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

[Guest]

Holy crap you guys are the worst. The Cubs are 13-11, the year is over!

 

we got lucky early on cuz pittsburgs bats havent fired up yet.

this years team is not as good a team as the record has shown.

 

face it our hitting is streaky and overall our pitching is just alright.

we might get a wildcard but not the division. i just dont see it.

cardinals are to deep a squad. and they have some fcking amazing karma for some reason.

 

The Cubs currently lead the wild card and have played the hardest schedule in the NL to date. If you 'don't see it' with them it's because you watch all their games and get frustrated at their failures to the point that it colors your opinion.

 

Just out of curiosity, where are you getting your SOS numbers?

 

I don't have it off hand, I'm assuming that it hasn't changed after 3 games v. Milwaukee and 1 v. St. Louis since I saw a mention of SOS on Friday. Maybe they're 2nd or something now, but the overriding point remains.

[Guest]

I know someone posted ESPN's the other day. Prior to today's game, it had our SOS at exactly .500, 16th in the majors and 7th in the NL.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/rpi/_/sort/sos

[sontensei]

Holy crap you guys are the worst. The Cubs are 13-11, the year is over!

 

we got lucky early on cuz pittsburgs bats havent fired up yet.

this years team is not as good a team as the record has shown.

 

face it our hitting is streaky and overall our pitching is just alright.

we might get a wildcard but not the division. i just dont see it.

cardinals are to deep a squad. and they have some fcking amazing karma for some reason.

 

There was a poster not long ago who posted in a quasi-haiku form. Who was it? And don't say LLF or WSR, because he never posted in haiku form.

 

omg

 

i can't believe this got by me

 

is sontensei another incarnation of benny rodriguez aka neely crenshaw?

oh god you're right

 

travis wood and hendricks are pretty much average pitchers, they eat up innings you cant expect them to shut down the other team,,, they are both #5 pitchers Hammel is a #4 in the #3 role.. really we have

 

#1 Lester

#1.5 Arietta

#4 Hammel

#5 Wood

#5 Hendricks

 

Same as our bullpen, after grimm and ramirez went down i knew we would have trouble.

 

Coke = garbage

Motte = losing in 6th cleanup guy

German = scrub

Rosscup = good lefty specialist

Strop = usually great setup man in 8th not 7th inning pitcher..

Rondon = good closer

 

end result middle of the road pitching staff. just average.

 

lets look at the lineup

 

CF - Fowler - Above average CF/Leadoff but not "star" level

RF - Soler - Potential All Star, rookie struggles will make him streaky

LF - Coghlan/Denforia - pretty much 7/8 hitters with ok defense. (I dont know why they didnt sign Nelson Cruz tbh was only 14 mil/yr)

1b - Rizzo top 5 infielder in the entire game.

2b - Russell - playing out of position to accommodate Castro, has some pop, rookie -- will be streaky

SS - Castro - Above Avg SS ops wise, big double play hitter. defense is so so, should be 2b swapped with Russell

3B - Bryant - super hyped rookie, avg 3b too big to be really great defensively great obp skills. doesnt get much to hit, needs to learn when to swing away, learning on the job future star blah blah blah -- ROOKIE LEARNING ON THE JOB -- streaky..

C- Montero - Hot start of the season, used to be top offensive catcher coming back a bit, streaky

 

Overall our offense is streaky with alot of young guys learning how to face mlb pitchers with 3 or 4 +++ pitches and high budget scouting reports. Amazing at times, just downright bad at others.... but still top 10 in mlb, will end up with a 10 game winning streak some time in the season, but will it be too late?

 

so we have a average pitching staff and a above average offense..

 

Cant really expect division title, wild card is possible.

[DiamondMind]

It's been a good 5 years since a Cubs game got me so pissed off that it kept me up at night. So what if it's early May, and in the end, a maddening 9-10 loss is no different from a 10-0 blowout. But it's called human emotion, dammit, and it's not always rational.

 

Yep. Soul-crushing loss. It's only natural to reassess everything, even if you know it's a pointless exercise. Losing hurts. Losing crazy games hurts more. Losing crazy games to your biggest rival hurts even more.

 

The good thing about baseball is, there's usually another game tomorrow. No time to dwell on things like the NFL.

 

Gotta go get em tomorrow. No other option. Go Cubs.

[Clem Fandango]

travis wood and hendricks are pretty much average pitchers, they eat up innings you cant expect them to shut down the other team,,, they are both #5 pitchers Hammel is a #4 in the #3 role.. really we have

 

#1 Lester

#1.5 Arietta

#4 Hammel

#5 Wood

#5 Hendricks

 

Same as our bullpen, after grimm and ramirez went down i knew we would have trouble.

 

Coke = garbage

Motte = losing in 6th cleanup guy

German = scrub

Rosscup = good lefty specialist

Strop = usually great setup man in 8th not 7th inning pitcher..

Rondon = good closer

 

end result middle of the road pitching staff. just average.

 

lets look at the lineup

 

CF - Fowler - Above average CF/Leadoff but not "star" level

RF - Soler - Potential All Star, rookie struggles will make him streaky

LF - Coghlan/Denforia - pretty much 7/8 hitters with ok defense. (I dont know why they didnt sign Nelson Cruz tbh was only 14 mil/yr)

1b - Rizzo top 5 infielder in the entire game.

2b - Russell - playing out of position to accommodate Castro, has some pop, rookie -- will be streaky

SS - Castro - Above Avg SS ops wise, big double play hitter. defense is so so, should be 2b swapped with Russell

3B - Bryant - super hyped rookie, avg 3b too big to be really great defensively great obp skills. doesnt get much to hit, needs to learn when to swing away, learning on the job future star blah blah blah -- ROOKIE LEARNING ON THE JOB -- streaky..

C- Montero - Hot start of the season, used to be top offensive catcher coming back a bit, streaky

 

Overall our offense is streaky with alot of young guys learning how to face mlb pitchers with 3 or 4 +++ pitches and high budget scouting reports. Amazing at times, just downright bad at others.... but still top 10 in mlb, will end up with a 10 game winning streak some time in the season, but will it be too late?

 

so we have a average pitching staff and a above average offense..

 

Cant really expect division title, wild card is possible.

 

And you seemed to be so optimistic and happy a couple of weeks ago starting all those threads! You killed mega threads, and now you're killing your own boner for the Cubs!

 

The Cubs have lost three straight. It has taken 3 games for people to start looking down on the Cubs. Prior to their first loss against Milwaukee a few days ago the Cubs had won 5 of their previous 6 games.

 

The Minnesota Twins started the season 1-6. They're 14-12 now. Teams hit rough patches, but good teams prevail. The Cubs are a good team. Through two key bullpen injuries, a slow start by their new ace, and having some black hole offensive performances at a few positions at varying points in the year so far, the Cubs have a winning record and they are a team that can only get better as the year goes on.

 

Sure you can be mad at a loss, but stop freaking out about who is a #4 or a #5 or who is streaky. Newsflash: There aren't many teams with pitchers who slot into their rotation spots accurately or whatever you want to call your standards, and not every team has an all-star at every position.

 

Here is MLB's Top 3 Team Pitching Staff fWAR Leaders coming into tonight's ball game:

 

1) Yankees (4.8)

2) Nationals (4.5)

3) Cubs (4.2)

 

Yes, the Cubs with their two aces and then some back end average innings eaters and their shitty bullpen that has two good relievers, one specialist, and a bunch of worthless scrubs, have the 3rd most valuable pitching staff in all of baseball. And that's with the pitching shortcomings mentioned above while having to endure a guy like Schlitter who was one of the worst relievers in baseball during his time in the big leagues. Actually if Schlitter had been good enough to be worth 0 wins instead of -0.3 wins, we'd be tied with the Nationals for 2nd best fWAR pitching staff in baseball (and #1 in the NL), and they have 5 aces or so I'm told.

 

Bad games happen. Bad stretches happen. #wearestillgood. Lighten up, Francis

[Proven Veteran]

http://i.imgur.com/S5BfWuG.gif

 

What's in the other guy's hands?

I've seen those before, some sort of stretching apparatus

It's a theracane. They are great for massaging/stretching your back.

[DiamondMind]

maybe denorfia should use a theracane

[Derwood]

Man, I'm glad I went to bed when the Cubs were up 8-6 and I didn't watch this garbage

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Man, I'm glad I went to bed when the Cubs were up 8-6 and I didn't watch this garbage

 

I was just logging on to post that. Get out of my head.

 

I'd probably really hate our 13-11, playoff-spot holding team right now if I'd actually seen them blow the lead. Instead, I woke up, checked my phone, said "huh, that's unfortunate" and moved on.

[Guest]

Man, I'm glad I went to bed when the Cubs were up 8-6 and I didn't watch this garbage

 

I was just logging on to post that. Get out of my head.

 

I'd probably really hate our 13-11, playoff-spot holding team right now if I'd actually seen them blow the lead. Instead, I woke up, checked my phone, said "huh, that's unfortunate" and moved on.

i don't hate our team

 

i hated baseball for most of last night

[Guest]

how weird is it that he quoted that post identifying him as another neely dupe account and didn't actually say anything about that

[SouthSideRyan]

I know someone posted ESPN's the other day. Prior to today's game, it had our SOS at exactly .500, 16th in the majors and 7th in the NL.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/rpi/_/sort/sos

 

Makes sense to see it fluctuate so wildly. We've played so few games, then we added 3 games against the worst team in baseball.

 

ETA: We're now up to 10th after adding just 1 game against the best record in baseball. Basically these numbers are meaningless.

Edited May 5, 2015 by SouthSideRyan

[Sammy Sofa]

how weird is it that he quoted that post identifying him as another neely dupe account and didn't actually say anything about that

 

neely had some rage issues; this guy seems much more mellow.

[Guest]

how weird is it that he quoted that post identifying him as another neely dupe account and didn't actually say anything about that

 

neely had some rage issues; this guy seems much more mellow.

 

sontensei signed up dec 2 and made his first post on dec 10th

 

neely's last post was dec 8th (after not having made one since august), and last log-in was also dec 8th

[Sammy Sofa]

I thought neely vanished almost a year ago. Weird. Maybe he got some meds.

[Guest]

I thought neely vanished almost a year ago. Weird. Maybe he got some meds.

 

he did

 

and he returned as benny rodriguez

 

then everybody figured that out and he came back as neely at some point

[UMFan83]

With the cavet that I've been known to freak out irrationally in the past and will probably do it again before the month is out and be called out, is this really worth freaking out about? It's May 5th. Yes we want to win the division but whatever, I just care that we are good and we're going to likely be good and in contention this entire year.

 

We are 13-11, and this despite our offense, which is supposed to be one of our strengths, being middle of the road. You would expect our prospects to improve as the season goes along. Between Soler, Bryant, Alcantara, Russell and Baez, we will get significant contributions from several of them before the year is out.

 

The bullpen has been mediocre, but without Grimm and Ramirez, both who will be back. I trust that we will have a solid established bullpen before all is said and done.

 

It sucks losing to the Cardinals and Brewers, and sucks badly to lose the way we did last night but lets not lose sight of the big picture. It's a long season and its simply not healthy to get too upset about 3 games in early May, when overall the results have been pretty good.

[Sammys Boombox]

I will be the first person to say my reactions to Cardinal related things are not rational. Last night was terrible, but that doesn't mean I'm not still really excited about this Cubs team. Does it suck we may play in a wild card game with 100 wins in 2016? Yeah, but I'm not doom and gloom. I'm just pissed the BFIB get to keep cheering for the best organization in baseball and that I have feelings towards that organization that I don't even verbalize because my wife would try to put me in an asylum if she heard what is going through my head when we play them.

 

And there are really people on here who aren't buying into us as legit contenders yet? I don't think Bryant is even making his best contact right now, but he is staying within himself and mentally dominating this game right now. Russell is making quick strides. I am not worried about Soler figuring it out. Everything we were hoping to see has pretty much been happening and people are magnifying the trouble spots because of a 3-game losing streak.

 

Edit: just read the post above mine. What he said.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Sammy's Boombox

[Guest]

i'm getting more mad at the people conceding the division than i was at babip last night

[sontensei]

how weird is it that he quoted that post identifying him as another neely dupe account and didn't actually say anything about that

 

neely had some rage issues; this guy seems much more mellow.

 

sontensei signed up dec 2 and made his first post on dec 10th

 

neely's last post was dec 8th (after not having made one since august), and last log-in was also dec 8th

 

Arlight guys look up an old inactive account called "knyption" i would be using that one but i dont know the log in details and the old email that it was registered under no longer exists. i used to post here on and off between 2000-2008 after we got swept by Arizona in '08 i literally cancelled my cable (besides internet) and didnt watch baseball at all until last september last year or so after getting free tickets and watching soler and rizzo get some nice hits (kinda got me back into it). im not some guy named neely. who the f* is that? check your ip address or w/e --- absolutely ludicrous.

[Thed Hoyerstein]

cubs were swept by arizona in 2007

[Sammy Sofa]

i used to post here on and off between 2000-2008

 

Might want to check your math there.

 

after we got swept by Arizona in '08 i literally cancelled my cable (besides internet) and didnt watch baseball at all until last september

 

Well this seems completely sensible.

[sontensei]

i used to post here on and off between 2000-2008

 

Might want to check your math there.

 

after we got swept by Arizona in '08 i literally cancelled my cable (besides internet) and didnt watch baseball at all until last september

 

Well this seems completely sensible.

 

There has been so much losing that i forget who beat us, yeah i shoulda said Dodgers.

I first found this msg board back when i was in college so maybe 01 or 02? been a long time anyways...

[sontensei]

I think i found it in the member list

 

yeah i guess it was 2005

 

http://imgur.com/FL14UJE

[UMFan83]

i used to post here on and off between 2000-2008

 

Might want to check your math there.

 

after we got swept by Arizona in '08 i literally cancelled my cable (besides internet) and didnt watch baseball at all until last september

 

Well this seems completely sensible.

 

There has been so much losing that i forget who beat us, yeah i shoulda said Dodgers.

I first found this msg board back when i was in college so maybe 01 or 02? been a long time anyways...

 

NSBB wasn't created until 2003....

 

Are you going to run away again at the first sign of trouble?

Edited May 5, 2015 by UMFan83