UMFan83

What happened? Did he throw home?

Why? Game is tied and we haven't been up to bat yet. It's not about individual games at this point, its about how our ace quality starter is looking and whether or not he's hurt.

You do?

5-10 pounds is not a lot. CC gained 5-10 pounds getting over his loss to the Cubs on Tuesday

Yay for impending Fukucopters!

I know we were talking about postseason tickets for other teams in this thread... The Phillies and Mets lottery deadlines for the first round have already passed, but in case we play the Dodgers, their postseason tickets go on sale on Saturday at 10 AM PT for all the West Coasters on here.

Pitching a complete game 1-0 shutout with a bad elbow is a far cry from being a wuss. Really, I want to know what the hell Yost was thinking letting him throw 110-120 pitches per start despite knowing about this. No wonder he got fired. If Sheets can't make another start, the Brewers are toast. It's awfully tough to make the postseason when your rotation to end the year is Sabathia-McClung-Suppan-Bush-DiFelice. Getting Yosted from beyond the figurative grave

I don't think its going to get interesting again this season regardless of how we play.

Exactly. But a team only plays up to their abilities, I don't know 50% of the season? What if we aren't? I'd rather the easier draw and hope to play up to our abilities in the NLCS/WS

Maybe they are repainting it with InBev's logo ;)

The offense is really due for one of those "score bunches of runs" games Looking back at the last few games 2 5 6 5 3 4 3 3 14 2 0 7 0 3 2 3 6 2 So in only 2 of our last 16 games we've scored more than 6 runs, and 6 of our last 16 games we've scored more than 4 runs.

Yup, I was just telling my friend that the other day. I am rooting for all 3 teams to stay in the race as long as possible so that they have to make those starts.

John Manuel doesn't know that Geovany Soto is holding some of his ability back on purpose because it's not needed yet.

I goto this site called sportsclubstats that calculates a teams odds of making the playoffs at different finishes to the season. Right now if the Cubs lose out, the site has them at a 94.5% chance of making the playoffs.

You never know, people were complaining that the Cubs had to play TB while others played the Yankees, and how did that turn out?

It reminds me of when he came in against the Astros 2 weeks back, except this time Howry actually got an out (barely...CC hammered one) before getting yanked

They traditionally have that day off in case of rainouts. In this situation we will be playing in a dome. The Colorado series is our home opener, hence the day off in case of rainout.

They didnt have it last year, but if they wanted to do that they could make a 1 game series like they did this year with Washington/Atlanta

I like that the Cubs H/R schedule is much more balanced out that it was this year.

And the schedule is out. Cubs open in Houston. I don't think they have it sorted by team yet, only by day. I'll try to put it all out nicely, but if you want to look now, here is the link: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/glance.jsp?ymd=20090406 April 6: @ HOU April 7: @ HOU April 8: @ HOU April 9: OFF April 10: @ MIL April 11: @ MIL April 12: @ MIL April 13: vs. COL April 14: OFF April 15: vs. COL April 16: vs. STL April 17: vs. STL April 18: vs. STL April 19: vs. STL April 20: OFF April 21: vs. CIN April 22: vs. CIN April 23: vs. CIN April 24: @ STL April 25: @ STL April 26: @ STL April 27: @ ARI April 28: @ ARI April 29: @ ARI April 30: vs. FLA May 1: vs. FLA May 2: vs. FLA May 3: vs. FLA May 4: vs. SF May 5: vs. SF May 6: @ HOU May 7: @ HOU May 8: @ MIL May 9: @ MIL May 10: @ MIL May 11: OFF May 12: vs. SD May 13: vs. SD May 14: vs. SD May 15: vs. HOU May 16: vs. HOU May 17: vs. HOU May 18: OFF May 19: @ STL May 20: @ STL May 21: @ STL May 22: @ SD May 23: @ SD May 24: @ SD May 25: vs. PIT May 26: vs. PIT May 27: vs. PIT May 28: vs. LAD May 29: vs. LAD May 30: vs. LAD May 31: vs. LAD June 1: OFF June 2: @ ATL June 3: @ ATL June 4: @ ATL June 5: @ CIN June 6: @ CIN June 7: @ CIN June 8: OFF June 9: @ HOU June 10: @ HOU June 11: @ HOU June 12: vs. MIN June 13: vs. MIN June 14: vs. MIN June 15: OFF June 16: vs. CWS June 17: vs. CWS June 18: vs. CWS June 19: vs. CLE June 20: vs. CLE June 21: vs. CLE June 22: OFF June 23: @ DET June 24: @ DET June 25: @ DET June 26: @ CWS June 27: @ CWS June 28: @ CWS June 29: @ PIT June 30: @ PIT July 1: @ PIT July 2: vs. MIL July 3: vs. MIL July 4: vs. MIL July 5: vs. MIL July 6: vs. ATL July 7: vs. ATL July 8: vs. ATL July 9: OFF July 10: vs. STL July 11: vs. STL July 12: vs. STL July 13: AS Break July 14: AS Break July 15: AS Break July 16: @ WAS July 17: @ WAS July 18: @ WAS July 19: @ WAS July 20: @ PHI July 21: @ PHI July 22: @ PHI July 23: OFF July 24: vs. CIN July 25: vs. CIN July 26: vs. CIN July 27: vs. HOU July 28: vs. HOU July 29: vs. HOU July 30: OFF July 31: @ FLA August 1: @ FLA August 2: @ FLA August 3: @ CIN August 4: @ CIN August 5: @ CIN August 6: OFF August 7: @ COL August 8: @ COL August 9: @ COL August 10: @ COL August 11: vs. PHI August 12: vs. PHI August 13: vs. PHI August 14: vs. PIT August 15: vs. PIT August 16: vs. PIT August 17: @ SD August 18: @ SD August 19: @ SD August 20: @ LAD August 21: @ LAD August 22: @ LAD August 23: @ LAD August 24: OFF August 25: vs. WAS August 26: vs. WAS August 27: vs. WAS August 28: vs. NYM August 29: vs. NYM August 30: vs. NYM August 31: vs. HOU September 1: vs. HOU September 2: vs. HOU September 3: OFF September 4: @ NYM September 5: @ NYM September 6: @ NYM September 7: @ PIT September 8: @ PIT September 9: @ PIT September 10: OFF September 11: vs. CIN September 12: vs. CIN September 13: vs. CIN September 14: vs. MIL September 15: vs. MIL September 16: vs. MIL September 17: vs. MIL September 18: @ STL September 19: @ STL September 20: @ STL September 21: @ MIL September 22: @ MIL September 23: @ MIL September 24: @ SF September 25: @ SF September 26: @ SF September 27: @ SF September 28: OFF September 29: vs. PIT September 30: vs. PIT September 31: vs. PIT October 1: vs. PIT October 2: vs. ARI October 3: vs. ARI October 4: vs. ARI

I'm pretty sure that if the Cubs win tonight, they will have their largest lead in 1st place since October 6, 1929. I looked up several years to make sure I was right (2001, 1989, 1984, 1977, 1969, 1945-1929) and none of them had a lead larger than 9.5 games (in 84) Biggest leads: 1906 - 20.0 GA 1907 - 18.5 GA 1929 - 14.5 GA 1910 - 13.5 GA 1918 - 11.5 GA 1984 - 9.5 GA 2008 - 9.0 GA 1969 - 9.0 GA 1973 - 8.5 GA 1977 - 8.5 GA 1932 - 8.0 GA 1945 - 7.0 GA 1989 - 6.0 GA 2001 - 6.0 GA

Does it make sense to have 11 pitchers on the roster? If so Marquis and Gaudin if healthy. If not Wuertz. Also wouldn't be surprised if Pie was considered. Don't know why but I have a feeling.

Actually, baseball is a sport where home field advantage makes a noticeable difference in the game, stemming from the home team batting last. In football and basketball it's much more of a minimal difference. So, for situations like the last Astro series, the games could've been played in Wrigley with the Astros batting last, and they'd have more of a home field advantage than the Cubs. What's the difference between home and road winning percentages in those leagues? The biggest difference in winning percentage is in the NBA, where I'm of the opinion that the officiating makes the majority of the difference. All I was saying is that baseball is the only major sport where home field advantage actually makes a difference in the way the game is played. That's why I added crowd effect instead of the rule but yeah the rules are set for the home team advantage. Also when it comes to crowd for football and basketball I always have college sports in mind. The crowd probably doesn't make as big a difference for pros because it is a lot harder for a professional player to become rattled. And because of cavernous arenas and fan apathy over an 82 game season, the crowds simply aren't as loud in the NBA. (unless the Fan-o-meter is on)

As someone who was convinced the Brewers were overrated all along and thought the Cubs might beat them by 10 games, there's a lot of threads I'd like to dig up. Were you the one posting the run differentials earlier in the season? Were you at least nervous when the Brewers tied up the Cubs in July?