(Belated) Cubs-Giants IST

[Frayed Knot]

We went the first two games without one, but better late than never.


Arietta's stunning 2-out/2-strike 3R HR off of Bumgarner during a nearly 40-pitch 2nd inning got the Cubbies off and flying.
But the Giants have since pecked away at Arietta for 2 runs and it's game-on halfway through.


At least someone can hit Bumgarner in the post-season even if it's not us.

[Frayed Knot]

Holy Shit, the Cubs just got Gillaspie'd!!!!
A 400+ foot, 2-run triple to put the Giants ahead 4-3 with one out in the 8th.

It was off Chapman too (lefty on lefty!!) which gives Gillaspie 5 RBI on 2 swings off two of the better closers in the NL


And now he's driven in for an insurance run.

[Zvon]

Jeeze. I thought this one was over. And Maddon's pulling Chapman! Cripes, did that backfire or what? Nice to see him screw up for a change. Just don't suck. Well, that sucked.

[Zvon]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.
Cubs tie it in the 9th. Bryant, 2 run shot.

[Zvon]

It hit the top of an ad on the wall. Juuuuuuuuuuust made it out.

[tweet:1zy0ndav]

[/tweet:1zy0ndav]

[Zvon]

Almora robs Posey of extra bases and probably saved a SF walkoff (Belt was on 1st and took off) with a fantastic diving catch. Doubled up Belt.

That's it. The Cubs are going all the way. Hop on board.

[Zvon]

11th inning. SF has a guy in scoring position, 1 out. Things are gettin dicey.

[Zvon]

Giants can't cash in. On to the 12th.

[Zvon]

Giants walkoff in 13.
Panik hits one...out, I think. The broadcasters didn't seem to think it was important enough to tell us. A HR or a double. Crawford was on 2nd so I guess it really don't matter.

I read it was called a homer. Although I think he was stopped from circling the bases by his teammates, like Ventura. I'll have to take a look at that again.

[Zvon]

Not a photoshop.

[fimg=700]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cudx2iGWcAAve7Y.jpg[/fimg]


Ha, reminds me of this oldie.

[MFS62]

That was the waste of a root.
I'll have to root better for the Cubbies in the next game.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Fun game ... or at least it was while I was watching. Maybe if the first 9 innings didn't take 4 hours I would have been able to stay up for the final four.

For all the praise thrown at Maddon, he gets a bit weird with his strategies now and then (I've mentioned before how I've seen him not only bunt in questionable bunting situations but then keep it on even with two strikes with hitters like Zobrist) and in this game I think a few of his mad scientist ways caught up to him as he virtually ran out of players by the 9th inning in a game where his team led almost the entire time.
- At one point he double-switched Heyward in for defense and then removed him for a double switch one inning later. One inning after that came Gillaspie's triple which was just beyond the reach of Almora who had replaced the better fielding Heyward, and then the game-winning hit was also just beyond the reach of Almora. Now maybe Heyward doesn't make either catch but it's gotta suck for Cubs fans that he wasn't out there to try. Bad enough that you're paying the guy $162 million who can't hit through like some year during Chelsea Clinton's second term in the WH only to have him brought in as a defensive replacement then replaced himself after one inning, one AB, and one routine putout.
- He played lefty/righty with his relievers at rates beyond where we would have been calling for Terry's head. As a result, he used his top non-closing relievers -- Strop, Wood, and Rondon -- for a total of five batters which led to going to Chapman for a six-out save attempt. Now I suppose one could claim that it's unreasonable to assume that Chapman would end up getting just one of those needed six outs and what are the odds that, after K'ing Pence, he'd serve up Triple - Single - Walk to consecutive LHBs? But the point is that once he did there were few options left to fix things so it ultimately got left to 28 y/o 2nd year reliever Mike Montgomery who they picked up from Seattle at the deadline to try and cover the next five innings ... which worked for four. And he was forced to let Montgomery hit in the top of the 12th (2-out/none on) after the likes of Soler, Zobrist, Heyward, and Miguel Montero had already been swapped out of the game.
- Down to final bench player in the 13th, Maddon PH'd (backup C) David Ross for Chris Coghlan in a L/R move with one-out/one-on (Coghlan had replaced the SW-hitting Zobrist 3 innings earlier in a double-switch). The 67 y/o, .229 hitting, soon to-be retired Ross rolled into a DP. Coghlan can at least run.




I never liked that wall in LF where the cartoon cars stick up giving the wall an odd pattern of varying heights. Last night might have been the first time I saw that come into play although I'm not sure if Bryant's game-tying HR would have been more or less catchable had the wall been a standard height straight across. It was a sky-high fly which had to be coming nearly straight down when it hit the high point on top of one of the goofy car cut-outs.



Bochy's Giants now have won 10 straight potential post-season elimination games starting back in 2012 and now including two thus far this season.



Game 4 tonight at 8:30
Had the Cubs won, the Dodger/Nats game (4:00 EDT) would have been moved to the late time-slot - and while you understand MLB and TV's need for prime-time audiences, moving the starting time of the game at what was right around midnight Pacific Time really suxxx for peeps who make plans around the game.

[Zvon]

I never liked that wall in LF where the cartoon cars stick up giving the wall an odd pattern of varying heights. Last night might have been the first time I saw that come into play although I'm not sure if Bryant's game-tying HR would have been more or less catchable had the wall been a standard height straight across. It was a sky-high fly which had to be coming nearly straight down when it hit the high point on top of one of the goofy car cut-outs. Game 4 tonight at 8:30 Had the Cubs won, the Dodger/Nats game (4:00 EDT) would have been moved to the late time-slot - and while you understand MLB and TV's need for prime-time audiences, moving the starting time of the game at what was right around midnight Pacific Time really suxxx for peeps who make plans around the game.

I totally agree about the OF wall. Particularly the changes in height to accommodate the advertisements. Very nice from a design standpoint, but such things should not be involved in the field of play. The stuff beyond the wall: beautiful. But the wall itself should be a relatively consistent thing. I can see the shape of a stadium effecting the walls, but not an ad.

The business with the time of games today: its nice to know that MLB isn't only screwing over it's fans for TV. They stick it to the players themselves. Niiiice.

No extended car roof, I think he makes the catch.

[fimg=600]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/57MIqPDE3vebYUJdTljLMSAF3S92MvZWX1of6k8JQ2e9MtdhkmT8a65Ku5W-_ek6Htpu9T08rhFDUwHda9JqjE5m05DFzic-F14wVW2O9UOPDyfcG8kU8LPTZZqdhM7HN22_gghlKsLIo4HlLxF6uJV58mTJCmTZdNU2x9Xr4f4hntDA0ky0x1thP58ZT0pc1LNHYiNJfvcYLoVNdjdNS6fkiEcZih_yPisobIsTy8bHA_C5GAIp9Gw9NjNe-4d5Q-J8sxMjwKdTftY3mlW51lgsG5kO8fQ2mBLP5Q6GfdirIcqvABnSksxXEwjPGwzsGxA5FsDO6SD2up0MM4LKz0qvJWw0MRi4W7yJNs9jho1dthTExI4thZ4l0o2DB0d2Z9PqqTuVDh5ftHs9GZJ8IcT94UfE4HBb3glJWFBaPqFNlssWUk-Ktm4qDljySBvoReQVwo4J_DXxKQUXxtj27zwMqispydsgG5lDZj8-G6K-79Y3Hf624xxcNKY-NrK0P3beGm5Cpw2_FzU1eWvX2fqV0z5foCZMkLQirJ46-4w1eIm2L6EUJtd5PWi764xA55n3CmUEL27MKWetVtv0fRkR_1NDQn2fCO0hQyxTrDyUIvafxw=w1200-h800-no[/fimg]

[Zvon]

Time to start pulling my Baez's.

U see that play?
And those replays of his tags during the season? I don't think I've ever seen anyone get that tag down so fast, no matter where the ball is thrown. That's pretty stupendous.

[Zvon]

Another ball off the top of a wall! This is fuckin great baseball folks.

Gill-ass-pie again! Drives in Pence.

4-2 Giants.

[Zvon]

22 minute inning. FK, what say you?!

Ugh. Cubs fucking up on the bases. Fowler gets caught in between. Tsk, tsk.

6th, 5-2 SF

[Zvon]

Awwwwww.


[fimg=500:k0dhfkm1]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CuiM6YzWcAEnqna.jpg[/fimg:k0dhfkm1]

[Frayed Knot]

Zvon wrote: And those replays of his tags during the season? I don't think I've ever seen anyone get that tag down so fast, no matter where the ball is thrown.

I have. His name was Rey Ordonez.

22 minute inning. FK, what say you?!

Long innings by themselves aren't a problem, it's when you have six or seven of them in a row and when much of that time is spent NOT playing baseball (mound conferences, slow pitchers, batters stepping out, etc.)

[Frayed Knot]

Tonight it's Bochy playing mix & match with his pen and not getting the results he wants.

[Zvon]

Frayed Knot wrote: Zvon wrote: And those replays of his tags during the season? I don't think I've ever seen anyone get that tag down so fast, no matter where the ball is thrown. I have. His name was Rey Ordonez.

That's true. I forgot lil' Rey.

What a game. If we took a lot of pitches vs. Bum instead of trying to attack him early, and we got into that pen, different ending.
Great job by the Cubs. *tips cap

They're goin all the way.

[Fman99]

This must have been at some fucktarded hour because I was long gone by the time the Cubs came back. Glad they won though. Totally rooting for a Cubs/Indians WS matchup.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I only started tuning in to baseball again on Monday, hungover from our crappy exit. I too zonked out long before this one was over but congrats Cubs I guess. Good for NL I guess that WCs are out and best 3 survive.

[metirish]

Missing some good games as they drag on way to long, late starts don't help .....

[Fman99]

metirish wrote: Missing some good games as they drag on way to long, late starts don't help .....

It'll help that LA and SF are out, all the remaining teams play in the EST and CST time zones.

[Centerfield]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I only started tuning in to baseball again on Monday, hungover from our crappy exit. I too zonked out long before this one was over but congrats Cubs I guess. Good for NL I guess that WCs are out and best 3 survive.

I think I'm almost ready to come back. Now that the Giants are out of it, I'll feel better.

Would be good too if Washington were eliminated.

[Frayed Knot]

Missing some good games as they drag on way to long, late starts don't help ..... It'll help that LA and SF are out, all the remaining teams play in the EST and CST time zones.

Hah!! The starting times are pretty much set by the networks and the location of the games has little or no affect on the start times. The real problem is when they had three or four games in the same day which means one of them is getting pushed to a late slot.
Last night's game wasn't that bad - around midnight for the final pitch. Monday was ridiculous: a 9:40 first pitch AND the game was slow AND it went 13 innings, so it all didn't wrap up until something like 2:30 EDT.
Of course when I'm commissioner and start tasing batters those who constantly step out of the box and also those pitchers who take forever to deliver a pitch then all these problems will go away.




Back to last night, the entire city of Chicago was three outs from going into a collective panic attack. In a season where anything short of at least making it to the WS is going to be seen as a monumental failure and a sign from the heavens that this whole championship thing might have to wait another 108 years, they found themselves in the process of getting 2-hit, their 2 games to none was about to disappear, and they were looking at a do-or-die Game 5 back in Wrigley in front of a nervous city, a hostile press, and a bunch of drunk and angry fans while facing the same Johnny Cueto who had held them to one run on three hits in Game 1.

Then Bochy took out his starter (understandable) and started playing the same sort of mix and match that didn't work for Maddon the previous night (six different SFG pitchers faced the final eight Cubs hitters) and suddenly the 5-2 SF lead was now 6-5 Cubs.
In fairness, the Cubs weren't exactly tearing the cover off the ball but everything found a hole so Single - Walk - Double - Single - Error - Single later and that 10 straight elimination game streak the Giants had was over, or it was once Chapman, who couldn't get anyone out on Monday, bounced back and K'd the side in the bottom of the 9th.

[Guest themetfairy]

I made it up to the point when the Cubs tied it, but I was exhausted and couldn't make it through Bochy's (seemingly) 12th pitching change of the inning.

Congratulations Cubs!