Darvish Solid, Montgomery Sets a New Season High, Random Fun, and Other Bullets

Jun 11, 2019

I’ll admit that I’m a bit distracted today for personal reasons. I can’t – and don’t really want to, anyway – take time away from here, because doing the work of BN provides a kind of steadying, comforting presence. So, apologies for any lapses you notice, and thanks for your continued support and for reading our stuff.

Doctors reportedly expect a full recovery for David Ortiz after he was transported to Boston following the shooting in the Dominican Republic. Marly Rivera reports he even flashed a smile.

Good start for Yu Darvish last night – with park factors being what they are, giving up 4 runs in 6.0 innings at Coors Field is like giving up 2.8 runs in 6.0 innings at Wrigley Field (which would be really bizarre). I also think this is a fair point:

Man, how perception is reality, My timeline filled with Yu criticism. He just threw the same game as Lester from 2 nights ago. 4 runs in 6 innings. AT COORS FIELD. Ok, he blew a 4-0 lead. Lester had the Cubs down 4-0 before they batted. Same diff. Do the other 5 shutout count?
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) June 11, 2019

That was also the second time this year Darvish has had a walk-less start (that’s what you want at Coors Field). In fact, since his no-walk outing on May 15, Darvish’s walk rate has been a mere 7.3%. Good things are happening right now for him, and I am probably as optimistic as I’ve been about his near-term future with the Cubs since, like, his fourth start last year.

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Mike Montgomery gave up a mammoth shot to Ian Desmond last night. At 486 feet, it was the longest homer in MLB this season, topping … the 482-foot shot Montgomery allowed to Nomar Mazara in the first series of the year. It is a special skill, it seems.

https://twitter.com/MLBStats/status/1138279113175818240

On a positive note, Montgomery still has a 2.77 ERA over the past month (i.e., since returning from his early season Injured List stay).

LOL owned:

The Cubs are the only team in baseball to twice hit 3 home runs in an inning this season and lose both games.

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) June 11, 2019

Another huge game for infielder Robel Garcia at AAA last night, with three hits, a walk, a double, and a homer. I truly don’t know what to make of this 26-year-old former Indians prospect who went to Italy to play and was then discovered by the Cubs. He’s hitting the piss out of the ball and has a .301/.373/.619 line at AAA, but he’s striking out 34.9% of the time, has a BABIP over .400, and his homering on 43.5% of his fly balls(!). Again, he’s smoking the ball, so you’ll see weird numbers like that sometimes, but how could that kind of swing and miss and over-reliance on fly balls leaving the park play at the big league level? There isn’t really a spot for him right now anyway, and the Cubs can retain him next year, at a minimum, by putting him on the 40-man roster. So it’s not an imminent issue unless the Cubs think he could contribute right now. In the meantime, I’m just perplexed in a fun way.

Also fun:

After @cubs shared the video of Javy’s first career hit/HR (8/5/14), thought it might be fun to compare it to his most recent home run (6/7/19) since they were both oppo shots. pic.twitter.com/CvfioDlYYN
— Corey Freedman (@CFCubsRelated) June 10, 2019

It is SO WEIRD how teams aren’t willing to give the Pirates the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a HBP. Almost like they’ve cultivated a reputation for repeatedly throwing at guys for stupid reasons and now people presume intent … so weird how that works:

Benches clear as #Braves' Josh Donaldson is hit by a pitch by Pirates' Joe Musgrove. pic.twitter.com/7xKeHgC9Fn

— FOX Sports: Braves (@FOXSportsBraves) June 10, 2019

Ump Show. @MLB, Clean it up. Joe prepares harder than anyone, and you just took away his start day. No accountability. The pen is messed up for the series now. Guys will get sent down because they will have to eat these innings. Unbelievable.
— Jameson Taillon (@JTaillon19) June 10, 2019

Michael is just the right kind of weird to cheer me up:

https://twitter.com/Michael_Cerami/status/1138463116470173697

Man – this is just so awesome. Constantly impressed by this guy’s hard work (Joe is just a dude with a dream and he’s been busting his butt ever since), and privileged to be partner with Obvious Shirts:

How about that! We made it into the @BlueJays team store in the Rogers Centre! More exciting news to come! pic.twitter.com/aCmVZtK8F0
— OBVIOUS SHIRTS (@obvious_shirts) June 11, 2019

written by

Brett Taylor

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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