Cubs 4, Cardinals 3 (8.11.16)

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius77 Comments

OSS: Cubs walk off for ten in a row.

Three up:

  1. The Cubs wasted a few chances early, and finally broke through against Carlos Martinez with a two run single by Chris Coghlan in the sixth inning.
  2. David Ross then dropped a surprise bunt to give the Cubs a temporary lead, an acceptable exception to #StopBunting. He also hit a double, and gifted us with another great David Ross gif:

  3. The bullpen came up big on a night where Jon Lester got off to a rocky start. Travis Wood gave up a wind-aided homer, but even with that their line was 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, and 6 K. Aroldis Chapman threw the minimum number of pitches in his inning, thanks to some help from Javy Baez, and Mike Montgomery worked out of a artisanal, locally produced jam for his second scoreless outing of his Cubs tenure.

Three down:

  1. The Cubs won on a walk-off walk, but that was a pretty horseshit call by the umpire.

  2. News broke before the game that Pedro Strop will be out 4-6 weeks with a torn meniscus. That sucks, but at least it wasn’t a ligament injury. Suddenly the Cubs massive bullpen crunch issues don’t seem so bad, so hooray depth.
  3. Matt Holliday took a Mike Montgomery pitch off his right hand in the tenth inning and is headed to the DL. That sure seems like exactly the right moment for the Cubs to throw at someone ?. With Matheny in the opposing dugout the Cubs better break out the body armor for the rest of the series.

Next up: Jake Arrieta takes on Adam Wainwright at 1:20 PM CT, and both managers are hoping they go deep into the game after clearing out the bullpens in the previous game.

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  4. Edwin

    I was casually following on Gameday, and it looked like Martinez got squeezed on a pretty bad call in the 2nd. So maybe it was just a crappy zone all game.

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  5. SK

    Reading all the (dying laughing)-worthy retweets from BFIB, it is high-larious how the person they are all angry at is Joe Maddon. Tells you something about a fanbase used to Matheney and LaRussa. Nobody even mentioned Mike Montgomery.

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  7. Edwin

    I feel like I’ve struggled the past couple seasons to be as into the Cubs as I once was. Which is strange, since these past 2 seasons are probably some of the most fun seasons a fan could experience. I don’t know. I used follow almost every game super close, now I just tune in and out, even in a great game like last night. Just something I’ve noticed lately.

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  8. SK

    Edwin,

    Same here. I think it’s a result of more than a decade of intensely following them day after day and the way the interwebs has made that possible to such an obsessive degree. By last year, I think I had OD’d a bit. Might have started a year or two before.

    But I expect to regain some of that obsessiveness down the stretch and into the postseason as the fairweather fan I guess I am.

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  9. cerulean

    SK,

    It was obviously retaliation for the high and tight Russell got earlier.

    (Was it Russell? Was it earlier? I don’t remember.)

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  10. cerulean

    SK,

    As a fairweather fan, I stopped paying attention when their play began to damage the little grey cells, and so my higher functioning brain allows me to follow them more closely.

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  11. SK

    cerulean,

    I did not realize that. Still, it seems unlikely Maddon (or even Matheny) would call for a HBP or even a brushback in a tie-game in extra innings.

    Wait — you are doing a Trump, yes?

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  13. dmick89

    SK: Same here. I think it’s a result of more than a decade of intensely following them day after day and the way the interwebs has made that possible to such an obsessive degree. By last year, I think I had OD’d a bit. Might have started a year or two before.

    I pretty much followed the team every day from 1989 through about 2011. I was obsessive about it from 2003 through about that same time and after that, due to shit that came up in real life, I didn’t pay nearly as much attention in 2012 or 2013 and by 2014 I paid almost no attention at all to the Cubs. It wasn’t until late last season that I came back to watching them every day and I still do, but I don’t have the time or energy to be obsessive about them.

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  15. cerulean

    SK:
    cerulean,

    I did not realize that. Still, it seems unlikely Maddon (or even Matheny) would call for a HBP or even a brushback in a tie-game in extra innings.

    Wait — you are doing a Trump, yes?

    I am having a hell of a time trying to type out a response to such accusations with my tiny, tiny hands.

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  16. cerulean

    dmick89:
    cerulean,

    It was Russell, but I doubt there was any intent on the HBP by Montgomery. I fully expect about 9 beanballs thrown at the Cubs today.

    False. With Monty’s pinpoint control, there is no way that he didn’t do that on purpose.

    /BFIB’d

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  17. cerulean

    De La Cruz went 5 innings allowing no hits with a walk and six Ks.

    Cease and Morrison were also pretty good yesterday.

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  18. SK

    I mean, I watch and listen to every game that I can, and I come on here, etc., but I am not obsessed with every roster move, or what’s happening in Iowa, or plans for next year, etc.

    I’m only mildly concerned about the bullpen injuries and don’t really care about the LaStella thing. Some of that is because they are up by 13 games so why worry, etc., but in 2008 or even 2005 I had opinions about 5th outfielders FFS.

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  19. cerulean

    Is it possible that the Cubs will have a pool of potential aces/competent starters by the time Arrieta and Lackey are set to leave?

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  22. cerulean

    If the Cubs and Rangers swapped 2nd-order luck on the year, instead of 72–41 and 68–48, they would be 92–21 and 48–68. The Cubs would have won almost twice as many games as the Rangers.

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  23. SK

    cerulean,

    And if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
    If turnips were watches, I’d wear one by my side.
    If “if’s” and “and’s” were pots and pans,
    There’d be no work for tinkers’ hands.

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  24. JonKneeV

    cerulean:
    De La Cruz went 5 innings allowing no hits with a walk and six Ks.

    He better tone down the strikeout rate if he wants a future with this organziation.

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  25. cerulean

    Why the hell is Joe doing a righty-heavy lineup against a tough righthander with normal splits?

    That don’t make no sense, but Joe be Joe.

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  26. Perkins

    SK:
    Reading all the (dying laughing)-worthy retweets from BFIB, it is high-larious how the person they are all angry at is Joe Maddon. Tells you something about a fanbase used to Matheney and LaRussa. Nobody even mentioned Mike Montgomery.

    Kind of a dark and disturbing group they are. I’m also amazed that so many people think anyone (well, anyone other than the Cardinals or Diamondbacks) would intentionally hit a batter in a tie game in extra innings.

    Given Holliday’s past dirty play, I’m not really sorry to see his season get ended, but the HBP was pretty obviously an accident.

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  29. berselius

    SK:
    I mean, I watch and listen to every game that I can, and I come on here, etc., but I am not obsessed with every roster move, or what’s happening in Iowa, or plans for next year, etc.

    I’m only mildly concerned about the bullpen injuries and don’t really care about the LaStella thing. Some of that is because they are up by 13 games so why worry, etc., but in 2008 or even 2005 I had opinions about 5th outfielders FFS.

    Same here. Plus my work schedule and time zone has made it a lot harder to catch most games these days.

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  30. cerulean

    dmick89,

    I was confused as to why Montero was getting the start against a lefty—ok, Contreras has not caught Arrieta and Grampie had a late night, and it’s not like Montero hasn’t been a black hole no matter what, so it—then I look at who is on the bump and my brain explodes.

    Joe Maddon…blowing minds. It’s that Califlorida in him.

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  34. SK

    Joe said on the pregame that, WRT to the lineup, he’s trying to turn Fridays into Mondays.

    Whatever the fuck that means, it seems to be working.

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  35. cerulean

    I like that this team is so good that they can spot the Cardinals their worse lineup against righthanded pitching and worse outfield defense and still be up 2–0 after 1…and for fans to be disappointed that they didn’t get more (dying laughing).

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  37. cerulean

    The pitch “gets away” from Waino to Szczur, and Bryant drives it to the wall scoring him. Nice. I will take that every time.

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  38. uncle dave

    makeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofivemakeittofive

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  42. Mucker

    Off topic but did anybody see the documentary Fastball? I saw it on Netflix. It talked about all the hard throwers. Really good.

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  47. umbra

    ?????????? good shit go౦ԁ sHit? thats ✔ some good??shit right??there??? right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self ? i say so ? thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ? ?? ?НO0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??Good shit

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  66. Edwin

    Naturally, I say that I am underwhelmed by the Chicago Outfield in this lineup, and all three Chicago OF proceed to hit HR. I fucking suck at knowing things about baseball.

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  69. cerulean

    SK,

    Prorated it would be +288 on the year. 1906 had the only Cubs team since the Cubs were called the Cubs that beat that differential. They won 116 that year and went 2–2 in the World Series from 1906–1910.

    I guess it’s ok.

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  73. Author
    berselius

    cerulean:
    SK,

    Prorated it would be +2 or +288 on the year. 1906 had the only Cubs team since the Cubs were called the Cubs that beat that differential. They won 116 that year and went 2–2 in the World Series from 1906–1910.

    I guess it’s ok.

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