Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Cardinals Sunday game threadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2018-07-23T10:00:06-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/173416852018-07-23T10:00:06-05:002018-07-23T10:00:06-05:002018 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 98
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<figcaption>Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Cubs rally from early deficit for 7-2 win and take three of five from the Cardinals.</p> <p id="B1fXzm">After a lot of driving, getting rained on for days and watching a lot of softball, I’m glad to be back at home and hope to get back to normal. Thanks all of you for your patience over the weekend as my articles had to be a little more bare bones than usual. Fortunately, while I was otherwise occupied, the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> were largely taking care of business. Sure, given that the Cubs were at home and the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> have been backsliding for a while, it would have been nice to get out with four games and certainly the second half of the doubleheader Saturday looked winnable, but sweeping double headers is hard. Winning three of five is a perfectly good recipe for success. I can all but guarantee if the Cubs could lock in winning three of five from here out that they’d win the division and probably have a coin-flip at worst for the best record in the National League. </p>
<p id="Fh0PhX">On Sunday, <span>Jose Quintana</span> turned in a strong performance. He threw seven inning and allowed six hits and four walks. He struck out six and only allowed two runs. That’s a strong performance. I’ll never understand why a large portion of Cub nation looks at Jose Quintana as less than he actually is. I realize you can’t just lop off the two worst starts of a player’s whole season and ignore them. But really, one of the two games was pitched in the most brutal conditions I can remember a game played in. When Jose Quintana pitches against anyone other than the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a>, he has 97⅔ innings and 35 runs allowed (32 earned). That’s a 2.95 ERA. That would slot in as the 14th-best ERA in baseball, best on the Cubs and sixth in the National League. </p>
<p id="KohZGy">As usual, the offense took a little while to get going. But once they did get going, they just kept tacking on runs. The Cubs moved to 46-10 when scoring at least four runs. Coupled with the <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> loss, the Cubs improved to a 3½-game lead in the division. The Cubs continue to have three fewer losses than any team in the National League and continue to have the highest projected win total in the National League. So five games post All-Star Break, all systems are go. </p>
<p id="WNF5kE">With that, we turn our attention to yesterday’s game as we look at what WPA had to say about Heroes and Goats. As always the Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA (Win Probability Added — <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/3/28/17159170/cubs-heroes-and-goats-2018-season-primer">here’s a good explanation of how WPA works</a>) and are not in any way subjective. Many days WPA will not tell the story of what happened, but often it can give at least a glimpse to who rose to the occasion in a high leverage moment or who didn’t get the job done in that moment. Also note, for the purposes of Heroes and Goats, we ignore the results of pitchers while they are batting and hitters while they are pitching. With that, we get to the results.</p>
<p id="AllmNq"><strong>Game 98, July 22 - Cubs rally back from early deficit for 7-2 win and take three of five (58-40)</strong></p>
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<iframe src="https://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=wins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2018-07-22&team=Cubs&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width="450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2018-07-22&team=Cubs&dh=0&season=2018">FanGraphs</a></span>
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<p id="q11Q0S"><strong>THE THREE HEROES:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="eM5IP9">
<strong>Superhero - </strong>Jose Quintana (.222). As we discussed above, he threw seven innings, allowing six hits, four walks, and two runs while striking out six. </li>
<li id="pcv45S">
<strong>Hero - </strong><span>Kyle Schwarber</span> (.113). Kyle’s sixth inning solo home-run gave the Cubs their first lead of the day at 3-2. It was his only hit on the day in four at bats.</li>
<li id="wr9FEr">
<strong>Sidekick - </strong><span>Willson Contreras</span> (.099). Willson had two hits, two RBI and a run scored on the day in four at bats. His RBI single in the fourth tied the game at 2-2. He then added an RBI single in the eighth. </li>
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<p id="b13GNq"><strong>THE THREE GOATS: </strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="MmO3Ub">
<strong>Billy Goat - </strong><span>Jason Heyward</span> (-.098). Jason hasn’t appeared a lot down here over the last few months, but despite two walks and a run scored in five plate appearances, today he lands in the bottom spot. The reason was his double play grounder in the fifth with one out and runners on first and second. (-.115)</li>
<li id="FwbUHq">
<strong>Goat - </strong><span>Javier Baez</span> (-.089). With Javy and Jason in the middle of the lineup, the two of them get a lot of opportunities to be in Heroes and Goats and so it seems I’m writing about the two of them more days than not. Javy had one hit in five at bats on Sunday. </li>
<li id="y6kTup">
<strong>Sidekick - </strong><span>Tommy La Stella</span> (-.028). Tommy was retired as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning after <span>Addison Russell</span> had walked to start the inning.</li>
</ul>
<p id="PdLqiB"><strong>WPA Play of the Game: </strong><span>Kyle Schwarber</span> came to the plate with two outs in the sixth and the bases empty with the score tied 2-2. He homered to give the Cubs the lead. (.183)</p>
<p id="BEi95M">*Cardinals Play of the Game: With one out and a runner on first, Yairo Muniz delivered an RBI double to extend the Cardinals lead to 2-0. (.119)</p>
<p id="BgpckJ"><strong>Cumulative Leaders:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="35krpo">
<strong>Superhero - </strong>Javier Baez 19.5</li>
<li id="SwcBrB">
<strong>Hero - </strong><span>Brandon Morrow</span> 13</li>
<li id="vyPfzG">
<strong>Sidekick - </strong><span>Pedro Strop</span> 11</li>
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<p id="qLkfSX"><strong>Up Next: </strong>The <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Arizona Diamondbacks</a> come in for a four-game set. This is the first time these two teams have met in 2018. The Diamondbacks were one of the best teams in baseball in the early going, but they have cooled off considerably. Their 54-46 record is respectable enough and has them in second place, just 1½ games behind the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a>. However, they are just 4-6 in their last 10, 8-12 in their last 20 and 15-15 in their last 30. So this is not a team setting the league on fire anymore. In fact, they are largely just treading water. They just dropped two of three at home to the <a href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a>. Prior to that, they had a 3-3 road trip that involved winning two of three in Atlanta and losing two of three in Colorado. </p>
<p id="rkMzRY">The Cubs will send <span>Luke Farrell</span> to the mound for his second start of the season. Overall on the season he is 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA. As a starter, though, the numbers are much worse. He started against the <a href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Reds</a> on June 23 and only last 2⅔ innings and allowed two hits, two walks and three runs. he did strike out four. With six home runs allowed in 28 innings, that’s the biggest Achilles heel. He has also walked 14 men and allowed 24 hits. On the positive side, he’s struck out 37. The Cubs are going to hope they can get four or five innings out of him with the game still within reach. </p>
<p id="QA4edu">The Diamondbacks will counter with Patrick Corbin. Patrick is having a very nice season with a 6-4 record and a 3.24 ERA. Over his last seven starts he’s backsliding a bit, with an 0-2 record and a 3.98 ERA. He last recorded a win on June 5. The lack of wins isn’t his fault though. In his last two June starts and his first July start, he threw 19 innings, allowed 13 hits, three walks and two runs while striking out 23. So this is still a very strong pitcher, despite the lack of wins. That stretch should easily produce two or three wins. Last time out, the Braves scored four on him in six innings. He only allowed six hits and one walk, but we know full well how pesky those Braves can be. Patrick has aside from one start pitched very well against the Cubs. Last year he started twice against the Cubs. He threw a total of 9⅔ innings and allowed 15 hits, eight runs (seven earned) and walked two. Almost all of that damage came in a start last August 1 at Wrigley. Aside from that start, Patrick is 4-1 with a 4.40 ERA dating all the way back to 2013 against the Cubs. Patrick has been hit much harder this year by lefthanded hitters (.829 OPS) than righthanded (.545) — a reverse split from a lefthanded pitcher. Expect Joe to utilize an almost entirely lefthanded lineup today, possibly including <span>Victor Caratini</span> behind the plate.</p>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/7/23/17602196/2018-cubs-heroes-and-goats-game-98Thomas Smith2018-07-22T17:35:27-05:002018-07-22T17:35:27-05:00Cubs 7, Cardinals 2: Didn’t we see this game yesterday?
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<figcaption>Good work, Q! | Photo by David Banks/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs came from behind again and defeated the Cardinals to win the series.</p> <p id="h6RmdJ">Early lead for St. Louis? Check.</p>
<p id="zJs4tZ">Come-from-behind rally to take a 3-2 lead? Check.</p>
<p id="76Sjsf">Putting the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> away with a crooked number in the late innings? Check.</p>
<p id="cRz09O">Almost all of those things happened in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader; all of them did at some point over the weekend. The <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> nearly matched all of them Sunday and <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2018_07_22_slnmlb_chnmlb_1">won by the same score, 7-2</a>, taking the series from the Cardinals three games to two.</p>
<p id="bPdjFC"><span>Matt Carpenter</span>, who was on a home run streak (note the past tense!), started the game with a bunt single down the third-base line. Give the guy credit, he did that well. <span>Yadier Molina</span> followed with a double that bounced into the seats, temporarily depriving the Cardinals of a run, but a sac fly by <span>Paul DeJong</span> gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals scored first in every game of the series — except the 7-2 Cubs win in Game 1 of the doubleheader.</p>
<p id="vNC535">After the sac fly, Quintana settled down, and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second by striking out Molina.</p>
<p id="4SOBs1">Can I just say right here how satisfying it is to see Molina strike out in a situation like that?</p>
<p id="DWjJiw">Q did allow another run after a walk in the fourth inning that gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.</p>
<p id="MSl992">But then the Cubs came right back. <span>Jason Heyward</span> walked leading off the bottom of the fourth. One out later a double by <span>Ian Happ</span> scored J-Hey, and another out later a single by <span>Willson Contreras</span> tied the game at 2.</p>
<p id="IE932C">Happ helped the team out defensively with a nice snag of a long fly ball by DeJong in the fifth with a runner on first, and then Quintana induced a double-play ball to end that inning.</p>
<p id="tywNS7">The game remained tied through the top of the sixth, and then with two out in the sixth, <span>Kyle Schwarber</span> <a href="https://www.mlb.com/video/schwarbers-solo-home-run/c-2296961783">untied it [VIDEO]</a>.</p>
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<p id="dyJhg7">Kyle’s 19th of the year tied him with <span>Javier Baez</span> for the team lead and gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead. And:</p>
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<p lang="de" dir="ltr">Kyle Schwarber HR <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> <a href="https://t.co/ie1iyHldvK">pic.twitter.com/ie1iyHldvK</a></p>— Al Yellon (@bleedcubbieblue) <a href="https://twitter.com/bleedcubbieblue/status/1021129044442730497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
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<p id="D6pRnI">That’s a high launch angle for a ball on another day when the wind was howling out of the north at 17 miles per hour, a day that felt more like September than July. The ball landed in the first row in right-center; on another day it might have gone several rows deep.</p>
<p id="xsTOW1">Quintana had thrown 111 pitches through six innings, so it was a bit of a surprise to see him come out for the seventh, especially since <span>Jesse Chavez</span> had been warming up and appeared to be ready to come in. I figured Q was just in the game to face Carpenter, and the Cubs put together this unusual defensive alignment:</p>
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<p lang="da" dir="ltr">Kris Bryant, left center fielder <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> <a href="https://t.co/FQAXxwubWf">pic.twitter.com/FQAXxwubWf</a></p>— Al Yellon (@bleedcubbieblue) <a href="https://twitter.com/bleedcubbieblue/status/1021130055261532162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
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<p id="TbQ1dE">That’s Schwarber, <span>Kris Bryant</span>, Happ and Heyward, from right to left in the photo, left to right in the outfield, and it left <span>Addison Russell</span> alone on the left side of the infield. Fortunately, Baez was positioned perfectly on the right side, and Carpenter grounded right to him.</p>
<p id="rjOH0n">So now Chavez is certainly coming in, correct? To face righthanded hitters Molina and DeJong?</p>
<p id="uBDPW4">Nope. Q stayed in, and got Molina to hit a line drive right to Schwarber and DeJong to hit an infield popup to <span>Anthony Rizzo</span>. 121 pitches — a lot, but if you look at his game logs from his last full year with the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a>, 2016, he threw 110 or more pitches seven times in 32 starts. Maybe Joe’s been taking him out of games too early. Q threw seven strong innings, allowing two runs. He walked four, but two of those were intentional, and struck out six. Also:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Correction (since he came out for the 7th)<br><br>José Quintana: 2.96 ERA over last 15 starts. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a></p>— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) <a href="https://twitter.com/ckamka/status/1021130856289787906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
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<p id="0Iurxt">That’s the Quintana the Cubs need for the last two months of the season.</p>
<p id="eRX3nq">The Cubs increased their lead by one in the last of the seventh. Russell walked, and one out later Rizzo was hit by a pitch. Bryant followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2.</p>
<p id="1rnVE6">Chavez finally came out to throw the eighth, and did so efficiently, posting a 1-2-3 inning on 16 pitches (11 strikes). That’s all good, but you don’t want to overuse him, either. I’d imagine he won’t be available Monday.</p>
<p id="RlxcL0">Then the Cubs put the game away in the last of the eighth on another one of those long-sequence offenses that didn’t require a single extra-base hit. Happ led off with a walk. One out later, four straight singles scored the three runs, with RBI by Contreras, pinch-hitter <span>Albert Almora Jr.</span>, and Rizzo, who went 2-for-3 in yet another productive day from the leadoff spot. Also, re: Rizzo:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today: Anthony Rizzo's first "Rizzo" of the season (H, BB & HBP in same game); 16th of career; 17th including postseason (he had one in Game 7 of 2016 World Series) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a></p>— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) <a href="https://twitter.com/ckamka/status/1021133544322732032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
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<p id="Az9r2H">Also, Rizzo is now hitting .556/.658/.667 (15-for-27) since he moved to the leadoff spot in the batting order, with five doubles, a triple, eight walks and two HBP. That’s moved his overall season line to .262/.365/.427, and although he’s not hitting home runs, that’s outstanding production from the leadoff spot. The Cubs are 6-2 with him in the leadoff spot, and so I’d think he’ll stay there for a while. It might help further if Joe Maddon would put a position player batting ninth, so Rizzo might have some runners on when he comes up later in the game.</p>
<p id="PtlDqu"><span>Randy Rosario</span> was called on to throw the ninth. He’d been warming up even with the score 4-2, so it appeared Joe was going to use him as a closer regardless of the score. He allowed two one-out singles and <span>Luke Farrell</span> started loosening up, but Rosario retired Carpenter (ending that home-run streak!) and Molina to end it.</p>
<p id="G3Xkh5">So the Cubs take three of five, and combined with the <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> losing two of three to the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> in Milwaukee, the Cubs gained a game on both the Brewers and Cardinals for their weekend’s work. They now lead Milwaukee by 3½ games and St. Louis by eight and again moved to a season-high 18 games over. 500. The team’s .592 winning percentage projects to a 96-win season.</p>
<p id="7wXviS">The reason I was surprised Farrell was warming up in the ninth was this:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Farrell will start Monday for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a></p>— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) <a href="https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/1021148388367138817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
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<p id="WPqGum">This was pretty much expected, unless Farrell had been needed for long relief on this day, but that wasn’t necessary.</p>
<p id="xFFk2N">A word about the weather. I can’t recall a four-day stretch in July, ever, in Chicago of weather this dreary, temperatures way below normal, rain off and on, feeling more like late September. It poured, hard, for about 10 minutes at noon, but cleared out and there was no further rain Sunday. In the entire five-game series, only a couple of minutes Friday were played in anything harder than a drizzle. <a href="https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-87.65563317993282&lat=41.94828955637644#.W1UEzNhKjmI">It’s supposed to be sunny and beautiful Monday.</a> I’ll believe it when I see it.</p>
<p id="Et6Av1">The paid attendance announced for this five-game set totaled 204,468, with all but Sunday’s game (39,737) posting over 41,000. That’s an average of 40,894 for the five dates, and ticket prices were skyrocketing most of the weekend despite the lousy weather.</p>
<p id="XDkwd3">Monday, the Cubs begin a four-game set against the <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Arizona Diamondbacks</a> at Wrigley. As noted above, Luke Farrell will start for the Cubs. Patrick Corbin will go for Arizona. Game time is 7:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage Monday will be on NBC Sports Chicago.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/7/22/17600848/cubs-cardinals-recap-jose-quintana-kyle-schwarber-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2018-07-22T15:20:02-05:002018-07-22T15:20:02-05:00Overflow thread 2: Cubs vs. Cardinals, Sunday 7/22, 1:20 CT
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<figcaption>Photo by David Banks/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p id="opNEJR">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/7/22/17577482/overflow-thread-2-cubs-vs-cardinals-sunday-7-22-1-20-ctAl Yellon2018-07-22T14:20:01-05:002018-07-22T14:20:01-05:00Overflow thread 1: Cubs vs. Cardinals, Sunday 7/22, 1:20 CT
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<p id="opNEJR">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/7/22/17577472/overflow-thread-1-cubs-vs-cardinals-sunday-7-22-1-20-ctAl Yellon2018-07-22T13:15:01-05:002018-07-22T13:15:01-05:00First pitch thread: Cubs vs. Cardinals Game 2, Sunday 7/22, 1:20 CT
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<figcaption>Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p id="soNcAn">Go get ‘em, Jose.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/7/22/17577316/first-pitch-thread-cubs-vs-cardinals-game-2-sunday-7-22-1-20-ctAl Yellon2018-07-22T11:30:02-05:002018-07-22T11:30:02-05:00Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Sunday 7/22, 1:20 CT
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<figcaption>Photo by David Banks/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs go for the series win in an afternoon game.</p> <p id="W4YUCf">Nothing’s been announced yet, and won't be until later today, but my guess is that <span>Luke Farrell</span> will start Monday’s game against the <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a>. Farrell was in Chicago Saturday as the “26th man” for the doubleheader. He did warm up briefly during Saturday’s second game, but didn’t get into the game. And now, based on this roster move announced about an hour ago, that seems likely:</p>
<div id="w3OWv0">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> option Maples to Iowa and Farrell will stay with the team. If Farrell doesn't pitch today, he could start Monday</p>— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) <a href="https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/1021055485066334208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
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<p id="KkopMg">Farrell last pitched <a href="http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&did=milb&gid=2018_07_16_iowaaa_mrbaaa_1">July 16</a>, three innings against Memphis for Iowa. He threw 65 pitches in that game, allowed two hits and four walks, but no runs, so he’ll have six full days rest (apart from the warmups Saturday).</p>
<p id="cHksnq">Hopefully, Jose Quintana can go deep into this afternoon's game and save the pen so that Farrell isn't needed and can make the start Monday. </p>
<p id="p3yYWG">And so we’ll find out more after today’s series finale. In the meantime, there’s a game to be won against the Cardinals this afternoon.</p>
<p id="sEgt43">Here are today’s particulars.</p>
<p id="Vergm4"><a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> lineup:</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is today's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> starting lineup for the series finale.<br><br>Game preview: <a href="https://t.co/wivgZq4rZ3">https://t.co/wivgZq4rZ3</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EverybodyIn?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EverybodyIn</a> <a href="https://t.co/QhvUrtJFp4">pic.twitter.com/QhvUrtJFp4</a></p>— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1021039439026556933?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p id="paTjw6"><a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> lineup:</p>
<div id="hL0ElC">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="und" dir="ltr">Today's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/STLCards?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#STLCards</a> lineup (7/22)<br>Carpenter 3B<br>Molina C<br>DeJong SS<br>Ozuna LF<br>J. Martínez 1B<br>Pham CF<br>Fowler RF<br>Muñoz 2B<br>Mikolas SP</p>— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/1021056113716940801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a>
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<h2 id="m6oChy">
<span>Jose Quintana</span>, LHP vs. <span>Miles Mikolas</span>, RHP</h2>
<div class="c-float-left"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oJlaEphneO8f_cSY95ITmcS34To=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11713449/usa_today_10738770.jpg">
<cite>Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports</cite>
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<div class="c-float-right"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DGVr6lw3L4xF-p--hv8POb_6bTk=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11713455/usa_today_10738695.jpg">
<cite>Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports</cite>
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<p id="GqjlpN">Every now and again, Jose Quintana has a start that reminds you why Theo & Co. gave up what they did to acquire him from the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a>. Like <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN201807100.shtml">his last outing</a> vs. the <a href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a>: six innings, three hits, no runs. Simply put, we need more just like that one.</p>
<p id="etrty5">His one start vs. the Cardinals this year, <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN201806170.shtml">June 17 in St. Louis</a>, was decent, not great: five innings, four hits, two runs. Q hasn’t thrown in 12 days, so hopefully the extended rest will get him off to a good start in the second half, as was the case for <span>Mike Montgomery</span> on Saturday.</p>
<p id="vy8XHm">Miles Mikolas has been a revelation for the Cardinals, coming back from three years pitching in Japan. He has, without question, been their most consistent starter all season.</p>
<p id="81Qs4G">That includes seven shutout innings against the Cubs <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN201805040.shtml">May 4 in St. Louis</a>. Mikolas might have thrown earlier in this series, but he was on the paternity list while his wife gave birth to twins. Congratulations to the Mikolas family. Now let’s give him a gift of a few Cubs runs and homers this afternoon.</p>
<p id="8HNxR6">Today’s game is on ABC7 Chicago. It’s also on TBS (no blackouts).</p>
<p id="47IVCe"><a href="https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/2018/07/22">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p id="Xe5URc"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2018_07_22_slnmlb_chnmlb_1">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p id="iDRiK8"><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2018/CHN201807220.shtml">Baseball-reference.com game preview</a></p>
<p id="AScVZw"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/536724/pregame">SB Nation game preview</a></p>
<p id="c01E3n">Please visit our SB Nation <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Cardinals</a> site <a href="http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">Viva el Birdos</a>. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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 id="4R9cxt">The 2018 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2017. Here’s how it works.</p>
<p id="uNrOo7">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 id="Jy7Er2">At the same time, a StoryStream 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 id="F5ehVY">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/chicago-cubs-game-threads">this section link</a>). They will also appear in the game’s StoryStream as noted above.</p>
<p id="pjBR1E">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 id="cWIBoH">Discuss amongst yourselves.</p>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/7/22/17573870/chicago-cubs-st-louis-cardinals-preview-sundayAl Yellon