← Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
OFF THE IVY: Chicago Cubs salvage series in Atlanta behind Ben Brown and bullpen shut out
00:35:50
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- [00:01]
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- [01:43]
Dan Bernstein
off the Ivy A Chicago Cubs podcast with Dan Bernstein, Matt Abaticoa and Cody Delmendo on 312Sports.
- [01:53]
It's off the Ivy on 31 2. We're brought to you by Russ Armstrong and Chicago window guys. Call 847-302-9171. Check out the 5 star reviews at ChicagoNowGuys.com All I can say is
- [02:10]
Matt Abaticola
it
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Dan Bernstein
wasn't the offensive explosion that I think everybody needed. But boy, that Ian Hap home run felt like the the ending of a long bout of offensive constipation.
- [02:23]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah, and it certainly did Dan, with the Cubs getting the two to nothing win. And yeah, yeah, it wasn't what you wanted to see from the offense, but you scored enough runs and you won the game and you ended your four game losing streak and you managed to salvage the third game in Atlanta. The Cubs at 28 and 1612 games over.500 first in the Central. They're two and a half up on Milwaukee and St. Louis, first, four on Pittsburgh and five on Cincinnati. And really, I can't say, I, I just, I can't say enough good stuff about Ben Brown. I know I haven't been the biggest fan of Ben Brown going into the year and these last two starts when they've needed him to step up and perform. He was outstanding yesterday. Went four innings through 65 pitches. Like I'd said, one hit, seven strikeouts and one walk. He was great.
- [03:08]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I love when you bring him up, Matt, because I know you, you, you've taken a bit to, to get on the train, but yeah, yeah, he's again that sinker. Change up. The usage being up this year, he's more confident using those pitches, which allows him to utilize that knuckle curve to get whiffs and, and strikeouts. Last night I believe he had nine
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
whiffs and only through 65 pitches.
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Cody Delmendo
I can't wait for this guy to get fully stretched out. I mean, it's, it's, it's two starts, but also one of them was against the Braves and that lineup.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And to me, you can't take this guy out of the rotation. Even when Boyd comes back like this.
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Cody Delmendo
This guy's got to stay in here, in my opinion.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
He's, he's got that good of stuff.
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Cody Delmendo
It was all about needing to add one more pitch and, and find some confidence with that change up like he has this year. And so for me, it's.
- [04:05]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Obviously health is such an important thing for any pitcher, but this guy could be like, I don't want to say he's like the savior, but this, this guy could replace what you projected to
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Cody Delmendo
get from Cade Horton this year in terms of the models, not, not my
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
optimism and hope, but what Kate Horton
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Cody Delmendo
was projected for like one and a half war.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
You can get that out of Ben
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Cody Delmendo
Brown this year and maybe more, you
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Dan Bernstein
know, so he's already at one.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Well, there you go. Yeah. So you, you, you could replace Cade Horton with Ben Brown if this keeps going. But again, what he did against this
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Cody Delmendo
Braves lineup was incredibly impressive. So he, he was to me, the star of the night. Along with the Cubs bullpen maton bounce back appearance.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Jacob Webb in the eighth inning was solid.
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Cody Delmendo
And then Pencia getting the, getting the save. You got those three.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
You know, if you get those three in a really good spot, you get
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Cody Delmendo
the Theilbar back at some point. And Hunter Harvey, who knows? But the stuff is there. I still think he can be a factor, you know, and, and whatever other reliever that I'm missing because of all the injuries. But those three last night against this Braves lineup, to shut out that Braves lineup, that was. That was really impressive. And I came away from that game, even though the Cubs lost the Series. Like, I look forward to the next series at Wrigley Field. Like.
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Matt Abaticola
Well, let me just say, too.
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Dan Bernstein
Palencia was chunking last night.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
He almost had an immaculate inning.
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Dan Bernstein
That was. You talk about pumping gas. It was like, 101, hundo, hundo, hundo. And even though when Austin Riley came up at the end, I'm like, damn it, he's gonna barrel one. Because that's just what he's been doing against the Cubs, is picking out one that he's getting the meat of the bat on. And he did, but he hit it to the right place.
- [06:05]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah. And, you know, you can't. You can't try harder in baseball. That just. It just doesn't work that way. You're not gonna. You're not gonna try harder. Mechanics and the mental aspect of it are so important. But I wouldn't be surprised if somebody talked to these guys in the bullpen, because you left out Milner also. So Milner, Maytown, Webb, Palencia, last night when. Five innings, gave up four hits and struck out six, those four guys. And so I don't know if it was Council or how to be, but someone was like, hey, guys, step the fuck up. Like, this is a big series. We need to win this game. You know, Brown's going to start, and he might give us four, maybe five at the most, but we need you guys to pitch tonight. And they went out there and they all pitched great. And it was the bullpen that you expect to see and want to see, and, you know, and they're talented, so I think you will see that more often than the other stuff. You did mention a really interesting comment about Ben Brown. Now, we don't have to worry about this or talk about it. It's not on the radar until we know that Matthew Boyd is healthy. But that. That is a conversation that we're going to put a pin in. We're going to come back to it, because we will have to address that when. When Boyd is healthy and he gets clearance to throw and he gets his rehab starts, we'll start talking about this rotation. But, yeah, definitely keep that in there when I circle back to that, because I think what he's doing right now is showing that he should be in the rotation. But we'll table that for later because it's not the time or the place right now, but a huge win for. For the Cubs. Chris Sale.
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Dan Bernstein
He.
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Matt Abaticola
You Know, he looked great, but they got six innings out of him. They got five hits, and it was like they had him. They give, they delivered a couple body blows in the first and second inning. You had a couple guys on you got less than two outs and they just couldn't get anything across, which was frustrating. But, yeah, he gave up five hits. The one run wasn't even earned, and then eight strikeouts. So for that matchup for Ben Brown to go against Chris Sale, really two really good teams with two good starters, and it was really great to see the Cubs get the win.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I mean, the Kim at short for the. With the air that set up the, you know, the RBI ground out or fielder's choice, whatever, it was ruled for Matt Shaw. I mean, it was a break that I felt like the last four games the Cubs weren't getting, just like something
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
that, you know, kind of, you know,
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Cody Delmendo
goes your way, you know, and, and, and that's, that's what happened. And in a game where you.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Where the final score is two to
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Cody Delmendo
nothing, any mistake like that, it's going to be magnified.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And so like, you know, a lot
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Cody Delmendo
of people right now are. Have been in my mentions on social
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
media, you know, telling me we need
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Cody Delmendo
to bench Swanson and put Shaw in there.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And I get it. But Swanson's defense, he had another great defensive player.
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Matt Abaticola
You can't take his glove out of the line.
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Dan Bernstein
He's calling a bench, bench. Dansby, Swanson. Come on. Those people, right?
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Matt Abaticola
It's not smart. It's not smart.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Well, the point I'm trying to make though, too, is that the defense for
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Cody Delmendo
the Cubs is so important.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And I think Shaw is a good
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Cody Delmendo
defensive player on the infield. He was a Gold Glove finalist at third base last year.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
So it's not like you're changing too much. You can move Nico over to short,
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Cody Delmendo
who's had success over there, and you could put shot second for some games.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
But I'm not saying you should bench Swanson. And even. I'm saying that even he has a.650 OPS right now. And let's be honest, his road trip has been atrocious to watch at the plate, but the defense means so much. And that defensive play he had last night, and then when you watch the other team and who they have it short, I don't know what his numbers defensively are, Kim, who I'm talking about, but, you know, it matters so much who's playing defense up the middle.
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Cody Delmendo
And if you want to use another
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
team, for example, you know, Willie Adamus for the Giants. He's one of the worst defenders in baseball. And how good are the Giants? They're not. They're terrible.
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Matt Abaticola
That's one of the worst current contracts in baseball right now, too, by the way. I mean, that's easily one of the top 10 worst contracts right there. But you cannot sit Dansby Swanson. You're not going to sit Dansby Swanson. If he needs a day off, Sure, a day off. You switch guys around, you do things, but you don't. You don't use the words benching and a Gold Glove consistent shortstop like he is, period.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
I think with the offensive thing for them, like, he just, he's just a really streaky player because two weeks ago we were giving this guy flowers because he, he was performing. But this, he's in one of those downstretches right now. And, and as a streaky player that he is, he is not fun to
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Cody Delmendo
watch hit when
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
there are guys that are okay to watch when they're going bad because you know what kind of hitter they are, or maybe they've had
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Cody Delmendo
more success than downtimes.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Dansby Swanson is like, he is a. Is streaky as streaky is, and watching
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Cody Delmendo
his downs are not fun.
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Dan Bernstein
But yeah, when he's going badly, just by my observation, he, he extends the outside part of the plate and he starts to lean a little bit and starts to get some chase in harder, breaking stuff away, and his swing starts to look a little long. So to me, when he's going badly, it can be frustrating because you, you start to see the pitch out of the hand and you're like, oh, yeah, he's going to bite on that one. You know, it's the rule with these Cubs generally, is know your zone and everything will be fine. If individual players are simply not swinging at pitches out of the zone and accepting their walks, everything comes back to that. Keep seeing a lot of pitches, everything will end up being okay. You will be who you are. I would just continue to urge that kind of, you know, good takes, look for the. If somebody's going badly, look for good takes and the hits will come.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah. You know, speaking of, like, the downs with Swanson, I did feel like PCA had a great game for someone for a game that didn't have a lot of runs. He didn't strike out against Chris Sale. He had a hit off Chris Sale. He worked a walk later in the game and stole second base, if that.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
You know, he's not going to be
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Cody Delmendo
your nine hitter all the time, but against Lefties, he mostly will probably, but it's still a continuance of what we've seen in May from pca. And I mention it, too, because he hadn't had a good series these last couple days along with the rest of the offense, so. So I'm hoping that last night's game can kind of ignite him going to the south side this weekend.
- [12:39]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah. And even looking at the Cubs overall as a team, offensively, they're 10th in the league in batting average. They're second in on base percentage at.340, right behind the Dodgers now, who are.342. They're seventh in slugging, and they're fifth in OPS. And you know, you have all of that. You're. You're. You're a top, top 10 team in all those categories. Offensively, you're the best defensive team in the game right now. It just reinforces this whole idea of Dansby Swanson's fine. This is what he is offensively, and you need him. Nico and PCA up the middle. That. That's more important than getting Dansby Swanson to hit.250 or 200 or 220, whatever it is, his glove is more valuable than that. Before we look ahead to the weekend series with the White Sox, any other closing notes on this Atlanta series before we look ahead?
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Cody Delmendo
I mean, I kind of said it earlier. I am really looking forward to when they come to Wrigley, because even though the Cubs lost the first two games and game one. What they lost by three, the second game, you know, they had, it was tied late. Maton gives up the three runs, whatever it's. You lose by three. But it was. It was close for eight innings.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
I just.
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Cody Delmendo
It's the most obvious thing to say, but I won't be surprised if these two teams get matched up in a. In a playoff series somehow. And again, even though they lost this
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
series, I feel really. I don't want to say confident, but I'm more interested in seeing how the
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Cody Delmendo
Cubs play against them in a few. With. With seeing what the Braves brought. With the. Brought to them this series, how the Cubs will play different against them at Wrigley.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And I know it's the regular season,
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Cody Delmendo
doesn't necessarily mean much, but when I'm. When I look at this Braves team, they're just. Just a team.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
They scare me more than Milwaukee and their devil magic.
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Cody Delmendo
They. In many ways, they scare me more than the Dodgers and their hall of Fame lineup that they have. They're just very deep and they. Their pitching is Great. They haven't really shown a lot of flaws. I mean you two, to win the one game of the series you needed an Ian half homer late and an error to, to, to get those two runs. And it's great that it happened and I'm glad they played baseball.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
But this, this Braves team is, they, there's, you have to like play perfect
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Cody Delmendo
against them to win.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And so just interested to see where
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Cody Delmendo
both teams are the next time they play it. And you know, they could, they could
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
see each other in, in October and I, I, I wanna, I wanna know or I wanna feel confident against, against
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Cody Delmendo
Atlanta after the next time the Cubs play, if that makes any sense.
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Dan Bernstein
Wait a second, so you're, you're admitting was a measuring stick series then?
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
For me it was, you can, you can make a. I, Matt made the argument what yesterday or the day before about how like you know, people saying
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Cody Delmendo
that it's a measuring stick, that like the cubs have won two 10 game winning streaks. This and that.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
This and that.
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Dan Bernstein
That's right.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Those, those, that, that is definitely true too. For me personally, internally, like I'm so scarred by this organization that I, I just, I need to see more Outside of these two 10 game winning streaks, which I know is a crazy sentence
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Dan Bernstein
to say give me another 10 game winning streak. That's not enough.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
I'm not asking for another 10 game winning streak. I like, I am just scarred because despite all of this, we're still only two and a half games up on Milwaukee and, and this, the National League is great. Yep, it's great. And this division, of course, despite everything, the two 10 game winning streaks, the entire division is good. And so I, I need to see the Cubs continue this because while they won 10 games in a row, like you know, they just lost four in a row. Glad that they snapped a streak, but. And I also don't want to see them lose another couple few in a row now, especially going to the south side. So I'm not saying that I, that I don't think they're good or anything. I'm just saying that I need to see more to feel a lot more confident about this team going up against
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Cody Delmendo
a team like the Braves in the playoffs.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And at least even though in my opinion the Braves last year, it was like an outlier year, they had a ton of injuries this and that. The year before that, man, they were considered right up there with the Dodgers in terms of the best teams in the National League.
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Matt Abaticola
Yeah, let's not be surprised about the Braves. I mean, and again, I Made that whole argument about the measuring stick thing. These are two really good teams. These are two teams that are going to be in the playoffs and that's the way it should be. Don't be surprised by the Braves. They have a good roster and I know payroll doesn't equate to wins. Just look at the Mets. Look where the, what the Phillies are doing right now as well too. But the Braves are a top six payroll team. They should be a good team and they are a good team. And this was just a series that feature two teams that should be in the NL playoffs. And the Braves got the better of it just there winning two out of three. You know, you talk about the, the White Sox series, but again before we look into that and look ahead at the schedule, I want to just do a real quick ABS check because you know, as I keep tracking these things. Carson Kelly, I don't know if you guys know his numbers. He's 19 for 21 and is leading all catchers at a 91 success rate. The next closest qualifying catcher is Dylan Dingler from Detroit who is 21 for 26 and he's at an 81% success rate. Carson Kelly right now at 91% magic.
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Dan Bernstein
He can sense it. He like you say, know your zone. That is another way you would hope that, that if he can see the ball that well it should translate to hitting.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I, I don't know if there's a stat related ABS that can tell you when he's challenging like the leverage spot, who's on base, all this and that. But I feel like he also challenges. And again this is a, a feeling, an internal feeling in my gut when I think about feels like he makes, he makes the call. He chall makes the challenge when it really matters the most too when guys are on base or you know, if it's late or if you're in a particular count where a ball or a strike can change the entire bat. Something like that. So I haven't, I haven't felt. Even though he gets them all right, I, that probably helps. I haven't been in a position where I'm upset where he makes a challenge at all of course only too wrong. That makes sense.
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Matt Abaticola
But yeah, no, he has a pretty good, a pretty good eye when to call it, when to challenge it. I haven't seen a further breakdown of ABS stats. I'm surprised and impressed actually and happy that that ESPN actually puts this ABS tracker out on their MLB tag. So I'm glad that we even have that to take a Look at but very impressive numbers for, for Carson Kelly. Looking ahead to the schedule, the White Sox host the Cubs tonight. Starting three over at the at Rate Field. Is it Rate Field? It's not guaranteed rate anymore. It's rate.
- [19:31]
Dan Bernstein
It is Rate Field.
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Matt Abaticola
Okay.
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Dan Bernstein
And for me, I need to see Cabrera right the ship here. I need to see less hard contact and more bats missed and more of him being in control of these plate appearances instead of swimming upstream.
- [19:50]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah. So that's Cabrera tonight takes on Sean Burke for the, the White Sox. And yeah, this is it seems like the trend we've seen with Cabrera in his last few starts have been pointing in the wrong direction and they keep getting going in the wrong direction even further. So yeah, it would be huge to see him make a, a solid start tonight again. He's had a lot of quality starts. He just hasn't looked as sharp as I expected expected him to look in his start so far this year.
- [20:21]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Yeah, I'm looking at his baseball savant
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Cody Delmendo
page right now, you know, and it, it really kind of describes my feeling with him, which is just mid, like there's, there's some red, there's some blue and it's all just kind of like crazy. And you don't really know exactly how to feel about it.
- [20:41]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
But two things stick out to me. He's got a 36% chase rate, which
- [20:48]
Cody Delmendo
is 90th percentile, but his barrel rate against him is 12.8%, which is 8th percentile.
- [20:56]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
So he's getting guys to chase.
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Cody Delmendo
He's, you know, his whiff rate is at 27.3%. But when guys do make contact against them, they're barreling the ball and hitting it far or wherever grasses. And I, I think that's a good explanation of just the Edward Cabrera experience has been so far there.
- [21:20]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
As you said, Matt, there have been a few outings where I, I do think he, he, he, he looked dominant
- [21:25]
Cody Delmendo
in, in many ways, but I think also in some of, he gave up a couple barreled balls that, you know, stayed in the park or into a glove, whatever it is.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
I don't know if we're going to
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Cody Delmendo
get dominant Edward Cabrera tonight, but I am asking him to just, you know, quiet down. This White Sox lineup that's rolling right now when in five straight games, I need a bounce back appearance from him
- [21:49]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
and just, just keep the gubs in the game.
- [21:51]
Dan Bernstein
Let the defense stay off the middle of the bat. Stay off the middle of the bat. Like I see a spike in line drive percentage up well over his career average at 23.1%. His hard hit rate is spiking and his soft contact rate way down. I know you're doing the same thing with sort of the, a different graphic on savant, but he is at his soft contact percentage for his career. It's 13.7% at the moment it's at 6 like there is when he gives up contact. Nothing is soft.
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Matt Abaticola
Yeah, I'm gonna.
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Dan Bernstein
And the hard hit rate, his career hard hit rate is 32.8. That is up to 40.6 right now.
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Matt Abaticola
Yeah. What I'm gonna have to do is I think after we're done with our recordings today, Dan and Cody's take a look at his game chart here and see who's caught him and see if that, if that has some kind of an impact to it. Because I mean again, this is his first year with the team and he's only been there since spring training. Right. Who works with him and it. If he has. Because he, he has this mixed bag of, of stats right now that you're looking at these, the two different chart fan graphs and baseball savant, he's getting the whiffs, he's getting the chases, but he's also getting barreled up hard. Is it, is it that one call? Are we just not connecting as far as what's the put out pitch, where to go now, how to attack it here? Is there a communication issue? Is there just a feel issue for it right now? So there's a lot to it because it's weird to have that mixed bag of stats.
- [23:23]
Dan Bernstein
Well, he's the other number here. That is, that is apparent. Batters make contact in the zone over 90% of the time. And that's not a, it's a high number for him. His career number for in zone contact is 85% but that's a, that's a 5.2% jump. And it's, it is by far the highest number of his career. And I don't know if that is, that sometimes is sequencing, it's sometimes location and it's sometimes, you know, velo, movement, spin, all of these things. So it's going to be a project. But if in fact he can't blow it by guys in the zone and that forces him to nibble a little bit more and it just changes the dynamics of an overall approach and they've got to find out for whatever reason why he's. He's not able to get guys to, to miss when he, when they're swinging.
- [24:24]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Yeah, well, right now it just feels
- [24:26]
Cody Delmendo
like he has confidence in the changeup and sinker combination. He barely throws his four seam fastball. It's like 9% against right handed hitters.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
And I think he throws it a
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Cody Delmendo
little bit more against lefties at 19%.
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Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
But, but he just, he is throwing
- [24:43]
Cody Delmendo
that change up more often than not to both sides of the plate. And I feel like he needs those other pitches to be more effective and just throw. Looking at his usage, it just, it just seems like he has most confidence in the changeup and that's it. And this changeup's great, but you got to use other pitches to set that up because that's how he gets the whiffs is with that change up.
- [25:04]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah. Before we look at Sean Burke and then the, the matchups for this weekend, the Cubs do have this three game series with the White Sox at rate field. They come back home for six games, three against Milwaukee starting Monday. Big series. And then they finish up the three against Houston before they go back on the road, I believe to Pittsburgh. So White Sox, Milwaukee and then Houston. The White Sox, as you mentioned, winners of five games in a row. They are 22 and 21 right now. So game over. 500. They're a game out of first in the AL Central. And as you pointed out earlier to us, Cody, before we started recording, the first time since 2008 that both teams are above.500 when they, when they meet. So it doesn't happen all that often. The whole dialogue and narrative of, oh, it's great when these two teams are good. That generally doesn't happen. That both teams are good when they do play. And, and people. That people are excited about. Oh, I want to see, I want to see both teams good. I don't, I'm a Cubs fan. I want to see the White Sox when they're terrible, just like any other team. Just like in football. I don't want the starting quarterback for the opposing team to play. I want the backup to play. I want the worst team possible. So no, I'm not excited because they're both over.500 and playing well. I want a shitty team that the Cubs get to play. That's what I prefer. But what is cute though, and I, it's so, God, it's, it's so adorable. It's so absolutely adorable. Do you guys know, did you know this? That the White Sox have had two separate five game winning streaks this year? Like two five game winning streaks. It's so cute. It's so, I mean, I was like, wow, that's really good, guys. I'm very proud of our fans and our friends and the team on the south side of Chicago to get two separate five game winning streaks. Really cute. Nice job guys and I'm really looking forward to the series starting tonight.
- [26:51]
Dan Bernstein
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- [28:31]
Matt Abaticola
for the Sox tonight. 368 ERA. He's been a little better on the road than he has at home so far this year. Left handers have been better against him than righties have he, he's, he's been striking both sides of the plate out though. 36 strikeouts so far this year. 18 on each side. His this is interesting, Dan. We talked about this, about walk rates and how walks are up, his walk rates down and it's down considerably this year. So he's, he's found something there for him. He's actually top 25 in baseball right now in strikeouts to walks. He had a quality start against San Diego two starts ago and then he got blown up pretty good against Seattle at home where he went four and a third, allowed six earned runs and two home runs. That is a 12, 8 loss for the Sox. He keeps that four seamer fastball up really high in the zone, both lefties and righties and then he'll drop that curve in on right handers. So here's one thing I want to look at PCA in his career against Sean Burke is 3 for 5 with a double and a triple. And the way that pca, if you've noticed how he's been hitting the ball coming away from him, going to the right handed batter's box and he's been, he's been getting that to the opposite field, he's been getting the left field a lot. And I think if he continues that approach, he's going to start seeing dividends from it. I'm looking for PCA to have some, to do some damage tonight. If he can keep that approach and be patient with his swings and he gets that curve to drop away from him and drive that in the left field, he could do some damage for, for the Cubs tonight. Nico, also in his career, 3 for 5. So they're small sample sizes, but both guys 3 for 5 against Sean Burke Right now Bregman stood out looking at the lineup as over four or no, Michael Bush over four with four strikeouts.
- [30:12]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah. If I remember correctly, you mentioned the triple that PCA had against Burke. I believe it was at Wrigley Field last year in a. I think the Cubs blew out the White Sox that day again and Sean Burke started the day.
- [30:27]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
So, you know, I think this White
- [30:29]
Cody Delmendo
Sox team a lot different than, than last year's White Sox team. Even if, even, even if they are, you know, may, maybe they're outperforming expectations or whatever right now. And when I say maybe they, they for sure are. But you know, will they be able to keep it up all year long? That's something that we're just going to find out. But
- [30:48]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
they're starting.
- [30:49]
Cody Delmendo
Pitching is still something that I'm like
- [30:52]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
when I see the box score, I'm like, how are they doing this? And I know Davis Martin has been
- [30:57]
Cody Delmendo
really good for them and Noah Schultz is a guy that you know it's their top pitching prospect and I know Dan compared him to Randy Johnson that one time. And anyway, he's similar.
- [31:08]
Matt Abaticola
He's like the body and everything. I don't.
- [31:10]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, yeah. Okay.
- [31:14]
Dan Bernstein
Everybody who listen knows what I said.
- [31:18]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
I don't have to defend myself, but the point I'm getting at here is
- [31:22]
Cody Delmendo
that Sean Burke's a guy that this Cubs off and should be able to get going against tonight. And like I said about the end of the Brave series, I know it
- [31:28]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
wasn't a lot of runs, but you know, you get a big win like that maybe can ignite a team a little bit going to the next series. And yeah, this Sox offense is playing well.
- [31:36]
Cody Delmendo
Cubs pitching staff's playing well the last five games. I'll be interesting to see how they do. Now, you mentioned Burke. I was looking at Munetaka Murakami's numbers. The last seven games he's hitting.130 and slugging below.300. So the last seven games for Murakami, he's kind of came down to earth,
- [31:54]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
I guess you could say a little
- [31:55]
Cody Delmendo
bit, which is kind of crazy to say, but 12 strikeouts his last 23
- [31:59]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
at bats, which is not really surprising. I, I know he's like the big.
- [32:04]
Cody Delmendo
Like everyone's talking about him. Colson Montgomery has been great for them as well. And they got other pieces. I like chase my droff as a player, but for me, keeping Murakami quiet, this series is going to be key because he is three true outcome guys.
- [32:21]
Matt Abaticola
Especially there. Yes.
- [32:22]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Yeah, especially there.
- [32:23]
Cody Delmendo
So if you can usually.
- [32:26]
Dan Bernstein
And I, I was just looking at the wind here and it's going to be breezy directly from the south, but he hits the ball so hard, it doesn't even really matter.
- [32:35]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
It doesn't matter.
- [32:36]
Dan Bernstein
I mean, if he gets one, it just, it's the difference between 400ft and 440ft.
- [32:42]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, it did.
- [32:43]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
To me, it's.
- [32:45]
Cody Delmendo
You have to, you have to find a way to either strike out or walk him and just not let him beat you. To me, like that's, that's the key to the Cubs winning the series. For me, maybe I haven't watched the Sox enough to fully know, but to me I feel like they've, they've played their best when he's rolling and I know they've won five straight and I just gave you his last seven games. But yeah, they're, they're also, they're getting, you know, Randall Gritchick had a two run homer last night for them.
- [33:10]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Like, is that gonna Happen.
- [33:12]
Cody Delmendo
Well, he is a Cubs killer, but
- [33:14]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
you get what I'm saying.
- [33:15]
Cody Delmendo
Like they're, they're core pieces that you know, everyone has been talking about. He's someone that you just, no matter what, I feel like you got to keep quiet. And this Cubs pitching staff can find a way to slow down some of these other guys who have been performing well the last five games for the Sox.
- [33:29]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
So if you're going to win this
- [33:31]
Cody Delmendo
series, which I the Cubs better win this series because you just lost the series. You don't want to lose back to back series. You got to win this game tonight. And you know that that gives you two chances to, to take the series Saturday or Sunday. So also on Sunday. So they better win the series.
- [33:48]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah. And as you, as you mentioned, the White Sox, you know, right now in the middle of a five game winning streak, which is their second five game winning streak of the season, which is really cute, very adorable for the South Siders. Looking over the weekend, you have Jameson Ty on going tomorrow against the aforementioned Davis Martin. Martin, 17, his last 17 starts in a row, he's allowed three earned runs or less. And what's transformed for him this year are his secondary pitches, which is why I think he's seen a little bit of a change in his trajectory and success so far early here this year. He's been able to use those second and third pitches a little while a little better with, with his fastball, which has helped him quite a bit in like a put out pitches or chase pitches. So he's doing really well. And then on Sunday it's Colin Ray against Eric with an extra K. Fetty. So that's your match, your matchup. You get Edward Cabrera tonight and Sean Burke, Tyone and Martin and then Ray and then Fetty as the, the White Sox look to continue their winning streak. The. The Cubs hoping to start their own winning streak after taking last night's game from, from the Braves.
- [34:51]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah.
- [34:52]
Matt Abaticola
And that. Go ahead, Go ahead.
- [34:54]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Just go ahead.
- [34:55]
Dan Bernstein
I was gonna wrap it.
- [34:56]
Cody Delmendo
Oh really? Okay. Yeah.
- [34:59]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Again.
- [35:00]
Matt Abaticola
Or.
- [35:00]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
I just want to mention that you
- [35:04]
Cody Delmendo
mentioned the, the pitching, the probables. You got Burke tonight and then Fetty on, on Sunday.
- [35:10]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah.
- [35:11]
Cody Delmendo
You had success against Fetty when he was with the Cardinals. I don't know if he's kind of figured it out with the White Sox again, but I, I think Saturday will be tough with Davis Martin on the mound. So tonight, tonight's game is key to win this series. But you know, they did do well against Chris Sale, so what do I know?
- [35:29]
Matt Abaticola
So Right. And we talked about that going to the Brave series. But, hey, you got to take, you know, advantage of Grant Holmes before you have to worry about Chris Sale on. On Thursday nights and you see how that all worked out. Go out tonight. They need 27 outs. Get those 27 outs, score more runs, whether it's by one or it's by 30. Just go out and win the game. Let's see. I think as Dan's focus here on Edward Cabrera is a key to watch tonight, offensively, I'm looking at PCA to make some noise here in the lineup for the Cubs, and hopefully they get their second win in a row.
- [35:58]
Dan Bernstein
Bottom line, should be a lovely night for baseball and a great reason to go out there and enjoy the festivities and don't be an idiot and don't start a fight.
- [36:07]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah.
- [36:07]
Dan Bernstein
Don't fall into the bullpen.
- [36:08]
Matt Abaticola
Psa. Yep. Stay in your seats. And if you have a hard time tonight going there and finding your seat because there'll be a lot more bodies. There's always. I think there's ushers around that can help. So if you don't know where your seat is, just grab someone and say, normally there's emptier ones around me, but I can't see my seat now. They'll point you and guide you to the correct seat if you need help finding it because there'll be more people there.
- [36:31]
Cody Delmendo
There you have it.
- [36:32]
Dan Bernstein
On today's off the Ivy.
- [36:34]
Matt Abaticola
I don't know why we're laughing. I don't. I don't understand. I'm. I'm trying to be.
- [36:37]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Matt's just, like, out here.
- [36:39]
Cody Delmendo
Like, he's choosing violence.
- [36:42]
Dan Bernstein
Just ignore him.
- [36:43]
Matt Abaticola
No, I, I.
- [36:44]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
Listen.
- [36:44]
Matt Abaticola
What do you mean
- [36:47]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
over here? I know what you're doing, and that's doing anything.
- [36:51]
Matt Abaticola
I know what he's doing.
- [36:52]
Unidentified Male Analyst (possibly a guest or co-host)
It's okay.
- [36:53]
Dan Bernstein
But if you identify it and acknowledge it, he's.
- [36:56]
Cody Delmendo
It's just.
- [36:56]
Matt Abaticola
It's gonna get. It's offensive to me because I think it's rude. Yes. I don't know why you're. I mean, why you guys are laughing at me.
- [37:02]
Dan Bernstein
Off the IVA Chicago Cubs podcast brought to you by Chicago window. Guys. On 312 sports.
- [37:11]
Matt Abaticola
Two five game win streaks are cute. I like it. It's adorable. Keep at it, little engine that could.
- [37:18]
Dan Bernstein
Off the Ivy. A Chicago Cubs podcast with Dan Bernstein, Matt Abaticola and Cody Delmendo. On 312 Sports.
- [37:33]
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- [38:00]
American Afterlife Podcast Narrator
everybody talked about it since I first moved to Oregon. The big one. The earthquake that trashed the whole West Coast. Total destruction.
- [38:08]
Matt Abaticola
Officially calling it the largest natural disaster in American history.
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American Afterlife Podcast Narrator
I just didn't know what would help me next. So I took it all. Even the gun. It was time.
- [38:19]
Matt Abaticola
Cello see why American Afterlife is the number one fiction and drama podcast in
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DISH Network Announcer 2
America, presented by pair of thieves.
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Matt Abaticola
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Available now.