10/12 Cardinals (Wacha) @ CUBS (ARRIETA), TBS, 5:07 CT

[Guest]

Got to watch tonights game on the biggest screens in Las Vegas. The Sports Book at The Westgate. Awesome victory! Same place tomorrow and just finish it!

[wvcbxl]

Love the dongfest - ready for a repeat today to send the Cards home for the winter.

[JonJayCutler]

Them starting Lackey on short rest seems incredibly silly, especially if they actually want to win the series and not just stave off elimination, they have to win with another pitcher anyway, and having Lackey go with full rest would be the best bet

 

But well, I'm not gonna complain

 

Especially considering Lackey's ERA is a full 2 runs higher on the road, now coupled with short rest. If I'm Matheny I try my best to win a Hammel vs Lynn slugfest and get to G5 with Lackey at home on normal rest. Now if it goes to G5 the Cubs probably get Garcia who they've already beat up once.

 

They're desperate, no doubt about it.

 

Their "historic" staff is a shambles right now. Lackey is the only one with a decent chance of avoiding being smacked around.

 

That's fine if they really think home-field will help whichever non-Lackey pitcher they'd throw out there. It didn't seem to matter on Saturday.

 

For me personally, if we lose tomorrow I'll have almost full-confidence of winning G5 in St. Louis with Lester facing whoever. On the other hand, if we lost and then had to face Lackey at Busch on normal rest, I'd be much, much less confident.

[Guest]

Cubs now 77.9% to win the series, 50.2% to win the NLCS and 20.2% to win the World Series (best odds in the NL) according to Fangraph's playoff simulator.

 

Dunno why their stats favor the AL so much in their simulation, but it's pretty surprising (and gratifying) to the see the Cubs so far ahead of the NL pack.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx

 

Yeah, the numbers seem kind of wonky right now.

 

The Blue Jays are 41.4% to win the ALDS (makes a bit of sense since Hamels is going for Texas though Stroman isn't bad and the game is in Toronto) but then only 10.3% to win the ALCS. And for the other three AL teams, Fangraphs is saying they'd be favorites against the NL since each of Texas, Houston and KC have World Series odds greater than 50% of their odds of winning the ALCS.

[XZero771679666304]

 

That's fine if they really think home-field will help whichever non-Lackey pitcher they'd throw out there. It didn't seem to matter on Saturday.

 

For me personally, if we lose tomorrow I'll have almost full-confidence of winning G5 in St. Louis with Lester facing whoever. On the other hand, if we lost and then had to face Lackey at Busch on normal rest, I'd be much, much less confident.

 

Yeah, if I were Matheny, I'd go with another starter plus the bullpen tomorrow versus Hammel, knowing Lester is waiting in game five. Of course, they may want to maximize their chances in game four, and hope for some hometown magic in game five.

 

Either way, it's far less than ideal. They're not in a good spot.

[Guest]

Didn't see a statcast video anywhere but hittracker has Soler's exit velocity at 110.3.

[RammyFanny]

Anybody else notice Arrieta's brown spot on the brim of the hat that he goes to after every pitch was gone? He still went to the hat but he started licking his hand way more than I ever remember. I can't remember if it was there in Pittsburgh. I wonder if the Cards (preemptively) complained even though like 75% of the pitchers I see use it, including a few in the playoffs.

[Tryptamine]

Anybody else notice Arrieta's brown spot on the brim of the hat that he goes to after every pitch was gone? He still went to the hat but he started licking his hand way more than I ever remember. I can't remember if it was there in Pittsburgh. I wonder if the Cards (preemptively) complained even though like 75% of the pitchers I see use it, including a few in the playoffs.

 

I noticed he had a new hat for the Pirate game. I didn't see any marks at all.

[jersey cubs fan]

Cubs-Mets would be fun because old guy fans would be really worked up and the rest of us would just be ordinary levels of worked up for the NLCS.

Plus id get to go to games without paying for hotels and flights and whatnot

[KaiserCesar]

 

That's fine if they really think home-field will help whichever non-Lackey pitcher they'd throw out there. It didn't seem to matter on Saturday.

 

For me personally, if we lose tomorrow I'll have almost full-confidence of winning G5 in St. Louis with Lester facing whoever. On the other hand, if we lost and then had to face Lackey at Busch on normal rest, I'd be much, much less confident.

 

Yeah, if I were Matheny, I'd go with another starter plus the bullpen tomorrow versus Hammel, knowing Lester is waiting in game five. Of course, they may want to maximize their chances in game four, and hope for some hometown magic in game five.

 

Either way, it's far less than ideal. They're not in a good spot.

 

Broxton, Siegrist and Wainwright all threw 20+ last night. I can see the logic in going to Lackey since he's got the best chance to go deep. Everyone gets the day off before Game 5 so they'd be better suited to piece together a game then.

 

All that being said, there's nothing they can actually do to win Game 4.

[Old Style]

I would assume we see rat boy at 2B and Castro at SS if Russell can't go tomorrow, though I'd personally throw Javy back out there for redemption dongs and magnificent defense

Who is rat boy?

LaStella

[jersey cubs fan]

I was at a bar last night that featured this game all the way through to the end and relegated the Mets game to a couple backup televisions until it was over. Mets fans didn't even try and commandeer the main TV and audio. And they outnumbered us significantly. This is fun.

[jersey cubs fan]

http://deadspin.com/the-cubs-socked-six-dingers-last-night-man-six-1736219192

 

The Cubs Socked Six Dingers Last Night! Man! Six!

 

[tweet]

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[Sammy Sofa]

http://deadspin.com/the-cubs-socked-six-dingers-last-night-man-six-1736219192

 

The Cubs Socked Six Dingers Last Night! Man! Six!

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

Deadspin's collective hatred of all things Cardinals is a joy. This simple description perhaps put it best:

 

In the sixth it was Jorge Soler’s turn to go yard, off ancient butthole Adam Wainwright.

[Outshined_One]

http://deadspin.com/the-cubs-socked-six-dingers-last-night-man-six-1736219192

 

The Cubs Socked Six Dingers Last Night! Man! Six!

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

 

 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

ancient butthole Adam Wainwright

[jersey cubs fan]

[tweet]

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anybody else just killing time?

[mul21]

Yep, I've been procrastinating all day and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

[XZero771679666304]

http://deadspin.com/the-cubs-socked-six-dingers-last-night-man-six-1736219192

 

The Cubs Socked Six Dingers Last Night! Man! Six!

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

Deadspin's collective hatred of all things Cardinals is a joy. This simple description perhaps put it best:

 

In the sixth it was Jorge Soler’s turn to go yard, off ancient butthole Adam Wainwright.

 

They are one of the few outlets that see the Cardinals for the sanctimonious sham that they are and are willing to point it out.

 

Which brings me to another gripe: Cards fans whining about the media attention the Cubs are getting. Are they [expletive] serious? Or has the decade plus of their team being ceaselessly deep throated by the collective baseball media and held up as the paragon of the baseball universe deluded them so much that they think that any deviation from that status quo is "hating" on them and paying undue credit to another team? GTFO with that, Cards fans.

 

Get directly the [expletive] out, you over privileged twats.

[Brian]

Anthony your dong stick is pointed in the wrong direction

[Guest]

a little surprised at the complaints about the crowd. my section was definitely loud and fun. people were even standing for several rows in front of us at random no big deal moments.

 

that game was so fun. dongs for days. i still can't believe it. only thing more i could've asked for was a better outing for arrieta.

[Guest]

was really pleased at how few cardinal fans there were in attendance, too. there were like 2 a few rows in front of me and one like 10 rows back. that's all i really saw in my general area.

[Guest]

also i know people didn't like the rally towels, but holy [expletive] was it cool at the end of the game seeing that many W flags all around wrigley.

 

coolest moment for me at wrigley since the foo fighers big me thing with the cell phone lights

[Banedon]

coolest moment for me at wrigley since the foo fighers big me thing with the cell phone lights

 

http://i.imgur.com/3tIQx87.jpg

[mul21]

was really pleased at how few cardinal fans there were in attendance, too. there were like 2 a few rows in front of me and one like 10 rows back. that's all i really saw in my general area.

 

I was listening to my normal St. Louis morning sports radio show and they had a couple Post-Dispatch guys on that said the same. Less than 5% Cards fans was their estimate, which is pretty great.