The Little Girl today decided to lift The Littlest Girl into her car seat before a family trip. Despite the names I use for them here, and despite their five+ year spread in ages, they are actually pretty darn close in size. So when this happened, our eyes widened in terror, but you never want to discourage the help – and thankfully, impossibly, she pulled it off. Clearly, The Little Girl is like an ant, able to lift her own body weight over her head or something.
Yasiel Puig’s perspective on getting hit by a 3-0 pitch by Pedro Strop yesterday (Reds.com): “The guy has got the ball. He throws the ball [at] me. What am I supposed to do? Do nothing? In the heat of the game, he throws me the ball. We jaw back and forward. The bullpens and the dugouts clear. The lesson today is nothing happened. Nobody got hurt for the moment. I talk with my teammates. Going out and winning the game is more important than throwing the ball [at] the other team.” I actually think that’s a pretty fair response, and I’m also not going to get too hot on a guy for reacting in the moment when he think maybe he just got popped by a fastball on purpose.
That said, it is funny how everyone – Reds, Cubs, players, coaches, EVERYONE – was aggressively trying to hold Puig back as quickly as possible, because they know it could go sideways so quickly:
For his part, Strop was pretty clear after the game in saying it was just a sinker that got away from him as he tried to locate it inside to avoid throwing a cookie. Obviously it didn’t look good, but in that game situation, with command troubles (which seem to come for an at bat for Strop and then can disappear just as quickly), I tend to buy that it was just a pitch that got away.
Thereafter, with two outs in the 9th, Dillon Maples lost a slider and it hit Jose Pereza in the arm. Given the earlier scuffle, you could understand some in-the-moment frustration for the Reds, but, you know … Maples loses a lot of pitches. Perhaps in a show to his team, Reds manager David Bell came out to get himself tossed – again, with two outs in the 9th inning:
Reading some lips and based on some post-game comments, it seems clear that Bell was mostly just mad that he felt Strop hit Puig on purpose, didn’t like that both teams got warned, and then there was another HBP after that. (Note, though: good umpire discretion not to toss Maples, because it was so obviously not intentional.) Steve Cishek had also earlier hit Derek Dietrich, so the Reds were already feeling bruised, so to speak. I get it. The Cubs get chapped when they get hit multiple times in a game, too.
Still, it’s annoying, because now the Cubs have to be on high alert for a plunking today. Hopefully, if the plunking does come, the Cubs will avoid any injury, and hopefully they will do their part not to retaliate.
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
A reminder that, while Puig is a big dude and plenty intimidating, Strop’s arms look like an office building:
We still don’t know what he can do at the big league level, or if the power will ever come, but man, one thing Mark Zagunis can now do with ease is rake at AAA:
Mark Zagunis is becoming a problem for the rest of the PCL. He has reached base in each of his first 23 games with the @IowaCubs and increased his hit streak to 11 games with a 2-R double in the fifth inning. Zagunis is now hitting .337 with 2 homers and 11 doubles w/Iowa.
Speaking of AAA, Robel Garcia got the day off yesterday as the Iowa Cubs were in San Antonio. Hmm.
Whoops:
Cashman said “with hindsight” #Yankees should have done MRI in Severino before allowing a throwing program. “Clearly he should not have started his throwing program.” Said still expects Severino to pitch this year.
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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