IST: Cubs @ Cardinals

[Ari Bear]

Eh, that was a tough play, his leg actually was giving out as he threw it, which is pretty amazing he put so much on it. Farrell had some lackluster control the whole inning though.

There was more wrong with this team than Ferrell. Once again the offense looked flat. With Wacha on the mound they should of lit it up.

 

[The Bandit]

There was more wrong with this team than Ferrell. Once again the offense looked flat. With Wacha on the mound they should of lit it up.

Agreed, out offense is way to streaky and unmotivated. We need OBP guys. Instead everyone is an all in player. Rizzo looks like a husk of himself at the plate. And Happ looks like he has zero clue what is coming.

 

[Fred Garvin]

This game shouldn't have been about giving this Farrell kid a confidence boost...It should of been about winning the damn game. Farrell was shaky the whole inning. Bader smacked the crap out of that ball. Then the homer to a struggling Fowler for the second gut punch in two days. Farrell needs to go back to Iowa asap. TWO walk offs in two days? You can't keep a guy like that on your team...and Joe should not have put him in in the first place. Farrell was all happy about getting his 1st win...I wonder how he feels about choking away TWO games in two days. No way Farrell should of been in there. Sick of Maddon playing these stupid mind games. I couldn't give two s**ts about Farrell or his confidence. He shouldn't even be in baseball. Just cuz his brother works for the Cubs...and his dad is a manager. Who cares.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Let's be honest about Maddon. He was LUCKY we won game 7 of the WS. He made a horrible decision with Chapman that game. Fast forward to this year. 5 game winning streak and what does Joe do? Benches his hottest hitters. Genius. Then tonight....he cares so much about giving this POS Farrell "confidence' instead of worrying about winning the game. Maddon found a way to lose another one with his stupid mind games.

 

[beckdawg]

Heyward almost saved us. Farrell really isn't that good though, we can't find one body that's better in the pen?

I mean he's in the majors because Butler is on the DL.

 

[beckdawg]

This game shouldn't have been about giving this Farrell kid a confidence boost...

Not like he had much of a choice. Strop was literally the only guy left in the pen and he threw 2 innings the prior day.

 

[PickSix]

Come on now guys. Just settle down. I’ve read by all the intelligent ones on here that you are just being emo negative Nancy’s for no reason. It’s early and everything is going to be just fine.

 

[beckdawg]

Come on now guys. Just settle down. I’ve read by all the intelligent ones on here that you are just being emo negative Nancy’s for no reason. It’s early and everything is going to be just fine.

I'm assuming this is an attempt at satire. Regardless, the 2018 cubs are still better at this point than the 2017 cubs and that team made the NLCS. If you'd told me going in that Schwarber would be hitting .269/.376/.548, that Baez would be hitting .286/.331/.639 and that Almora would be hitting .279/.326/.395 at this point in the season with no additional info I think most every cubs fan would have been thrilled. Cubs are 9th in the majors(5th in the NL) in run differential. That's without Contreras and rizzo hitting. That's also without Q and Darvish pitching like they can.

People do this every year. They freak out when the cubs go through a 1st half slump. I don't remember the exact figure but they've won something like 67% of games after the all-star break in every year from 2015-2018. Maddon doesn't push them that hard in April and May and they seem to be a lot fresher in the second half than most teams do because of it.

And for what it's worth, in their 31 games they have 6 games vs COL(.571), 8 games vs MIL(.571), 5 vs STL(.625), 3 vs PIT(.543), 2 vs CLE(.500), 2 vs ATL(.576), 1 vs CIN(.235), and 4 vs MIA(.394). So that's 24 of 31 vs teams over .543 win% and 2 of the remaining 7 was vs a pretty good(in theory) cleveland team. That's not exactly the soft underbelly of a schedule.

 

[PickSix]

Who won the Kentucky Derby?

 

[anotheridiot]

Heyward almost saved us. Farrell really isn't that good though, we can't find one body that's better in the pen?

Its not that he used him, its where he continues to use him. This is maddon, he cares not what we think, he is all about him. He feels like he is protecting Almora from certain pitchers when he is just taking experiences away from him in lieu of happ. Strong D up the middle wins more games than bats do.

 

[fatbeard]

Not like he had much of a choice. Strop was literally the only guy left in the pen and he threw 2 innings the prior day.

Meatballs gonna meatball.

 

[TL1961]

Maddon had to use Farrell there.

This offense has good players, but not the right makeup. It’s like playing five power forwards in bball.

Happ not only doesn’t know what’s coming, he has no plan as to what he is trying to do with a pitch. Just waves at balls with no purpose.

I will say it for the last time. This series came down to the failure ( or lack of trying to do the smart thing fundamentally) with a man on second and nobody out. Certainly defensive miscues added to the issues Sat and Sun, but move that guy over and we win two of three if not all three. We simply don’t think that way. Joe is more Esrl Weaver play for the three run HR than Billy Ball.

 

[ob1force]

I'm no baseball savant but why is Baez hitting so low in the line-up? He's been an RBI machine and was the only guy to have multiple hits last night, could have been 3 if not for a good play from Wong at 2B.

He doesn't get a hit for a couple games and is thrown down to the 8th hole. Contreras is struggling so lets start him at leadoff? Idk seems contradictory to me. Maddon gonna Maddon I guess.

 

[DanTown]

I love people start rants with game 7 of the 2016 WS because it means I can stop reading the rest of their post because anyone who thinks Maddon's mistakes in that series either happened or occurred during game 7 simply are wrong. Game 6 was a fuckup and it might have cost him game 7 but just imagine if the Cubs went to any other reliever in that inning and didn't use Chapman and the game ended up tied. Forever the argument would have been "you traded a top five prospect in Torres for one season of Chapman but then you're resting him in game fucking seven?"

Any time a bullpen blows a lead (whether it be last night, game 7 of the 2016 WS, whatever game) fans want to blame managers for their choices. It's funny how many blame Joe Maddon for that (you probably blamed Bartman for 2003 too if I had to guess) instead of questioning the game 7 of noted Cub hero David Ross but whatever, the manager is low hanging fruit. Sometimes managers make great calls and players **** them up and sometimes managers make terrible calls and players overcome them; good outcomes are not always good decisions.

I respect the work of the few posters here who try to educate fans with data, scouting, etc instead of just sounding off at the team. I don't post as much because I was finishing up school so I haven't seen a ton of games this year so I didn't feel right commenting on the team that much but I appreciate the guys trying hard here.

 

[Mr. Cub]

And we get swept by the fucking Cards. Walk offs. Blah

 

[anotheridiot]

Maddon had to use Farrell there.

This offense has good players, but not the right makeup. It’s like playing five power forwards in bball.

Happ not only doesn’t know what’s coming, he has no plan as to what he is trying to do with a pitch. Just waves at balls with no purpose.

I will say it for the last time. This series came down to the failure ( or lack of trying to do the smart thing fundamentally) with a man on second and nobody out. Certainly defensive miscues added to the issues Sat and Sun, but move that guy over and we win two of three if not all three. We simply don’t think that way. Joe is more Esrl Weaver play for the three run HR than Billy Ball.

Yes, he had to because it was him and Strop left and strop threw two innings Saturday after letting Wilson and Ciscek both pitch in the fucking fifth? Sure seems like if they were going to be used for one batter it should be later in the game.

Lets see if Almora gets back in the lineup now so we can at least watch some gold glove center field play.

 

[anotheridiot]

I'm no baseball savant but why is Baez hitting so low in the line-up? He's been an RBI machine and was the only guy to have multiple hits last night, could have been 3 if not for a good play from Wong at 2B.

He doesn't get a hit for a couple games and is thrown down to the 8th hole. Contreras is struggling so lets start him at leadoff? Idk seems contradictory to me. Maddon gonna Maddon I guess.

I thought Javy was gonna get a shot at leadoff to get some aggressive runner on base, but then he would put KB up at 2, and the reason ESPN was able to say our 3 and 4 hitters are the worst in baseball is because maddon keeps moving kb from 2-3. There is just no respect for Baez, and he was not the only one free swinging when the wind was gusting out. Christ, all they had to do was get the ball in the air and it was gonna go, but they all wanted to hit it across the street.

That's what we get, a 5 game win streak, now a 4 or 5 losing streak. Chili Davis got all the respect that these hitters were now buying in and as soon as he got credit, everyone starts swinging for the fences again. Even JD said they should be trying to hit the ball out of the park not follow Chili Davis preaching when the wind blows out. If those experts are telling them to do it, how can we make any sense. They all have enough power to hit it out of any field, but its all back to the long ball.

 

[Diehardfan]

If nothing else, this forum is always good for laughs when the Cubs aren't playing well. Trades, managers, coaches, front office....yeah, that's it...blame them. So funny that schmucks who spend a large portion of their lives flapping their jaw on an obscure sports forum have all the answers that professionals lack.

Meatballism at it's finest.....

 

[zack54attack]

What an awful, awful, awful series...

 

[zack54attack]

If nothing else, this forum is always good for laughs when the Cubs aren't playing well. Trades, managers, coaches, front office....yeah, that's it...blame them. So funny that schmucks who spend a large portion of their lives flapping their jaw on an obscure sports forum have all the answers that professionals lack.

Meatballism at it's finest.....

I had a friend text me last night telling me that Epstein, Maddon and Hoyer need to be canned ASAP. His reasoning is that Maddon didn't put Strop in and that Esptein has made bad decisions with Heyward and Darvish.

I was speechless.