2023 Cubs Heroes & Goats: Game 65

It was a really good day to have a family commitment that kept me from having much awareness of this game. It isn’t often that the first two hitters in the other team’s lineup drive in a total of eight runs. It isn’t often that the team up 10 runs uses a position player to throw an inning. There is something insulting about that. When you are down 10 runs, it’s kind of a white flag thing. When you are up 10 runs, it feels like: “You are so bad, you couldn’t even come back against a position player.” Your mileage may vary, but I don’t love it.

As with so many of the other things old baseball fans get ruffled about, don’t be in that situation and it won’t happen. If the Cubs had fielded a vaguely competitive team on Sunday, they wouldn’t have been down 10. Instead, the Cubs threw six pitchers and four of them gave up runs. All of them gave up hits. They managed just one clean inning (the second).

With the Cubs being embarrassed on the field Sunday afternoon, I find it an opportune time to point out that they should be embarrassed off the field too. Marcus Stroman took to Twitter to point out that he and his representatives have reached out to the Cubs and no extension talks are ongoing. I have no problem with the players using social media to apply a little pressure to the team. I seem to recall Ian Happ had a similar situation in April and there was a quick exception to the in-season negotiating embargo. The Cubs had better go against the grain a second time.

Suffice is to say that the Cubs can’t let Stroman walk without getting something in return. Al will have much more to say later today on what is sure to be an active topic here on Bleed Cubbie Blue with an off day ahead.

Heavy sigh. There was precious little to cheer about in a 13-3 loss, but let’s find three positives.

1. Nico had two hits, drove in a run and played a little shortstop.
2. Mike Tauchman had a double and drew a walk. The man has to have played his way into a bench role and the designated hitter mix, right?
3. Christopher Morel had a single, a walk and scored a run. He also played a little second base. Somewhere there are some fantasy baseball leagues with minimum appearance requirement who are fist pumping over a potentially productive player having positional versatility.

Game 65, June 11: Giants 13, Cubs 3 (28-37)

Fangraphs

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Mike Tauchman (.176). 1-4, 2B, BB
• Hero: Yan Gomes (.112). 1-3, RBI, R, K
• Sidekick: Christopher Morel/Dansby Swanson (.019). Morel: 1-4, BB, R; Swanson: 1-4

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Hayden Wesneski (-.360). 3IP, 15 batters, 4H, BB, 5R, 4K, HBP (L 2-3)
• Goat/Kid: Nico Hoerner/Ian Happ (-.108). Hoerner: 2-5, RBI, 2K; Happ: 0-5, K

WPA Play of the Game: The game was tied when Joc Pederson batted with a runner on second and one out. He hit his second homer of the game and this one was over. (.182)

*Cubs Play of the Game: Mike Tauchman batted with runners on the corners and two outs, the Cubs down two. He hit a grounder to short. By the time Casey Schmidt was done with the play, a run had scored and the Cubs had runners at second and third. (.110)

Yesterday’s Winner: Kyle Hendricks - 192 out of 200 votes (Superhero is 45-19)

Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Marcus Stroman +20
• Adbert Alzolay +11
• Justin Steele +10
• Ian Happ +9.5
• Dansby Swanson/Mike Tauchman: +9
• Michael Fulmer -8
• Jameson Taillon -10
• Patrick Wisdom -11
• Nico Hoerner -12
• Trey Mancini -14

Up Next: The Cubs return to Chicago for a much needed day off. Tuesday night, the Cubs host the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates (34-30). I’m relatively certain I’ve never typed those words. The Cubs start ex-Pirate Jameson Taillon (1-4, 7.02, 42⅓ IP). Taillon has had a miserable start to his time as a Cub. He has only two starts where he allowed fewer than three runs. He’s pitched five or more innings four times in 10 tries. The three-run mark is significant. The Cubs are 4-33 when they allow three or more runs. It’s unsurprising, then, that the Cubs are 1-9 in games started by Taillon.

The Pirates start 24-year-old righty Luis Ortiz (1-2, 4.23, 27⅔ IP). He’ll be making his sixth start of the year and the 10th of his career. In his last start, he threw five innings and allowed 10 hits and two walks to the A’s. He struck out one batter. Amazingly, he only allowed two runs. Since it only took a few extra clicks, the Pirates are 2-3 when Ortiz starts and 2-4 when he pitches. The Pirates have only scored 2.86 runs on average when he starts this year. But they’ve lost in general because Ortiz hasn’t been very good. He’s allowed 17 runs (13 earned) in those 27⅔ innings.