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Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 18

Four consecutive hits to start the sixth inning, including a three-run homer, pushed John Lackey to the top of the Goat podium on Saturday night.

John Lackey in the early innings.  Before the ball of twine started to unravel.
John Lackey in the early innings. Before the ball of twine started to unravel.
David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

As John Lennon once said, "Mama always told me there'd be days like these."  Saturday night was one of those games where you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on.

Graphs for Game 18 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Game 18 Chart 2016

Stats for Game 18:

Pitcher

IP

H

HR

ER

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

C Richard

1

2

0

2

1

1

0.01

-.002

N Ramirez

1

2

1

2

2

3

0.07

-.020

T Cahill

0.1

3

2

3

0

0

0.38

-.150

J Lackey

5.2

7

1

6

1

5

1.05

-.430

Total

8

14

4

13

4

9

0.64

-.601

Batter

AB

R

H

HR

RBI

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

D Fowler

4

2

2

0

1

1

1

0.81

.250

A Russell

1

2

1

1

1

3

0

0.68

.178

K Bryant

5

0

1

0

1

0

1

1.06

.038

M Szczur

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.01

.000

J Soler

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.15

-.004

B Zobrist

4

0

1

0

1

1

0

0.78

-.012

M Montero

4

0

0

0

0

1

1

0.73

-.029

J Heyward

4

1

2

0

1

1

2

0.95

-.044

A Rizzo

3

0

0

0

0

1

1

0.94

-.057

J Baez

5

0

0

0

0

0

1

0.67

-.104

J Lackey

3

0

0

0

0

0

1

1.5

-.113

Total

35

5

7

1

5

8

8

0.84

.101

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: Only three players on the positive side of the WPA fence, and if you saw the game you probably already know who they are.

  • Superhero - Dexter Fowler (.250). A nice night overall for Fowler with his game-tying double pushing him to the top of the list.
  • Hero - Addison Russell (.178). Absolutely mashed his homer to left and had three walks -- one of the intentional variety -- to boot.
  • Sidekick - Kris Bryant (.038).  Gave the Cubs a temporary lead in the fifth, but his other four missed chances with runners on kept him from advancing any higher in the Heroes.

THE THREE GOATS: The bumps continue as the -.113 hitting from John Lackey is moved out.  It's the tenth podium bump so far this season; it took 29 games to reach the same mark in 2015.

  • Billy Goat - John Lackey (-.430). The first three innings looked great. After that, however...
  • Goat - Trevor Cahill (-.150). Pro tip: Don't throw water on a grease fire. The results are never good.
  • Kid - Javier Baez (-.104). Lots of groundouts on the night, including a 6-4-3 variety.

RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 18: Fowler works himself back to the positive side of the ledger, while Lackey falls to the back of the pack in the starting rotation.

Heroes

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Anthony Rizzo

2

2.5

1.5

12.5

Dexter Fowler

1

2

4

11

Jake Arrieta

3

0

0

9

Jason Hammel

3

0

0

9

Jon Lester

3

0

0

9

Addison Russell

1

3

0

9

Jorge Soler

1

1

3

8

Kris Bryant

0.5

2.5

1

7.5

Miguel Montero

1.5

1

0.5

7

Adam Warren

0

2

0

4

Jason Heyward

0

2

0

4

John Lackey

1

0

0

3

Kyle Hendricks

1

0

0

3

Matt Szczur

0

1

0

2

Pedro Strop

0

1

0

2

Ben Zobrist

0

0

2

2

Hector Rondon

0

0

2

2

David Ross

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

Addison Russell

5

0

2

17

Jason Heyward

2

5

0

16

Kris Bryant

0.5

4.5

0

10.5

Dexter Fowler

3

0

1

10

Ben Zobrist

1

2

3

10

Anthony Rizzo

1.5

1.5

1

8.5

John Lackey

2

0

0

6

Jorge Soler

1

1

1

6

Trevor Cahill

1

1

0

5

Kyle Hendricks

1

0

1

4

Miguel Montero

0

1

1

3

Matt Szczur

0

1

0

2

Pedro Strop

0

1

0

2

Tommy La Stella

0

0

2

2

David Ross

0

0

1

1

Javier Baez

0

0

1

1

Jon Lester

0

0

1

1

Kyle Schwarber

0

0

1

1

Neil Ramirez

0

0

1

1

Travis Wood

0

0

1

1

Overall

Hero

Goat

+/-

Jake Arrieta

9

0

9

Jason Hammel

9

0

9

Jon Lester

9

1

8

Anthony Rizzo

12.5

8.5

4

Miguel Montero

7

3

4

Adam Warren

4

0

4

Jorge Soler

8

6

2

Hector Rondon

2

0

2

Dexter Fowler

11

10

1

Justin Grimm

1

0

1

Matt Szczur

2

2

0

Pedro Strop

2

2

0

David Ross

1

1

0

Neil Ramirez

1

1

0

Kyle Hendricks

3

4

-1

Tommy La Stella

1

2

-1

Javier Baez

0

1

-1

Kyle Schwarber

0

1

-1

Travis Wood

0

1

-1

Kris Bryant

7.5

10.5

-3

John Lackey

3

6

-3

Trevor Cahill

0

5

-5

Addison Russell

9

17

-8

Ben Zobrist

2

10

-8

Jason Heyward

4

16

-12