Cubs at Cardinals ⚾️ MLB on FOX

Cubs at Cardinals ⚾️ MLB on FOX

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Where are you? around 2025 [Music] now everybody. That’s not a number of people. [Music] Good job. Good job. shot. He [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. 6 seconds. Heat. Heat. [Music] Here [Music] are the final number of Chicago. language. Princess [Music] in their own ways. The seasons for the Cubs and Cardinals have kind of been like Midwest summer weather. Early sunshine leads to thunderstorms later on and then you see what comes of it at the tail end. The Cubs and Cardinals, one of the oldest rivalries in all of Major League Baseball. Wilson Contrarus knows it very well. The Cardinals 4 and a half back in the wild card still trying to climb, but the Cubs are dealing with the hottest team in the majors right now. The Milwaukee Brewers 71 and 44, five clear of the Cubs who would like to get back into that race to be a possible one or two seed and get that buy out of the wildcard round. and Jason Benetti. John Smoltz along with you. And man, streaky season doesn’t even begin to cover it around the majors, does it? No, it really doesn’t. I mean, teams are letting other teams back in. Teams are running away with it. And you never saw this coming really with the Cubs enjoying the first half in such a great clip that you thought maybe this could be the year for the Cubs. Offensively in the second half is the story and that’s why they’re different in the standings and why they’ve lost so many games. Offensively, couldn’t have gone any better. Second half, not the case. They have to return back to getting some of those guys hot and the Cubs are going to be fine. The Cardinals on the other hand, it’s been a developmental season. Some trades at the deadline involving the pitching staff, but the young core of offensive players is where the hope lies. Absolutely. They’re in a weird place this season. Made some trades even though they’re not that far out of it. They view the future being important. The future’s going to be around those core players. They got to find and develop more starting pitching, no doubt. But these two guys that they’ve been waiting for, Walker and Win. Walker having so much a high ceiling, but struggling for so much of his career, starting to show the fruits of that labor. And of course, Win, he’s a dynamic player that the future looks good for the St. Louis Cardinals in their position players. Cardinals with one spurt could put themselves back into the race this year ahead of their schedule. The Cubs trying to find some offense after a shut out yesterday, even with some hard hit baseball. First pitch comes from Cardinals is next. [Music] 62 number 25. [Music] 3 2 1 3 2 1 32 1 3 2 1 You good. [Music] [Music] tomorrow. Munch chase back in the 90s and 2000s between Sammy Sosa and Mark Magguire. And here today, 53% humidity is a win at Bush Stadium on Ap 9th. I almost said April because that’s that’s it feels like a a little chillier than you would expect here at Bush Stadium in the second week of August. Here is the Cubs starting lineup. Fourth in the majors in home runs, 164 of them. Michael Bush has just worn out the Cardinals so far this year at 13 hits total. Sea Suzuki. You heard the guys talk about it in pregame. A phenomenal year. Kyle Tucker trying to dig out of a recent tough stretch. Pete Crow Armstrong with that power surge this season. It’s a lineup that’s got some depth for this Cubs team. As we take a look at Fox Foresight powered by Google Cloud, Pete Crow Armstrong, that’s the chance to hit a home run. But Andre Palante is a ground ball dispenser. Yeah, they’re figuring sooner or later Armstrong’s got to get back on track. He’s struggling. So maybe the chances of today strikethrower Volante trying to keep it going for the Cardinals of late. They’ve had some pretty good uh recent success taken down some pretty good teams. So won the first game. He’s going to rely on four different pitches. And that four seamer throwing it inside a lot. He’s going to try to get the barrel of the bat out of play. for the Cubs in tonight’s game. By the way, thanks to Google Cloud for powering those real time insights. Here is the Cardinals defense, which according to certain metrics is top five in the league. You see Berles, Nbar, and Walker in the outfield. Gorman win S JC and Contras on the infield. Wilson Contras improved over at first base and Joel Po behind the plate, the free swinging catcher for the Cardinals. Here we go. Oh, Palante’s first pitch is theirs. Strike one. Bill Miller has the plate tonight and nothing and one on BCH who has hit 11 fast balls for Knox so far this year against the St. Louis Cardinals. We’ll see how Palante pitches him in this first sequence. You look at the chart of where the hits have come from. He has hit mistakes all year against the Cardinals. Yeah, he’s owned the zone, the middle of the zone. hasn’t been missing and certainly against the Cardinals, they have not made enough good pitches against this young man to have that kind of damage in against one team. Volante on two strikes. That is a one hopper and Po just chests it down. It’s a good way to start your Saturday evening for the catcher. Cubs fans are looking for anything good to happen right now. It’s been a bad streak for the Cubs, but when they lose, they’ve been pretty good. 34 and 14 after a loss. So, the bounceback ability is good for the Chicago Cubs. To right field. Should be extra bases for BCH here in St. Louis. The headlines write themselves. They sure do. That is a nice play. Certified by John Smoltz. A leadoff double. Well, he got another one in the middle of the zone. A breaking ball that hangs right there. And any good hitter keeps the barrel of the bat flat through the zone. And when you are having someone’s number, you go to the plate with ultimate confidence. And I would say that he has that against the Cardinals. You mentioned the Cubs and and the way they have bounced back. They have not lost four in a row all season long, which is quite the credit to Craig Councel and the staff and this depth of the offense. Home runs fix a lot, but when they disappear, John, yeah, they tend to leave a gorge. Yeah, a lot of it also, you know, everyone talks about Colorado and the disadvantage for their team hitting at home and then going on the road. Well, the same can be true as he’s poured in two strikes twice to two hitters now. Same can be said for the Chicago Cubs. They play at home where it’s not the traditional blows out in the summer. The wind has been blowing in a lot. It impacts the offense at a negative way sometimes and you get bad results. You get in a slump and maybe it carries over on the road. So, how do you then if that’s a piece of it, how do you get out of it? You got to trust the process. But that’s the easiest way to say it. You’re you’re not getting results. You actually need bleeders. You know, we are in such a hard contact world. Guys want results. And yes, if you keep hitting the ball hard, you’re going to get results. But right side and playable at second. Si does get him over at first. Suzuki is out. Close play. Suzuki busting it down the line. So JC, who was a late ad into this lineup today with a fine effort. Yeah, that’s a great piece of hitting by the way. He almost got rewarded. He gets the runner over to third and then almost beats out an in between play with Contraras ranging a little too far and then realizing he’s got to get back. So now you have a situation where you can with a productive out get your first run of this series. You and normally you wouldn’t play the infield in in the first inning. Uh but the team is struggling and you got a great hitter at the plate and the reason they may be taking advantage of it. It worked the other night. Last night the Cubs did not get any results with runners in scoring position. And this is where the stress builds on a team when your offense is struggling. This is basically ABC baseball in 20 years ago. Get them over, get them in. And that’s Tucker’s job right now. Here’s the tough part about it, right? You look at the league numbers when you hit the ball 100 miles an hour. League average is 405. Yeah. That it feels great. It’s supposed to work, right? And the numbers bear it out. That’s Hall of Fame type numbers and beyond. Yes. But sometimes you’re in a stretch where the 60% happens as well for everybody all at once. That is smoked to right. Tucker will take the RBI and very quickly it is one- nothing Cubs. But the thing I don’t understand in the first inning just increasing the odds of a struggling team to get a hit by bringing the runners in and and really trying to I don’t know maybe they’re they’re they’re hoping they that ground ball 61% that that pitcher gives up. I just think you make hitters better. Now I understand a sixth and seventh inning. The first inning they cho they chose to try to prevent the run early. It comes home on the Tucker RBI. Palante is part of I wonder if you know if Ali Marl were up here right now and we said would you do that if it weren’t Palante but it probably not. You’re right. Exactly right. So they’re relying on that sink sinking ground ball type percentage that you mentioned that he can give up. but he has been attacking the strike zone early on these first four hitters for the Cubs. Now Carson Kelly who has been massively productive this year for the Cubs and he has to bail out of the way of a heater. But that’s what Palante has to do. 41% of his pitches 49 actually fast ball inside. He doesn’t have that fast ball that has that late life or rise. So he has to get the illusion that the hitter if he feels is diving he’s got to straighten him up inside. How often does he have to do that do you think John? More than most even within a sequence. Yes. So that pitch right there which was maybe if it if it wasn’t with the fast ball in that hitter could have been on that pitch and drove it. But just the thought of that pitch in to a hitter makes him a little bit more conscious of not diving out over the plate and getting a a a sinker away or a fast ball away. And you can sense that from the batter in the ball. Absolutely. And I I like when they throw over to first. When they throw over to first, the the the catcher’s normally going to set up way inside so that the hitter gets to look at that. He goes, “Oh, he was set up inside.” But it was a throw over to first, right? Prime them for what they think’s coming next. There goes the runner, Tucker. Throw down to second is not in time. Stolen base for Kyle Tucker. And pretty clearly the Cubs are going to use the run game tonight. Well, they’re they’re tired of not scoring and they’re going to push the envelope and take advantage of whatever they can with their personnel. This team has slugged surprisingly well. Second in B in the NL right side. That’s a knock. It’s on the ground. Carson Kelly. And the Cubs will sit at first and third. Kelly now is going to peel away. He’s on his way to second. Here comes the run with Tucker. He’s in there. What awareness from both runners. And the Cubs steal a run. Well, I’m pretty sure that Contras thought he had the ball in his glove the whole time and is slow to figure it out. A former catcher, of course, with a different glove. I’m not saying that the feel is going to be that all that much difference, but this was a harmless play. a cut off almost executed perfectly and then when it scoots through he doesn’t react and he’s a little too slow to reacting not knowing where that ball is. There was no reaction for a time and and if you’re a Cub fan by the way you’re sitting at home you’re like this this is the team that feels like especially with five coming up against the Brewers in a series this is the type of offense that you’re used to. Yeah. And this is if you’re if you’re the Cardinals, you’re like, you can’t afford to play this kind of baseball with the pitching you’ve had all year. Now that puts a lot more pressure on your offense. You mentioned this earlier, 34-4 after a loss. Valencia has been great in the back end of that bullpen. Brad Keller’s been a revelation for them as well. 48-11 when they score first. best in baseball. Yeah. And it’s even better when they do it in the first inning, right? They score in the first inning, they’re 29 and seven. So the first inning for a lot of clubs doesn’t always tell the story, but for the Chicago Cubs, the winning percentage really, really high. Pete Crow Armstrong very aggressive on a fifth straight first pitch strike from Palante. And these are the top two first pitch strike teams in all of Major League Baseball. So, not a shock that both offenses might pounce here tonight early in counts. On the ground to first base, Contras on the feed. Volante covers. Kelly to third with two down. That’s especially important, too, because you know, we get to see all the numbers. The more pitches that the Cubs see per at bat, their slug goes way up, right? So, if you can get early pitch strikes and stay away from the hitter getting to see too many pitches, the advantage always goes to the pitcher. Volante John, he’s gotten a bunch of these hitters at two strikes and has not been able to find strike three yet. As here is Ian Hap who takes the ball in the dirt. Well, he he definitely because of his style of pitching and because he will throw a high percentage of first pitch fast balls, you know, he definitely wants to get outs quicker and maybe balls in play to his defense. That’s a curveball. Two balls, no strikes. talking to Ali Marmal about Volante. He said, “Look, when both breaking balls are there, really good, especially the slider, that’s where he gets his strikeouts against right-handed batters. Two and 0 to half batting lefty and he takes off the plate away. The crowd with a bit of a murmur. 3 and 0 on Ian Hap who’s got 16 home runs to his name this year. Kelly at third, two down. Lot of contact in this first inning for the Cubs. That’s been the lay of the land for Palante all year. He’s a contact pitcher in an era where everybody’s hunting strike three. Yeah. And and there’s a place for it though because he’s going to stay healthier than the blow it out, throw it as hard as you can guy that everyone loves the stuff of that pitcher. And I get it. Oh, hean talking about Anaheim’s hockey team possibly. Two in in the inning thanks to the legs of Kyle Tucker on the back end ahead of the throw for a two nothing Cubs lead. I got I got the golden touch. Jump. Hey. Hey. [Music]

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