10/07 CUBS (ARRIETA) @ PIRATES (COLE), 7:00 PM CDT, TBS

[Stu]

One of my all-time favorite moments ever was when Arrieta immediately stole second. That was hilarious and a total John Wayne moment: "You want a piece of me pilgrim?" Dex's liner was sinking too, and the beaning almost cost the Pirates a run, which would have been doubly hilarious.

[Fro]

I'm sure it's been discussed ad nauseam in this thread, but wtf was with them hitting Arrieta? This is the playoffs; act like you are the ones who have been there before. Your whole pitching philosophy is about owning the inside part of the plate and you've led the majors in HBP in each of the last three years. Does this mean you expect every other team to throw at your pitcher after he hits a batter? If so, that's a lot of stupid, petty beanball wars. Spare me your indignation at a couple balls slipping and hitting your batters, considering you hit more people accidentally than any other team in baseball.

 

 

Pure frustration. They knew they were toast. I've never seen a more thorough example of a team being psyched out.

 

They were psyched out on Monday. I know the Pirate Parrot account is a parody account, but trying to taunt Arrieta; Hurdle leaving Ramirez and Alvarez on his bench; completely going against his decision to do that before 1 time thru the order; the HBP; etc. The media here had been optimistic, but it came off more like they were trying to convince themselves they had a chance to win. They were a team that knew the only chance they had was for Cole to throw up 0's for 9 and hope their superior bullpen would beat the Cubs' bullpen in extras.

 

Cole was too amped up in the beginning and then by the time Schwarber hit his HR the Pirates completely abandoned their gameplan.

 

I think a beanball war + smallball could have potentially worked for the Pirates but they waited too long to pull the trigger.

 

So has there been much heat in this thread, towards Maddon, about Arrieta going nine innings up by four runs? With all the off days Rondon, and the rest of the pen, will have received this week I would have preferred him closing things down in the ninth. It may be a nit pick but I prefer not having Arrieta throw a complete game, with over 100 pitches, unless absolutely necessary. Plus you prevent Rondon from having gone several days in a row without pitching.

No. Pitch counts and Rondon's rest mean nothing in an elimination game during the playoffs. The best pitcher in baseball just threw 113 pitches against arguably the best team in baseball. No big deal.

 

Yep, in the playoffs and especially in an elimination game you've got to ride your stud pitcher until he's either obviously tired/ineffective or asks to come out. Dude was pretty much cruising outside of the 6th/7th.

[UMFan83]

"Goodbye Pittsburgh, hello St. Louis!"

 

 

I love that Len was able to call Dexter's HR

[Guest]

Time for my conference call. Don't feel too bad this morning. Pretty good, actually!

[Brian]

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[Banedon]

Holy [expletive], 91 pages? You all are animals.

 

Ok, I'm diving in! See you guys later!

 

I just did the same. Lots of hearts handed out.

 

When watching the game last night, I made a joke about the Pirates fans leaving early and asking if that was on their cheer sheet. I was going to say something similar in here, but TT already knocked those jokes out of the park last night.

 

Yep, TT for thread MVP.

[UMFan83]

Maybe I'm just in the heat of the moment but this might be my favorite sports team that I ever followed. Damn good after a down period, so much potential to get even better in coming years, historically dominant and cocky ace, tons of likable personalities (the worst players on the team are some of the most likable somehow) and the team has this youthful energy and cohesiveness that you cannot manufacture led by our half crazy half genius manager.

[MembersOnlyJacket]

So has there been much heat in this thread, towards Maddon, about Arrieta going nine innings up by four runs? With all the off days Rondon, and the rest of the pen, will have received this week I would have preferred him closing things down in the ninth. It may be a nit pick but I prefer not having Arrieta throw a complete game, with over 100 pitches, unless absolutely necessary. Plus you prevent Rondon from having gone several days in a row without pitching.

 

I agree with Jake going the distance. The Cubs are going to need their bullpen in Games 2 and 4, possibly 1 depending on which Lester shows up. It's going to get taxed against St L with matchups, etc. Guys get up and down much more in playoff baseball than the regular season. I recall Junichi Tazawa saying the most agonizing part of the 2013 playoffs for him was all the times he warmed up, regardless of whether he pitched in the game.

 

Bottom line; Jake faced good Pirate hitters and kept the ball down enough in the tough innings to survive. He was hit-able, but never on the ropes. I don't think he had his best cutter, but never walked anyone due to stellar 4 seam command. 113 pitches is what a front line starter should be throwing if he's strong in a playoff game. Maddon took care to keep him under 90 the last two outings of the regular season.

Edited October 8, 2015 by MembersOnlyJacket

[Old Style]

[MembersOnlyJacket]

One other note about Arrieta which is practically unbelievable given that I don't think he had his best stuff:

 

In this game, he became the first pitcher ever to throw a postseason shutout with double-digit strikeouts and zero walks.

[Old Style]

And he stole a [expletive] base!

[UMFan83]

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[Andy]

One other note about Arrieta which is practically unbelievable given that I don't think he had his best stuff:

 

In this game, he became the first pitcher ever to throw a postseason shutout with double-digit strikeouts and zero walks.

It was probably his worst start in over a month. There is no superlative good enough for him.

[davell]

The TBS #Cubs #Pirates game drew a 5.5 overnight rating. It was the network's highest rated wild card game ever.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Not that is matters, but Sean Rodriguez is going to get a suspension, right?

[Banedon]

“We couldn't do it. We couldn't score runs,” catcher Francisco Cervelli said. “This is Arrieta's year. And I believe we just faced the team that will be in the World Series. They're really good.”

[UMFan83]

So Jake Arrieta pitched a CG SO and his ERA over his last 10 starts dropped just 0.03 points (0.27 to 0.24)

[Banedon]

Damn....harsh!

 

http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/9150714-74/pirates-cole-ace#axzz3nzH0K932

 

Cole isn't an ace. He's the Pirates' best starting pitcher.

 

There is a big difference.

 

Had the Pirates an ace, they might have played more baseball each of these last three Octobers.

[jersey cubs fan]

http://dkpittsburghsports.com/

 

It was always a flawed argument that the Pirates had no recourse against Madison Bumgarner in last year’s National League Wild Card.

 

Maybe, just maybe, if Edinson Volquez had kept it close, that game plays out in a different way. It’s a lot to ask a pitcher to throw six or seven scoreless, but that was what it took to have a chance.

 

This year, Gerrit Cole didn’t have what it took, either. That fact lingered longest after a venue-record 40,889 had filed out of PNC Park on Wednesday night, mourning a 4-0 loss to the Cubs.

 

The Pirates lined up their 25-year-old Brahma bull for just this scenario weeks in advance, but Cole was off right from the start, eventually departing after five erratic innings and the Pirates down four to Cy Young Award favorite Jake Arrieta.

 

“It burns,” Cole said after the third-shortest start of an otherwise outstanding year. “It stings. It sucks. All the negative things you could come up with. Runs are at a premium in a game like this, so you know you have to keep them at bay. I did my best. I just wasn’t good enough.”

[UK1679666180]

More impressive HR, Floyd's with the parrot mascot or last night's?

[jersey cubs fan]

More impressive HR, Floyd's with the parrot mascot or last night's?

srsly?

[imb]

More impressive HR, Floyd's with the parrot mascot or last night's?

 

This was the best home run since kerry wood's game 7 against the marlins.

[UK1679666180]

I'm not basing it on importance, that sound and velocity was similar to Floyd's.

[BigSlick]

I've been a little bit of a ninny with regard to Arrieta pitch counts at the end of this season and I had absolutely no problem at all having him go all 9, I figured he would as soon as he got out of the 6th inning jam.

 

It's the biggest moment of the season, the man has never missed a beat or look labored. He's gonna pitch until he can't get people out.

[CubInOK]

I swear I called Achwarber hitting a HR that drove on Fowker this game.

 

Guck it I'll find it ager I sober upm and I charge my phone to mower.

I guess I wrote this last night.