10/16 NLCS Game 2: Dodgers (Kershaw) @ Cubs (Hendricks) 7:08 PM CT FS1/670

[Gmoney08]

Posted in the craziness of last night. Pumped beyond belief but I want to reiterate I hope Theo is threatening Joe with driving his RV into the ocean if he keeps using Wood and Montgomery in anything past the 7th.

 

Start using Chapman like the Indians use Miller. 2 horsefeathers innings everytime & start him in a clean or relatively clean inning. If its the 8th and one man gets on bring in horsefeathers Aroldis.

 

Aroldis nearly pulled us out of that... but Gonz put in a great AB on one mistake.

 

Know whats really hard... stringing 3 straight hits together against Aroldis. Let CJ, Strop and Rondon dominate the 6th and 7th... and bring in the flame throwing goblin in the 8th and 9th & DOMINATE!

[Sammy Sofa]

Well, hopefully they're not regularly having to use a bunch of relievers for the 6th and 7th.

[Cubswin11]

I'm as big a fan and supporter of Georgie as the next guy but it doesn't matter he's not playing tonight. We will have like 3-5 runs by the time we get to Heyward the 2nd time thru the order. Use the premium defense since Soler's offense won't be needed

[JennieGarthAlgar]

I do like the idea of giving Almora a start at some point, not sure its tonight though.

[jehr]

Nlds

Game 1- Russell shirt

2- Russell

3- Russell

4- Bryant shirt

 

Nlcs

1- Bryant

2- ???

 

Do I go Bryant again?? Important stuff.

I wore my Schwarmachine shersey for games 1,2 and 4 of the NLCS, and the first game against the doyers. Didn't wear it for game 3. I'm wearing it tonight. Don't know what to tell you for yours. Go with best overall record over the season for what you have.

[Rob]

I figured if people didn't want Heyward in the lineup tonight it would be for Almora, because what the horsefeathers has Soler done to show he needs to be in there? Yeah, let's anchor the corner OF spots with him and Zobrist with the wind tonight...yeesh.

 

Yeah, I could've gotten on board with an Almora start. He's way more likely to put the ball in play, and the Dodgers defense isn't exactly ours out there...

 

But I think part of the reason Heyward is in there is for his plate discipline. We want to wear Kershaw out and get him out early. Heyward gives the better shot of that.

[Hunter]

All I know is that I am hoping Baez doesn't pitch for the Dodgers tonight. I would like to go bed at a reasonable hour.

[Derwood]

Posted in the craziness of last night. Pumped beyond belief but I want to reiterate I hope Theo is threatening Joe with driving his RV into the ocean if he keeps using Wood and Montgomery in anything past the 7th.

 

Wood - 3.2 IP, 1 ER, 4K

Montgomery - 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 3K

 

Not awful, not worth freaking out about. Having 3 lefty relievers is awesome, especially against this Dodger lineup

[cubscott34]

Cubs win tonight 5-2 getting 4 runs off Kershaw in 6 innings thanks to dongs from Baez and Bryant. Kyle keeps the tough lefties off balance with his awesome change-up and the Cubs head to LA with their foot on the Dodgers throat.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Just saw this in an LA Times article and thought it was a really interesting quote from Joe...

 

When asked in a pre-series news conference Friday how his club had managed to play league-best defense while shifting less than anyone else, Cubs Manager Joe Maddon pushed back. His club was shifting all season long, he indicated, just not into alignments traditionally defined as defensive shifts.

 

“It’s only counted when the shortstop moves on the other side of the second baseman or the second baseman moves on the other side,” Maddon said. “I think we’re still in an appropriate defensive alignment. We still move a lot. We just maybe don't move to the other side of the bag where it gets notated.”

 

So, basically they don't need to shift because Javy doesn't need any help over there. Maybe you slide Russell over a little, where it is more likely that a ball will be batted. And that helps make sure there is no hole up the middle. But why would you ever stick a player next to Javy? Just let Javy be Javy. And if Zobrist is at second, it's basically the same thing. Give Zobrist his little zone over on the right side and let Addi handle everything else. We are good enough defensively that balls hardly ever get through the infield without a shift. So why stick all these guys with insane range next to each other? The ball isn't get past them anyway.

[Buster]

Yeah tonight would have been the night to get Almora out there but I'm cool with Heyward in the 8 hole.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Reading Dodger fan comments online today they seem convinced that the Dodgers outplayed the Cubs, seized momentum despite the loss and Cub fans are worried about them because of game 1

 

I've seen a lot of that, too. "Imagine that, the game ends on a Dodgers' hard-hit ball for an out." Yep, that's what happens when you are playing against the best defensive team in the history of baseball. Get used to it.

 

That's not even mentioning that, while the game technically ended on a hard-hit Dodgers' ball for an out, it really ended on a hard-hit Cubs' grand slam. And if you look at the overall pitching lines -- walks, strikeouts, homers -- the Cubs clearly outplayed them. And two of their runs came in an inning where a bunch of fluky, stupid horsefeathers happened. There was no luck involved. We kicked their ass.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Their runs came on a fly ball that is never anything but a flyout going over the fence, and 2 runs on a bloop/'walk'/routine groundball/hard hit single. Really gave us the business.

[Brian]

one thing is for sure, it is much more fun to be on the side of the actual victory instead of the perceived victory

[Aaron_Kennelly]

one thing is for sure, it is much more fun to be on the side of the actual victory instead of the perceived victory

 

Even more fun: the perceived victory in a hypothetical game that Mets fans had.

[Old Style]

Nlds

Game 1- Russell shirt

2- Russell

3- Russell

4- Bryant shirt

 

Nlcs

1- Bryant

2- ???

 

Do I go Bryant again?? Important stuff.

No need to worry. I'm wearing my Schwarber shirsey tonight. The Cubs are 3-0 when I wear it.

[Laura]

Just saw this in an LA Times article and thought it was a really interesting quote from Joe...

 

When asked in a pre-series news conference Friday how his club had managed to play league-best defense while shifting less than anyone else, Cubs Manager Joe Maddon pushed back. His club was shifting all season long, he indicated, just not into alignments traditionally defined as defensive shifts.

 

“It’s only counted when the shortstop moves on the other side of the second baseman or the second baseman moves on the other side,” Maddon said. “I think we’re still in an appropriate defensive alignment. We still move a lot. We just maybe don't move to the other side of the bag where it gets notated.”

 

So, basically they don't need to shift because Javy doesn't need any help over there. Maybe you slide Russell over a little, where it is more likely that a ball will be batted. And that helps make sure there is no hole up the middle. But why would you ever stick a player next to Javy? Just let Javy be Javy. And if Zobrist is at second, it's basically the same thing. Give Zobrist his little zone over on the right side and let Addi handle everything else. We are good enough defensively that balls hardly ever get through the infield without a shift. So why stick all these guys with insane range next to each other? The ball isn't get past them anyway.

 

I was glad he addressed this because you keep hearing on the national broadcasts (or home team radio during the season) how the Cubs shift less than any other team. Clearly the way they align defensively isn't accounted for (which is great, ASFAIC). The Lester anti-bunt-defense is a great example. The Pittsburgh announcers were completely befuddled by it (and Hurdle's challenge re Zobrist, I think at the time, needing to wear the 1Bman glove). The broadcasters ended up assuring each other that it was a play that Rizzo & Zobrist dreamed up in the dugout and that 'you'd never see that in a game that mattered.'

[NOLA]

Nlds

Game 1- Russell shirt

2- Russell

3- Russell

4- Bryant shirt

 

Nlcs

1- Bryant

2- ???

 

Do I go Bryant again?? Important stuff.

No need to worry. I'm wearing my Schwarber shirsey tonight. The Cubs are 3-0 when I wear it.

Keep wearing it until we get to see him bat in Cleveland.

[DurbanJer]

Nlds

Game 1- Russell shirt

2- Russell

3- Russell

4- Bryant shirt

 

Nlcs

1- Bryant

2- ???

 

Do I go Bryant again?? Important stuff.

 

Absolutely.

 

Yeah, its kinda like game thread starters. you want to roll with the hot hand as long as you can.

[Brian]

Nlds

Game 1- Russell shirt

2- Russell

3- Russell

4- Bryant shirt

 

Nlcs

1- Bryant

2- ???

 

Do I go Bryant again?? Important stuff.

No need to worry. I'm wearing my Schwarber shirsey tonight. The Cubs are 3-0 when I wear it.

 

I've got my 4-0 this postseason hat on.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Just saw this in an LA Times article and thought it was a really interesting quote from Joe...

 

 

So, basically they don't need to shift because Javy doesn't need any help over there. Maybe you slide Russell over a little, where it is more likely that a ball will be batted. And that helps make sure there is no hole up the middle. But why would you ever stick a player next to Javy? Just let Javy be Javy. And if Zobrist is at second, it's basically the same thing. Give Zobrist his little zone over on the right side and let Addi handle everything else. We are good enough defensively that balls hardly ever get through the infield without a shift. So why stick all these guys with insane range next to each other? The ball isn't get past them anyway.

 

I was glad he addressed this because you keep hearing on the national broadcasts (or home team radio during the season) how the Cubs shift less than any other team. Clearly the way they align defensively isn't accounted for (which is great, ASFAIC). The Lester anti-bunt-defense is a great example. The Pittsburgh announcers were completely befuddled by it (and Hurdle's challenge re Zobrist, I think at the time, needing to wear the 1Bman glove). The broadcasters ended up assuring each other that it was a play that Rizzo & Zobrist dreamed up in the dugout and that 'you'd never see that in a game that mattered.'

 

Yeah, it's one of those things where, intuitively, you wonder if they are leaving a few more outs on the field by not shifting as much, since shifting has been shown to work. However, the Cubs are way better at turning ground balls into outs than anyone else. Whatever they are doing is working. And you have to wonder if, as Joe just said in that quote, they just shift a little differently, either because of a different understanding of what proper defensive alignment should be or because of our personnel. It's not like they decided on a whim, "Screw shifting." The front office is obviously analytically inclined, and Maddon used to shift a bunch, even when others weren't. I think it's safe to say that they saw something that they felt necessitated a change.

[Sosa21MVP]

My playoff superstition is I have a 1970 Ernie Banks baseball card that I have placed facing the TV during these playoffs. I imagine it as Ernie being able to see the games. I know it is corny as hell but whatever.

[minnesotacubsfan]

I drink large quantities of beer to dull the superstitions in my head. works so far

[USSoccer]

ARod is actually very good at the whole studio analyst thing.

[mikeyt34]

ARod is actually very good at the whole studio analyst thing.

 

Yes he is. Seems to take it very seriously and comes well prepared. Not a big fan of his but I'll give him credit where credit is due.