Cubs 8, Phillies 1

In Postgame by berselius177 Comments

OSS: Cubs beat another CYA contender.

Three+ up:

  1. Murphy, Rizzo, and Baez all hit home runs off of Aaron Nola, who had only coughed up eight dingers in 176 innings this season.
  2. Nola was eventually chased by a Kyle Schwarber triple. War Bear also gunned down Phillies leadoff man Roman Quinn at third base on the first play of the game, as the Phillies apparently didn’t get the memo on his arm.
  3. Jon Lester had another solid start, throwing six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. It was his fourth straight quality start.
  4. Most importantly, one of my neighbors brought me a six pack of Spotted Cow. He knew nothing about the beer but his Midwest hookup knew what was what.

Three down:

  1. The Cubs struck out six times in a row before Murphy’s home run. Nola had seven strikeouts through 3.2 innings and could have been on the way to a 20K game. Instead he settled for eleven strikeouts and the loss.
  2. The Brewers beat down the Nats bullpen to pull even with the Cardinals in the magic number column.
  3. I went to tune into the Cardinals-Reds broadcast and couldn’t decide which announcing team would be worse.

Next up: The Cubs head to Miller Park for a big series with the Brewers. Cole Hamels takes on Zach Davies, who has been out since late May with a shoulder injury.

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Comments

  1. dmick89

    berselius,

    I love seeing the additional 2 in the URL. I used to check those out all the time and really enjoyed reading all the comments at the time. Been awhile since I did that, but it’s surprising to see it pop up as it often as it does.

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  2. andcounting

    This should be a fun series in Milwaukee. I expect to see at least one 15-14 type game. When you have a talented team in a must-win situation against a very talented team with almost no pressure on them, the big brother/little brother dynamic makes for entertaining theater.

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  3. andcounting

    The thing I really hate about Joe getting ejected is how it fed the out-of-control negative emotions of Edwards. He needed to calm the fuck down and Joe did the opposite. Really stupid.

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  4. Rizzo the Rat

    The Cubs throw home when they don’t have a chance to get the lead runner, allowing the trailing runner to advance, but don’t throw home when the run literally wins the game.

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  5. andcounting

    dmick89,

    This is one loss that is completely fair to blame on the manager. Joe is supposed to be this master zen guru, yet he lost his goddamn mind when he needed to calm things down. His team followed suit from that point on against a team trying really hard to lose.

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  6. Rizzo the Rat

    Something that I’ve seen pointed out by some people: Bryant would have had a double play had he thrown to second. Cain froze when the ball was hit and was nowhere near the base when the throw went to first.

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  7. dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat,

    Maybe. I don’t know. The only correct play is throwing home. I’m sure Bryant knows that and I’m also sure that 6 weeks on the shelf played a part in that bad decision. It was a stupid play, but I can at least explain it a little bit because Bryant has been injured. The walks are another story. Same for Schwarber throwing home though that didn’t end up costing the Cubs a run. Same also goes for the offense scoring only a run off of Davies.

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  8. Rizzo the Rat

    I’m just perturbed because Rizzo’s homer off Hader was such beautiful moment, but the bullpen and defense ruined it with a whole bunch of sloppy slop, making it impossible for me to look back on this game fondly.

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  9. Rizzo the Rat

    dmick89: Same for Schwarber throwing home though that didn’t end up costing the Cubs a run.

    Sure it did. Cain advanced to second on the throw and then scored on a single by Yellich.

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  10. Ryno

    Keegan Thompson was pretty good
    Brailyn Marquez – 2IP, 2H, 0ER, 4K, 0BB

    The most notable minor league thing from the weekend, though, is that Allen Webster, Danny Hultzen and Duane Underwood all pitched well out of the Iowa bullpen.

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  11. Ryno

    Bummer for the GB fan on here (b?). Get Rodgers back healthy in time to compete with what might be the best roster in the NFL, a playoff contender in CHI and the Texas Tech of the NFL.

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  12. Author
    berselius

    Ryno,

    Seriously though, it’s a bummer. It seems like the biggest question marks for the Packers chances at a playoff spot are whether the defense can actually take a step forward now that Capers is finally gone and whether they keep Rodgers upright, as well as if Trubisky is actually any good. Adding Mack certainly hurts the keeping Rodgers upright angle of this. When you have him you always have a good shot but I wasn’t feeling that confident going into the year.

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  13. Ryno

    berselius,

    It seems like GB realizes Rodgers is talented enough to carry an offense devoid of talent, so they’re focusing on the defense. And that defense could be pretty legit this year.

    The sad thing is GB’s offense has been so vanilla for the last few years. Their route combos are so bland, it’s almost like they want plays to break down and let Rodgers improvise. With his intelligence, athleticism and arm talent, they could base their entire offense on RPOs.

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  14. andcounting

    Ryno,

    Being a Bears/NFL fan has lost almost all of its fun for me. I’d love to say it has something to do with a moral stance or something, but I think it’s probably that I can’t watch a game without Donald Trump’s name coming up.

    Anyway. He’s the type of player that makes everyone else on defense more successful at their jobs, so they’ve definitely taken a giant leap forward. It should be fun to watch, especially if Trump dies in a fire.

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  15. Ryno

    andcounting,

    First of all, NFL football should be watched on mute. Unless Tony Romo is calling the game.

    Second, Mack has proven to be a one-man wrecking crew at times.

    CHI has 9-win potential this season if the offensive transition goes smoothly.

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  16. andcounting

    Ryno:
    andcounting,

    First of all, NFL football should be watched on mute. Unless Tony Romo is calling the game.

    Seconded. Romo might be the best analyst on TV. Last year I watched a game he called with someone who hates football, and she said she’d watch all the games if he was on to explain everything. He’s better at color commentary than he was at quarterback, and he was an excellent quarterback.

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  17. Ryno

    andcounting,

    It’s amazing to me how he’s able to engage viewers with such with wide range of football knowledge. I think there are a handful of times each game where he teaches me something, while most other announcers spew the same cliches.

    The best football-watching experience I’ve had is when they show the all-22 and have a coaches panel discussing the game. Watching a Romo game is the closest thing we’ll get to that in the NFL, I think.

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  18. andcounting

    Jaime Garcia—————-Tonight’s game, bottom of the 9th to defend a 1-run lead with the bases loaded, probably.

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  19. andcounting

    He’s blown two easy strike three calls that weren’t even borderline bottom of the strike zone and there have only been three hitters.

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  20. Rizzo the Rat

    All right! They got the big strikeout! Now they have the pitcher coming up with two outs! What could go wrong here?

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  21. Rizzo the Rat

    Letting Miley face Bote there (with righty Knebel in the pen) was a serious managerial error. Too bad the Cubs couldn’t take advantage.

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  22. andcounting

    This game is trash. The highlights so far are two fly outs, a wild pitch, a ground out, an error, and a preview of a starting pitcher in the next series.

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  23. Rizzo the Rat

    Willson is having a terrible game, too. Second passed ball in as many games. Not to mention all the strikes he has cost with his framing.

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  24. BVS

    Rizzo the Rat,

    So yeah, he throws hard, but I really don’t understand the infatuation with Maples. He had a decent stretch of about 3 mo last year in the minors. But mostly, he’s never been close to effectively wild.

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  25. Perkins

    I’m not saying I support intentionally hitting batters. It just might be entertaining to have Maples pitch to Ryan Braun.

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  26. Rizzo the Rat

    8 walks, 2 hit batters, a wild pitch, a passed ball and four errors. It’s like the sloppy finish to last night’s game stretched out over nine innings.

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  27. andcounting

    Wow. Joe didn’t even pinch hit for Norwood with two on and nobody out in the 9th. I know it’s 11-1, but fuck you, Joe.

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  28. Rizzo the Rat

    Honetly, I think there was a greater chance that Murphy would foul a ball off his knee or something than there was of a Cubs win, so I really don’t care.

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  29. Perkins

    dmick89:
    Perkins,

    There’s no way he can hit a target that small.

    True, but I assume that the strike zone would be the target and Braun would just be in the zone of where the ball might actually go.

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  30. Perkins

    538 is still projecting 95 wins and a division win for the Cubs. Yesterday’s loss knocked their Elo rating down a bit, but didn’t impact their projected record.

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  31. Ryno

    Just like the NFL, whose ratings have gone WAY DOWN, Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts. I wonder if they had any idea that it would be this way? As far as the NFL is concerned, I just find it hard to watch, and always will, until they stand for the FLAG!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018

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  32. dmick89

    If people are so fucking stupid that they don’t recognize there are different ways to honor the soldiers than the fucking flag, fuck them. It’s a motherfucking flag and it’s not even a good looking flag. I don’t know much about flags, but I’m also pretty sure the US basically copied some other flag so the US has sucked from day one.

    I hate this fucking country.

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  33. Rizzo the Rat

    Cubs pitchers lead the league in walks allowed by 20. The starters have the most walks allowed of any starting staff and the relievers have the second-most. So much for Theo’s pledge to add strike-throwers.

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  34. Rizzo the Rat

    (Contreras has been good at blocking pitches and throwing out runners, but those skills are estimated to have much lower impact on run-scoring.)

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  35. Perkins

    Rizzo the Rat,

    It seems that whatever progress he was making with Montero and Ross on the roster in 2016 has evaporated. They really need to get a better defensive backup catcher for next season.

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  36. Perkins

    Rizzo the Rat:
    Cubs pitchers lead the league in walks allowed by 20. The starters have the most walks allowed of any starting staff and the relievers have the second-most. So much for Theo’s pledge to add strike-throwers.

    I wonder how much better they’d look if you took Tyler Chatwood and Brian Duensing out of the group.

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  37. Perkins

    dmick89:
    If people are so fucking stupid that they don’t recognize there are different ways to honor the soldiers than the fucking flag, fuck them. It’s a motherfucking flag and it’s not even a good looking flag. I don’t know much about flags, but I’m also pretty sure the US basically copied some other flag so the US has sucked from day one.

    I hate this fucking country.

    I personally like the flag and what it represents (i.e., what we’re supposed to be as a country, rather than what we are), but I also really don’t give a shit if someone doesn’t stand for the anthem or even burns the flag. Free speech and expression are part of what it stands for, including the voicing of uncomfortable truths.

    I can’t pretend to have a monopoly on patriotism or an understanding of what it’s like to fear that I might not come out of an interaction with law enforcement with life and limb intact. Nor can I imagine what it’s like to know that fellow citizens would happily deprive me of reproductive rights or even equal protection under the law (and to see some of it come to fruition). But I’d have very little inclination to stand for the anthem at this moment in history if I were a woman, LGBT+, or person of color.

    What kills me about the Kaepernick situation specifically is that the recommendation to take a knee came from a teammate who was a former Special Forces soldier. Beyond that, I really fail to see how not standing is disrespectful to “the troops” or why that would be a big deal in the first place. The US is way more than the military, and the idea of the military as a sacred cow beyond criticism is certainly not a healthy one for the republic. And I’m saying this as a veteran who has deployed.

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  38. andcounting

    andcounting,

    By the way, one of the earlier of the Red Sox’ September 5th wins came in game 1 of the 1918 World Series against the Cubs, who were shut out 1-0 (at Comiskey) by some kid who really should have been a position player.

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  39. Perkins

    To day’s base ball squadron:
    Murphy
    Baez
    Rizzo
    Zobrist
    Bryant
    Schwarber
    Contreras
    Quintana
    Happ

    Don’t get swept, Cubs. Or do. I can’t tell you what to do.

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  40. Rizzo the Rat

    Sure, the Cubs can hit Syndergaard and Nola, but are they up to the challenge of yet another soft-tossing Milwaukee hurler?

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