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Chapter 1: What is the context of the Cubs' doubleheader against the Mets?
The views and opinions of Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi, Harris, and Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Okay, thanks, bye. Rahimi Harrison-Grody, 10-2 on 104.3 The Score.
The thing about Caleb Williams, too, is Caleb Wilson.
Hey, don't get fresh with me, Antonio.
That's not my name.
That's not even an Italian version of my name.
That is going to, we're going to have to just deal with it.
I have a suggestion.
Okay. Because we've all done it. Like, I've been watching clips of our station. Like, it's unconscious.
I've already done it, like, at least five times. You all know exactly who I am.
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Chapter 2: How did Dansby Swanson perform during the doubleheader?
Alex Bregman ends up playing in the late game, by the way. That was something that we wanted to know if that was going to happen, if he was going to get the full day off. He did not. But I think, Marshall, to your point, it says more about, number one, this Cubs offense not producing enough runs.
And then number two, what can happen when a guy who you pay a lot of money to gets hot enough and now he's batting 202. And is that good enough for what I need right now?
Yep.
It has to be.
Yep. If you're in the nine hole and I know you're going to say, well, 202 is unacceptable. A 303 on base percentage is unacceptable. But I have to believe that he'll bat over 200 for the rest of the season. I'm not saying he's going to bat 250 or 260, but just over 200 with occasional pop. If he can steal your 20 bags and he can hit your 20 homers, which, honestly, he's on pace to do.
He's on pace to do both of those things. Then you have to be okay with what he's doing in terms of, hey, this guy is in the back half of his career. You know what he's not, but let's focus on what he is. Let's focus on what he does bring to the table.
Pete Crow Armstrong collected his 44th RBI in that game as well, and you would love to see guys in the 50s at this point. This is the halfway point of the season, by the way. at least as far as numbers are concerned. And now, you know, we consider it the all-star break, but that's not really what it is mathematically.
So the nice part, too, Marshall, about all of this is here we are talking about Dansby Swanson and the Cubs taking advantage of Mets errors ad nauseum when Shody Imanaga was just letting them fly yesterday. He gave up three home runs and had to wear those. Shh.
Do we have to talk about that?
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Chapter 3: What challenges is the Cubs' pitching staff currently facing?
The Cubs may have had to adjust their timeline when it came to trading and finding arms and giving up what they have of value to be able to do so. So at least they did make that move in acquiring a pitcher that we think is going to start in the Brewer Series on Sunday or earlier. David Peterson now a part of the Cubs after that news. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score.
In between watching, well, I spent more time watching the Sox game ultimately than I did each Cubs game by average because that was an exciting game. They almost, almost swept the Guardians. They got so close. So we'll examine what went right and then the teeny, teeny bit that went wrong next.
Rahimi Harrison-Grody. That's a show trying to win a Marconi right there. Middays 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score.
Chopper to first, it is Manzardo, race to the bag, he dives headfirst, and he gets there to make the play. The Sox come back, fall short, and they will lose to the Guardians 4-3 here in the 10th.
So close, yet far away. The White Sox fall after a lengthy rain delay. And in 10 innings, 4-3 to Cleveland. John Schiffen and Brooke Fletcher on the call. Brooke will join us at 1 o'clock. We're happy to have her on. That'll be fun. That was courtesy of CHSN. And they almost did it, Marshall. They almost swept the Guardians. They still have won nine straight series at home.
They come back in this game and try again. You know, two runs scored in the ninth inning. Braden Montgomery with a big part of this one. Randall Gritchick, another big part. But sadly for the Sox, they end up falling 4-3 after that lengthy run delay.
Let me tell you why. Even though they lost the game, What happened yesterday, I'll take it as not a moral victory, but an acceptable loss because of something that happened in the game that I think was very important and will pay big dividends down the road.
So we know that earlier in this series, the Sox were able to win because they got arguably one of the best closers in baseball to blow a save, Kate Smith. The fact that twice in three games... You have handed Kate Smith two of his three blown saves this season. That dog will hunt going forward.
He will think twice after having to leave yesterday's game in the middle of the ninth inning because he couldn't get the job done.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of the Cubs' upcoming series against the Brewers?
I mean, he's been working on stuff pretty intently for a long time now, right, the entire season. That really hasn't gone his way until quite recently. But he did credit the coaching staff yesterday for kind of, at the very least, creating an environment for him to be able to kind of figure out what was going on and kind of you know, rediscover what he was able to make him successful.
And certainly the results are speaking for themselves. But, I mean, I think through the entire stretch here where the Cubs bats kind of cooled off, you've got Dansby and a lot of other players saying that, you know, the work hasn't changed, but it's just nice to finally start seeing some results. And like I said, they really needed them.
And boy, did they kind of come in a big way certainly yesterday and really the last week or so for Swanson. Looking at the way that this has all transpired with the pitching being as down as it is, what can you tell us about Matthew Boyd today who's scheduled to get the start and if there's going to be any limitations on him? Oh, we'll find out, I guess, in terms of limitations.
I think, though, when you're talking about Boyd coming back and really any of the situation with these pitchers right now, and Craig Council was kind of talking about it in regard to Edward Cabrera, who then ended up, you know, kind of going on the I.L., it's about putting some of these starts together, right? So, I mean, yeah, we can focus on today, but I mean, I think the Cubs are
focusing on the long haul with Boyd and hoping that he can come back. And this is just a first step for him kind of on the way back to being kind of the all-star arm that he was last year. Man, do they need him, right? I mean, they need him to be able to kind of stabilize things a little bit here while they're dealing with so many other injuries because Cade Horton's not coming back.
You know, they're trying to figure out what a timeline might be on Ben Brown. Justin Steele, it doesn't sound like, is going to be making any starts this year, right? So I think that They need Boyd to be kind of that veteran stabilizing presence at the top of the rotation. And today is just going to be the first step in getting him back to that place because he hasn't pitched in a long time.
And so it's going to take a while for him to get back to kind of the rhythm of being a big league pitcher again.
What do you think we can expect regarding, say, an innings amount or a pitch count of some sort? I feel like that might be the case at least coming back.
Yeah, I mean, we heard Jed Hoyer talk last week about how, you know, you can't just kind of step right back into it. It's not like you're off the aisle and everything is magically back to the way it was before. It's about kind of getting back to it.
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Chapter 5: What recent adjustments have improved Cubs players' performances?
It's what I mentioned before. I think there was some real work done with John Maley. Since June 17th, he's slashed 478, 519, 1174 Rockies. with 18 RBI and a 339 weighted runs created plus. Evan Altman reports that over his previous 39 games, he was at 142, 227, 205, barf, with four RBI and only a 25 weighted runs creative plus. So I don't think it's just a series.
I think we may have seen his best self with these adjustments in this series, but pleasantly, I think this goes back a little farther.
You know what's crazy? We've talked about Cubs with runners in scoring position, and that hasn't been as important over the last six games because they put up the 59 runs. But this month, Dansby Swanson's got 28 bats with runners in scoring position. He has eight hits. That's twice as many hits with runners in scoring position this month than Ian Happ and Alex Bregman combined.
who are combined 4-4-45 with runners in scoring position. And I say that because if you zoom out beyond the five hits yesterday they had with runners in scoring position, you understand that Dansby Swanson is having a heck of a run over his six-game hitting streak.
Chapter 6: How has Dansby Swanson performed with runners in scoring position?
He's batting over 400, 11 for 23. This happened before the Mets series. The Mets series was just... The continuation, and you hope not the culmination of a heater, because they need performances like this from him and everybody else, one through nine, this weekend against the Milwaukee Brewers, who you're down 0-3 on the season series.
And ultimately, that's the team you're chasing here when we talk about playoffs. Again, the Cubs would be in the playoffs if they started today. They just wouldn't be in the position that they want to be.
so frustrating to have that sweep come at home too.
Chapter 7: What is the historical context of Dansby Swanson's RBIs against the Mets?
Here's some historical context numbers to the 15 RBIs that Dansby has had against the Mets. The last person to hit that mark over a three-game span was Sammy Sosa, who tied a major league record with 16 in August of 2002. And the last two of those games came at Coors Field before they brought in the humidor.
Oh, that's good context.
So that's not just Sammy Sosa in 2002. That's pre-humidor Coors Field. I've been in the humidor, by the way. Have you been?
I have not been in the humidor, no.
It's cold and neat. It smells like baseball in there.
That is not surprising. It smells like baseball part.
It's really cool because it's just like this wall of beautiful, pristine baseballs. 15 RBIs over a three-game span against the same team. Nobody had done that since Reggie Jackson for the A's against the Red Sox in 1969. And the only two others in history were Tony Lazeri against the A's in 1936 and Lou Gehrig was 16 against Cleveland in 1930.
Best part is he's got a whole other game to add to his against the Mets total tonight.
Yeah, the baseball history is ripe with that stat, so it's fun to read about the other notables in context.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of Cubs pitching injuries for the team?
Concerned. What does he say? It's the way he says it. Concerned.
Absolutely.
Number two. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to send you out a wild goose chase there.
Concerned. There it is. I'm concerned. Here's another concerning conversation right here. We're in a rough spot. We are in a rough spot. If you're a Cubs fan, you're in a rough spot. If you're a Cubs player, you're in a rough spot, especially if you're a Cubs pitcher.
The Cubs rotation took another hit yesterday when the Cubs placed right-hander Ben Brown on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Sunday. Concerned.
Concerned.
Because of a left-neck strain, a problem Ben Brown's been dealing with, dating back to June 13th when he faced the Giants. Unfortunately, we have to bring Cubs DEFCON back. On a scale of 5-1, on Cubs DEFCON 1, of course, being the most severe, where would you rate your level of concern about the state of Cubs pitching?
Two. No. Yeah, two. Two. Is that too much? I don't think so. I wouldn't hold it against anyone that said one. You know the clock to midnight and how we keep going closer and closer because the death of human civilization is some combo of AI and who's got the nuclear codes and climate and whatnot? I feel like the clock is, you know, it like inched a minute closer or whatever recently.
That's how I feel about Cubs Defcon when it comes to pitching. What do we even say at this point? I just hope the trade works out. Marshall's just looking at me. Do I look that not confident that the David Peterson trade might not work out?
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