Cubs 2, Giants 0

In Postgame by berselius194 Comments

OSS: Aggressive Cubs baserunning is just enough to snag the inverted M.

Three up:

  1. It was a scoreless and speedy affair most of the night, and the Cubs took the lead after Russell took third on a wild pitch and aggressively dashed home after an errant throw. Russell was on second to begin with thanks to even more aggressive baserunning on what I thought for sure was a run of the mill single that was cut off by Cutch.
  2. Ian Happ scored the other Cubs run from first base on a double hit by Caratini. It could have been two runs had Schwarber not been cut down trying to steal second during Happ’s PA, but overall the baserunning was plus plus as usual.
  3. Jose Quintana had a solid start, though I don’t necessarily know that I’d throw as much praise on it as JD did during the broadcast. It was great to see him settle down after running into a problem or two in the middle innings, which had been a problem of late. He threw six shutout innings, and while he only struck out three he was throwing a ton of strikes and had Giants hitters off balance.

Three down:

  1. No Brandon Morrow again tonight. According to Len they were trying to give him some rest after some relatively heavy usage over the weekend, which ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
  2. The Cubs had two TOOBLANs in this one, including a Bote caught stealing and the Schwarber CS mentioned above.
  3. Despite the low score, the Cubs did have several hits that would have been homers in a less cavernous ballpark. Javy missed one by a couple of inches, and Heyward had a long shot in the eighth that would have been several rows into the seats at Wrigley.

Next up: The Cubs go for the series win tomorrow against Johnny Cueto. This will be Cueto’s second start following a two month DL stint for an elbow sprain. He was crushed by the Cardinals in his first start back and had a tough time getting his fastball above 87-88 mph. He faces off with Monty in this one at 2:45 PM CT.

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  2. Ryno

    Ryno,

    The others (in chronological order):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1jwY8XFieI – Another game/series I thought CHC was going to blow.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2J9Vnw4M-E – After 2003, this moment brought me so much peace.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5CX3sq5OMw – At that moment, I believed for the first time ever that the Chicago Cubs could be World Series champions.

    https://youtu.be/xxCqzKRkclk?t=33m32s – The whole 10th inning. Going from “are you fucking kidding me?” to “you fuckers suck” to “just lose so I can go to sleep” to “fuck rain” to “HOLY SHIT” to “why are you doing this to me?” to “is this real life?” was probably the way it had to happen.

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  3. JonKneeV

    Fun stats:

    Of all Cubs position players with at least 40 ABs, Javier Baez has the worst OBP…… but the highest OPS.

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  4. Perkins

    Ryno,

    I was in the park for the first and 6th games of the NLCS, and they’re hands down the two best games I’ve ever seen live. The Montero slam was unreal. As soon as he connected, everyone there knew it was gone.

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  5. JonKneeV

    Over his first ~3,000 PAs, Francisco Lindor had 51 HRs (through 2016).
    In 419 PAs in 2018, Francisco Lindor has 23 HRs.

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  6. JonKneeV

    Albert Almora is looking to be the first qualified hitter since Starlin Castro & Aramis Ramirez in 2011 to hit .300 over the course of a season.

    (Dioner Navarro in 2013 and Reed Johnson in 2012 didn’t qualify)

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  8. Rizzo the Rat

    Ryno,

    The ninth-inning comeback in the NLDS left a bigger impression on me than the Bryant home run, but I agree with the rest of the list.

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  9. Myles

    Ryno:
    Ryno,

    The others (in chronological order):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1jwY8XFieI – Another game/series I thought CHC was going to blow.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2J9Vnw4M-E – After 2003, this moment brought me so much peace.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5CX3sq5OMw – At that moment, I believed for the first time ever that the Chicago Cubs could be World Series champions.

    https://youtu.be/xxCqzKRkclk?t=33m32s – The whole 10th inning. Going from “are you fucking kidding me?” to “you fuckers suck” to “just lose so I can go to sleep” to “fuck rain” to “HOLY SHIT” to “why are you doing this to me?” to “is this real life?” was probably the way it had to happen.

    When Hendricks walks off the mound here:

    https://www.mlb.com/gameday/dodgers-vs-cubs/2016/10/22/487629#game_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=487629

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  12. Perkins

    Ryno,

    Game 6 was completely nuts. When the Cubs scored off Kershaw in the first, I knew they were going to win the pennant. One thing that stands out in my mind is the music from the night. They played “In the Air Tonight” before the game started, and then a reprise of “Sweet Emotion” when Hendricks departed in the 8th. Going into the 9th, they played “Lose Yourself,” which seemed pretty appropriate.

    I got to go to the two World Series games at Wrigley that they lost (wish I’d gone to game 5, in retrospect), but the two NLCS games stand out as the best I’ve ever seen.

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  13. Perkins

    The Russell grand slam in World Series game 6 was when I knew the Cubs would win the World Series. Obviously there were still a couple of heart attacks along the way.

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  16. Ryno

    Perkins,

    That was for sure the end of Game 6 and I felt great going into Game 7. Honestly, I wasn’t stressed at all during the World Series until I let myself think they were going to win. Then it went to shit.

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  17. Perkins

    Ryno,

    I was in a bar with friends for game 7, and everyone started counting outs around the 6th. After the HR to Davis, it was that same sinking feeling from 2003. The place was damn near silent. Good thing that didn’t last.

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  18. Ryno

    Perkins,

    I might’ve posted this before, but…

    The NLDS and NLCS were very stressful for me. The peace of winning the pennant lasted with me through the World Series. I was never upset or anxious and had no expectations. I simply enjoyed the experience of seeing my favorite team in the World Series, which I never thought I’d see.

    Them winning Game 2 was a bonus. “I got to see the Cubs win a World Series game.” I fully expected them to lose Game 5 (and the series) and I was OK with that. When they pushed it to Game 7, I was just excited to have them get that far. When they took the lead into the 5th or 6th inning, I was completely in the moment. No thoughts about winning or losing, just “this feeling is so great.”

    It wasn’t until they were four outs away that I thought, “Holy shit, they might actually win the World Series.” Then…

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  20. Ryno

    If your team needs DBs (looking at pretty much everyone), there’s a couple of interesting guys available in the supplemental draft, which starts in about 10 minutes.

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  25. andcounting

    Ryno,

    The Davis homer was maybe the single biggest highlight for me, mostly because I had the same overall approach. It was an otherwise shitty point in life for me, so I was just enjoying the playoff run and the distraction. The Cubs were in the World Series, how can you not enjoy that?

    Then Dexter led things off with a whirl, and I stood through the entire game watching with my family and smiling the whole way through. Pure joy and excitement. I just got happier the longer the game went. That’s when that thought hit me, OMG, the fucking Cubs are going to win the fucking World Series, holy shit I can’t believe how easy this game is turning out to be.

    Then Davis swung and I knew it was gone and the thought of losing entered my mind for the first time since Fowler’s homer. And I was still smiling. It all sank in in that moment. “After 108 years, 36 of which have been meaningful to me, I’m watching the Cubs in the World Series, game 7, tied in the 9th goddamn inning after being down 3-1 in the Series, in what is turning out to be the most epic game of the most compelling World Series in history, and it’s the fucking Cubs. Win or lose, 2016 baseball concludes tonight. This is the most exciting moment in sports I can ever hope to experience. They might lose it, and I’m still happy. “

    Our 12 year old said I had this huge smile on my face like I knew something no one else did and everything was going according to plan. And that’s what it felt like, as though the best World Series game I could ever hope to watch had just gotten better somehow.

    Something about the euphoria getting immediately wiped away and still being happy in the moment and being all the more able to appreciate the weight of it made that my favorite part. But there were so many great moments. Holy shit.

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  26. Perkins

    Ryno,

    I also felt pretty good about their having won the pennant, and wouldn’t have been crushed to see them lose the World Series. At that point, the 2016 season was an unqualified success. Still strongly hoped and somewhat expected they’d win it all, though. After game 4, I was kind of resigned to their losing, and at peace with it, but it also made me think of a Soldier in Bastogne in 1944 who, upon being asked why the wounded weren’t being evacuated, replied, “they got us surrounded…the poor bastards.”

    And in Cleveland’s case (as with the Germans), poor bastards indeed.

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  27. Ryno

    andcounting:
    Ryno,

    “After 108 years, 36 of which have been meaningful to me, I’m watching the Cubs in the World Series, game 7, tied in the 9th goddamn inning after being down 3-1 in the Series, in what is turning out to be the most epic game of the most compelling World Series in history, and it’s the fucking Cubs. Win or lose, 2016 baseball concludes tonight. This is the most exciting moment in sports I can ever hope to experience. They might lose it, and I’m still happy. “

    After being a fan for 27 years (including the living-and-dying-on-every-pitch variety for roughly a decade), feeling just like that during the WS was so confusing. It was almost like I was too stressed to recognize how stressed I was, so my brain was like, “Fuck it, we’re just going to label this feeling ‘fun.'”

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  28. Ryno

    Perkins:
    Ryno,

    I also felt pretty good about their having won the pennant, and wouldn’t have been crushed to see them lose the World Series. At that point, the 2016 season was an unqualified success.

    I was able to somewhat convert my thinking to being along those lines in an attempt to rationalize “the best team” not always winning, but I didn’t REALLY believe it.

    The 49ers were the best team in the NFL in 2012. That year was a success for the franchise, but it would’ve been significantly better if they had finished off the Ravens in the Super Bowl.

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  37. Perkins

    Apparently Chatwood is pitching Friday. Lester on Sunday, so he probably won’t pitch in the ASG.

    I guess if you’re going to try to get Chatwood right, Petco Park against the Padres is as good a place as any, but it seems like a waste to let him start.

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  39. Myles

    Perkins:
    Apparently Chatwood is pitching Friday. Lester on Sunday, so he probably won’t pitch in the ASG.

    I guess if you’re going to try to get Chatwood right, Petco Park against the Padres is as good a place as any, but it seems like a waste to let him start.

    So I have two off days in a row (thurs/fri)?

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  40. andcounting

    Ryno,

    (dying laughing), yeah, I remember telling a friend of mine, “So this is what it’s like to care about an actual World Series?”

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  50. Rizzo the Rat

    Everyone who complains about how slow Almora is should be made to watch that Rizzo groundout on a continuous loop.

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  75. North Side Pat

    I’m old enough to have been crushed by the NLCS collapse in 1984 as well as 2003. so when they finally won the pennant I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. That was about as happy as I could be. Got to see the one Series W @ Wrigley in Game 5, and that was when I really thought they would do it. Right up until that Davis HR, at which point I thought “OMFG it’s happening again.” I had Pat & Ron on the radio and they were way ahead of the TV, which could be good or bad depending on the play. But that team was too good and unlike any Cubs team of our lifetime. Apparently I collapsed on the floor after the final out, although I don’t remember much. Still get chills watching videos of the city erupt (or at least most of the city) after the final out.

    /cool story bro

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  78. Rizzo the Rat

    The Brewers series followed the same pattern as the Cubs series: lose in extras, win in regulation, lose in extras again.

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  84. Rizzo the Rat

    Rizzo the Rat:
    The Brewers series followed the same pattern as the Cubs series: lose in extras, win in regulation, lose in extras again.

    I’m hoping this trend continues and the Brewers don’t show up today.

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  110. andcounting

    Rizzo the Rat,

    Those were good pitches though, and he fought quite a few off. Really well placed two-strike sliders and a paint-the-corner strike 3. Not much to work with for Willson.

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  145. andcounting

    dmick89:
    Did Hedges lose a bet or something? That mustache is ridiculous.

    You wouldn’t think anyone named Hedges would make such risky bets.

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  146. dmick89

    Part of me feels bad for the Brewers. They’ve had a great first half while the Cubs have struggled in ways we didn’t really expect. Rizzo and Bryant haven’t done nearly as much as we’d expect. If you told me that would be the case I’d have said they’d probably be around .500 at best. The rotation has looked pretty horrible at times and despite all of this they’re just slightly ahead of the Brewers with two games to go before the break.

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  148. Author
    berselius

    dmick89:
    Part of me feels bad for the Brewers. They’ve had a great first half while the Cubs have struggled in ways we didn’t really expect. Rizzo and Bryant haven’t done nearly as much as we’d expect. If you told me that would be the case I’d have said they’d probably be around .500 at best. The rotation has looked pretty horrible at times and despite all of this they’re just slightly ahead of the Brewers with two games to go before the break.

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  153. Berselius is too lazy to login

    The Pirates radio guys are hands down the most boring I have ever heard. I thought I had tuned into a golf broadcast when they came on.

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  185. Berselius is too lazy to login

    dmick89:
    Mike Matheny ———> unemployed

    I was hoping he’d hang on for another few years there.

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