Cardinals Tired of Seeing Kyle Hendricks’ Face and Other Cubs Bullets

Adrian Sampson draws a start this afternoon, and I’ll be fascinated to see how he looks. Recall, his last appearance – very low-leverage long relief – featured a shocking volume of whiffs from a guy who doesn’t really do that. I don’t know how much it would matter if he flashes the same stuff again, but obviously it’s kind of fascinating to think about a 30-year-old pitcher magically and completely transforming his style seemingly overnight.

  • That was some vintage Kyle Hendricks stuff last night (now has a career 2.69 ERA against the Cardinals), commanding the sinker down with the changeup, and also having one of the better curveballs we’ve seen from him in a long time. He managed contact well, walked just one, struck out six, and got eleven whiffs. Like we’ve said, this is likely what he is now: a guy who will sometimes get blown up when there’s even just a little bit off in the mechanics/command, but who can still spin a really good one when everything is perfectly in sync.
  • Hendricks was particularly complimentary of catcher Yan Gomes (Marquee): “I really just committed to him and his game plan and he was really good feeling what they were doing tonight. It was huge. He just does such a good job of feeling a game plan and feeling what they were trying to do against me. It was nice tonight.”
  • Cardinals manager Oli Marmol on Kyle Hendricks, who constantly owns the Cardinals in St. Louis (Cubs.com): “I’m ready for him to retire — that’s my thought on him. He does a nice job and baffles the [expletive] out of me every time. Knows what he’s doing, controls counts, mixes well and keeps guys off balance. Yeah, I’m tired of seeing his face.”
  • The MLB Shop has a clearance sale going on, so if you want to peruse the Cubs gear, here you go.
  • Fingers crossed – no pun or setback intended – that by the time Seiya Suzuki is back in Chicago on Tuesday, he’s taking live BP and is evaluated for a rehab assignment:
  • The rest of the season has effectively turned into “development” mode for Suzuki, so you just want him to get as many (healthy) at bats as possible the rest of the way so he can work on those big league adjustments.
  • And everything went completely perfectly thereafter:
  • Pretty incredible moment coming for former first overall pick Mark Appel, who was going to be among the rare top picks who never make the Major Leagues … until today, at nearly 31 years old:
  • Appel has pitched reasonably well in relief at Triple-A for the Phillies, his first decent stretch in the minors – in terms of results – since 2014. That’s how long he’s been grinding. Good on him, and I’m happy to see him get this chance. Consider that he was selected one pick before the Cubs took Kris Bryant, a player who has already played out his entire initial years of big league control and hit free agency and signed with a new team.
  • Cubs minor league reliever Connor Menez, briefly with the big league team earlier this year, is off to Japan to make some bank:
  • Oof for the Dodgers bullpen, which has been without Blake Treinen (shoulder) and has seen Craig Kimbrel struggling: they just lost Daniel Hudson for the year with an ACL tear.
  • written by

    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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