Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Braves Sunday Game ThreadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2016-05-01T17:35:07-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/112466632016-05-01T17:35:07-05:002016-05-01T17:35:07-05:00Braves 4, Cubs 3: You Can't Win 'Em All
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<figcaption>David Banks/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs lost a tough one on another cold afternoon at Wrigley.</p> <p>It's an old saying, but bears repeating now: Even the best teams are going to lose a third of their games, and even the worst will win a third of theirs.</p>
<p>That's the takeaway for me from Sunday's <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2016_05_01_atlmlb_chnmlb_1" target="_blank">4-3, 10-inning Cubs loss to the Braves</a>, their first extra-inning affair of 2016, one of that "third" that a good team like the Cubs will lose.</p>
<p>Give the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> credit. <span>Julio Teheran</span> had them flailing away for seven innings; through seven the Cubs managed just two singles, a walk and a hit batsman and had just two runners past first base, both in the first inning when <span>Dexter Fowler</span> led off with a single and went to second on a comebacker. One out later, <span>Anthony Rizzo</span> walked and he and Fowler executed a double steal, and if <span>Ben Zobrist</span> had come through we're probably talking about a different game here. But Zobrist was called out on strikes, and Teheran wasn't in trouble again.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <span>John Lackey</span> was pretty much matching Teheran. He allowed just one baserunner, on a walk, through four innings. But a leadoff double, a groundout and a sacrifice fly gave the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> a 1-0 lead in the fifth.</p>
<p>The key inning was the sixth. A single, a walk and a sacrifice gave the Braves runners on second and third with one out. <span>Freddie Freeman</span> was intentionally walked, the right move in my view, and <span>Adonis Garcia</span> hit what could have been an inning-ending double-play ball to Addison Russell. Unfortunately, Russell booted it; a run scored, and a second run scored in the inning before a tag play ended it with the Braves ahead 3-0.</p>
<p>One of the best things about this year's Cubs team is that even when they seem utterly defeated, they come back. <span>Matt Szczur</span> laid down a terrific bunt for a pinch single in the eighth, advanced to third on a double by Dexter Fowler, and scored on a groundout. <span>Kris Bryant</span> singled in Fowler to make it 3-2.</p>
<p>Fowler got tagged hard as he slid into second on that double and had to be looked over by the training staff as he got up slowly, but in the end, he seemed fine for the rest of the game.</p>
<p><span>Travis Wood</span> and <span>Justin Grimm</span> kept the Braves off the board in the ninth, and that put the Cubs to work again off ex-Cub Arodys Vizcaino. Zobrist worked a walk and took third when Vizcaino threw an attempted pickoff throw in the general direction of the Atlanta bullpen. One out later, <a href="http://m.mlb.com/video/v646875183/?c_id=mlb" target="_blank">Russell singled him in [VIDEO]</a>. That was a real nice piece of hitting, inside-outing the ball into right field on an 0-2 pitch. Russell represented the winning run on base with one out, but <span>Tim Federowicz</span> flied to center and <span>Jorge Soler</span>, perhaps a bit impatient to be the game's hero, grounded to short on the first pitch he saw.</p>
<p>On to extras the game went, and <span>Hector Rondon</span>, who had been unscored-upon so far this year, gave up the eventual game-winner. A one-out single by <span>Daniel Castro</span> was followed by a single just out of the reach of Russell, who had run toward second on the pitch, as Castro was running. It was a nice piece of hit-and-run by the Braves. <span>Nick Markakis</span> hit a sacrifice fly to give the Braves the lead.</p>
<p>Even then, the Cubs got the potential tying run on base on a two-out walk to Bryant in the bottom of the 10th, but Anthony Rizzo flied deep to left to end it.</p>
<p>As I said, give the Cubs credit for coming back to tie this one. Lesser teams wouldn't have even been able to do that. Another good thing about this game: Lackey threw a very, very nice game, allowing just three hits and three walks and two earned runs. It was his best outing as a Cub. And as the headline says: you can't win 'em all. Good news for the Cubs: the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Reds</a> ended the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a>' six-game winning streak Sunday afternoon, so the Cubs maintain their three-game lead over Pittsburgh in the N.L. Central.</p>
<p>A couple of odd notes about this game. You might have seen these guys, all dressed like the 1907 <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a> Cubs:</p>
<p><iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=646093683&topic_id=6479266&width=600&height=336&property=mlb" frameborder="0" height="336" width="600">Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe></p>
<p>I saw them in the bleachers. There were nine of them in all, a full team's worth. You can't really see this too well on the video, but they were all wearing makeup, white makeup on their faces and black around their eyes. I think they were trying for the "old-timey photo" look, but instead it made them look like zombie Cubs. It was ... weird.</p>
<p>Also, the Cubs won a replay review on this attempt by Smith to stretch a double into a triple in the eighth:</p>
<p><iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=646595083&topic_id=63817564&width=600&height=336&property=mlb" frameborder="0" height="336" width="600">Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe></p>
<p>Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez challenged that call and it ended up as "call stands," though it seemed pretty clear from the video shown on the Wrigley video boards that <span>Tommy La Stella</span> got his glove on Smith's arm just before Smith's hand touched third base. At the time the play seemed important; in the end it was just a nice defensive relay from Bryant to Russell to TLS.</p>
<p>Even though there were a fair number of no-shows from the announced total of tickets sold of 40,164, the crowd was loud and into the game as the Cubs rallied in the eighth and ninth, despite the November-style cold. I'm sure we'd all accept some of that kind of cold sometime about six months from now.</p>
<p><b>Cubs walk watch:</b> three walks Sunday brought the season total to 124, an average of 5.39 per game. Pace: 873.</p>
<p>As I mentioned yesterday, the two rainouts on this homestand allowed the Cubs to set up their top three starters to go against the Pirates on a brief three-game road trip starting Monday night. <span>Jason Hammel</span> gets the call in the series opener against <span>Gerrit Cole</span>. Should be fun.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2016/5/1/11552984/cubs-braves-recap-addison-russell-hector-rondon-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2016-05-01T16:05:04-05:002016-05-01T16:05:04-05:00Overflow Thread 3: Cubs vs. Braves, Sunday 5/1
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<figcaption>David Banks-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2016/5/1/11493960/overflow-thread-3-cubs-vs-braves-sunday-5-1-1-20-ctAl Yellon2016-05-01T15:20:02-05:002016-05-01T15:20:02-05:00Overflow Thread 2: Cubs vs. Braves, Saturday 4/30
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2016/5/1/11493952/overflow-thread-2-cubs-vs-braves-sunday-5-1-1-20-ctAl Yellon2016-05-01T14:20:02-05:002016-05-01T14:20:02-05:00Overflow Thread 1: Cubs vs. Braves, Sunday 5/1
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<figcaption>David Banks-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2016/5/1/11493950/overflow-thread-1-cubs-vs-braves-sunday-5-1-1-20-ctAl Yellon2016-05-01T11:30:03-05:002016-05-01T11:30:03-05:00Cubs vs. Braves Preview, Sunday 5/1, 1:20 CT
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<figcaption>David Banks-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs go for their fifth straight win.</p> <p>If it seems to you as if the Cubs haven't played much baseball lately, your feeling is correct.</p>
<p>With an off day and two rainouts this past week, the Cubs have played just three games since last Sunday. With wins in all of those plus last Sunday in Cincinnati, they're riding a four-game winning streak coming into the final game of this abbreviated two-game series against the Braves, who they'll see again in Atlanta in June, and then most likely for a makeup of Saturday's rainout in July (though no official makeup date has been set).</p>
<p>The rainout means that the Cubs, along with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.amazinavenue.com/">Mets</a>, have played the fewest games in the major leagues at this date -- 22. Most teams are at 23 or 24 games, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> have played the most with 26. This doesn't mean much except for having to catch up over the next few months.</p>
<p>It's not going to be real nice weatherwise today -- <a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-87.65581945408404&lat=41.948407413658146" target="_blank">cloudy, high in the mid 40s</a> -- but at least the rain has exited the Chicago area (until late in the day, according to that forecast), so they'll get this one in.</p>
<p>Here are today's particulars.</p>
<p><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> lineup:</p>
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<pre>Fowler CF, Heyward RF, Bryant LF, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist 2B, La Stella 3B, Russell SS, Federowicz C, Lackey P </pre>
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<p>Braves lineup:</p>
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<pre>Markakis RF, Aybar SS, Freeman 1B, Garcia LF, Johnson 2B, Flowers C, Peterson 3B, Teheran P, Smith CF</pre>
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<span> </span>
<h2><span>John Lackey</span></h2>
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<span> </span>
<h2><span>Julio Teheran</span></h2>
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<p>John Lackey has made two good starts and two not-so-good ones this year, so his results so far as a Cub are mediocre (4.97 ERA, although with a 3.20 FIP). He faced the Braves just once last year, and it was kind of a throwaway appearance, four innings as a playoff tuneup <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL201510041.shtml" target="_blank">on the last day of the regular season</a>. It's interesting to note that Lackey had a similar April for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> last year (4.21 ERA, two decent starts, two mediocre ones) before having a much better May (1.89 ERA). That, perhaps, is a good sign.</p>
<p>Julio Teheran, once one of baseball's top pitching prospects, has really not pitched well since the beginning of 2015. This year: two decent starts, one mediocre, two pretty bad outings, and 11 walks and five home runs allowed in 29â…“ innings. The Cubs got to him pretty well <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL201507170.shtml" target="_blank">July 17, 2015</a> in Atlanta, knocking him out in the fifth inning after 90 pitches. This year's patient Cubs should be able to do the same.</p>
<p>Today's game is on WGN.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp?ymd=20140401#date=5/1/2016">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2016_05_01_atlmlb_chnmlb_1#game=2016_05_01_atlmlb_chnmlb_1,game_state=Live">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/CHC.shtml">Baseball-reference.com game preview</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/507097/pregame">SB Nation game preview</a></p>
<p>Please visit our SB Nation <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> site <a target="_blank" href="http://www.talkingchop.com">Talking Chop</a>. If you do go there to interact with Braves fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.</p>
<p>The 2016 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used at the end of 2015. Here's how it works.</p>
<p>You'll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).</p>
<p>At the same time, a StoryStreamâ„¢ containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.</p>
<p>You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in <a href="http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/game-threads">this section link</a>). They will also appear in the game's StoryStreamâ„¢ as noted above.</p>
<p>The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.</p>
<p>Discuss amongst yourselves.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2016/5/1/11482582/chicago-cubs-atlanta-braves-preview-lineupsAl Yellon