Cardinals @ Cubs Game Thread

In Game Threads by berselius64 Comments

Time: 7:05 PM CT
TV: ESPN

Gameday

LINEUPS

st-louis-cardinals
(81-73)

2B Matt Carpenter
RF Stephen Piscotty
3B Jhonny Peralta
1B Brandon Moss
C Yadier Molina
SS Jedd Gyorko
CF Randal Grichuk
LF Jose Martinez
P Carlos Martinez

 Cubs logo
(98-56)

CF Dexter Fowler
LF Kris Bryant
1B Anthony Rizzo
2B Ben Zobrist
SS Addison Russell
RF Jason Heyward
3B Javier Baez
C David Ross
P Jon Lester

Will the Cubs win? No, but it could go either way.

538 Forecast: 61% chance of winning

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Comments

  5. Perkins

    Martinez honoring not only Fernandez, but also Oscar Taveras on his cap. Seems appropriate for Fernandez, but not so much for Taveras.

    I realize he and Taveras were close friends, but if one of my friends killed himself and his girlfriend by driving drunk, I don’t think I’d write his name on my hat to display on national television. Just throwing that out there.

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  8. cerulean

    Perkins:
    Martinez honoring not only Fernandez, but also Oscar Taveras on his cap. Seems appropriate for Fernandez, but not so much for Taveras.

    I realize he and Taveras were close friends, but if one of my friends killed himself and his girlfriend by driving drunk, I don’t think I’d write his name on my hat to display on national television. Just throwing that out there.

    I understand that this is a trigger for a number of people, especially those whose lives have been impacted by alcoholism and/or drunk driving, but the two are way closer than you give credit. So much of being young is that sense of invincibility that allows one to take more risks than they should. That’s precisely what has happened to both rising stars.

    The problem is that neither player had somebody watching out for them. Taveras should not have been able to get behind a wheel. Fernandez should not have been in a boat speeding along in the dark. Whether any alcohol was involved in the later does not negate the fact that it was a result of poor judgment, even just a small one.

    So I disagree that one cannot honor two friends who died tragically very young.

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  9. Perkins

    dmick89,

    I honestly thought it was odd that the Cardinals wore “OT” patches all last year. But I agree it’s especially odd for Martinez to call it out on the day Jose Fernandez died.

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  10. Perkins

    cerulean,

    I’m a bit more sensitive on the drunk driving thing, since a good friend of mine got killed by a drunk driver at 19. Zero sympathy for people who choose to do that.

    Speeding in a boat at night falls more within what I’d consider normal bounds of “dumb shit you do at a young age,” and so feels more tragic (at least to me). That’s obviously amplified by Fernandez’s own life experiences and his being one of the very best pitchers in the world.

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  14. cerulean

    dmick89,

    I don’t think it’s odd to remember friends who have died when a friend dies at all. When I hear that somebody died of cancer, I think about those I have lost to cancer because that’s the way the brain works. When I hear that somebody died operating a vehicle, I think about how I flipped a car when I was eighteen because I feel asleep at the wheel and the fact that I probably should have killed my brother and others.

    Guys, I know we hate the Cardinals and all, but can we practice some empathy?

    David Ross agrees.

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  15. cerulean

    Perkins,

    That’s awful. But keep in mind that harboring those feelings can turn you into a monster. We need more empathy because it leads to understanding, and that understanding can save lives.

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  22. cerulean

    Perkins,

    I don’t want to give you the third degree on this, but I am increasingly uneasy at the state of affairs around the world and this country because people believe they have identified the faults in others rather than putting themselves in that situation—allowing them to feel the genuine emotions and grief that others are dealing with—and weeping. Life is hard. Shit happens. No rhyme but that which rhymes with itself. No reason but the reason that defines itself. It’s everybody’s fault and nobody’s fault. Life loops around itself until it loops no more. I won’t begrudge anyone who mourns the end of the loop.

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  23. Rizzo the Rat

    I hate to be insensitive here, but I really hate how the ESPN broadcast keeps interpreting the game for their Fernandez tributes.

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  24. cerulean

    Rizzo the Rat:
    I hate to be insensitive here, but I really hate how the ESPN broadcast keeps interrupting the game for their Fernandez tributes.

    Fixed. It is annoying any time the broadcast has a guest that cannot see the field of play. I don’t mind otherwise.

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  53. cerulean

    dmick89,

    I think there was an argument for it touching his forearm before it hit the bat. Since there was reasonable doubt for it not hitting the knob first, the call stands.

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  58. Perkins

    cerulean,

    It’s no worries. I’m far from the most empathetic person (scored all the way toward Thinking on MBTI, if you’re into that sort of thing), so that combined with my personal experience gives me an extremely short fuse on drunk driving. It’s honestly something I’ve never done nor that I’d put myself into a position to do.

    Though while I don’t care about Taveras one bit due to the circumstances of his death, I’m sure it’s very hard on his family and friends (to say nothing of his girlfriend’s friends and family). I would never begrudge them the opportunity to mourn. They still lost someone dear to them.

    What strikes me as tone deaf is for Martinez (or more seriously, the entire Cardinals team) to honor him on their uniforms. For an organization that lost another player to a drunk driving accident in 2007, and formerly employed a manager with a DUI problem, putting such a memorial on the uniform indicates organizational support (or at least nonchalance) toward the behavior.

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  61. cerulean

    Perkins,

    Fair enough.

    I must say that I despise the Jungian personality tests. But maybe that’s just me because I am a contrarian by nature. Fuck you, no I’m not.

    As for “feeling” versus ”thinking”, it’s a false dichotomy. I believe that you can think yourself into empathy, because I have to do it from time to time. There is a weird disconnect that can happen where I become completely apathetic—I imagine it is a coping mechanism for I have developed for my continued existence—and I can’t feel a damn thing but the baseline pain and discontent that’s always there. But I do have an imagination that I can use to transport myself to other perspectives and think things like, “This is exceedingly odd. You realize you are being an asshole, right?” And it helps bring me back from the brink of becoming the worst version of myself. I recommend it.

    I have long thought that learning music years after any optimal age for learning music had passed has given me that ability. And new neuroscience backs it up. Learn to play a guitar, or a ukulele, or just practice singing even if you suck (you’ll get better). I recommend learning the Beatles. Practicing music literally changes the brain. And the way it changes it seems to be consistent with empathy.

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  63. cerulean

    Lester has a legitimate shot at the Cy. If he wins his next outing and strikes out nine, I think he gets it. 200+ IP, 200 K, 50 BB, sub-2.50 ERA, 20–4 record. Those are old-school numbers and arbitrary thresholds, but they look really good.

    Sidenote: I didn’t realize that Fernandez topped the board in fWAR (whatever the opposite of (dying laughing) is)

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