NEWSLETTER
On the one hand, it’s bonkers to make every single game for the next three weeks a referendum on the buy-sell decision.
On the other hand … it’s pretty darn close to that!
Tonight was a “sell” night.
Kyle Hendricks looked SO GOOD in the first inning tonight. Pitch-perfect placement and execution. Whiffs. Called corners. Weak grounder. Two strikeouts. It was masterful, and reminiscent of his BEST days. Probably the best he’s looked for an inning of work this year.
But it lasted just that one inning. The Red Sox were swinging out of their shoes at him, and were rewarded for their efforts with a whopping 4 home runs in under five innings against Hendricks. In that way, the outing became reminiscent of his WORST days, when the long ball plagued him past the point of utility. Here’s hoping it’s a blip.
Note, by the way, that Hendricks was calling his own game again tonight (via PitchCom) even with Tucker Barnhart behind the plate, rather than Miguel Amaya. Not really anything to do with that right now – if it’s his new habit, it’s not like he doesn’t know how to attack hitters or how his stuff is playing on a given day – but I thought it was interesting.
Offensively, the Cubs couldn’t make a game of it (though technically they did make the bottom of the 9th a “save situation” by getting the tying run to the on-deck circle and forcing the closer into the game with two outs – moral victory!).
Maybe if the guys hitting in front of Cody Bellinger had gotten on base at all, his two homers wouldn’t have been of the solo variety, and it would’ve tightened things up. Alas.
