Cubs 2, Pirates 0

In Postgame by berselius100 Comments

OSS: Cubs try to get blown out on the road again, but the Pirates just weren’t having it.

Three up:

  1. Kris Bryant had the biggest hit of the day, a line drive homer in the seventh that finally broke the tie. Bryant also drew a walk and a HBP in this game. It is curious that both Bryant and Rizzo were hit by pitches in this game….it’s a good thing the Pirates don’t have a reputation for headhunting 🤔
  2. Tyler Chatwood of all people got the job done today, pitching two scoreless innings in relief of Lester. Chatwood came on with two on and nobody out in the seventh inning and managed to escape the jam with no damage.
  3. Given the way the ninth inning has gone the past few days, seeing Chatwood issue a leadoff walk in the ninth was not great. But Rowan Wick, who Joe seemingly keeps forgetting about, came in and got three straight groundouts to finally close out a game for the Cubs.

Three down:

  1. Credit to Jon Lester for coming up with some clutch pitching to escape some jams, but he’s the one who created them in the first place. The Pirates had a runner in scoring position in five different innings, but couldn’t break through. Lester even walked the opposing pitcher in the fifth inning to make it bases loaded with nobody out, before wriggling free. It’s best to be lucky *and* good.
  2. Kris Bryant had a rough day at third base, getting charged with two errors.
  3. Javy had the roughest day at the plate, going 0-4 with two GIDP.

Next up: The Cubs finish up their series with the Pirates with a game at Williamsport in honor of the LLWS. Hopefully their road game woes don’t extend to a neutral site. Q takes on Mitch Keller at 6:10 PM CT.

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  3. WaLi

    Im sick of Maddon putting the pitcher that finished the 8th inning to start the 9th, only to immediately pull him so the next reliever starts with men on base. He’s done it at least 3 games in a row

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  8. Rizzo the Rat

    My only real complaint about the game was letting Chatwood bat with runners on the corners. That was ridiculous. Joe also probably stuck with Lester too long, but whatever.

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  13. andcounting

    Rizzo the Rat,

    Turner swung at 2 would-be game-winning balls four, the second of which was the first swing and miss of the inning against Hader after the previous 4 batters reached base. Crazy shit.

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  27. WaLi

    Perfect opportunity for Strop to come in. Though maybe we don’t have enough runs.

    Instead we have Holland against a righty

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  32. WaLi

    WaLi,

    Although there’s an asterisk since yesterday’s game was at a neutral field. So maybe it isn’t that the Cubs can’t win on the road, it’s that they can’t beat teams that are playing at home.

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  36. Author
    berselius

    berselius,

    Weird fact the second – the Cubs pitching staff are apparently insanely good defenders. In that same metric, six of the Cubs top ten defenders are pitchers. Other than Javy Baez, the position players on the list are part timers like Caratini, Russell, and Zobrist (!).

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  38. Rizzo the Rat

    The Cubs are optioning David Bote to Triple-A Iowa and planning to activate Steve Cishek for the Giants series that begins tomorrow night at Wrigley Field.

    — Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) August 19, 2019

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  44. WaLi

    It’s so fucking stupid. Attendance went down because ballparks rather have luxury seats and the revenue shows it works. Look at some of the newer stadiums.

    In 2005 Cardinals went from 49,676 to 46,200 for a change of 3,476 (change of 281,556 over 81 games).
    In 2008 Nationals went from 46,382 to 43,341 for a change of 3,041 (change of 246,321 over 81 games).
    In 2008 Yankees went from 56,937 in 2008 to 52,355 in 2009 (delta of 4,582 or 371,142 over 81 games).
    In 2009 Mets went from 57,333 to 45,000 for a change of 12,333 (change of 998,973 over 81 games).
    in 2010 the Twins went from 56,144 to 42,000 for a change of 14,144 (change of 1,145,664 over 81 games).
    And although it doesn’t matter because capacity is like 10%, in 2012 Marlins went from 47,9752 to 37,442 for a change of 10,530 (change of 852,930 over 81 games)

    Excluding the Marlins, the other 5 teams alone would account for a reduction of 3,043,656 in attendance. Take into account whatever factor you want since not every game is a sellout, that’s a drastic reduction in attendance that doesn’t currently matter to the executives.

    Down the line there may be an impact if we can assume average ticket prices have gone up so families aren’t going to games as often, but that is yet to be seen.

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  58. Author
    berselius

    (dying laughing), you know you are listening to a Chicago radio station when you hear a snow removal company ad in August.

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  64. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    CF Heyward
    RF Castellanos
    3B Bryant
    1B Rizzo
    SS Baez
    LF War Bear
    2B Happ
    C Caratini
    P Yu

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  67. andcounting

    WaLi,

    Yeah, it sucks when the president of baseball operations confirms our most pessimistic predictions were accurate all along.

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  78. BVS

    Think Castellanos will button up his shirt when it gets cold in October?

    (This is not a Clint Hurdlesque “play the game the right way” comment, just a question. )

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