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

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

I just hate ernie johnson, and was hoping you'd man up can give me odds of this series coming back to chicago

 

the reality is that it has a high likelihood of coming back to chicago because this team is so good it doesn't often lose three in a row. But considering that I don't like the matchups or the way we've swung the bats the last two weeks, if I was in vegas and it was like +200 or whatever, I'd definitely bet on it

i'd gladly take that bet

Damn, beat me to it again!

[TMan92]

Since Joe likes Miggy to catch Jake, any chance Contreras gets a start in LF instead of Soler?

 

Yes

[cubbyvirus00]

I just hate ernie johnson, and was hoping you'd man up can give me odds of this series coming back to chicago

 

the reality is that it has a high likelihood of coming back to chicago because this team is so good it doesn't often lose three in a row. But considering that I don't like the matchups or the way we've swung the bats the last two weeks, if I was in vegas and it was like +200 or whatever, I'd definitely bet on it

I'll give you +200. Place your wagers heeeerrrreeeee!

 

 

Pete is that you?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Since Joe likes Miggy to catch Jake, any chance Contreras gets a start in LF instead of Soler?

 

I don't think that'll happen with Zobrist also in the OF, but it's worth a thought. I actually like the matchup of Soler against Hill, Jorge struggles the most with recognizing pitches that play off a fastball, his worst pitch values are sliders and changeups. Hill throws 90% fastballs and curves.

[imb]

 

Do those 202 at bats include all the home runs you're saying doesn't count? Just curious.

 

i've never said they didn't count, i've said they've masked how pitiful our offense has been so far.

 

Playoff wide OPS going into tonight was .603. Even if you weirdly say everything good that we've done is just masking all the crap and somehow needs to be removed from the numbers, we'd still fall right about in line with everyone else.

 

Every reasonable thought process says the offense is going to perform better than it has. To write it off after 6 games, where 3 of them were against top 10 pitchers in the league, seems odd.

 

every reasonable thought process said the offense would perform better the first six games too, but we faced good pitching and we hit .193. Guess what, two of the next three games (three of three depending on what you think of Urias) are also against really good pitchers. And we're on the road. And we're in a massive ballpark.

 

optimistically, both offenses have been playing equally this playoffs, and they're both facing struggling pitchers the next two games. Hill was better than Arrieta this year (in a smaller sample bc of the blisters) and Lackey has been uninspiring at best. If we were 1-1 and coming to chicago for three games i'd feel a lot better.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

 

the reality is that it has a high likelihood of coming back to chicago because this team is so good it doesn't often lose three in a row. But considering that I don't like the matchups or the way we've swung the bats the last two weeks, if I was in vegas and it was like +200 or whatever, I'd definitely bet on it

I'll give you +200. Place your wagers heeeerrrreeeee!

 

 

Pete is that you?

No, but this is:

[Little Slide Rooter]

 

Hitting home runs in the 8th and 9th counts just as much as hitting them in the 2nd and 3rd. Arrieta had a good start in SF, has done well against this Dodger team, and to reiterate, the Dodgers have not hit for crap thus far in the series.

 

that's awesome. we're hitting something like .190 in the playoffs so far, but thank god roberts decided to walk heyward and coghlan last night and the guy who's so crippled he almost didn't make the roster hit a bomb

drunk and trolling, IMO

 

Im pretty sure that the Cubs are to him what a box cutter is to a self hating, suburban teen; the difference being that he can't blame it on the cat when people ask how it happened.

[imb]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

[Sammy Sofa]

Is it really that big a deal if they're going to a "massive park?" Despite all of our dong talk, this is a team that is basically middle of the pack when it comes to home runs, so they don't exactly live and die by them. Dodgers are in the same boat, too.

[bukie]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

If you'd quit acting like Rondon Fan, your posts would stop being treated like his, which is what they are, reactionary nonsense.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

Yes, but you aren't actually betting. Which is why we are making fun of your ridiculous message board negativity. Saying you would bet against your own team is first order silly. Saying you will be against your team but not being serious when called on it so you change the odds to +200, and then still not taking the bet is yet another level of message board freak out, and I would love to goad you into either stepping back a bit, or actually making a foolish bet.

[NotSoSober]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

Do you honestly believe in home field advantage in baseball?

[Sammy Sofa]

Since Joe likes Miggy to catch Jake, any chance Contreras gets a start in LF instead of Soler?

 

I don't think that'll happen with Zobrist also in the OF, but it's worth a thought. I actually like the matchup of Soler against Hill, Jorge struggles the most with recognizing pitches that play off a fastball, his worst pitch values are sliders and changeups. Hill throws 90% fastballs and curves.

 

Hmmmm. Soler in LF, move Zobrist back to 2B and have Baez play SS instead of Russell? Or is that too drastic to suddenly roll out in the playoffs?

[imb]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

If you'd quit acting like Rondon Fan, your posts would stop being treated like his, which is what they are, reactionary nonsense.

 

i dont care how the posts are treated, or i wouldn't be posting them. i dont think the tea leaves read in our favor in the next three games, hopefully im wrong.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Since Joe likes Miggy to catch Jake, any chance Contreras gets a start in LF instead of Soler?

 

I don't think that'll happen with Zobrist also in the OF, but it's worth a thought. I actually like the matchup of Soler against Hill, Jorge struggles the most with recognizing pitches that play off a fastball, his worst pitch values are sliders and changeups. Hill throws 90% fastballs and curves.

 

Hmmmm. Soler in LF, move Zobrist back to 2B and have Baez play SS instead of Russell? Or is that too drastic to suddenly roll out in the playoffs?

Yeah, seems a little reactionary to me, but I wouldn't be pissed if it happened. Like I said earlier, I'd just be happy to see Russell lower in the order.

[imb]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

Do you honestly believe in home field advantage in baseball?

 

sure why not

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Is it really that big a deal if they're going to a "massive park?" Despite all of our dong talk, this is a team that is basically middle of the pack when it comes to home runs, so they don't exactly live and die by them. Dodgers are in the same boat, too.

 

The Cubs have been power-heavy in the postseason thus far, but they also hit 3 homers in 2 games in SF. All but Ross's HR in Game 4 have been no doubters. Half the Dodgers runs this series have come on home runs, and they both are HR's that would not have gone out of any other ballpark but Wrigley. See http://www.hittrackeronline.com/ for the numbers on that front.

[squally1313]

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Rizzo's the only one I'm worried about; Russell has had plenty of stretches where he stinks with the bat and the team did fine. They've dealt with Heyward all season, too, and kicked ass. But Rizzo being ice cold seems like it's having a pretty big ripple effect.

 

Yeah, but Rizzo seems to go through these stretches 2-3 times a season and then snap right out of it.

 

Russell should be dropped in the lineup, but I'm not sure it'll happen if Heyward and Montero start Game 3.

 

Yeah, I'm still not worried about Rizzo and never will be. This just happens. And it's happened with him a lot. But it doesn't usually last too long. And he's a really good hitter. There was something posted somewhere on here awhile ago -- I don't remember where. But it was a screencap of his BRef page or something, showing how consistent he is each year. It's just that there are droughts in each of those years that you can't see. He's in one of those. And we haven't needed him. We do now, or most likely will at some point.

 

But I'm not going to freak out about it. There's nothing we can do about it. Just keep sticking him in there and hope something clicks. I thought he looked a little better tonight, though. He took that walk. He didn't strike out. He was oh-so-close to taking him deep. I can't recall any horrible swings that we've seen the previous week. He'll be fine. And if we last long enough, he'll snap out of it eventually.

 

Russell is a different story. He's really young. He's still going through growing pains. He's done this several times in his career already. And his slumps have lasted way too long until he corrects course. It's still kinda the same thing, though. You just hope he snaps out of it. But there's enough reason to think he won't that he should be dropped in the order.

 

But it's not like this is some epidemic that is going to take this team down. It's the same freaking team we've had all year. And guys have slumped throughout the season. The bigger picture is this: We can win any game we play because of our pitching, defense, base running, intangibles, and a cache of good hitters. We've won 4 of the 6 playoff games we've played so far. We were shut down by Jonny Cueto and Clayton Kershaw and still went 1-1 in those games. We're fine. We're winning the World Series.

[soccer10k]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

 

You said if you were given +200 on the Dodgers winning all three games in LA means you think it's a 1 in 3 chance of happening. That's about a 70% chance of winning each game, which is ridiculous.

[Little Slide Rooter]

 

And he had other bad stretches, too. They can easily win with Russell not hitting; it's not nearly as much of an issue as Rizzo going through one of his slumps.

 

Makes me REALLY miss Schwarber; the lineup is pretty barren of power right now once you get past Bryant until Baez comes up to bat.

 

I'm thinking we'll be seeing a bit more Soler with a pair of lefty's due up next.

 

The idea of Soler is so much better than Soler actually is.

 

And I'd take either vs. a pair of good but beatable lefties.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

If you'd quit acting like Rondon Fan, your posts would stop being treated like his, which is what they are, reactionary nonsense.

 

i dont care how the posts are treated, or i wouldn't be posting them. i dont think the tea leaves read in our favor in the next three games, hopefully im wrong.

If you didn't care how your posts are treated you wouldn't ask your posts to not be treated in a certain way.

[Omar]

Game 3 thread PLEASE.

[imb]

let's not go acting like im rondon fan here. Im confident when the team inspires confidence. Saying "id bet money they dont come back to chicago" isnt the same as saying "i dont think they'll come back to chicago." When you go to vegas do you only bet games you think you'll win?

 

You said if you were given +200 on the Dodgers winning all three games in LA means you think it's a 1 in 3 chance of happening. That's about a 70% chance of winning each game, which is ridiculous.

 

i said if it was +200 i'd bet it.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

 

Hill has struggled in the playoffs and urias has only thrown a couple of innings. their sample is much smaller than the 202 at bats our offense has faltered through so far.

 

Do those 202 at bats include all the home runs you're saying doesn't count? Just curious.

 

i've never said they didn't count, i've said they've masked how pitiful our offense has been so far.

 

Usually good things mask bad things when looking at a sample.