10/20 Cubs (Lester) vs Dodgers (Maeda) 7 p.m., FS1

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Haha:

 

I mean that was a pretty poor showing by Rizzo.

 

Rizzo : cement-footed :: Adrian Gonzalez: ??

Rizzo : cement-footed :: Adrian Gonzalez: cement

[woodchip2153]

Oh, it gets better:

 

 

That's my Alma Mater!!

[Banedon]

"Why don't teams actually try to steal instead of dancing around with big leads? Why are they leaning back toward the base when Lester can't throw?"

 

Seeing this all over this morning. I feel like Fox really failed to emphasize the psychology of Ross's backpicks. He didn't have to throw to first once last night, but the Dodgers were clearly keenly aware of him.

[UMFan83]

Karp also notes that locally in the Chicago market, the Cubs drew a 24.1 rating (on average 24.1% of the homes in the Chicago market were tuned into the game) nearly doubling the 12.5 rating in Chicago for the Bears-Packers game

 

Never thought I'd see a Cubs game go head to head with Bears/Packers, and have the Cubs game double the Bears in ratings.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Lester’s problems holding baserunners go back to his days with the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox tried working with Lester on delivering baseballs to first base, but that didn’t work. The Cubs tried pretending it was a non-issue. That didn’t work, either.

 

Oh.

 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers-hernandez-20161020-snap-story.html

SuperPac already hard at work!

[Brian]

"Why don't teams actually try to steal instead of dancing around with big leads? Why are they leaning back toward the base when Lester can't throw?"

 

Seeing this all over this morning. I feel like Fox really failed to emphasize the psychology of Ross's backpicks. He didn't have to throw to first once last night, but the Dodgers were clearly keenly aware of him.

 

It's as though they were trying to will Lester to have a meltdown on the mound, but shockingly the highly skilled professional athletes were able to execute the game plan they have perfected over the past 2 seasons.

[Banedon]

Karp also notes that locally in the Chicago market, the Cubs drew a 24.1 rating (on average 24.1% of the homes in the Chicago market were tuned into the game) nearly doubling the 12.5 rating in Chicago for the Bears-Packers game

 

Never thought I'd see a Cubs game go head to head with Bears/Packers, and have the Cubs game double the Bears in ratings.

 

Was talking with a buddy yesterday about how this might be the lowest rated Bears/Packers game ever...not sure how it stacks up in that regard.

[Brian707]

[bukie]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jon-lesters-oddities-all-on-display/

 

Good article on the actual data on Lester and how the Dodgers tried so hard to get into Lester's head they ended up getting into their own.

[Banedon]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jon-lesters-oddities-all-on-display/

 

Good article on the actual data on Lester and how the Dodgers tried so hard to get into Lester's head they ended up getting into their own.

 

From the Sullivan link at the beginning of that article...

 

You’re behind a door, and in the next room, there’s a sandwich, and there’s a grizzly bear. I’ve already told you that the grizzly bear won’t attack you. I’ve assured you the bear isn’t aggressive, and you aren’t going to be hurt, and you can just go have the sandwich. It’s a delicious hot sandwich. I’ve shown you a few videos of other people going in and getting sandwiches. Sometimes the bear roars. It certainly looks menacing. Acts like a mean bear. Hasn’t hurt anybody. How confident are you going to be about getting that sandwich? You know all about grizzly bears. You know about attacks by average grizzly bears. How much are you willing to believe that this particular bear is unusual? How much are you willing to believe this bear will remain unusual for however long it takes you to go retrieve a sandwich?

[Banedon]

May have already been posted in here somewhere....

 

[Billy_Buck]

From Bill Plaschke's column:

 

In all this dreariness, there was a bright spot for the Los Angeles sports landscape.

 

During the fifth inning, it was announced that the Sparks had won the WNBA championship with a thrilling Game 5 win against the Minnesota Lynx. It was the first Los Angeles sports title since the Kings and Galaxy both won championships in 2014.

 

Fans cheered while Dodgers and Sparks owners Mark Walter and Stan Kasten hugged.

Congrats LA, the consolation prize has already been awarded. It was thrilling! Hugs!

[BigSlick]

Oh that Plaschke article was fuuuun to read

 

Give me all the smug lazy sportswriters groveling and eating crow, I love it

[Brian]

you own a stake in a sports organization winning a championship and you're at the 5th game of the semi-final round of another sports team you own, must be nice.

[Omar]

May have already been posted in here somewhere....

 

 

dear god he makes Steve Trachsel seem like Speedy Gonzalez.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jon-lesters-oddities-all-on-display/

 

Good article on the actual data on Lester and how the Dodgers tried so hard to get into Lester's head they ended up getting into their own.

 

From the Sullivan link at the beginning of that article...

 

You’re behind a door, and in the next room, there’s a sandwich, and there’s a grizzly bear. I’ve already told you that the grizzly bear won’t attack you. I’ve assured you the bear isn’t aggressive, and you aren’t going to be hurt, and you can just go have the sandwich. It’s a delicious hot sandwich. I’ve shown you a few videos of other people going in and getting sandwiches. Sometimes the bear roars. It certainly looks menacing. Acts like a mean bear. Hasn’t hurt anybody. How confident are you going to be about getting that sandwich? You know all about grizzly bears. You know about attacks by average grizzly bears. How much are you willing to believe that this particular bear is unusual? How much are you willing to believe this bear will remain unusual for however long it takes you to go retrieve a sandwich?

 

when you look at the play logs, you find that Lester’s fielded 20 ground balls or bunts this year, recorded 19 outs, and committed zero throwing errors

http://i.imgur.com/LRZwzN5.gif

[Ding Dong Johnson]

May have already been posted in here somewhere....

 

as much as I dislike Pete Rose, it was funny when he yelled into the camera at him last night. "THROW THE BALL"

[David]

Rose has sort of a Barkley dynamic going. And it's hard to be mad when I like what Thomas and ARod are doing that much.

 

I'm basically brushing off the things he says that piss me off and laughing at all the other nonsense.

[David]

if i told you, going into this season, that jake arrieta vs rich hill was a matchup we would not feel absolutely incredible about going into a potential game 7 of the nlcs, how insane would you think i'd be?

 

horsefeathering baseball, man (and horsefeathering pitchers)

[TMan92]

That was the most amazing baseball game ever.

 

Snuck up behind the Cubs dugout for the 9th. Fist bumped Jason McLeod after the game (I think he was just shocked someone knew his name and so he offered his fist).

 

I bought seats about 7 rows back from the dugout. I started a thank you Tom chat in the 9th and Ricketts acknowledged the unreal amount of Cubs fans in the sets.

 

I think there had to be at least 10K people cheering for our boys last night.

 

One more thing, if the Bears lose to the Packers and nobody is watching, did it actually happen?

[minnesotacubsfan]

if i told you, going into this season, that jake arrieta vs rich hill was a matchup we would not feel absolutely incredible about going into a potential game 7 of the nlcs, how insane would you think i'd be?

 

[expletive] baseball, man (and [expletive] pitchers)

 

 

Ehh, game 3, Cubs offense was ice cold and Hill left a few up. I don't anticipate the offense being cold in game 7, if we get there

[Brian]

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[Sammy Sofa]

if i told you, going into this season, that jake arrieta vs rich hill was a matchup we would not feel absolutely incredible about going into a potential game 7 of the nlcs, how insane would you think i'd be?

 

[expletive] baseball, man (and [expletive] pitchers)

 

 

Ehh, game 3, Cubs offense was ice cold and Hill left a few up. I don't anticipate the offense being cold in game 7, if we get there

 

Yeah, it's kinda meatball-y as hell, but I can't help but be a lot more confident about facing Kershaw and Hill (if necessary) this go-around, Hill especially.

[David]

if i told you, going into this season, that jake arrieta vs rich hill was a matchup we would not feel absolutely incredible about going into a potential game 7 of the nlcs, how insane would you think i'd be?

 

[expletive] baseball, man (and [expletive] pitchers)

 

 

Ehh, game 3, Cubs offense was ice cold and Hill left a few up. I don't anticipate the offense being cold in game 7, if we get there

 

i don't think what the offense has done the last two days has much bearing on what will happen vs kershaw and hill in 40 degrees this weekend.

 

that doesn't mean i'm all that worried, either, mind you. (nor was that really my point...it's that you would never guess that both we wouldn't feel supremely confident with jake vs rich hill in a game 7 and that we'd get to game 7 of the NLCS despite jake not being god mode)

[minnesotacubsfan]

if i told you, going into this season, that jake arrieta vs rich hill was a matchup we would not feel absolutely incredible about going into a potential game 7 of the nlcs, how insane would you think i'd be?

 

[expletive] baseball, man (and [expletive] pitchers)

 

 

Ehh, game 3, Cubs offense was ice cold and Hill left a few up. I don't anticipate the offense being cold in game 7, if we get there

 

i don't think what the offense has done the last two days has much bearing on what will happen vs kershaw and hill in 40 degrees this weekend.

 

that doesn't mean i'm all that worried, either, mind you. (nor was that really my point...it's that you would never guess that both we wouldn't feel supremely confident with jake vs rich hill in a game 7 and that we'd get to game 7 of the NLCS despite jake not being god mode)

 

The temp was in the 70's game 1 and the offense was meh save Montero. The biggest change is Russell and Rizzo, and they both had been out of it for a lifetime long time. I doubt temperature has much to do with that