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Yadier Molina was pretty upset by the high and tight pitches he and other Cardinals saw frequently yesterday, and it led to the benches being warned late in the game. Given the number of them, I don’t think it was unreasonable to be a little annoyed (it’s a little scary how many pitches nearly clipped a Cardinals’ head), but I also don’t think Jason Hammel (and then later Neil Ramirez) was doing it intentionally. It was clear that his command was just a little off. If your release point is just slightly off, and you’re trying to go “normal” high and tight, it’s very easy for that pitch to consistently sail too high.
For his part, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told Cardinals.com that he understands where Molina was coming from:Â “You get one mistake that sails and flies up by your head, you’re not happy about it. But when you see a number of them happen that way, you start to take it pretty personal, and I don’t blame him. We’re not trying to pitch anybody up and in like that, and then you start talking about around the head. Nobody else should, either. Guys need to stand up for themselves and we need to stand up for them.” Again, I can kind of understand the feelings here. I just don’t think it was intentional.
Hammel says he was just up in the zone yesterday, which is what bit him in the big second inning. (Cubs.com)
Thoughts from Jeff Samardzija and Jed Hoyer on how Samardzija keeps improving as a pitcher. (Tribune)
One of the murals at Wrigley Field is actually a picture at old Comiskey Park. It’s being fixed. (CBS)
Sahadev Sharma is going to be co-hosting again on the Game (FM 87.7) from 9am to 11am CT on Saturday. Make sure you listen and cheer him on.
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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NEWSLETTER
If you’re just tuning in, you’re noticing that the site looks a bit different now. For more details on the changes, see here. One known issue: the “recent comments” feature in the sidebar is not working properly (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – and you can’t click straight through to the comment). It may be a technological limitation associated with Disqus, and I’m researching it.
