OSS: Well, at least it's a slightly longer series.
Three up:
- Albert Almora was the only Cubs player with a positive WPA on the day, thanks to a two run homer off of Kershaw in the fourth inning to give the Cubs a lead.
- They didn't end up with much to show for it, but Bryzzo were squaring up Kershaw pretty well early on. Hopefully that carries over to the next time they face him.
- Not a lot of other positives here, but of all the games in this series this has to be the one where the Dodgers were most favored given Kershaw, playing at home, and the Cubs emptying the pitching cupboard just to get here.
Three down:
- The bullpen was not great, but that's not a huge surprise. Also the Dodgers are really good. I'd rather have seen Lackey come in right after Q came out of the game, but this feels like a pretty minor quibble. Monty had another bad outing, which sucks because he was one of the few relievers I trusted going into the playoffs.
- Quintana started out great, but seemed to run out of gas in his last inning. It's been a crazy couple of days for him, so I guess it's not that surprising. But it sucked to see him fall off so quickly.
- Ron Darling is a fucking meathead. He threw so much shade at Kershaw that they probably had to up the wattage of the lights, and he wouldn't shut up about the play at the plate rule that has been a part of the game for years, and was enacted for a reason.
- I forgot how much I despised the Dodgers organist/music guy last year. Nothing has changed on that front.
Next up: Jon Lester pitches on three days rest against Rich Hill. Hopefully we get shaky Rich HIll this time around.
Comments
At least the game ended soon enough to catch most of SNL
BVSQuote Reply
Lester threw 86 pitches a week ago and 55 three days ago. So he is on irregular rest, not merely three days rest.
ceruleanQuote Reply
I really don’t think there is any situation so dire that I wouldn’t chuckle at the all is lost pic
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Try this:
Imagine Donald Trump as President (of the US)
BVSQuote Reply
The Cubs haven’t come back to win a best-of-seven series after losing game one on the road… since their last best-of-seven series.
North Side PatQuote Reply
I’m sorry, Joe, but you’re an idiot if you think that play at the plate was beautiful. If there’s no rule protecting the catchers, Willson gets run over and there’s no way he holds onto the ball since he’s probably hit before he even has it. Not to mention, you’ve probably lost Willson for the remainder of the postseason. He thinks anyone who has played minor league or major league baseball would agree with him. Yeah, talk to Posey and Joe and Ron Darling can fuck off for thinking that was beautiful or athletic. Maybe we can also go back to when pitchers could freely throw at a hitter’s head, bench clearing brawls and laugh about it.
I don’t fault Willson. I actually thought it was a good play on his part only because it was the only play he could make. Fortunately he wasn’t injured.
dmick89Quote Reply
I didn’t expect to win this one so no big deal. I do hope they can figure out how to hit Rich Hill this year.
dmick89Quote Reply
BVS,
I think it was you in the last thread that mentioned that the reply/quote isn’t working on your Blackberry. Has it always been that way? I don’t think the plugin has been updated recently and it could be that it just doesn’t work on that device for some reason.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
(dying laughing). It was Enrico. I was just harassing him for having a Blackberry.
BVSQuote Reply
dmick89,
At least in Joe’s case I take the talk with a grain of salt. I think it was much more about firing up his players than any specific grievance that he has. He knows the rules.
Berselius is too lazy to log inQuote Reply
BVS,
My piece of modern sperm-and-brain-cell killing technology is a Samsung s5 with a cracked screen because I stepped on it. (dying laughing)
BVSQuote Reply
Berselius is too lazy to log in,
Agree
BVSQuote Reply
BVS,
I’d say from what I saw from Kyle in LF that he should move to RP. Alternates dead strikes with wild high, both with good velocity
BVSQuote Reply
BVS,
He has to pass Leonys Martin on the bullpen depth chart first. Which would probably make him the fourth best option in the pen (dying laughing).
berseliusQuote Reply
@dm no it was me, it started like a week ago? Maybe two? Definitely not a big deal.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
I’ll look into it when I get a chance.
dmick89Quote Reply
Same response all Blackberry users probably get for everything.
SKQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
The plugin we use for that was last updated 9 months ago so that’s not it. The theme we use has been updated a few times recently and probably around the time it stopped working for you. That would be my guess right now. There’s another update for the theme and for a couple other plugins that I’ve been too lazy to update. I’ll do that now.
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
Give it a shot now and let me know how it goes. I’m going to be out of town most of the morning and afternoon so I may not get back with you until tonight. Hopefully that worked for you. Thanks.
dmick89Quote Reply
The Cubs need to start hitting. Baez and Russell haven’t done much at all. Bryant and Rizzo are going to need to step up and the same is true of Contreras. Baez has looked like shit.
dmick89Quote Reply
I wouldn’t even trust him as President of the Virgin Islands, much less America.
EdwinQuote Reply
Edwin,
About the only thing I can think of that I’d trust Trump to do is be the President of Baseball Operations for the St. Louis Cardinals.
dmick89Quote Reply
Hopefully Baez sits against Hill and his 15 varieties of breaking pitches, it’s about as bad a matchup as you can think for him.
Berselius is too lazy to log inQuote Reply
Berselius is too lazy to log in,
Probably won’t happen because Lester needs his tag team on the field.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@dm still not working but definitely not a big deal. Us blackberry users are used to dealing with stuff like this. We are a proud, resilient group of 6 people.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
He picked off someone in the last series, so clearly no one will steal on him again (dying laughing).
Berselius is too lazy to log inQuote Reply
Don’t let last night’s ugly loss distract you from the fact that Jose Quintana got a base hit off of Clayton Kershaw.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
berseliusQuote Reply
Scherzer was a much worse matchup. At least Hill has near-neutral splits.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
LF Jay
3B Bryant
1B Rizzo
C Contreras
CF Almora
SS Russell
RF Heyward
2B Baez
P Lester
berseliusQuote Reply
The Cubs run with the if it’s broke, don’t fix it lineup.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how Heyward’s bat plays.
PerkinsQuote Reply
I don’t know if anyone around here has been watching Halt and Catch Fire the last four years, but last night’s series finale was one of the best ever in my opinion. If you haven’t seen the show you should check it out.
dmick89Quote Reply
Why has Happ been benched for the postseason?
SKQuote Reply
Is it on netflix?
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
The first three seasons are. Ten episodes per season. I liked the first season, but some people just thought it was okay. I think most agree by its second season it had become a great tv show.
dmick89Quote Reply
SK,
I don’t know. His defense isn’t great, but neither is Zobrist’s. All of their middle infield and CF options are flawed.
dmick89Quote Reply
game thread up: http://obstructedview.net/nlcs-game-2-cubs-dodgers/
dmick89Quote Reply
SK,
It didn’t seem like he was getting a ton of playing time down the stretch either. I assume it’s Joe’s trying to balance getting the better defenders like Heyward in the lineup and he’s committed to starting Almora against LHP. Assuming Baez is also a constant, LF is about the only place to start Happ, and you’d like to give Schwarber a shot there since he has pretty mammoth power.
I wouldn’t mind seeing him get some reps at 2B though. Javy looks like shit in the postseason so far.
PerkinsQuote Reply