5/4 Cubs (Wood) @ Cardinals (Martinez) 7:10PM ESPN/CSN

[XZero771679666304]

Gonna be flipping during breaks of the Bulls game, which means that the Cubs will look awesome and hit a bunch of dongs but oh well.

 

Or you could record the Cubs game and watch it as soon as the Bulls game is over.

[Guest]

Serious question, though. What's the largest difference between a low ERA and a high FIP that a pitcher has ended up with? 1.73 to 4.45 seems like an astronomical gap for those two statistics to coexist, an obviously it will correct itself as the season goes on, but I don't know if I've ever recalled a gap this large at any point in any season since I've been paying attention to FIP.

 

I don't know about at any given point in a season, but here's the last 5 years of qualified starters and the biggest FIP-ERA gaps, I limited it to those greater than 1.00

 

Year   Name        FIP-ERA
2014   Fister       1.52
2012   Hellickson   1.50
2011   Hellickson   1.49
2014   C. Young     1.37
2011   Romero       1.28
2010   Buchholz     1.28
2010   Hudson       1.26
2010   Cahill       1.22
2014   Volquez      1.11
2011   Saunders     1.09
2014   Cueto        1.05

 

So to partially answer your question, a couple guys will have a pretty big gap in a given year, with 'big gap' meaning 2-3x smaller than Martinez's current gap, so Martinez is going to converge. He has the stuff to stop giving up HR and K some more people so it doesn't necessarily mean he's going to regress to his current FIP number, but that gap is not going to continue.

[SouthSideRyan]

Gonna be flipping during breaks of the Bulls game, which means that the Cubs will look awesome and hit a bunch of dongs but oh well.

 

Or you could record the Cubs game and watch it as soon as the Bulls game is over.

 

Or just flip to the Bulls game for the last 6 minutes.

[Andy]

Gonna be flipping during breaks of the Bulls game, which means that the Cubs will look awesome and hit a bunch of dongs but oh well.

Two of the games of this series will be happening concurrent with Bulls games, so if that means the Cubs win those two games and I don't see much of it, I'm cool with that.

[Banedon]

Gonna be flipping during breaks of the Bulls game, which means that the Cubs will look awesome and hit a bunch of dongs but oh well.

 

Or you could record the Cubs game and watch it as soon as the Bulls game is over.

 

Or just flip to the Bulls game for the last 6 minutes.

 

Eh...I'll just flip back and forth based on which team is making me happy or angry at any particular moment. I can always rewind for highlight moments. Yay DVR's!

[Guest]

this series should be a good test of my "cubs play to the level of the competition" thesis, which posits that the cubs will play to the level of their competition

I like your logic there. They're going to to 3 of 4 from these bastards. [expletive] the nay Sayers.

[Guest]

Day off for Soler.

 

http://i.imgur.com/OspxzpO.jpg

[EPCub4]

This guy seems charming.

 

[Guest]

rivalry pissing contests are just so tedious

[Andy]

Wish Soler had gotten his needed day off before this series.

 

I'd love for one of my teams to have a consistently losing rival so I could spend hours coming up with witticisms to make fun of them with in tweets. (And somehow rack up over 2,000 followers doing it)

[mul21]

The "fans actually watch the game" thing just makes me laugh. I got a free ticket to the Cards-Bucs game Saturday and there are just as many dumb girls there to be seen at Busch as there are at Wrigley, as I'm sure there are at just about every other ML park.

[Andy]

The "fans actually watch the game" thing just makes me laugh. I got a free ticket to the Cards-Bucs game Saturday and there are just as many dumb girls there to be seen at Busch as there are at Wrigley, as I'm sure there are at just about every other ML park.

My sample size of games at other parks is 1, but I've never understood that one at all. Any Cubs game I've ever been to, and particularly when the team is contending, the fans are very engaged. And that 1 (2007 division clincher in Cincy), the Cubs fans there were certainly paying more attention than the handful of Reds fans.

[Ski]

Cubs are 10-0 so far this season when they score 5 or more runs:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/inning_summary.cgi?year=2015&team_id=CHC&submitter=1

 

So, do your thing, offense.

[ctcf]

Cubs are 10-0 so far this season when they score 5 or more runs:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/inning_summary.cgi?year=2015&team_id=CHC&submitter=1

 

So, do your thing, offense.

 

You trying to start trouble with Fred there, buddy?

[halplm]

I don't mind Soler sitting a game, if necessary I'm sure he'll be up in a good situation.

 

I'm totally over the pitcher batting 8th, though. I want that to go away. I think they should have tried Russell in the 2 spot today.

[sneakypower]

notable cheater Jordan Walden unavailable for this series, after sustaining an injury likely due to his cheating method of pitching; it'd be a shame if his arm is destroyed

[Guest]

I don't mind Soler sitting a game, if necessary I'm sure he'll be up in a good situation.

 

I'm totally over the pitcher batting 8th, though. I want that to go away. I think they should have tried Russell in the 2 spot today.

What is it about what you've seen that has you totally over it?

[jb10194]

The good news is that the Cardinals offense has been slumping too, scoring 7 runs in 35 innings against the Pirates, so under 2 runs per nine innings. That being said I fully expect them to BABIP luck their way into a bunch of runs this series.

 

Cubs are also averaging about a run and a half better during night games. I remember somebody mentioning we seem to hit better during the night.

[DiamondMind]

Soler should have been given a day off in the less meaningful series

[jersey cubs fan]

Soler should have been given a day off in the less meaningful series

that's a bit too nitpicky for my tastes.

[DiamondMind]

seems like common sense to me

[DiamondMind]

also dallas braden is the worst

[seanimal]

Soler should have been given a day off in the less meaningful series

 

meh. at this point i'd rather see bryant with the day off

[halplm]

I don't mind Soler sitting a game, if necessary I'm sure he'll be up in a good situation.

 

I'm totally over the pitcher batting 8th, though. I want that to go away. I think they should have tried Russell in the 2 spot today.

What is it about what you've seen that has you totally over it?

 

The totally biased perception that the pitcher in the 8th spot is too often the 3rd out with runners in scoring position.

[Burt Macklin, FBI]

No Morgan? No Schilling? yessssss