edwin Jackson

3

8

-5

x-Welington Castillo

2

7

-5

x-Dallas Beeler

0

6

-6

x-Rafael Soriano

0

6

-6

Justin Grimm

10.5

17

-6.5

x-Mike Baxter

1.5

8

-6.5

x-Tsuyoshi Wada

5

12

-7

Dan Haren

2

9

-7

x-Jorge Soler

43

52

-9

Chris Denorfia

11.5

22

-10.5

Addison Russell

36.5

49

-12.5

Kyle Hendricks

19

32

-13

Pedro Strop

13.5

28

-14.5

x-David Ross

2

20.5

-18.5

Starlin Castro

37

62

-25