Friend of Nordhagen

Agreed on Zaidman. Unlike several of his peers (Benetti included), his "announcer voice" and general smarmy bearing are a continuous advertisement for I went to Syracuse to become a broadcaster, and he's also one of the all-time hilariously cliched apologists for any team he covers -- Cubs, Bears, or DePaul. An immediate "change the station" guy for me, when he subs in on Mully and Haugh, that's a morning I won't be listening to that show. So yeah, compared to him, McKnight's a dream.

Candelario is experiencing what I call "the Cubby bump." It's a phenomenon where generally pedestrian players come to the Cubs during so-called pennant races, are completely jacked about being in a fun environment -- and go on a tremendous roll, becoming talked about by Cubs fans and dumbshit media members as All-Star players, only to eventually come down to Earth and become exposed for the basically mediocre players they were all along (e.g., late-stage Kenny Lofton, overhyped Matt Murton, post-roids Nomar Garciaparra, spectacular-catch-that-one-time Reed Johnson, etc.).

So tired of Stone telling us what a lethal hitter he's going to be.

I should add that we, on the other hand, look like a large pile of s%*#.

They look suspiciously like one of those teams that steamrolls everyone during the season and then gets bounced in the playoffs.

Andrew Vaughn sucks. And he's the guy who drove in runs tonight.

Let me guess, did Vaughn and his emotionless, 3d pick, great-future-hitter face continue his annual drop under .800 OPS?

At this point, he can't hit major-league sliders with a 20 foot long piece of aluminum siding.

It's not impossible.

Are you talking about the completely joyless Andrew Vaughn? C'mon! I love watching an overhyped hitter who consistently has an OPS under .800 while playing a horseshit first base and looking like he's miserable playing baseball.

Just saw the replay of the misplay. To be fair, I did laugh hard and immediately. So it had some value.

Helluva relay throw by Sosa. Almost got him.

2 pitches

Love watching Great Young Hitter Andrew Vaughn flail away at sliders, year after year.

Yes, definitely something that Mr. Great Young Hitter should know how to do by now.

Shitty owner. Shitty GM. Shitty manager.

6th best starter, behind Davis Martin.

Wait -- so you're allowed to sac fly a guy in from 3rd?

I would imagine they'll wait 5 days on that, then have one, misread it, be confused why he's not getting better after 9 days, DL him 10 days retroactively to today, be mystified by his continued pain, look at the MRI again, and realize that he needs surgery and will be out for a year.

Ryan Tepera WHIP = 1.093

And then give Giolito Martin's starts . . .

This right here, multiplied by 400 grillion.

Fuck off, Vaughn. Seriously. That was 85-90% going to be a ground ball to the left side of the infield.

So if y'all are right -- and we're balking people to 3rd on purpose and working from the wind-up with a guy on second because we're afraid of getting our signs stolen -- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND STRATEGIC GENIUS OF OUR HALL OF FAME MANAGER?

Dude is a shell of what he was last year and is pitching terrified. The day Davis Martin comes back up, Lucas is starter #6.