Cubs vs Indians I-WS-T

[dinosaur jesus]

Davis and Lindor probably couldn't imagine Schwarber doing something quite that stupid. What would have been fun would have been if they doubled up Schwarber and the runner broke from third. We could have had a triple play.

[Centerfield]

I know it's stupid and corny, but I would have loved to see them let Charlie Sheen come out in character to throw out the first pitch. I know it's just a movie, but it had such a lasting effect on an entire generation of fans.

Also would be cool to let Uecker call a few innings in character too.

[MFS62]

Centerfield wrote: Also would be cool to let Uecker call a few innings in character too.

Once you've had "Uke", other announcers make you want to puke.

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

dinosaur jesus wrote: Davis and Lindor probably couldn't imagine Schwarber doing something quite that stupid. What would have been fun would have been if they doubled up Schwarber and the runner broke from third. We could have had a triple play.

Yeah that's what I was hoping for. I' always rooting for the Triple Play.

Schwarber seemed to interpret the runner from 1st advancing as a mandate for him to go, only once he left the bag he couldn't see him turn back right away.

I'm glad to see the Cubs take one in the face in this first game. And I never liked Lester since the first time he beat us as a rookie; he has a little too much Matt Harvey in him for my liking.

[Frayed Knot]

Game 2 tonight (for those of you not paying attention last night) has been moved up to a 7:08 (EDT) first pitch for fear of rain later in the evening.
Weather.com currently showing 'Isolated Thunderstorms' for the hours of 8 to 9 PM local time
And how great would it be if we actually had a WS game that ends before 10PM?



G2 starters: Jake Arrieta vs Trevor Bauer
And given Bauer's 4-batter/21-pitch outing last time he tried to pitch (Game 3 ALCS v Toronto) we need to celebrate him in true CPF tradition ... with a song parody

Bauer be brave,
we have you scheduled to pitch tonight’s game
We’ve got a game to play
so we don’t understand why the blood is

running down the length of your hand
and you’re hiding it as best as you can
Now the bullpen has to go the full nine
and when we ask you how it happened
you look right into the camera and then you say

I’m fixing my drone now
and suddenly the propeller is spinning ‘round and ‘round
I’m cut by my drone now
and the bleeding of my hand is all over the mound

[Guest d'Kong76]

Chi. Cubs at Cleveland
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
SportsDirect Inc.

The Cleveland Indians overpowered Chicago's bats in the opener of the World Series and hope to do so again as they seek a 2-0 series lead when they host the Cubs on Wednesday. Light-hitting catcher Roberto Perez belted two homers while the trio of starter Corey Kluber (nine in six-plus innings), Andrew Miller (three) and Cody Allen (three) combined for 15 strikeouts in Cleveland's 6-0 victory in Game 1.

Perez became only the fifth catcher in World Series history to hit two homers in a single game, joining Hall-of-Famers Yogi Berra (1956), Johnny Bench (1976) and Gary Carter (1986), as well as Gene Tenace (1972). "I was controlling my emotions, I think that was a big part of it," Perez told reporters. "It has been an unbelievable night. I can't describe the words right now." Chicago will look to even the series with Jake Arrieta on the mound and also will need some of its other key offensive players to join Ben Zobrist (3-for-4) in swinging the bat well. "I was not disappointed," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said in his postgame press conference. "I know we had 15 punch-outs, I get it, but the quality of the at-bats were not that bad."

TV: 7:08 p.m. ET, FOX

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs RH Jake Arrieta (0-1, 4.91 ERA) vs. Indians RH Trevor Bauer (0-0, 5.06)

Arrieta has given up four runs in three of his five career postseason starts, but he believes he's getting more comfortable with the higher-pressure stage. "I think what you really learn with the more experience you get in the postseason is the finer details, controlling the running game, not allowing mental mistakes and not allowing your opponent to capitalize on your mental mistakes," Arrieta said during a press conference. "Because, obviously, at this point in the season, the team that makes the fewest mistakes typically wins the ballgames." Arrieta started one game at Progressive Field as a member of the Baltimore Orioles and picked up the win despite allowing six runs - five earned - and six hits in six innings of a 14-8 victory on Aug. 10, 2010.

Bauer badly cut his right pinkie finger while working on his drone on Oct. 14 and had to leave his Game 3 start in the American League Championship Series against Toronto in the first inning three nights later as the finger began bleeding profusely. He said the cut now is healed and he tested the finger by throwing 20 pitches on Monday without incident. "Threw it with max intent, just like in a game, as close to game intensity as I could possibly get to," Bauer said during a press conference. "There's no pain, no blood. I was able to execute all my pitches to a high level, and I'm really encouraged by it."

WALK-OFFS:
1. Wednesday's start time was moved up one hour due to the threat of rain.
2. Chicago OF Kyle Schwarber (knee) was activated after being out since early April and went 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
3. Cleveland SS Francisco Lindor recorded three hits in Game 1 and is batting .371 in 35 postseason at-bats.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LOL

Frayed Knot wrote: I’m fixing my drone now

[Centerfield]

Frayed Knot wrote: Bauer be brave, we have you scheduled to pitch tonight’s game We’ve got a game to play so we don’t understand why the blood is running down the length of your hand and you’re hiding it as best as you can Now the bullpen has to go the full nine and when we ask you how it happened you look right into the camera and then you say I’m fixing my drone now and suddenly the propeller is spinning ‘round and ‘round I’m cut by my drone now and the bleeding of my hand is all over the mound

Love it!

I'm fixing my drone now! Ha!

That's right up there with Dock Ellis is High on the Diamond

[ashie62]

Attributing some of this win to the "Maddux" strikezone given to Kluber. He was buckling their knees anyway.

Maddon, who is the crybaby now?

GO TRIBE!

[Ceetar]

Looks like the strikezone was pretty good.

[MFS62]

Good game, 2-0 Cubs in the third.
Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

This game is not going well at all.

And Ceetar, you make my head explode. The strike zone is not
measured vertically by some box. Everyone is not the same height,
if the umps are going by 'Strikezone Plot' they are not doing their
job according to the rules.

[Frayed Knot]

The seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" have paid so far by having infielder Lonnie Chisenhall out in the OF tonight.
He misplayed that one in the corner in the top of the 5th which allowed a run to score and they probably have a play at home when the Cubs scored the first run of the game had Chisenhall hit the cut-off man rather than gunning it directly to 2nd base.

Not that those plays are the difference in the game, but they're something.
Chisenhall, as per our discussion on another thread, is one of those guys who was drafted as a SS, moved to 3rd after a year or so, and has now been pushed to the OF due to the emergance of other players.

[Frayed Knot]

Amazing how many two-out baserunners the Cleveland pitchers have given up tonight.
Every time it seems like they're going to have a quick 'n easy inning they start giving up walks and hits after starting 2-outs and bases-empty.

[Centerfield]

Frayed Knot wrote: Amazing how many two-out baserunners the Cleveland pitchers have given up tonight. Every time it seems like they're going to have a quick 'n easy inning they start giving up walks and hits after starting 2-outs and bases-empty.

And after watching the Mets all season, it's that much more stark. Two-out RBI's happened about once every two weeks for us.

[Frayed Knot]

So much for possibly getting a game in before 10PM.
Too many pitches and too many long innings early on.


I had forgotten about the 'no partial games' edict in post-season. So even if Chicago were to blow this game open even further, if the rain should come they'd still need to finish it.
They'd either have to wait for hours tonight hoping for 'a window' (and we know how well those work sometimes). Or they'd have to come back tomorrow just to play the final inning or two (although the weather doesn't look good then either). Or they'd have to tack it on to the beginning of Game 3 in Chicago on Friday (which would be kind of weird).

[Frayed Knot]

Game 3 - 8:08 first pitch
Weather: 63 and cloudy expected for game time

First World Series game at Wrigley Field since October 10, 1945. Tigers 9 - Cubs 3
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN194510100.shtml

HoF'er Hal Newhouse went all the way for Detroit (despite giving up 10 hits) after his Tigers scored 5 in the top of the 1st.
And talk about your quick hooks ... Cubs starter Hank Bowory lasted just three hitters in that game (Single - Single - Single) but his relievers obviously didn't do him or Chicago manager Charlier Grimm any favors.
And check out this strategy: the first batter for the Tigers after the opening three hits and pitching change is slugger and future HoF Hank Greenberg [no outs - one run in - runners on 1st & 2nd] AND HE SAC BUNTS!! It damn near killed the inning as an IW to load the bases was followed by a pop-out for out #2. But then a 2-out bases-loaded walk and a bases-clearing double broke things open.




Big news going into tonight is that DH Kyle Schwarber has not been medically cleared to play the field so he will be reduced to PH appearances while the series is in the NL park.
In other DH news, the Indians will put their DH/1B/C Carlos Santana out in LF, a position he's played just once in his entire career - four four innings back in 2012.





oe: the youngest person I could find on that 1945 Cubs team was then 24 y/o Andy Pafko. He died just over three years ago at the age of 92 which leads one to strongly suspect that no one who appeared in that game for either team is alive today.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: oe: the youngest person I could find on that 1945 Cubs team was then 24 y/o Andy Pafko. He died just over three years ago at the age of 92 which leads one to strongly suspect that no one who appeared in that game for either team is alive today.

I remember watching Andy Pafko play outfield for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early 50's. He was a good hitter. But was one of those players who you like, but wish you had somebody better.


Later.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Cleveland at Chi. Cubs
When: 8:00 PM ET, Friday, October 28, 2016
Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
SportsDirect Inc.

The best starting pitcher led his team to victory in each of the first two games of the World Series with each team laying claim to the better ace once. The Chicago Cubs try to gain control of the series when they host the Cleveland Indians on Friday in the first World Series game at Wrigley Field since 1945.

Corey Kluber set a World Series record with eight strikeouts in the first three innings en route to a 6-0 Indians win in Tuesday's opener and Jake Arrieta took a no-hitter into the sixth Wednesday as the Cubs knotted the series at one win apiece with a 5-1 triumph. The most impressive offensive player in the first two games of the series won't even have a spot in the starting lineup for the next three contests as Chicago will leave Kyle Schwarber on the bench with a pinch-hitting role in the National League park. Schwarber, who sat out all but two games of the regular season after tearing ligaments in his knee in April, was added to the World Series roster and went 3-for-7 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored while serving as designated hitter in the Amercian League park."There's no being sad about it," Schwarber told reporters after it was announced Thursday that he was not medically cleared by doctors to play the field. "There's no nothing. I know my role, now, and I'm going to embrace it."

TV: 8:08 p.m. ET, FOX

PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Josh Tomlin (2-0, 2.53 ERA) vs. Cubs RH Kyle Hendricks (1-1, 1.65)

Tomlin delivered exactly what was asked of him in each of his first two postseason starts, allowing a total of three runs in 10 2/3 innings before handing things off to the team's dominant bullpen. The 32-year-old Texan served up 36 home runs in 174 innings during the regular season but has yet to yield a home run in the playoffs. Tomlin, who has never faced Chicago, was 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three interleague starts this season.

Hendricks outdueled Clayton Kershaw in the clinching game of the NLCS, scattering two hits and no walks over 7 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out six. Hendricks, the major-league ERA leader at 2.13, surrendered one run over 12 2/3 innings in two NLCS starts and went 9-2 with a 1.32 ERA at home during the regular season. The Dartmouth product, who is seeing Cleveland for the first time, was 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA in three interleague starts this season.

WALK-OFFS:
1. Indians RHP Danny Salazar (forearm) made his postseason debut in Game 2 and walked a pair in a scoreless inning.
2. Chicago LF Ben Zobrist is 5-for-8 with an RBI triple in the series.
3. Cleveland DH Carlos Santana, who is 0-for-6 with four strikeouts in the series, could see time in the outfield in Chicago.

[Chad ochoseis]

d'Kong76 wrote: Cleveland DH Carlos Santana, who is 0-for-6 with four strikeouts in the series, could see time in the outfield in Chicago.

And this is happening. He's never played outfield before, but his bat is too good to sit (34 regular season homers, regular season OBP up in the .370s, 2 HRs in the Jays series), so he's muddling through left field while Coco Crisp is benched. The Indians' regular lineup is very DH-dependent.

OE - I stand corrected; he played four innings of LF in 2012.

[Chad ochoseis]

Indians are looking positively Metly with RISP tonight.

[Zvon]

Chad Ochoseis wrote: OE - I stand corrected; he played four innings of LF in 2012.

Ha. Good catch. You know more than Fox. I guess that isn't difficult.

0-0 Cubs in the 4th. Chicago only has one hit from Zobrist. Indians have 5 hits, but I see some nice movement on Hendricks pitches.

[fimg=600]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cv5X8YXXEAABqKw.jpg[/fimg]

[HahnSolo]

Hirschbeck is lost behind the plate

[Chad ochoseis]

Zvon wrote: Ha. Good catch. You know more than Fox. I guess that isn't difficult.

The internet...it's not just an opportunity to come up with outrageously bad answers to music trivia questions.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I dont see Marlins Man.

[Zvon]

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Zvon wrote: Ha. Good catch. You know more than Fox. I guess that isn't difficult. The internet...it's not just an opportunity to come up with outrageously bad answers to music trivia questions.

lol.

uh-oh, Kipnis takes one for the team, the bases are full of Indians, and that's all for Hendricks. Hmm. A hook in the 5th. 0-0 Cubs.

[Zvon]

Is that Smoltz in the booth with Mr. Morbid? He reminds me of the way Jim Palmer analyzed. Unremarkably good.

The internet says that unremarkably is not a word. Awwww.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

championship level twin-killing there

[Zvon]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: championship level twin-killing there

Twas. Buster O says Lindor hit into 18 DPs this season.
*tips cap to Maddon*

[Zvon]

Jason Stark tweets:
[tweet:136nlk77]

[/tweet:136nlk77]

This can't be true, right?