"I Am Nervous For The Playoffs" Thread

[CubInOK]

Dodgers in 0. Let's face it, we don't belong in the playoffs because, despite what all the stats say, we are easily the luckiest team in baseball. We should have lost the division lead in the last week. Edited September 29, 2008 by CubInOK

[USSoccer]

This is going to be a much tougher series than alot of people think. LA has top notch pitching..their infield D just got a whole lot better with Furcal back in the mold and their offense has dramatically improved with Manny and Casey Blake in the lineup.

 

Pitching, defense and timely hitting wins championships. If the Cubs get all three, Wrigleyville will be the scene for the biggest party known to mankind.

 

God I love post-season baseball...

 

LA's pitching is good, but it also benefits from having played a large amount of games against their AAA division. It won't be a 3 game blowout, but we're going to win it as long as no one melts down and the offense doesn't shut completely down in Game 1 and they begin to press.

[Mugged By Fluffy]

I will go with Cubs in five. I think we'll drop the opener to Lowe. Fire off two wins with Zambrano and Harden. Lilly will drop the fourth and the Cubs will win the finale with Dempster over Lowe, with Zambrano possibly coming in on short rest in relief.

 

I like the idea of Lilly at Dodgers stadium. It's a best-case scenario for his pitching style. I think Cubs in 4, dropping one of the first two to cause mass panic in the city.

 

Good point about Lilly. Why didn't Kruk think of that?

 

I like the idea of Manny Ramirez playing in that spacious RF at Dodgers Stadium.Especially with all these Cubs right handed hitters.

:D

[Cubs 32]

A few Dodgers pitching splits (not including today's game)

 

ERA

Home: 3.01

Away: 4.41

 

HR

Home: 49

Away: 74

 

BAA

Home: .228

Away: .274

 

OBP

Home: .287

Away: .342

 

SLG

Home: .333

Away: .420

 

OPS

Home: .621

Away: .762

[woodchip2153]

Watching Baseball Tonight during halftime of the Bears game; it'd make you think the Cubs don't stand a chance against the Dodgers. :roll:

 

yep, that was unreal

 

What was said.

Kruk basically says Demp is starting game 1 because we don't know which version of Z is going to show up. The Cubs made a huge mistake allowing him to finish a no hitter coming right off the injury, and Z has been terrible ever since the no hitter. I guess the fact that Z went to Venezuala for a funeral, took a late flight home and then had a start that same day had nothing to do with the bad outing following the no hitter.

 

Lilly is not scheduled in the first 3 games, because if Z is bad in game #2, Lou is going to use him as a mop up guy to bail out Z.

 

:roll: :roll:

 

Don't forget the Dodgers have the best pitching staff in the majors, and since we have right handed dominated line up they'll be able to shut us down no problem.

[jaxxradio]

That's what concerns me about facing LA in this series USSoccer..LA has the type of pitching that can shut anyone down when they are on. I was hoping the Cubs would face LA in the NLCS because it would be alot easier to beat this type of team in a best of seven series.

 

With this series as a best of five, Lowe and Billingsley could be on their A game and give LA a 2-0 lead..of course the same could be said for Dempster and Zambrano. I just hope the Cubs can hit in the clutch and Aramis doesn't go 0-12 like he did last year.

 

I agree with SF and SD being offensively deficient, but not Colorado. The Rockies got some offense..

[SouthSideRyan]

That's what concerns me about facing LA in this series USSoccer..LA has the type of pitching that can shut anyone down when they are on. I was hoping the Cubs would face LA in the NLCS because it would be alot easier to beat this type of team in a best of seven series.

 

With this series as a best of five, Lowe and Billingsley could be on their A game and give LA a 2-0 lead..of course the same could be said for Dempster and Zambrano. I just hope the Cubs can hit in the clutch and Aramis doesn't go 0-12 like he did last year.

 

I agree with SF and SD being offensively deficient, but not Colorado. The Rockies got some offense..

 

Lowe on the road: 4.42 ERA

[imb]

That's what concerns me about facing LA in this series USSoccer..LA has the type of pitching that can shut anyone down when they are on. I was hoping the Cubs would face LA in the NLCS because it would be alot easier to beat this type of team in a best of seven series.

 

With this series as a best of five, Lowe and Billingsley could be on their A game and give LA a 2-0 lead..of course the same could be said for Dempster and Zambrano. I just hope the Cubs can hit in the clutch and Aramis doesn't go 0-12 like he did last year.

 

I agree with SF and SD being offensively deficient, but not Colorado. The Rockies got some offense..

 

Lowe on the road: 4.42 ERA

 

every team has pitching that "can shut someone down if they are on", that's the definition of being "on"

[USSoccer]

That's what concerns me about facing LA in this series USSoccer..LA has the type of pitching that can shut anyone down when they are on. I was hoping the Cubs would face LA in the NLCS because it would be alot easier to beat this type of team in a best of seven series.

 

With this series as a best of five, Lowe and Billingsley could be on their A game and give LA a 2-0 lead..of course the same could be said for Dempster and Zambrano. I just hope the Cubs can hit in the clutch and Aramis doesn't go 0-12 like he did last year.

 

I agree with SF and SD being offensively deficient, but not Colorado. The Rockies got some offense..

 

Any team in a 5 game series has the potential of shutting a team down or going cold.

 

Realistically, their offense wasn't any better after getting Manny. Their pitching is pretty meh on the road.

 

Given the choice between Mets and Dodgers, this was the team you wanted. They aren't that good. Short series randomness aside, we have no excuse if we lose.

[UMFan83]

I was extremely nervous in 2003 because I knew we had a good shot of it with our pitching. Then Kerry Wood hit a 2 run double and the Cubs won game 1 and I calmed down a crapload.

 

I wasn't that nervous in 2007 because we only won 85 games and I felt like we were playing with house money

[jaxxradio]

Not every team has more than one starter who can turn it on against this Cubs offense. In fact, there is only one team in the NL playoffs that has more than one starter capable of "turning it on" against the Cubs offense.

 

Other than Cole Hamels, there isn't a pitcher on the Phillies starting rotation that could shut this Cubs lineup down. Now that Ben Sheets is out for the year, CC Sabathia is the only Brewer starting pitcher that could shutdown this Cubs lineup.

 

The Dodgers have three starting pitchers that can potentially shut this lineup down in Lowe, Billingsley and Maddux (while he isn't the Greg Maddux circa 1995, he has been known to get it done when it matters).

 

There isn't a team in the National League that worries me more than LA.

[UMFan83]

Not every team has more than one starter who can turn it on against this Cubs offense. In fact, there is only one team in the NL playoffs that has more than one starter capable of "turning it on" against the Cubs offense.

 

Other than Cole Hamels, there isn't a pitcher on the Phillies starting rotation that could shut this Cubs lineup down. Now that Ben Sheets is out for the year, CC Sabathia is the only Brewer starting pitcher that could shutdown this Cubs lineup.

 

The Dodgers have three starting pitchers that can potentially shut this lineup down in Lowe, Billingsley and Maddux (while he isn't the Greg Maddux circa 1995, he has been known to get it done when it matters).

 

There isn't a team in the National League that worries me more than LA.

 

Greg Maddux has a mediocre track record in the playoffs. And that includes when he was good.

 

I agree with the rest of your points though. The Dodgers have 3 number 2 starters on their team that can easily shut us down. But so do we...

 

I think the Dodgers were a bad matchup for us in the first round. The only team I wanted to face least was Philly.

[imb]

Not every team has more than one starter who can turn it on against this Cubs offense. In fact, there is only one team in the NL playoffs that has more than one starter capable of "turning it on" against the Cubs offense.

 

Other than Cole Hamels, there isn't a pitcher on the Phillies starting rotation that could shut this Cubs lineup down. Now that Ben Sheets is out for the year, CC Sabathia is the only Brewer starting pitcher that could shutdown this Cubs lineup.

 

The Dodgers have three starting pitchers that can potentially shut this lineup down in Lowe, Billingsley and Maddux (while he isn't the Greg Maddux circa 1995, he has been known to get it done when it matters).

 

There isn't a team in the National League that worries me more than LA.

 

greg maddux is known as a playoff choker, not someone that "gets it done when it matters" and the playoffs don't magically mean that average pitchers are going to be unable to toss a good game. The difference between dave bush and derek lowe isn't so much that lowe is fear-inspiring and bush is a cakewalk

[TMan92]

The Dodgers are being talked up like the Cubs team of last year. Outside of a nice second half run, both teams were very average. Also, they both played in extremely awful divisions.

 

The Dodgers have not played a team with a pulse in a month. That matters.

[USSoccer]

Not every team has more than one starter who can turn it on against this Cubs offense. In fact, there is only one team in the NL playoffs that has more than one starter capable of "turning it on" against the Cubs offense.

 

Other than Cole Hamels, there isn't a pitcher on the Phillies starting rotation that could shut this Cubs lineup down. Now that Ben Sheets is out for the year, CC Sabathia is the only Brewer starting pitcher that could shutdown this Cubs lineup.

 

The Dodgers have three starting pitchers that can potentially shut this lineup down in Lowe, Billingsley and Maddux (while he isn't the Greg Maddux circa 1995, he has been known to get it done when it matters).

 

There isn't a team in the National League that worries me more than LA.

 

I'll give you Lowe, because his stuff is a bad matchup for our hitters, but Billingsley is beatable, Kuroda is ok and Maddux completely sucks, and that's not factoring in his crap playoff history.

 

We're going to drop one game in this series, but none of these guys is an ace, and certainly Greg Maddux shouldn't be scaring anyone but Joe Torre.

[jaxxradio]

I would have much rather faced Philly. I am more than confident that the Cubs can score more runs on the Phillies pitching staff than LA.. plus, Charlie Manuel does a better job of voicing Boomhower on King of the Hill than he does managing.

 

The other reason why LA is a crappy first round draw is Joe Torre and his post-season presence. Torre doesn't get out-managed very often.

[USSoccer]

I would have much rather faced Philly. I am more than confident that the Cubs can score more runs on the Phillies pitching staff than LA.. plus, Charlie Manuel does a better job of voicing Boomhower on King of the Hill than he does managing.

 

The other reason why LA is a crappy first round draw is Joe Torre and his post-season presence. Torre doesn't get out-managed very often.

 

Torre gets outmanaged all the time. He got pantsed by Bob Brenly in the 2001 World Series, and was outmanaged for 6 games and 7 1/3 innings if the 7th game in 2003 by an idiot, and outmanaged in 2004. And 2005. And 2006.

 

He sucked in St Louis. He benefitted from great NY teams. He's not some savant in the dugout. Unless he's going to channel 1998 Bernie Williams or 2000 Mariano Rivera or 2007 Alex Rodriguez, we're not going to suffer at his hands.

[TMan92]

The other reason why LA is a crappy first round draw is Joe Torre and his post-season presence. Torre doesn't get out-managed very often.

 

LOL....You must be joking.

[Coach C]

I expect the Cubs to be 2-0 by the time they go out to LA. If they get 1-1, then I'll be somewhat nervous....

[jaxxradio]

When does a 3.34 ERA constitute as being a "playoff choker?" Maddux record is 11-14 with a 3.34 ERA in thirty-two games pitched (thirty as a starter) in the post-season. Given the fact that he pitched against the opposition's #1 or #2 starter, a 3.34 ERA is by no means a "playoff choker." He didn't get much offense..there's a big difference between the two.

 

As for Torre being outmanaged.. the Yankees had ZERO starting pitching the last three post-season appearances.. and were beaten by better teams in the 2001 and 2003 World Series.

[imb]

When does a 3.34 ERA constitute as being a "playoff choker?" Maddux record is 11-14 with a 3.34 ERA in thirty-two games pitched (thirty as a starter) in the post-season. Given the fact that he pitched against the opposition's #1 or #2 starter, a 3.34 ERA is by no means a "playoff choker." He didn't get much offense..there's a big difference between the two.

 

As for Torre being outmanaged.. the Yankees had ZERO starting pitching the last three post-season appearances.. and were beaten by better teams in the 2001 and 2003 World Series.

 

I'm just saying that "playoff choker" is his reputation. You made it seem like everyone regarded him as some kind of playoff stopper. Never mind the fact that he's 50 years old and sucks now. I'm not afraid of maddux at all, the dodgers might as well be sending orel hershiser out there.

[Hall7810]

Gammons is taking the Dodgers.

[BCVM22]

Gammons is taking the Dodgers.

 

Let him. He's not playing, and if the Dodgers do win, it will be because the Cubs didn't play up to their capabilities, not because Gammons or any of the other talking heads picked them.

[Hall7810]

Gammons is taking the Dodgers.

 

Let him. He's not playing, and if the Dodgers do win, it will be because the Cubs didn't play up to their capabilities, not because Gammons or any of the other talking heads picked them.

 

It's just amusing to me. This sudden doubting of this Cubs team boggles the mind.

[David]

Same thing happened with the Bears in 06. Every single analyst was picking the Saints. Then the Bears rolled them.