NLWC: Cubs 4, Pirates 0

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius62 Comments

OSS: As I watched Jake Arrieta mow down the Pirates, I was reminded of the line from the Bhagavad Gita: I am become death, destroyer of worlds.

Three Six up (it's the playoffs!)

​1. This Jake Arrieta guy might be pretty good. A complete game shutout with 11 strikeouts, and he didn't even seem to have his best stuff tonight. I don't know what else there is to say. Him stealing second base immediately after that altercation was the icing on the cake for this game.

2-3. Kyle Schwarber and Dexter Fowler were all the offense the Cubs needed tonight, hitting two homers and either scoring or knocking in all four runs. Schwarber's homer in particular is now entering low earth orbit.

4. I think my favorite part of this game (aside from the whole Cubs winning thing) was the littlest Pirates fan behind the plate. I'm not sure if he was there earlier in the game, but for the last two innings or you could see him pitching and swinging along with all the Pirates players. 

5-6. Kris Bryant and Addison Russell

They may have had a rough day at the plate and on the basepaths, but it was Bryant's and Russell's gloves that sealed the deal tonight. Bryant moved to third after the Cubs started subbing in their better OF defenders and got plenty of work, including a much tougher than it looked double play off the bat of Aramis Ramirez and snagging a couple of lasers while playing relatively shallow at 3b.

Russell meanwhile bounced back on the very next play following a bases-loading error to turn two on another tough ball to get the Cubs out of the sixth. 

Three six down

1. Speaking of Bryant on the basepaths, he racked up an impressive TOOTBLAN to end the third inning. I think Mercer suckered him on how he went after the ball, but it was one of those infield fly-ish plays where you're pretty much screwed either way. 

2. It looked like it might start falling apart for the Cubs in the sixth after Russell was charged with an error on a tough grounder from Cutch, loading the bases with one out for Pittsburgh. Luckily he was able to rectify things on the very next play.

3. I get why the Pirates are frustrated, but that was some bush league shit by Watson and especially Sean Rodriguez. Funny that the team full of rookies was the one who acts like they've been there before. Both of those HBP by Arrieta were clearly accidents, and Cervelli especially milked his for all it was worth.

4. The home plate umpire had a fucking gigantic zone for most of this game, and while I was more than happy to see Arrieta take advantage of it that shit drives me nuts. Not quite as nuts as when the zone suddenly shrank when Arrieta got a little shaky later in the game, though.

5. I would have loved to see Rondon out there in the ninth, if only because they're likely going to have to lean on Arrieta a lot for hopefully several more starts, possibly on short rest. I get the vibe he's pretty much in the Bumgarner Zone at this point though.

6. I'm sad that this is the end of the line for Aramis Ramirez. He's waited just as long as the rest of us to get another postseason win. If the Cubs had lost (and without that bullshit Arrieta plunking) I would have rooted for the Pirates to go all the way for his sake. 

11 more wins to go.

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  1. Suburban kid

    Don’t be sad for A-Ram. He really doesn’t want to play anymore. Sad for us, because his retirement makes us all feel old(er), but not for him.

    I think following the the whole bench clearing incident, it became Jake’s game to finish. He was a lot more emotional than usual, although still contained, and then when he stole that base it was obvious that Arrieta was the Pirates’ bête noire and would haunt and eviscerate them to the end. It was like that one CG SO he threw recently (which I think also might have been 4-0), where Joe wanted him to have the feeling of finishing it off and being out there for that in the 9th. I also see the logic in leaving your best pitcher in as long he can go in an elimination game. You’re not in bullet-saving mode at that point.

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  2. Suburban kid

    Sean Rodriguez: “I was frustrated because a guy grabbed me by the throat and I couldn’t do anything about it, I couldn’t even get a hit off because my teammates were holding me back.”

    Who grabbed you by the throat?

    “Ross. David Ross.”

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  3. dmick89

    Suburban kid: I also see the logic in leaving your best pitcher in as long he can go in an elimination game. You’re not in bullet-saving mode at that point.

    I didn’t agree with the decision last night, but after thinking about it awhile, I think this is right. He hadn’t thrown all that many pitches yet.

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  4. dmick89

    Ross admitted the choking thing, though it was accidental he said. I loved how Maddon resoonded in the post game with the early question about the dugout clearing incident.

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  5. Millertime

    I think I’m now officially past the the “House money/ahead of schedule” thing. I want the World Series this year. Jake is having too special of a season.

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  6. cerulean

    WaLi:
    Millertime,

    Might as well win it all, now that the Cubs are past the coin-flip game.

    If they are not going to disappoint us, they might as well not disappoint us all the way. It’s the only polite thing to do.

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  7. dmick89

    cerulean: If they are not going to disappoint us, they might as well not disappoint us all the way. It’s the only polite thing to do.

    The polite thing to do would be to win at least 5 of them in a row.

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  8. dmick89

    Millertime:
    dmick89,

    Sometimes I clear my webrowser history, and need to find this place again.

    That’s what bookmarks are for. We even have a fancy little OS X/iOS bookmark icon showing off Adam’s facepalm image. Or you can search for Cubs and jabronis. Either is acceptable.

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  9. Suburban kid

    cerulean:
    dmick89,

    Bryant looks like he’s laughing when he snags that ball. Castro looks disinterested in the most badass way.

    Yep, Bryant always seems to smile when making awesome plays. It reminds me of the guitar player Billy Zoom of the band X, who always used to grin when playing fast and/or hard stuff.

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  10. Suburban kid

    Anyone else get Starlin-specific chills on the final out? So awesome for him to be in the playoffs finally after all he’s been through.

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  11. Wenningtons Gorilla Cock

    dmick89: Or you can search for Cubs and jabronis. Either is acceptable.

    I prefer “pizza MILF” but I’m old school

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  12. Suburban kid

    Suburban kid,

    Let me field that one SK. With Ross in for Montero, I expect Joe might look for Cogs to replace that pop instead of going with the most underrated hitter on the team.

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  13. uncle dave

    Suburban kid: Yep, Bryant always seems to smile when making awesome plays. It reminds me of the guitar player Billy Zoom of the band X, who always used to grin when playing fast and/or hard stuff.

    Baseball and music are both supposed to be fun, right?

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  14. uncle dave

    dmick89: Bryant’s play here is great, but even better is Castro. He played that so calmly and avoided the take-out.

    His turn was so fast on that one. He’s just locked in right now.

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  15. dmick89

    uncle dave: His turn was so fast on that one.He’s just locked in right now.

    I wonder if he’s a bit relieved that he’s not playing SS. I do think he had improved defensively at the position, but there’s a lot more pressure on him there to do things he may not have been capable of doing. He probably wasn’t capable of doing them and maybe not spending so much time working on defense has been a big benefit to him. I know it’s only been a month so it’s a small sample and all that, but he looks like a different and much better ballplayer.

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  16. dmick89

    I was looking through some old articles on Aramis Ramirez and found this image in the comments (posted by SK, he seems to no longer likes when dudes dress up as chicks). Figured since we just saw this a week or so ago that I'd post it here again. It's from 2010.

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  17. uncle dave

    dmick89,

    Could be. I can certainly imagine how difficult it might have been as the face of the franchise during a shitty stretch like 2010-14.

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  18. dmick89

    uncle dave,

    Not only that, but I also think spending time working on defense is probably less fun when you’re not naturally gifted at it like an Addison Russell is. Baseball just might be more fun for Castro right now because he doesn’t have to do that shit he’s not as good at. I don’t know. Just a thought.

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  19. EnricoPallazzo

    dmick89: I don’t know. I don’t think I’d ever read anything by that guy. Not sure I’ll read anything again either. I actually read the whole thing though.

    so am i the only one that like that article? it was super random but i thought it was good.

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  20. Urk

    Suburban kid:
    Anyone else get Starlin-specific chills on the final out? So awesome for him to be in the playoffs finally after all he’s been through.

    Yeah- totally. It was a nice catch too. Also, when Russell booted that ground ball in the 6th, I thought it was Castro at first, and I totally cringed. Still glad it wasn’t.

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  21. dmick89

    Suburban kid: I do?

    I think you were the one who shared the images of the hazing each of the last year or two, weren’t you? Anyway, I was just joking. You shared it on the article I was reading through and I thought I’d re-post since it had Castro in it.

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  22. cerulean

    Suburban kid:
    Anyone else get Starlin-specific chills on the final out? So awesome for him to be in the playoffs finally after all he’s been through.

    Not as much as I get Rizzo-specific pumped when he completes the catch on the bases-loaded DP and punches the air in one powerful continuous motion.

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  23. Suburban kid

    I don’t think it was me posting the dude/chick pics this year, because I recall being surprised and disappointed when I first saw those Bryant/Schwarber pics. I’m sure I did it that one time, but nowadays I’m thinking hazing is dumb and that overrides any comedy factor.

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  24. WaLi

    cerulean,

    It was Budweiser I think, which is the equivalent champagne for St. Louis folk. I think they were mocking St. Louis by pouring it all out “YOU GUYS ACTUALLY LIKE THIS SHIT??? AHHAHA WATCH US POUR IT OUT AS WE CELEBRATE GETTING TO FACE YOUR SORRY ASSES. WEAREGOODWEAREGOODWEAREGOODWEAREGOOD.”

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  25. dmick89

    cerulean: Fortunately, it’s only champagne.

    That’s what I meant. I just made a short grocery list and I had to get a couple bottles of wine for some food I’m making this weekend. So I had wine on my mind when I was writing that. (dying laughing)

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  26. dmick89

    I like how Maddon hasn’t firmly set Jason Hammel for Game 4 saying that if they need him earlier than that, they’ll use him and make an adjustment for Game 4. I’d assume Jon Lester would be an option on short rest that game.

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  27. dmick89

    With the victory, they’re now the second-best team in baseball according to our Elo ratings (behind the Toronto Blue Jays). That makes them narrowly favored to win their next series against the division-rival St. Louis Cardinals: Elo says they have a 51.6 percent probability of going on to the National League Championship Series.

    It also makes them favorites to represent the National League in the World Series. Elo gives Chicago a 28 percent chance of winning the NL pennant, as well as nearly a 15 percent chance of winning it all.

    http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/chicago-cubs-pittsburgh-pirates-nl-wild-card/

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