Let's Talk About Baseball!!!

Non-Phish General
#41

^ I think it was a good trade for both teams.

Yesterday The Cubs throttled the D-Backs. Rizzo had 2 homeruns, and Lester had 2 milestones: 2000 k’s, and 1st career homerun. Lester’s achievements were buried in the newsfeed, because on the same day, Max Scherzer (presumptive Cy Young winner) had his first career homerun and left the game with an injury. Some people always have to one up.

I think that - all things considered - Anthony Rizzo is a top 3 first basemen in all of baseball. This year he didn’t make the All-Star team because he was no damn good at the beginning of the season, and he plays in the same league as Joey Votto and Paul Goldschmidt. He has been on a tear since the break. His offense has been a huge part of The Cubs comeback. Although pitching is definitely the biggest part of it!

#42

Yesterday The Cubs throttled the D-Backs.

I caught a glimpse of the Wednesday game while getting a beer at the show last night. It had JD Martinez batting for the D-Backs with Alex Avila catching for the Cubs. Made me a little sad.

#43

Greinke Vs Quintana? Why wouldn’t it be a 10-8 slugfest?

Paul Goldschmidt is a fantastic player, and he had one hell of a game yesterday. Not much you can do when a guy like Goldschmidt is swing the bat like that*. Willson Contreras is really turning into a star. He has been doing work this season. Yesterday he went 3 for 5 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI’s. Unfortunately it was not enough.

  • Last year, The Cubs played a 4 game series against The Nats at home. At the time, it was widely believe that these two teams would meet again in the playoffs. Zimmerman was kind of slumping at this point, so Maddon decided to pitch around Harper, and make the rest of the team beat The Cubs. Harper was walked 14 times in that series, and they went right at Zimmerman. The end result: Cubs sweep the 4 game series. Paul Goldschmidt is a fantastic player, but he is kind of on an island in the batting order. (Pollack and Lamb are fine players, but neither one is going to rough a team up the way Goldschmidt did.) Why not intentionally walk the guy? He was hot, and he doesn’t have the best protection.

Joe Maddon is not a tactician. He is a great locker-room manager, but in the dugout, he can be a liability. I have no doubt that since he took the reins as Cubs skipper, he has added more wins than losses, and he was at the helm when they won the world series for the first time in 108 years. I get it, and I appreciate all he has done. That said… I’ve always heard / read that in baseball a good manager will win you 2 games per season, and a bad manager will lose you 2. By any and all definitions, Maddon was a great manager last year, but this year (using the +2/-2 method) he could probably be considered a bad manager.

#44

How the fuck are the Pirates still only 5.5 back? They’ve lost like their last three series against some of the worst teams in Baseball.

#45

I keep saying the same thing about the Cardinals. Thing is the division is so mediocre it just let’s the teams hang on.

Cubs and Brewers will go on a winning streak, but then lose a few and the Cardinals and Pirates pull together a few wins.

I have already put on the I don’t care mindset, cause frankly whoever wins the Division doesn’t have a chance in the playoffs… Mayyyybbee the Cubs.

#46

Well that’s the thing, I don’t think the Pirates have done anything since they swept the Brewers. The went out west and lost 2/3 against the Rockies, Giants and Padres. Then lost 2/3 against the Reds, I’m pretty sure that’s what’s happened since I saw the games in Pittsburgh against the Brewers. I totally expected to look at the Standings after the Reds series and see that they were now like 10 GB, but they somehow aren’t- and are about to pick up another game on the Cubs tonight.

I don’t think any Central teams have much shot even winning a series in the Playoffs, but I hope it stays like this cause it’s gonna make the end of the season really fun to follow.

#47

How the fuck are the Pirates still only 5.5 back? They’ve lost like their last three series against some of the worst teams in Baseball.

And about to play another one of the worst this week. Worst of luck to ya!

Though the “only 5.5 back” is a bit of fools gold. I mean, it’s technically 5.5 games but that’s technically 10 games since you need 5 wins and five losses by the other team…which aren’t happening. There was a point where the Tigers were “only 6 games” back and were the 3rd-worst team in the AL at the time.

#48

Haha I’m well aware of what 5.5 (now 4.5) GB means, but I think they still have two series vs The Cubs left in the year. The Pirates have played pretty well against the upper half in their division but have played down to the Shittier teams they’ve played. I just hope everyone can stay healthy for the rest of the year and make the end exciting.

It’d be sweet to see the Dbacks or Rockies hit a slump right about now.

#49

Haha I’m well aware of what 5.5 (now 4.5) GB means, but I think they still have two series vs The Cubs left in the year.

Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way but I do think it can be a bit of fool’s gold to look at it that way.

Also, you’re welcome for last night. Making a dude with a 4 ERA look like a Cy Young candidate…That’s how a REAL shitty team plays, dammit! :mrgreen:

#50

I had a feeling after watching the first inning he had a chance to do something awesome. Didn’t get to watch the whole game though, wondering when he gave up the hit? But his era is a little misleading, I think he had a sub 3.0 era in the month July. He’s been getting better and better down the stretch.

Hoping we can 3/4 of these games and the Giants find a way to win at least one against the Cubs, and then maybe the Dbacks can whip em good.

Also the Pirates are the best at making a bad pitcher look great.

#51

^Sorry, Trevor Williams has a 3.14 ERA since July 1, and the last guy in our rotation (Chad Kuhl, who will be pitching tonight) has a 2.75 ERA since July 1 apparently. I’m sure I just jinxed it right there, but I’m hoping our two aces (although Nova has had a little trouble lately) can get the two games in Detroit.

(page break screwed that up)

#52

#53

^Sorry, Trevor Williams has a 3.14 ERA since July 1, and the last guy in our rotation (Chad Kuhl, who will be pitching tonight) has a 2.75 ERA since July 1 apparently.

I’m learning these fun facts the hard way. Tigs couldn’t do crap on either guy. Not that I expected us to…we’ve had shaky pitchers shutting us down all year.

#54

^^

(Still one of the my favorite gifs) I honestly think the Cards have the best chance of winning this division. No particular reason other than experience. Pirates are a completely different team than they were during that awful West Coast road trip, we have Sean Rodriguez and Kontos who have both made significant differences already so far. And Polanco is healthy.

^It’s funny, the first month or more of the season, Pirates fans were just hoping these guys could go 4 innings. Now we’re getting at least 6 consistently from the back half of our rotations, Gerrit Cole is pretty much back to his old self and our ace from early in the year has struggled the most lately- but I think he did better his last couple starts.

#55

^LOL, Good ole Roy. I love that gif too.

Also, I guess Verlander couldn’t get shown up by Trevor Williams and dished out his own 1-hitter. Nice to see.

#56

^ Yeah, I saw that. Some vintage Verlander.

I don’t remember how I communicated before “Frinkiac”.

#57

^^ yeah, that was bittersweet to watch. Cool to see someone like that still kill it, gotta wonder if he’s just hoping it’s good enough to get traded haha. I honestly don’t know what they’re gonna do about Nova but he doesn’t seem worthy of the number one spot in the rotation anymore.

^ yeah I watched that whole game, tough blow, definitely looks like a hamstring which could mean he’s out for the regular season at least. Could make for a rough weekend in Arizona.

#58

Things are getting awfully exciting in the NL Central. The Cubs and Cards were tied for first yesterday, after the Cards won 8 in a row. The Cubs, Cards, Brewers, and Pirates are all within 4 games of each other. Looks like we are in for a dogfight coming down the stretch.

I took my nephew to the White Sox game on Saturday. Tix to see the Sox were only $7, granted they were pretty lousy seats (upper deck, left field corner, front row), but still, that was the most fun I have ever had for $7. Sox lost a pretty exciting game against Kansas City.

#59

Yep, this last month and a half is gonna be fun to follow. The Pirates have almost all divisional games left for the season. But Polanco hurt his hamstring again and it sounds like it’s pretty serious, so I really don’t think they have much of a shot in making a comeback. Big week this week though, two against the Brewers, and then a 4 game series against Cards. They played terrible against the Jays this weekend, but if they’re gonna have a bad series that’s probably the one to do it for. Glad the AL series are over, they’re fun but I’m not a fan of the DH.

#60

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op_kJWRIPGM[/youtube]