Cubs vs. Diamondbacks Pre Series Discussion Thread

[CubColtPacer]

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/story/2007/10/1/124440/990

 

Sounds like Lou's decided to go with a 3-man rotation for this series. :D

 

Now that I think about it, for the reason CubinNY stated and some others, I think Marquis probably will make the roster anyway for a long relief option, another starter in case of injury to one of the starters, and another option just in case some other disaster happens (Chase can be closed right?). I like going with 3 starters though because I don't think Z's stuff was affected that much by the short rest.

[jjgman21]

I was going to bring this up in the Lou Mistakes thread, but decided against it. But I will bring it up here because I think it will be one of the keys to this series and the post season in general.

 

Lou has to stop leaving his pitcher in, starters and relievers, hoping to get one more out or one more inning out of them. this strategy has been a disaster all year, and this is playoff baseball. there's no time for saving the pen for the rest of the series. there's no time for saving the bench for later in the game. there's no time for 'letting him learn to work out of it.' there's no time for building trust.

 

if a starter gives up a run or two in the first and starts the second or third looking like crap, you must yank him. if a starter struggles early on without runs, then settles down, you must yank him at the first sign of trouble in the fifth or sixth. if a reliever gives up a couple line drives or is wild, you must yank him.

 

this being said, I think Marquis has to be on the playoff roster, since he is the only one stretched out enough to give you three or four innings out of the pen. early yankings will also be more beneficial if the starter yanked needs to come back on three days rest. as for the pen, this goes to another problem I have with Lou.

 

you must trust the fourth and fifth guys out of the pen. you must allow Wuertz to face lefties, especially since he's awesome at it. you must allow Kerry Wood to give you an inning in a close ballgame and not put middle relief all on Marmol.

 

 

better staff management is needed here Lou. make the adjustment.

[CubmanPi]

I like the idea of keeping Marquis on the roster and still using a 3-man rotation. The biggest benefit of the 3-man is that, assuming the Cubs don't sweep this series, I'll get to see Z lock it up in Wrigley.

 

Also, Marquis provides a pinch-running option if Lou doesn't want to burn Pie late in a game or has already put him in, and he provides a PH if Hill is due up in the 6th or 7th and it's a bunting situation.

 

Also, the long relief thing is good to have too, since Lou wasn't interested in trying Gallagher out for that spot.

[rawaction]

I'd let Marquis start. This isn't a good lineup. He would be in Wrigley, and he keeps the ball down. I like him fully rested more than Zambrano on 3-days. I'd imagine he could get this young offense to bang the ball into the ground consistently.

[NewUserName]

I'd let Marquis start. This isn't a good lineup. He would be in Wrigley, and he keeps the ball down. I like him fully rested more than Zambrano on 3-days. I'd imagine he could get this young offense to bang the ball into the ground consistently.

 

 

I agree. As hard as it is to say this I trust Marquis more than I would trust Zambrano on short rest at home.

[Guest]

I'd let Marquis start. This isn't a good lineup. He would be in Wrigley, and he keeps the ball down. I like him fully rested more than Zambrano on 3-days. I'd imagine he could get this young offense to bang the ball into the ground consistently.

 

Yeah, I agree. I'd rather see Marquis in game 4.

[Vanilla Ice]

Also, the long relief thing is good to have too, since Lou wasn't interested in trying Gallagher out for that spot.

 

Why not let Hart be that man? He has pitched very well in his short time up and was a starter in the minors.

[CuseCubFan69]

I'd let Marquis start. This isn't a good lineup. He would be in Wrigley, and he keeps the ball down. I like him fully rested more than Zambrano on 3-days. I'd imagine he could get this young offense to bang the ball into the ground consistently.

 

And if he's up or behind in the count the Cubs fall behind early. Plus, if he's too rested wouldn't that make him too strong and isn't that usually a bad thing for a sinkerball guy?

[UK1679666180]

So who has the potential to be the Steve Garvey/Will Clark/Rodriguez for the Diamondbacks?

 

Conor Jackson won't expand his zone and can hit high FBs very far from LH'ers in the upper 80s ala Hill and Lilly.

[soccer10k]

According to my TV guide, The late games (7:30 CT Weds and 9:30 CT Thurs) are for the ALCS and the NLCS are the earlier games...

 

I could see MLB starting either the Phillies game or the Red Sox game at 8:30 ET on Wednesday but there is no way they are going to start a game at 10:30 ET in Cleveland or Philadelphia on Thursday. They just can't. That night it has to be the Cubs-DBacks late.

[UK1679666180]

I'll update my little reports on the DBacks after watching them a little bit these past few days...

 

Young-will bunt for hits down 3B line, patient hitter will take backdoor breaking ball from LH'er for strike and will expand zone down two strikes on curve low.

 

Upton-Similar to Young w/out as much game power, will roll over breaking, very quick bat, can change eye level with FB eye and curve low to strike him out.

 

Byrnes-Try to retire with a pitcher's pitch on 1st pitch, extremely aggressive early in count, good breaking ball hitter. Would throw FBs low on 1st pitch or nibble with curve.

 

Jackson-Extremely passive, seldom will swing at 1st pitch or up 2-0 in count, would throw FB outside corner as 1st pitch followed with backdoor curve. Throw a FB up and make sure it's above the letters.

 

Reynolds-Like Byrnes not afraid to swing at 1st pitch or up 3-0, 2-0. Looking FB and will bring hands in on breaking ball. Try and adjust his eye level and get him into a guess mode.

 

Snyder-Can get ahead in count with away breaking ball, will go to RF on outside Fbs, would work him away, away, away, and bust him in to jam him.

 

Drew-Throw 1st breaking ball for strikes, passive hitter when ahead, would pitch backwards to get him out.

 

Ojeda-Tough guy to strike out, doesn't drive the ball, will take 1st pitch strike, will expand strike zone high when behind in the count, allow him to retire himself early.

 

Webb-Seldom falls behind in the count, will try and get hitter to fall behind early and rely on ground balls out of the zone. Make him throw his curve for a strike. Don't worry about getting ahead in the count, if it's 0-0 and it's borderline try and it drive up the middle.

 

Manufacture runs against him, he doesn'tgive up many HRs or line drive XBH, will throw his sinker for a strike when behind.

 

I would hit and run in almost every 1-0 count with a man on 1B, he does not want to get to 2-0 or 3 balls, try and hit it thru the vacant space created the runner in motion, I'd test Webb and Reynolds with bunts as well, try and break up him falling into a potential rhythm.

 

You have to nickle and dime him to death.

[hardcorecubfan]

Nicely done!!! thank you

[UMFan83]

Yeah UK, thanks for giving your scouting report. I don't get to watch a lot of the DBacks games, and missed big chunks of both series this year. Seems like their batters won't be able to handler some of our pitchers with great movement.

[UK1679666180]

Yeah UK, thanks for giving your scouting report. I don't get to watch a lot of the DBacks games, and missed big chunks of both series this year. Seems like their batters won't be able to handler some of our pitchers with great movement.

 

It's more about changing speeds and location with the Dbacks, they're a real good FB hitting team, they remind me of the Cubs offense, just not as much potential pop

 

With Z, it starts with being able to locate his FB, I'd like to see him try and that slider in the dirt with 2 strikes.

 

With Hill, it's also about location but with his curve, they'll struggle with his curve and hopefully he'll locate his his fastball above the letters and then down with the curve.

 

Lilly, I hope his curve has bite and that he mixes in his slider and cutter with a similar high FB as Hill.

 

Marquis if he starts, he's got to keep his front side closed to maintain movement on his sinker and not overthrow it.

[sandberg23]

TBS, during the SD/Col game, lists the Cubs/AZ game at 10pm eastern for those of you who still don't know.

[Careless]

So we're playing a team with an arguably worse hitting version of theriot (only 6 years older and playing second) as a starter? And he's outhit a lot of their players this season?

 

This Arizona team is weird.

[Post Count Padder]

Good work on that scouting report, UK/Pinghitter. Very helpful and very nicely done.

[Post Count Padder]

Don't know if this was posted, but here is Yahoo's take on the series:

 

Link

 

Actually not really the garbage I expected.

 

 

An here is Tony Gwynn's take.

[Roast]

This just in: The rockies scare me. Not to look ahead of this series, but i'm just saying.

[Butterscup1679666578]

This just in: The rockies scare me. Not to look ahead of this series, but i'm just saying.

 

They don't scare me. Poor pitching, and our hitting is much better than SDs. I really like our chances against them.

[TBone]

I think our pitching in a 7 game series wins out, but their O is clicking.

 

However we've got a few things on our side...experience, (they're very young and even the guys that aren't young don't have a lot of post-season experience) starting pitching, and a closer matchup where we're actually even. That doesn't even take into account that there will be a boat load of Cubs fans in the stands for any game out here. Usually us Cubs fans are 1-3 to 2-3 of the total fan base. I've been to many a Cubs Rocks game out here and we're always loud.

 

If we can get 3 QS in a 7-game series, we're good IMO. Even if not, I'll take our pen and our ability to score against their pen.

[CubmanPi]

Don't know if this was posted, but here is Yahoo's take on the series:

 

Link

 

Actually not really the garbage I expected.

 

Only some of the garbage I expected, like Bartman and the pointless mention of Z's fight with Barrett.

 

To their credit, they said it was attrition that got the Cubs to the playoffs and not $300 million, but saying they "withstood four losses in their final six games" is a little unfair in that one of the losses didn't matter, and it was their ridiculous stretch of winning 10 of 12 leading up to those three losses that allowed them to withstand the slide, not the poor play of the Brewers, who played above .500 baseball during that same stretch of time.

 

Also to their credit was giving due respect to Geovany Soto in a side note of the unlikely hero section.

[Andy]

This just in: The rockies scare me. Not to look ahead of this series, but i'm just saying.

 

They don't scare me. Poor pitching, and our hitting is much better than SDs. I really like our chances against them.

Yeah, Colorado worries me less than any NL team, and the Cubs beat them pretty good this year.

[Roast]

This just in: The rockies scare me. Not to look ahead of this series, but i'm just saying.

 

They don't scare me. Poor pitching, and our hitting is much better than SDs. I really like our chances against them.

Yeah, Colorado worries me less than any NL team, and the Cubs beat them pretty good this year.

 

Yeah but right now they are white hot. Hopefully, if they advance to the NLCS, they can have a couple losses handed to them in the NLDS to cool them down a bit.

[Guest]

This just in: The rockies scare me. Not to look ahead of this series, but i'm just saying.

 

They don't scare me. Poor pitching, and our hitting is much better than SDs. I really like our chances against them.

 

Francis, Morales and Jimenez as starters can be pretty scary in a 7-game series.