10/12 NLDS Game 5 Cubs (Hendricks) vs DB's Nats (Gio) 7 pm TBS

[David]

I don't know how that causes him to lose respect. It's just kinda weird for someone who cares that much to not be glued to the TV immediately. But whatever.

[Banedon]

ROFL

 

https://twitter.com/JATayler/status/918686090088910848

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Scherzer and Strasburg pitched 21.2 of the 44 innings in this series, with a 1.26 ERA, and they still lost.

[Sammy Sofa]

Also: it worked, so go live in a bog.

I respected the hell out of you when I heard about your incredible weight loss. That just went out the window with one post, nerd.

 

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mddsdzWD3q1ru1wbho1_250.gif

[Old Style]

I don't know how that causes him to lose respect. It's just kinda weird for someone who cares that much to not be glued to the TV immediately. But whatever.

Joking about losing respect but I honestly don't get how you miss the start of a deciding playoff game to play a video game.

[Sammy Sofa]

I don't know how that causes him to lose respect. It's just kinda weird for someone who cares that much to not be glued to the TV immediately. But whatever.

 

It was mostly an active decision; I was just too damn anxious by the time the game rolled around, so I knew I wasn't going to be watching all or most of the game unless the Cubs took and held a decent early lead or Hendricks looked amazing. Too nervous.

 

I think a huge part of it are TBS' horrible, horrible announcers. It's some kind of Pavlovian response where as soon as I hear their voices I think the worst is going to happen.

[David]

I don't know how that causes him to lose respect. It's just kinda weird for someone who cares that much to not be glued to the TV immediately. But whatever.

Joking about losing respect but I honestly don't get how you miss the start of a deciding playoff game to play a video game.

 

i knew you were joking but i'm still drunk so the robot is kind of on autopilot

[Sammy Sofa]

ROFL

 

https://twitter.com/JATayler/status/918686090088910848

 

This is the best.

[Billy_Buck]

Lots of discussion about the passed ball/Baez bat hitting Weiters. The Nats and most baseball people think that this rule means that the ball should have been dead...

 

“If a batter strikes at a ball and misses and swings so hard he carries the bat all the way around and, in the umpire’s judgment, unintentionally hits the catcher or the ball in back of him on the backswing, it shall be called a strike only (not interference). The ball will be dead, however, and no runner shall advance on the play.”

 

But, that is clearly, to me, talking about a caught third strike. I don't think that rule is applicable to a passed ball/wild pitch situation. That was my thought reading the article this morning and then I saw Jerry Layne's comments which pretty much align with that...

 

“Backswing interference is a play where a guy is stealing or there’s a play being made a runner hindering the catch,” Layne said afterward. “It was a wild pitch and went past him. That is no longer in that particular description, in my judgment. In my judgment, the passed ball changed the whole rule around to where, in my judgment, it had nothing to do with everything. Therefore, it didn’t have any effect on it. In my judgment.”

 

“When the ball gets past him, all right, in my judgment he didn’t have any more opportunity after he had a chance to field the ball,” Layne said. “There was no further play that could have been made on it. The graze of the helmet didn’t have anything to do, in my judgment, with anything at all, with that particular play. I understand, it’s pretty much my judgment. I got together and found everybody was in agreement. That’s what we went with.”

 

“If you look at the replay, it’s clearly gone past him,” Layne added. “That’s where we were in our discussion and the judgment. Now, if it was right there in front of him, we’d have a different night.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2017/10/12/nationals-hurt-by-crucial-missed-call-in-do-or-die-nlds-game-5/?utm_term=.f9db9a51f822

Yeah, I pulled out the rule book this morning to try to understand this better and IMO, a lot of people (MLBN etc) are ripping the "Rules Comment" out of context and applying it as if it's the entirety of the rule. I think the rule is constructed such that (1)-(4) define batter's interference; the Comment being parsed is there to define how batter's interference should affect runners on base.

 

So... the only of the (1)-(4) interference conditions that could be applicable here is "(3) He [batter] interferes with the catcher's fielding or throwing by stepping out of the batter's box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher's play at home base." Then the special case in the comment would be relevant, such as if the backswing caused a dropped 3rd strike on a steal attempt. Indeed, earlier in the same Comment it states that if a batter interferes with the catcher, "the batter is out"; and I haven't heard anyone say he should've been out.

 

Said differently, it's: "If batter interferes with the catcher and that interference is backswing contact, it's a dead ball and runners return to their base," NOT "Backswing contact is a dead ball, in any and all circumstances, full stop." That's how I'm reading Layne--no interference despite the contact, thus the rule isn't applicable--and makes sense to me. Fun way to get a gift run, at any rate. 8-)

[Transmogrified Tiger]

As an aside, I'm probably too tired today to properly phrase this, but holy smokes has the internet baseball world overcorrected on pitcher usage in elimination games. The universal shrieking about Hendricks hitting and pitching in the 4th was just beyond belief. The same people who sneer about 'momentum' have now become absolutely convinced that a couple hits means a guy 'just doesn't have it today' without regard to their ability to correct, how many outs a team still needs to get, spot in the batting order, and the quality of the other available options.

[jersey cubs fan]

As an aside, I'm probably too tired today to properly phrase this, but holy smokes has the internet baseball world overcorrected on pitcher usage in elimination games. The universal shrieking about Hendricks hitting and pitching in the 4th was just beyond belief. The same people who sneer about 'momentum' have now become absolutely convinced that a couple hits means a guy 'just doesn't have it today' without regard to their ability to correct, how many outs a team still needs to get, spot in the batting order, and the quality of the other available options.

 

Yeah, a couple of "I have no idea what Joe is doing with the pitching" comments when Hendricks batted for himself were mystifying to me.

 

 

That being said, I would have pinch hit for Heyward with the bags full in the first inning.

[soccer10k]

The Cubs won 3 playoff series in the first 100-whatever years of their existence. They've won 5 in the last 3 seasons (6 if you count the Wild Card game).

 

And in the last three years, they donged the Cardinals out of the playoffs, won the World Series and crushed Dusty Baker's soul. Just need to crush the Mets one time to round it out.

Edited October 13, 2017 by soccer10k

[The_Achiever]

I don't know how that causes him to lose respect. It's just kinda weird for someone who cares that much to not be glued to the TV immediately. But whatever.

 

It was mostly an active decision; I was just too damn anxious by the time the game rolled around, so I knew I wasn't going to be watching all or most of the game unless the Cubs took and held a decent early lead or Hendricks looked amazing. Too nervous.

 

I think a huge part of it are TBS' horrible, horrible announcers. It's some kind of Pavlovian response where as soon as I hear their voices I think the worst is going to happen.

 

I played the superstition game with this one as well. I watched Silence of the Lambs and the news but was checking in constantly but making sure not watch during any action because that messed with the juju lol. The Cubs did good things when I didn't watch and bad things when I did watch so I rolled with that through about the 6th inning when Monty got in trouble and my system had been debunked.

 

I knew this was going to be a crazy ass game so I paced myself. Thankfully it worked out in the end.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

As an aside, I'm probably too tired today to properly phrase this, but holy smokes has the internet baseball world overcorrected on pitcher usage in elimination games. The universal shrieking about Hendricks hitting and pitching in the 4th was just beyond belief. The same people who sneer about 'momentum' have now become absolutely convinced that a couple hits means a guy 'just doesn't have it today' without regard to their ability to correct, how many outs a team still needs to get, spot in the batting order, and the quality of the other available options.

 

Yeah, a couple of "I have no idea what Joe is doing with the pitching" comments when Hendricks batted for himself were mystifying to me.

 

 

That being said, I would have pinch hit for Heyward with the bags full in the first inning.

 

Heyward wasn't going anywhere the moment he started against a lefty. You don't start him to pull him with righties to follow out of their bullpen.

 

I would have PH Hendricks because I expected 3-4 strong from Scherzer and wanted a real hitter against Albers. Thankfully I was wrong, the Cubs didn't have the pitchers for Hendricks to leave earlier and they scored a lot off Scherzer.

[Andy]

As an aside, I'm probably too tired today to properly phrase this, but holy smokes has the internet baseball world overcorrected on pitcher usage in elimination games. The universal shrieking about Hendricks hitting and pitching in the 4th was just beyond belief. The same people who sneer about 'momentum' have now become absolutely convinced that a couple hits means a guy 'just doesn't have it today' without regard to their ability to correct, how many outs a team still needs to get, spot in the batting order, and the quality of the other available options.

 

Yeah, a couple of "I have no idea what Joe is doing with the pitching" comments when Hendricks batted for himself were mystifying to me.

 

 

That being said, I would have pinch hit for Heyward with the bags full in the first inning.

I wouldn't have started Heyward against Gio, or at minimum would've batted him 8th; you can put him in for defense later. Didn't get that lineup decision and Joe is probably lucky it didn't end up being as big a factor as it could've been.

[jersey cubs fan]

I don't know how that causes him to lose respect. It's just kinda weird for someone who cares that much to not be glued to the TV immediately. But whatever.

 

It was mostly an active decision; I was just too damn anxious by the time the game rolled around, so I knew I wasn't going to be watching all or most of the game unless the Cubs took and held a decent early lead or Hendricks looked amazing. Too nervous.

 

I think a huge part of it are TBS' horrible, horrible announcers. It's some kind of Pavlovian response where as soon as I hear their voices I think the worst is going to happen.

 

I played the superstition game with this one as well. I watched Silence of the Lambs and the news but was checking in constantly but making sure not watch during any action because that messed with the juju lol. The Cubs did good things when I didn't watch and bad things when I did watch so I rolled with that through about the 6th inning when Monty got in trouble and my system had been debunked.

 

I knew this was going to be a crazy ass game so I paced myself. Thankfully it worked out in the end.

 

I sat calmly on the couch watching nearly the entire time. I stood and clapped quietly to myself during the Scherzer inning, then stood nibbling on some pistachios during the 9th. Most of the superstitious viewing habits died for me once the Cubs beat the Pirates. I was at a dive bar with a couple Pirates fans, then about a dozen or more joined us.

[jersey cubs fan]

As an aside, I'm probably too tired today to properly phrase this, but holy smokes has the internet baseball world overcorrected on pitcher usage in elimination games. The universal shrieking about Hendricks hitting and pitching in the 4th was just beyond belief. The same people who sneer about 'momentum' have now become absolutely convinced that a couple hits means a guy 'just doesn't have it today' without regard to their ability to correct, how many outs a team still needs to get, spot in the batting order, and the quality of the other available options.

 

Yeah, a couple of "I have no idea what Joe is doing with the pitching" comments when Hendricks batted for himself were mystifying to me.

 

 

That being said, I would have pinch hit for Heyward with the bags full in the first inning.

 

Heyward wasn't going anywhere the moment he started against a lefty. You don't start him to pull him with righties to follow out of their bullpen.

 

I was mostly joking.

[The_Achiever]

 

It was mostly an active decision; I was just too damn anxious by the time the game rolled around, so I knew I wasn't going to be watching all or most of the game unless the Cubs took and held a decent early lead or Hendricks looked amazing. Too nervous.

 

I think a huge part of it are TBS' horrible, horrible announcers. It's some kind of Pavlovian response where as soon as I hear their voices I think the worst is going to happen.

 

I played the superstition game with this one as well. I watched Silence of the Lambs and the news but was checking in constantly but making sure not watch during any action because that messed with the juju lol. The Cubs did good things when I didn't watch and bad things when I did watch so I rolled with that through about the 6th inning when Monty got in trouble and my system had been debunked.

 

I knew this was going to be a crazy ass game so I paced myself. Thankfully it worked out in the end.

 

I sat calmly on the couch watching nearly the entire time. I stood and clapped quietly to myself during the Scherzer inning, then stood nibbling on some pistachios during the 9th. Most of the superstitious viewing habits died for me once the Cubs beat the Pirates. I was at a dive bar with a couple Pirates fans, then about a dozen or more joined us.

 

Ha, well I pull out all the stops for elimination games. I also didn't want to get too drunk as the boozing has caught up to me a bit this week.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Remember when people wanted to trade Wade Davis this summer?

 

And how many times the season was over during the regular season?

[The_Achiever]

Remember when people wanted to trade Wade Davis this summer?

 

Eh to be fair Theo also said they were getting close to being sellers. That trade for Q was such a shot in the arm, I knew they were gonna take off in the second half.

[Brian707]

Hardly any sleep but this is how I drove to work this morning:

 

[imb]

i really can't underrate how great it was that it was Harper who K'd on the last out. I love him but it just makes me feel good that it was him and not some idiot like michael martinez

[minnesotacubsfan]

i really can't underrate how great it was that it was Harper who K'd on the last out. I love him but it just makes me feel good that it was him and not some idiot like michael martinez

 

Unless Dusty lifted Harper for Martinez, then I’m sure you could still love it

[Sammy Sofa]

Hardly any sleep but this is how I drove to work this morning:

 

 

Me walking in with my usual Cubs lanyard in Nats territory today:

 

[Hunter]

i really can't underrate how great it was that it was Harper who K'd on the last out. I love him but it just makes me feel good that it was him and not some idiot like michael martinez

 

It was a pretty good pitch by Davis.