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Karma is a thing. That or there was a large series of coincidences that occurred on the podiums on Friday.
I'm going with karma. Every once in a while balance needs to be restored.
Graphs for Game 10 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for Game 10:
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
N Ramirez |
1.2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.14 |
-.003 |
T Cahill |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.34 |
-.022 |
C Richard |
0.1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0.36 |
-.042 |
K Hendricks |
6 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
0.95 |
-.069 |
Total |
9 |
10 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
8 |
0.66 |
-.135 |
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
J Soler |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.94 |
.046 |
A Russell |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.67 |
.035 |
T La Stella |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.64 |
-.024 |
K Bryant |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.69 |
-.025 |
M Montero |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1.22 |
-.027 |
A Rizzo |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.52 |
-.031 |
J Heyward |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.73 |
-.036 |
B Zobrist |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.8 |
-.078 |
D Fowler |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1.19 |
-.094 |
K Hendricks |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.85 |
-.132 |
Total |
30 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
1.01 |
-.365 |
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 - Jorge Soler (.046). The fifth-inning walk was the big contributor, while the seventh-inning single provided the necessary boost for the top step. And at the end of the day, his net position on the plus/minus chart returned to zero.
- Hero - Addison Russell (.035). Also made his way to the Hero podium as a result of his efforts in the fifth inning, which also brought his net position on the plus/minus chart to... zero.
- Sidekick - Neil Ramirez (-.003). And yet the cosmic forces still weren't satisfied. Two games after thrusting Ramirez into the spotlight as the Anti-Goat, the forces return him to the fray once again, this time as the Anti-Hero. And his net position on the plus/minus chart? Zero.
THE THREE GOATS: For the second game in a row there's a bump off of a podium, this time the Goats, as the -.132 hitting of Kyle Hendricks is moved out.
- Billy Goat - Dexter Fowler (-.094). He did have the walk in the third, but two missed chances late in the game with runners on took him to the top of the Goats.
- Goat - Ben Zobrist (-.078). Victimized in the first inning by a great diving catch by Gerardo Parra.
- Kid - Kyle Hendricks (-.069). And in their final act of balance for the day, the cosmic forces find their way to get Hendricks back on the podium after letting him go for his subpar hitting day. It's all so very... weird. (Or it's just a lot of coincidences at an early point in the season, but hey... I've got a narrative to work here!)
RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 10: The top and bottom of the chart remain unchanged, while the middle of the chart bloats with players all making their way back to the starting line.
Heroes |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Miguel Montero |
1.5 |
1 |
0.5 |
7 |
Addison Russell |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
Jason Hammel |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Anthony Rizzo |
1 |
0.5 |
1.5 |
5.5 |
Jorge Soler |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
Dexter Fowler |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
Kris Bryant |
0.5 |
1.5 |
0 |
4.5 |
Jake Arrieta |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Jon Lester |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Kyle Hendricks |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Adam Warren |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Jason Heyward |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Matt Szczur |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Ben Zobrist |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Hector Rondon |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Justin Grimm |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Tommy La Stella |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Goats |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Jason Heyward |
1 |
3 |
0 |
9 |
Anthony Rizzo |
1.5 |
1.5 |
1 |
8.5 |
Addison Russell |
2 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
Ben Zobrist |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
Jorge Soler |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
Dexter Fowler |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
John Lackey |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Trevor Cahill |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Kris Bryant |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0 |
2.5 |
Matt Szczur |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Miguel Montero |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Pedro Strop |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Tommy La Stella |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Jon Lester |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Kyle Hendricks |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Kyle Schwarber |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
Jason Hammel |
6 |
0 |
6 |
Miguel Montero |
7 |
2 |
5 |
Jake Arrieta |
3 |
0 |
3 |
Kris Bryant |
4.5 |
2.5 |
2 |
Jon Lester |
3 |
1 |
2 |
Kyle Hendricks |
3 |
1 |
2 |
Adam Warren |
2 |
0 |
2 |
Dexter Fowler |
5 |
4 |
1 |
Hector Rondon |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Justin Grimm |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Addison Russell |
7 |
7 |
0 |
Jorge Soler |
5 |
5 |
0 |
Matt Szczur |
2 |
2 |
0 |
Neil Ramirez |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Tommy La Stella |
1 |
2 |
-1 |
Kyle Schwarber |
0 |
1 |
-1 |
Pedro Strop |
0 |
2 |
-2 |
Anthony Rizzo |
5.5 |
8.5 |
-3 |
John Lackey |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
Trevor Cahill |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
Ben Zobrist |
1 |
6 |
-5 |
Jason Heyward |
2 |
9 |
-7 |