Cubs (Assad) vs Marlins (Gusto): 09/05/26, 3:10 PM

[Papa Cub]

That game should not have been that intense and I’m sure I speak for the majority of the fans watching that game. It was brutal to watch from our bullpen yet again, but thanks to Rolison and getting us out and sticky situations and Zeferjahn doing his thing. Big win and keep that distance between us in Philly.

Edited Saturday at 11:45 PM by Papa Cub

[gflore34]

4 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I mean they came into this series over .500. They can’t be that bad. 

They're good at home 42-29, not so good, even bad, on the road 29-43. Wouldn't you agree good teams manage at least .500 on the road?

Edited Saturday at 11:46 PM by gflore34

[bukie]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

They're good at home 42-29, not so good, even bad, on the road 29-43. Wouldn't you agree good teams manage at least .500 on the road?

Oh, I didn't realize this series was in Wrigley, the walls look different.

[ILMindState]

Never doubted Mason Zeferjahn

[mk49]

59 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

They're good at home 42-29, not so good, even bad, on the road 29-43. Wouldn't you agree good teams manage at least .500 on the road?

You just said it, "They're good at home."  So, they must be a good team at home, right?😁

Seriously, I didn't know about the home/away split.  Great news is that they're coming to Chicago in about 2 weeks.

[gflore34]

11 minutes ago, mk49 said:

You just said it, "They're good at home."  So, they must be a good team at home, right?😁

Seriously, I didn't know about the home/away split.  Great news is that they're coming to Chicago in about 2 weeks.

Yes, they're good team at home.  Hopefully, the Cubs put another dagger in their slim playoff chances tomorrow.

[PackLandVA]

So is it Holmes tomorrow then?

[mk49]

1 hour ago, PackLandVA said:

So is it Holmes tomorrow then?

Yes, most likely.  Sweep on the way.😄

Edited yesterday at 02:21 AM by mk49

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Marlins aren't good, Cubs pitching did their best to make them look good.

Well they are playing in Miami where they are 42-28. I would say that is very good. So I guess you are right. They aren’t good, they are very good.

[chibears55]

2 hours ago, PackLandVA said:

So is it Holmes tomorrow then?

Says Holmes for tomorrow now and Meneker posted this for Milwaukee series.

Starters coming up vs. Milwaukee:

Monday - Matthew Boyd 

Tuesday - David Peterson

Wednesday - Kevin Gausman

It is what it is, but it looks they're going after an easier chance to win against Miami with Holmes Sunday over holding him til Monday and trying to beat the Brewers with their best starter.

Kinda like dont waste your best starters trying to beat a very good team, and use him/them against a bad team to try and get an easy win now.

Edited yesterday at 04:02 AM by chibears55

[Geographyhater8888]

Counsell testing out relief pitchers like he’s at his office desk rummaging through a stack of pens to find one that’s not out of ink. I hope they find an answer and soon. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Rcal10]

8 hours ago, chibears55 said:

Says Holmes for tomorrow now and Meneker posted this for Milwaukee series.

Starters coming up vs. Milwaukee:

Monday - Matthew Boyd 

Tuesday - David Peterson

Wednesday - Kevin Gausman

It is what it is, but it looks they're going after an easier chance to win against Miami with Holmes Sunday over holding him til Monday and trying to beat the Brewers with their best starter.

Kinda like dont waste your best starters trying to beat a very good team, and use him/them against a bad team to try and get an easy win now.

Also, kind of like keeping everyone in order of the rotation. Cubs aren’t moving pitchers around to try beating the brewers. They are letting the rotation runs it course. I do think Assad was slotted in so Shota misses Milwaukee. That was the change made. No other change is necessary. The question is, will they run a 6 man staff going forward? I wouldn’t think they would this time. With the off day Thursday, Holmes should be good to go on Saturday after a 5 day rest. All pitchers will be in a 5 day rest. I am pretty sure, whatever they do will have them lined up with who they want going in the first playoff series. Any decisions they make will be based in that, not so they have maybe a 5% better chance to win the game in the regular season. 

[Rcal10]

5 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Counsell testing out relief pitchers like he’s at his office desk through a stack of pens with ink. I hope they find an answer and soon. 

Absolutely what he is doing and what he should be doing. Have to find a few he can count on. I agree with you, hope he find what works. 

[Geographyhater8888]

8 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Absolutely what he is doing and what he should be doing. Have to find a few he can count on. I agree with you, hope he find what works. 

I’ve never seen anything like it before. He’s like Ken Sander constantly picking up and hanging up the phone on prank callers. He’s just picking names out of a hat this point.

Edited 19 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Derwood]

Just now, Geographyhater8888 said:

I’ve never seen anything like it before. He’s like Ken Sander constantly picking up and hanging up the phone on prank callers. He’s just picking names out of a hat this point.

All the idiots on Facebook/Twitter/Reddit cry every game because "how could Counsell bring in RELIEVER X in that situation???" and the answer is "what choices does he have?"

[Rcal10]

5 minutes ago, Derwood said:

All the idiots on Facebook/Twitter/Reddit cry every game because "how could Counsell bring in RELIEVER X in that situation???" and the answer is "what choices does he have?"

Yep. And not only that, but he needs to get guys right. He can’t shy away from Zepherjohn because of a bad start to his Cubs career. He needs him. He will probably use Palencia soon,, in a high leverage situation again. And, because he needs him to be right too. Cubs are in the playoffs. I want to go in with him having a plan for his pen. In order to do that, he needs to challenge guys and see who come out on top. Hopefully the ones with the highest ceiling are near that ceiling come playoffs. 

[Geographyhater8888]

22 minutes ago, Derwood said:

All the idiots on Facebook/Twitter/Reddit cry every game because "how could Counsell bring in RELIEVER X in that situation???" and the answer is "what choices does he have?"

That’s when they’re not bitching about his stoic demeanor, where he needs to show passion like Mike Singletary and pull his pants down in the dugout to show frustration. There’s this delusion that because he’s the highest paid manager in MLB history that he’s worth 10 war, and that Pat Murphy is a 10 war manager.

Edited 19 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[mk49]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Also, kind of like keeping everyone in order of the rotation. Cubs aren’t moving pitchers around to try beating the brewers. They are letting the rotation runs it course. I do think Assad was slotted in so Shota misses Milwaukee. That was the change made. No other change is necessary. The question is, will they run a 6 man staff going forward? I wouldn’t think they would this time. With the off day Thursday, Holmes should be good to go on Saturday after a 5 day rest. All pitchers will be in a 5 day rest. I am pretty sure, whatever they do will have them lined up with who they want going in the first playoff series. Any decisions they make will be based in that, not so they have maybe a 5% better chance to win the game in the regular season. 

That's basically what Craig said.  He did the 6 man rotation this time to give them the rest, and he mentioned Holmes.  For the rest of the season, the schedule won't be as tough, so no more 6th SP. 

If Assad (or Peterson?) goes to the pen, that should help.

[macarthur31]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Yep. And not only that, but he needs to get guys right. He can’t shy away from Zepherjohn because of a bad start to his Cubs career. He needs him. He will probably use Palencia soon,, in a high leverage situation again. And, because he needs him to be right too. Cubs are in the playoffs. I want to go in with him having a plan for his pen. In order to do that, he needs to challenge guys and see who come out on top. Hopefully the ones with the highest ceiling are near that ceiling come playoffs. 

This.  Couns has been like this his whole career (again, living in Milwaukee for the past 15 years, I've just gleaned so many of these complaints from Brewers fans before - "why is he running him out there?!").   130 games into this season, and he'd be ecstatic if he could get Palencia/Webb/Zeferjahn to be a wrecking crew.  Maybe not a classic 7/8/9 situation, but a 3 headed monster that he could deploy in high lev as needed.  He's also searching for that lefty: and Theils has had track record but is Father Time finally got the edge on him.  Rolison appears to be putting it all together, but he doesn't have playoff reps.

Not counting Civale, Rea or Assad (who are swing starter/long relief - and likely only 2 will make the roster), Couns likely would love another to emerge as a medium lev option.  Trent Thornton and Tyler Ferguson don't have it, and are treading water in hopes that a miracle can emerge:  

Shelby Miller seems to be the leading candidate, but he just pitched back-to-back for the 1st time. 

 

Result aside, we still await to see how healthy he feels today. 

Gavin Hollowell?  Last night he had a rehab appearance at AAA, and had 1 IP, 1 ER, 2H  2 BB/0 K.  That was his first appearance in any game since July 30.  He'll need to do more convincing.

Eddie Cabrera and Justin Steele are the other options.  Both seem like long shots given they still need to get healed up, and executing consistently in a bullpen role.

 

It's gonna be tough, but I'm confident Couns will get it sorted out as best as possible.

[chibears55]

Cubs basically waiting on..

Steele, Cabrera,  Miller,  Hollowell,  and Webb to be ready to go possibly by next weekend or end of next weekend. Which will give them all 12-15 games to get ready if theyll be on postseason roster.

Thielbar and Thornton right now are probably 2 guys who will definitely not make the postseason roster if 2 of Steele,  Cabrera,  Miller, or Hollowell are able to get it done when called upon the final 2 weeks.

[Derwood]

49 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Cubs basically waiting on..

Steele, Cabrera,  Miller,  Hollowell,  and Webb to be ready to go possibly by next weekend or end of next weekend. Which will give them all 12-15 games to get ready if theyll be on postseason roster.

 

I'm counting on exactly zero (maybe one) of those to be a factor

[mk49]

7 hours ago, Derwood said:

I'm counting on exactly zero (maybe one) of those to be a factor

I agree.  I'd be really happy, if one of them can pitch well in the playoffs.  I'd be surprised, if Cabrera suddenly start pitching well.  I think Steele is running out of time.  Miller and Hollowell might have better chance.