We finished with a respectable-enough 15-9 record in Chapter Four, but there were several things about this past chapter that have left a sour taste in my mouth. I'll get to that in a minute. First, let's talk about all the good things that happened.
We outscored our opponents by 72 runs last chapter, which is exceptional, but also entirely due to the fact that we averaged -- get this -- nearly EIGHT RUNS per game last chapter! We scored 191 runs in 24 games, which averages to 7.96. We scored double-digit runs in nine of our twenty-four games, and won by scores like 11-3, 11-2, 13-7, 13-2, 11-3, 16-5, and 14-4.
Every hitter on our roster contributed something useful last chapter. Our worst hitter last chapter, Ramon Laureano, posted a useful .368 OBP, and came through with several clutch hits. Shohei Ohtani smashed 13 home runs. Mark Canha hit .306/.410/.582. Rafael Devers posted an .866 OPS. Andrew Benintendi posted a .420 on-base percentage. On and on it goes.
But the one player whose Chapter Four performance simply blows me away is Trea Turner. After doing virtually nothing in the first half, and causing me to wonder if I should trade for a second baseman who can actually play baseball, Turner turned his season around in a huge way this past chapter, hitting .393/.416/.636, with 11 doubles, 5 homers, a team-leading 28 RBI's, and a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts.
If we're going to win another championship trophy, we are going to need Trea Turner to be Trea F'ing Turner. Period.
As you may imagine, if we scored SO many runs in Chapter Four, but outscored our opponents by "only" 72, something very disturbing must have happened to our pitching staff. You would be correct. The truly disturbing part about Chapter Four, for me, was not the performance of our starting pitchers (who I've grown to assume will fail), but with our formerly vaunted and world-famous bullpen. That bullpen was supposed to carry us to the trophy. Instead, I'm rapidly losing confidence in each and every member of that bullpen.
Ryan Tepera continues to allow home runs at an inexplicable rate. He allowed two more in Chapter Four, giving him nine for the year. Folks, Ryan Tepera only allowed four homers in over ten more innings in MLB -- in a home ballpark much tougher for pitchers. Nothing about it makes sense.
Two games, in particular, stand out in Chapter Four as causing my faith in our bullpen to shake beyond repair. Both took place at the very end of the chapter. In a game against the lowly South Loop Furies, we were winning by a score of 3-1 heading into the seventh inning. After two quick outs, I handed the ball to Tepera to get the third -- against the bottom of the South Loop lineup, no less. He proceeded to allow two RBI singles and an RBI double to the next three batters in a row.
In our final game of the chapter, we led by a seemingly comfortable margin of 7-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh against the Blacksburg Beamers. I handed the ball to Ranger Suarez and Joe Kelly -- our best two relievers all season, and our most consistent. Suarez allowed THREE walks and a single before I could yank him out of there. Then Kelly proceeded to do this:
Run-scoring error.
Two-run single.
RBI single
RBI fielder's choice.
Yet another error.
Sac fly.
SEVEN runs scored in that inning, and we lost the game.
Folks, bullshit like this cannot happen on a championship ballclub. I don't care how many runs we score. If our bullpen pitches like this, we will not win that trophy.
