10/13 Cardinals (Lackey) @ CUBS (HAMMEL), TBS, 3:37 CT

[Hunter]

With all this Hammel talk, at least it isn't freaking Dan Haren.

[Banedon]

Matt Snyder @MattSnyderCBS

and now Molina out. Not surprising

Damn, I kind of liked 2 pitchers in the lineup.

 

Cruz is in..I dont know much about him. isn't he pretty bad with the bat?

Yes, but streets ahead of Molina with no thumb.

 

As long as he doesn't pitch frame as well as Molina, I'm happy.

[Bull]

A lot of you know that I live just outside St. Louis (I'm originally from South Bend). I seldom post as I hold down two jobs and am raising a family, but read here daily over the past 12 years. For reference, I have two cubs flags on my truck windows, and have even flown the W behind my truck, so I've been getting a lot of reactions around town. Thumbs up from the smattering of Cubs fans, and other fingers from Cards fans. I posted this on my Facebook today and it has blown up. Dozens of Cards fans cheering for the Cubs tonight on behalf of my poor daughters...lol. Several shares, long lost friends and people I don't even know reaching out to me. Crazy. Anywho...... for your reading enjoyment.

 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

To all the Cardinals fans that have been so vicious and hateful (not to all the many who are genuinely kind and give friendly jabs). To all those who have been honking and flipping me off because I have Cubs flags on my truck:

I'm glad you like your team. Keep liking them. Just don't be mad or shocked that I like my team! It would seem you have enough to celebrate over the last few years that you could focus on your successful team rather than spew hated and add insult to injury to a team whose ineptitude you seem compelled to document and revel in.

I don't have to be reminded of the singular and historic impotence of the Cubs. I'm much more aware of the near misses, should-haves, ground-ball-through-the-legs, 3-and-out, record-setting, heart-breaking badness of this Cubs. I not only know exactly how long its been, I know the exact circumstances of each painful failure along the way. As a stat-geek, I personally know the depravity of certain teams over the ages and the extreme mathematical improbability of the collapse in '69, the fold in '84, the fact that the top two rookies in '89 turned into pumpkins, the 95% win expectancy in game 6 in 2003, and the historic 2008 Cubs offense being made to look like a bunch of junior college wannabes by an up and coming Dodgers pitching staff.

Let me explain why I persevere. There is nothing like being a Cubs fan. There is nothing like living and dying with each pitch. There is nothing like believing when no one else does. There is nothing like living every day fighting off the gamblers fallacy that says past failure guarantees future success, because "we're due".

But it will happen. Maybe not this time. Maybe not in THIS postseason. (but maybe!) Maybe there will be another goat, another Leon Durham, another Bartman-to-Gonzalez-to-Prior. But eventually it will happen. In 2003 millions of bandwagoners caught Cubbie fever. If the Cubs win tonight the bandwagon will get full again. But there are many of us that will enjoy it more. We are invested. We have believed. When that day comes I will be able to say: I never gave up, I never backed down. I've been here from the beginning.

From the broken heart of a barely 8-year-old boy in 1984; from the latch-key kid who was kept company from 4th grade by Harry Caray instilling a belief in possibilities with every homer (it might be, it could be......IT IS), and Steve Stone explaining that the next pitch would be a low-outside slider (which seemed like otherworldly presage to a 10-year-old); from the college kid who skipped out on a Systematic Theology exam study group to go to a 1998 playoff game in Fulton County Stadium where more Cubs fans than Braves fans took in a Cubs win; to a father who has watched his daughters genuinely bullied for wearing a Cubs shirt to school, I've stuck with the Cubbies through thin and thin. It might not happen this year. But it will happen, and when it does...its gonna be amazing.

[ConstableRabbit]

A coworker is selling 4 concec. seats in 139, row 11 for today for $300 each (wants to sell 2 or 4). I thought that was below Stubhub so figured I'd post on here. Interested? PM me.

 

Mods, feel free to move if inappropriate.

[UMFan83]

1 win away...yes the Cardinals will always have their stupid 11 titles and 2 recent ones..one playoff series won't change the historical dominance. But if we can get that one win and eliminate the Cardinals...for the first time we can stand up to their fans and feel good about ourselves (in baseball terms only, we always feel better about ourselves in every other aspect of life). Sure there have been years where the Cubs are clearly better than the Cardinals, years where we went to the playoffs and they didn't, memories like the Sandberg game and the 5 game series in 03 where we bested them, but never have any of us been able to stand toe to toe with the Cardinals and feel a sense of superiority. We will have played the stupid pixie dust douchebag mouth breathers and personally ended their season. Yes the fact that the Cubs have advanced in the playoffs will be the more important takeaway from the series, but in terms of the historical rivalry, that is what's at stake today. Edited October 13, 2015 by UMFan83

[XZero771679666304]

 

As long as he doesn't pitch frame as well as Molina, I'm happy.

 

Yeah, he adds a bit of offense, but significantly reduces my fear of getting shut down by Lackey, which is already lowered by him starting on short rest for the first time in forever.

[Brian]

I feel like if the Cubs win this series someone should have a custom Cubs jersey made name - DONGS, number - whatever the final number of HR this series is and follow that idiot with the Bartman Cardinals jersey around.

[NonProfitCow]

1 win away...yes the Cardinals will always have their stupid 11 titles and 2 recent ones..one playoff series won't change the historical dominance. But if we can get that one win and eliminate the Cardinals...for the first time we can stand up to their fans and feel good about ourselves (in baseball terms only, we always feel better about ourselves in every other aspect of life). Sure there have been years where the Cubs are clearly better than the Cardinals, years where we went to the playoffs and they didn't, memories like the Sandberg game and the 5 game series in 03 where we bested them, but never have any of us been able to stand toe to toe with the Cardinals and feel a sense of superiority. We will have played the stupid pixie dust douchebag mouth breathers and personally ended their season. Yes the fact that the Cubs have advanced in the playoffs will be the more important takeaway from the series, but in terms of the historical rivalry, that is what's at stake today.

chickens eggs count hatch etc

[Brian]

chickens eggs count hatch etc

 

Being up multiple games in a series with the chance to clinch has never gone wrong for us before

[UMFan83]

1 win away...yes the Cardinals will always have their stupid 11 titles and 2 recent ones..one playoff series won't change the historical dominance. But if we can get that one win and eliminate the Cardinals...for the first time we can stand up to their fans and feel good about ourselves (in baseball terms only, we always feel better about ourselves in every other aspect of life). Sure there have been years where the Cubs are clearly better than the Cardinals, years where we went to the playoffs and they didn't, memories like the Sandberg game and the 5 game series in 03 where we bested them, but never have any of us been able to stand toe to toe with the Cardinals and feel a sense of superiority. We will have played the stupid pixie dust douchebag mouth breathers and personally ended their season. Yes the fact that the Cubs have advanced in the playoffs will be the more important takeaway from the series, but in terms of the historical rivalry, that is what's at stake today.

chickens eggs count hatch etc

 

I think I clearly stated that we are one win away from that, and this is whats at stake.

 

Trust me I know your team's recent postseason history

[Fro]

Matt Snyder @MattSnyderCBS

and now Molina out. Not surprising

Damn, I kind of liked 2 pitchers in the lineup.

 

Cruz is in..I dont know much about him. isn't he pretty bad with the bat?

Yes, but streets ahead of Molina with no thumb.

 

Worse framing numbers than Molina by quite a bit, so that helps against Lackey.

[Guest]

I want this so freaking bad.

[Brian]

Kyle Hendricks available out of pen if needed today

[Soul]

1 win away...yes the Cardinals will always have their stupid 11 titles and 2 recent ones..one playoff series won't change the historical dominance. But if we can get that one win and eliminate the Cardinals...for the first time we can stand up to their fans and feel good about ourselves (in baseball terms only, we always feel better about ourselves in every other aspect of life). Sure there have been years where the Cubs are clearly better than the Cardinals, years where we went to the playoffs and they didn't, memories like the Sandberg game and the 5 game series in 03 where we bested them, but never have any of us been able to stand toe to toe with the Cardinals and feel a sense of superiority. We will have played the stupid pixie dust douchebag mouth breathers and personally ended their season. Yes the fact that the Cubs have advanced in the playoffs will be the more important takeaway from the series, but in terms of the historical rivalry, that is what's at stake today.

 

I don't know man, I refuse to put so many eggs in this basket now. Cubs are set up to be good for a long time. We're going to beat them this year, but ultimately I'm satisfied that our franchise is finally set up for consistent success rather than having all our eggs in the short term. That's what is fueling my Cubs world now, and it feels much better than '03, '07, '08.

 

Let's enjoy tonight. But what's at stake is a victory in the NLDS, and moving one step closer to the World Series. The historical rivalry will be impacted as we continually face-off with the Cards and beat them, year after year.

[ScrubMD]

1 win away...yes the Cardinals will always have their stupid 11 titles and 2 recent ones..one playoff series won't change the historical dominance. But if we can get that one win and eliminate the Cardinals...for the first time we can stand up to their fans and feel good about ourselves (in baseball terms only, we always feel better about ourselves in every other aspect of life). Sure there have been years where the Cubs are clearly better than the Cardinals, years where we went to the playoffs and they didn't, memories like the Sandberg game and the 5 game series in 03 where we bested them, but never have any of us been able to stand toe to toe with the Cardinals and feel a sense of superiority. We will have played the stupid pixie dust douchebag mouth breathers and personally ended their season. Yes the fact that the Cubs have advanced in the playoffs will be the more important takeaway from the series, but in terms of the historical rivalry, that is what's at stake today.

chickens eggs count hatch etc

 

up shut douche you etc

[Schwarber Fan]

We're going to jump on Lackey early. Cardinals will make a comeback scare but we're moving on today, boys.

[Banedon]

1 win away...yes the Cardinals will always have their stupid 11 titles and 2 recent ones..one playoff series won't change the historical dominance. But if we can get that one win and eliminate the Cardinals...for the first time we can stand up to their fans and feel good about ourselves (in baseball terms only, we always feel better about ourselves in every other aspect of life). Sure there have been years where the Cubs are clearly better than the Cardinals, years where we went to the playoffs and they didn't, memories like the Sandberg game and the 5 game series in 03 where we bested them, but never have any of us been able to stand toe to toe with the Cardinals and feel a sense of superiority. We will have played the stupid pixie dust douchebag mouth breathers and personally ended their season. Yes the fact that the Cubs have advanced in the playoffs will be the more important takeaway from the series, but in terms of the historical rivalry, that is what's at stake today.

 

I don't know man, I refuse to put so many eggs in this basket now. Cubs are set up to be good for a long time. We're going to beat them this year, but ultimately I'm satisfied that our franchise is finally set up for consistent success rather than having all our eggs in the short term. That's what is fueling my Cubs world now, and it feels much better than '03, '07, '08.

 

Let's enjoy tonight. But what's at stake is a victory in the NLDS, and moving one step closer to the World Series. The historical rivalry will be impacted as we continually face-off with the Cards and beat them, year after year.

 

I'm so surprised that you're hedging your bets. Shocked I say.

[Omar]

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z307/Cubs4life421/CubsCardinals.jpg

 

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z307/Cubs4life421/beareatbird.jpg

[UMFan83]

Kyle Hendricks available out of pen if needed today

 

Honestly my biggest fear with Kyle is giving up bombs...in these conditions that's less likely so if Hammel gets hammered early and we need 6-7 innings from the pen, then its not a bad option.

[weis21]

Kyle Hendricks available out of pen if needed today

 

Honestly my biggest fear with Kyle is giving up bombs...in these conditions that's less likely so if Hammel gets hammered early and we need 6-7 innings from the pen, then its not a bad option.

I thought wind was blowing out to RF?

[UMFan83]

Kyle Hendricks available out of pen if needed today

 

Honestly my biggest fear with Kyle is giving up bombs...in these conditions that's less likely so if Hammel gets hammered early and we need 6-7 innings from the pen, then its not a bad option.

I thought wind was blowing out to RF?

 

I was reading pregame tweets that said it was a crosswind and with the temperature drop, unfavorable hitting conditions overall. Who knows though, it could change in a hurry.

[TMan92]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

That is awesome.

[Guest]

. Edited October 13, 2015 by David

[Thed Hoyerstein]

I'm heading to the game now, go cubs

[SouthSideRyan]

Dammit, the south side bars all use touchtunes which require you to be within a half mile or so in order to play the jukebox. Trying to employ some friends to do it instead.