Saturday, May 22, 2010

May 21: Cubs @ Rangers WPA Recap (Game 43)


Cubs' MVP: Tyler Colvin (.136 WPA)
Just in case you were wondering how little of an impact the Cubs' offense had on this game, Tyler Colvin was the only player on the team to post a positive WPA at the plate, and that's probably because he didn't get multiple at bats to screw up. In his only plate appearance Colvin ripped a one out double in the top of the ninth to give the Cubs, for a second day in a row, a decent chance to tie the score in the final frame. But for the second day in a row, that just didn't happen.

Fun fact: In the last seven days, Colvin has the team's worst contact percentage at 58.8, but a 50.0 LD% and .625 BABIP. He's swinging and missing a lot, but when he hits the ball he's really whacking it.

Rangers' MVP: Colby Lewis (.261 WPA)
Colby Lewis continues to impress in his second stint with the Rangers. His slider was a big reason the Cubs' offense remained impotent for most of the night, as he only allowed one run and five hits over six innings, walking three and striking out four. Lewis' FIP stands at a healthy 3.45, and his xFIP doesn't stray too far at 4.01. Lewis has probably been the best starter this season for Texas. C.J. Wilson has been good, and his ERA is prettier, but they have similar FIP, an indentical WHIP (1.15) and Lewis strikes more batters out. Dave Allen at Fangraphs wrote a good piece a few weeks ago regarding his slider.

Cubs' LVP: Kosuke Fukudome (-.183 WPA)
After leading off the game with a walk, Kosuke finished 0-4 last night with a strikeout. He ended the second inning by grounding out with a man in scoring position, then ended the game on an infield pop out, again with the tying run in scoring position.

An honorable mention to the Cubs' infield defense, who did this.
 
Rangers' LVP: David Murphy (-.085 WPA)
Murphy went 0-4 with four groundouts, two of which came with a man on second.

Biggest Hit of the Game: Tyler Colvin's aforementioned double in the ninth. Yes, a non-run scoring hit for the team that never led the game was the biggest swing of the game in win probability. That probably tells you how boring this game was. (.136 WPA)

Biggest Out of the Game: With runners on second and third and two outs in the eighth, Frank Francisco strikes out Mike Fontenot looking. (-.151 WPA)

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