JudasIscariotTheBird

I don't think anyone will judge you for it, much. And even if they do, you really shouldn't care.

I make sure not to be overly useful on any given afternoon, so no one notices when I'm preoccupied. Highly recommend.

I haven't seen anyone post the lineups yet...its the same line up as last night, so I could see the confusion.

Whenever I see that trophy, all I can think about is tying it to the back of my car and doing donuts in a parking lot.

jesus christ, I actually remember watching that game live Yep. I was 13. He was my favorite player by then. I had walked alongside Dawson with a crowd of kids in St Louis that summer from the old Busch to the Cubs hotel. Seems like it wasn't much before that game. He refused to sign autographs but he was cool as hell and talked baseball with all of us while we walked as close as we were comfortable walking next to him. Until two years ago, he was easily still my favorite Cub. ...but Schwarber is neck and neck now. Can probably pass him up, game 7 pending.

A gift for everyone who's blood is on fire like mine: [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo]Calm yourself!

Not high, it seems

Get em' Schwarbs. [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo]

Hunter Pence is amazing. [bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo]

The Cubs was my main sweat, but I was in first place in a very large draftkings tourney going into the SNF game and was peaking to make sure Elliott wasn't doing anything good. The Chapman strikeout to end the 8th was immediately before I see Elliott ending a 60 yard run...but HOLDING! CUBS WIN!!! ...wait, overtime!? No...just kick a field..NO! Not a dumpoff to Elliott! 2nd place will do I suppose... Too crazy.

Hendricks is going yard. It is known.

For as cool as it would be to continue to have Schwarbs mashing every time through the line up, I think forcing the Indians to play Santana in left combined with the advantage our pitchers have at the plate over theirs, I'll take the non-DH rules at home...for now at least.

Can't they just, like, tie a broomstick to his leg when he's in the field?

http://www.dontchangethesubject.org/

http://s3.amazonaws.com/images.hitfix.com/assets/2059/keanu2.gif

Wind blowing out won't bother Hendricks in the least...he is going to be[bbvideo=560,315]http://youtube.com/watch?v=7khQNR7s1Ho[/bbvideo]

Yeah, I think something like this makes sense. I'd start the game with Almora in right and bat him 8th or 9th. See how the game is flowing (or see if Almora would have a high-leverage AB) and put Schwarber in whenever it makes sense...and pinch-run/replace him with Heyward whenever, again, it makes the most sense. Still lots of PH options, and Zobrist just hops around from left to right. I'm not sure why you wouldn't start Soler in RF. You've got wind blowing out, a SP that give up 1.86 HR/FB and reverse splits that favor him. After 2 ABs, if the Cubs are ahead, he's out and Heyward or Almora comes in. Schwarber, Monty, and Ross are available to PH with Heyward and Almora available to run/play D late. If you start Almora, you've given up a couple ABs with a power hitter in favor of a pretty low upside hitter and you've wasted a defensive replacement. You basically can't take him out without making 2 switches to get back to the same level of defense (Heyward). If you don't start Soler, you start Heyward and hope he gets lucky against a pretty weak SP and otherwise just take the stud defense all game long. In my scenario, Almora might well get zero ABs, but you get 2-3 innings of defense from him. If you want to swap out Soler for Schwarber in my above statement for rational reasons, fine, but that simply isn't as sexy. Schwarber defies all logic and physical constraints.

Since we have the last at bat, by starting a more defensive minded player you can maximize his innings on defense while minimizing his abs. Also, in theory, we won't need the defense as much later in the game, because our relievers strike out batters at a higher rate, but since we'll have the lead we can bring in the other defensive stud. But you can do that at any point in the game. You can start with a guy like Soler in RF, who isn't great but isn't Schwarber (who may be inhuman as a hitter, but how many fly balls has he taken since spring training?). As the game progresses, if the need arises, you can insert Schwarber in a double switch or straight up for Soler to maximize the importance of his 1-2 ABs, then if the Cubs have the lead late, you take him out for Heyward or Almora. With that strategy, you have 1 or 0 ABs by a guy like Heyward that's been sucking out loud. And you have at least some potential for donging with Soler getting a couple ABs early in the game. If we get out to a nice lead, you don't bring in Kyle but go straight to Heyward in the middle innings. We have the flexibility in our roster to do that and I think you start the game assuming you're not PH for Hendricks until at least bottom of the 6th. Again, this assumes he's medically cleared for the OF. But if he hasn't been taking fly balls since spring training, I can't see how you put him in the OF with a guy that pitches to weak contact like Hendricks. Get the lead off the Indians crappy SP, play good defense, and let Scwharber PH in a key spot if you need it - that'd be my plan for Game 3. Yeah, I think something like this makes sense. I'd start the game with Almora in right and bat him 8th or 9th. See how the game is flowing (or see if Almora would have a high-leverage AB) and put Schwarber in whenever it makes sense...and pinch-run/replace him with Heyward whenever, again, it makes the most sense. Still lots of PH options, and Zobrist just hops around from left to right.

[bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo]

http://www.stpaulsteinbach.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/doubting_thomas.jpg

Davis, Coco, and Guyer due up...

Hey, don't diss Stoney. I learned *some* baseball listening to him. I'll never get why *anyone* slides into first on a close play, for example. :-) One can only hear "slider low and away gets him here" so many times before one just snaps.

That's the beautiful thing about Smoltz, he just creates whatever narrative suits him. He's worse than Steve Stone. A lot worse.

I just heard some douches doing a "whoawhoawhoawhoa" hand on mouth indian sound thingy that I remember 3rd grader kids doing in the 80s. I seriously think its been since 1989 that I've heard that.

Smoltz is of the opinion that the Cubs are doing things right when they score, and wrong when they don't, and throws in words like "approach" to fill time when he has no idea how it makes the Cubs good, or what it actually means.