In spite of the fact that this year's Cubs are a team that would probably stand to benefit from it,
I feel the need to point out about how much I hate what they did to the playoff schedule when they redid the TV contracts before last season. Specifically, they added off days to the first two rounds of the playoffs. The LCS round has always been 7 games with a 2-3-2 format, and it used to be that there were only two off days for travel after game 2 and after game 5. Now, the schedule looks like this, with an extra off-day during the middle home stand. The difference this makes is that a team can now pitch their ace in games 1, 4, and 6 with three-days rest in between each start. It doesn't seem right for a team to be able to win a series in 6 games having thrown the same guy out there in half of the games. If you want to pitch a guy in games 1, 4, and 7, then he'll actually get normal rest for game 7. Similarly, all of a team's back-end relievers, who often times will go longer--sometimes much longer--than an inning in the playoffs will have an extra day of rest.
One more off-day in a series wouldn't seem as though it would be a huge deal, but it absolutely does change a team's strategy for managing the pitching staff. The Brewers clinched a playoff spot on Sunday with C. C. Sabathia--who has been far and away their best pitcher (actually he's been the best pitcher in the N.L.) since he was acquired in July--pitching a complete game and allowing only a run. He threw well over 100 pitches and showed no ill effects of doing it on short rest. Think about how much better the Brewers are in a 7 game series knowing that Sabathia could potentially pitch three times in the first six games of the series, especially since Ben Sheets, their ace at the start of the season, is now probably done for the year. I dunno. It's something that bothers me, but possibly only me.
Anyway, Cubs/Dodgers Game 1 tomorrow. Ryan Dempster vs. Derrek Lowe.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
While I Was Sleeping (or at least not posting here)
A helluva lot has happened since the last time I posted here. A day after the Carlos Zambrano pitched a no-hitter in an Astros home game in Milwaukee (something that the Astros are still pissed about, never mind the fact that their owner approved playing there), Ted Lilly took a no-hitter of his own into the 6th. On Thursday, the Cubs came from behind to beat the Brewers 7-6 in 12 innings after rallying from down 4 in the 9th inning, capped off by a 3-run Geovany Soto home run (it's hard to imagine him not winning NL Rookie of the Year now). Then, on Saturday, the Cubs beat the Cardinals 5-4 to clinch the NL Central, marking the first time since the league went to divisional play that the Cubs have won their division in back-to-back years, and giving the Cubs back-to-back playoff births since (nearest I can tell) 1907 & 1908.
The Cubs have actually gone 3-1 since clinching the division, despite not playing some of the starters, showing the depth they have as a team. As of right now they stand at 95-60, and have clinched home field advantage in both the NLDS and NLCS (the AL will have home field advantage in the World Series since it won the All-Star game). They managed to win last night against the Mets--who are now even with the Brewers in the Wild Card and behind in the division-- 9-6 in 10 innings, despite the Mets having a man on third with no outs in the 9th against Bob Howry. Zambrano pitched just 4 2/3 innings last night allowing 5 runs in his 2nd bad start in a row since his no-hitter against the Brewers. This is perhaps the only big unnerving thing about the team going into the playoffs, although that was most assuredly his last start of the season and he'll now have about a week to get ready for his first NLDS start against whoever they're playing. Chad Gaudin has recently come off the DL and has gotten rocked around a little bit as well. Hopefully he can come around, as he was a great middle reliever early in his Cubs tenure when the Cubs were absoltuely on fire as a team.
As I type this, Micah Hoffpauir is 3-for-3 with a homer (the first in his career) against Pedro Martinez in the last game of the four game set with the Mets. His average is currently sitting at .367. Meanwhile, though he's had a couple of very clutch hits, Daryle Ward's average at the moments stands at .219. Would Hoffpauir make the playoff roster over Ward? Might be an interesting question going into the weekend. The Cubs have 3 games Friday to Sunday against the Brewers to close out the year.
In more depressing news, the Bears are now 1-2, following up their great season opener win in Indinapolis with back-to-back losses, blowing 2nd half leads in both of them. After the initial optimism that followed the Colts win, fans are ready to jump off a bridge again and are throwing out the ususal rotation of complaints: the playcalling is too conservative, the Bears don't throw downfield enough, the Cover-2 sucks and the Bears need to blitz more, the Bears don't have the "killing instinct" that other teams do... Personally, I think the Bears have just made mistakes in key situations (last week against the Bucs, Peanut Tillman got called for unsportsmanlike conduct for thowing a punch on what ended up being the game-winning drive in OT), and I don't think their overall philosophy, which hasn't changed much since 2006 when they went to the Superbowl, has much to do with it. Despite consisting of Kyle Orton and a hodge-podge of journeyman recievers, the offense has actually been decently consistent. A bright spot has been Matt Forte, who might have a shot at Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The Cubs have actually gone 3-1 since clinching the division, despite not playing some of the starters, showing the depth they have as a team. As of right now they stand at 95-60, and have clinched home field advantage in both the NLDS and NLCS (the AL will have home field advantage in the World Series since it won the All-Star game). They managed to win last night against the Mets--who are now even with the Brewers in the Wild Card and behind in the division-- 9-6 in 10 innings, despite the Mets having a man on third with no outs in the 9th against Bob Howry. Zambrano pitched just 4 2/3 innings last night allowing 5 runs in his 2nd bad start in a row since his no-hitter against the Brewers. This is perhaps the only big unnerving thing about the team going into the playoffs, although that was most assuredly his last start of the season and he'll now have about a week to get ready for his first NLDS start against whoever they're playing. Chad Gaudin has recently come off the DL and has gotten rocked around a little bit as well. Hopefully he can come around, as he was a great middle reliever early in his Cubs tenure when the Cubs were absoltuely on fire as a team.
As I type this, Micah Hoffpauir is 3-for-3 with a homer (the first in his career) against Pedro Martinez in the last game of the four game set with the Mets. His average is currently sitting at .367. Meanwhile, though he's had a couple of very clutch hits, Daryle Ward's average at the moments stands at .219. Would Hoffpauir make the playoff roster over Ward? Might be an interesting question going into the weekend. The Cubs have 3 games Friday to Sunday against the Brewers to close out the year.
In more depressing news, the Bears are now 1-2, following up their great season opener win in Indinapolis with back-to-back losses, blowing 2nd half leads in both of them. After the initial optimism that followed the Colts win, fans are ready to jump off a bridge again and are throwing out the ususal rotation of complaints: the playcalling is too conservative, the Bears don't throw downfield enough, the Cover-2 sucks and the Bears need to blitz more, the Bears don't have the "killing instinct" that other teams do... Personally, I think the Bears have just made mistakes in key situations (last week against the Bucs, Peanut Tillman got called for unsportsmanlike conduct for thowing a punch on what ended up being the game-winning drive in OT), and I don't think their overall philosophy, which hasn't changed much since 2006 when they went to the Superbowl, has much to do with it. Despite consisting of Kyle Orton and a hodge-podge of journeyman recievers, the offense has actually been decently consistent. A bright spot has been Matt Forte, who might have a shot at Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
No-hitter Alert
More complete Cubs thoughts in the near future, but for now congratulations to Carlos Zambrano for throwing the team's first no-hitter since Milt Pappas in 1972. Zambrano no-hit the Astros, and faced one over the minimum, allowing a hit by pitch and a walk that was negated by a double play. The game was played in Milwaukee after Hurricane Ike hit Houston this weekend, making this quite possibly the first "neutral site" no-hitter ever*.
*In truth, the crowd was mostly Cubs fans as you might expect.
*In truth, the crowd was mostly Cubs fans as you might expect.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
BEARS: Week 1 - Bears (0-0) at Colts (0-0)
I'm not as huge on the NFL as I am baseball (its not that I completely dislike it, but I prefer college for football) but hey, it's the Bears and I have nothing better to do, so let's talk about the Bears. It's been extremely hard for me to get excited for the season given their 7-9 record last year, the apparent lack of any semblance of a an offense, and a pretty mediocre preseason, but if there's a league where team's can suddenly make huge improvements out of nowhere its the NFL. So, let's see what happens.
7:26 CT: Lance Briggs already shaken up. Inauspicious start.
7:28: Manning throws one just out of the hands of whoever he was throwing to on 3rd & 13. Colts punt from their own territory, which I'm pretty sure makes that defensive series for the Bears better than any of the series the first team defense had in the preseason. Hester had a return of like 25-30 yards. Nice.
7:34: In absolutely shocking news the Bears went 3 and out on their first drive.
7:41: Urlacher just got flagged for breathing on Peyton Manning. Colts driving. Briggs seems to be fine.
7:56: 3-0 Colts as the Bears held them to a field goal.
7:57: MATT FORTE! 7-3 Bears after a touchdown run from Matt Forte from near midfield. Did Cedric Benson even have 50 yards in a game last season?
8:03: A minute ago they showed a graphic showing that Walter Payton had 8 carries for 0 yards in his first game prompting Al Michaels to say, "So Forte has already had a better beginning than Walter, good luck having a better ending." I know what he meant, but probably not the best way to phrase that given that, you know, he's dead. Madden hasn't said anything dumb yet almost 12 minutes into the first quarter which has to be some kind of a record.
8:09: Matt Forte looks really good.
END OF 1ST QUARTER
BEARS 7, COLTS 3
8:12: Madden says the whole NFL is devastated that Brady's out for the year. Watching the coverage of this is probably going to be brutal. ESPN will probably have a mock funeral for him.
8:14: Kyle Orton flying high with 2.4 yards per pass attempt so far.
8:16: I wonder if Sarah Palin is qualified to be commissioner of the More Taste League, apparently she's qualified to be vice president.
8:22: Colts get another field goal. 7-6 Bears. Defense doesn't look spectacular, but they're keeping them out of the endzone to this point.
8:27: The new Spike Lee joint Miracle at St. Anna looks really good.
8:33: Orton finds Dallas Clark on a 3 step drop for 19 yards on a passing play that looked, dare I say, good.
8:36: Robbie Gould hits a field goal to make it 10-6 Bears. Bears have 143 yards of offense thus far which is a downright huge output by Bears standards.
8:39: 1st Bears sack of the year is by rookie Marcus Harrison. And a safety on the next play! 12-6 Bears. Maybe the Bears got all the mistakes out in the preseason, as they say.
8:50: Inside 2 minutes in the first half Orton finds Marty Booker down the field. Into Colts territory again. I'm starting to dare to dream of a W in this one. Matt Forte is up to 97 yards.
8:52: There's 100 yards for Forte. Bears on the edge of field goal range right now. Orton got sacked which hurt them.
8:53: Orton finds Greg Olsen down the sideline! Arg, almost managed to get in for the score, btu the Bears have to spike it with 4 seconds left. Gould comes on and kicks another FG.
HALFTIME
BEARS 15, COLTS 6
9:09: Okay, Devin Hester is great at what he does, but he's not too bright. He tried to act as if he was going to take a knee, stand around in the endzone for a couple seconds, and then run out. Didn't work. Got tripped up at the 3.
9:16: Orton update: 7-14, 91 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 sack. Not horrible.
9:17: The ref just called "Prior to the snap, illegal contact." Uhh... what? Colts driving again.
9:20: TD Manning to Wayne. D: I must reiterate that Hester is dumb. Switched over to Jeff Joniack and Tom Thayer on the radio and they're just ripping him for it. 15-13 Bears.
9:26: Forte gets his 2nd reception and makes a guy miss after the catch. He's really fast. 1st Bear with 100+ yards in his debut, sez NBC. Bears outgaining the Colts by some 50 yards at the moment.
9:33: Argh, Bears have to punt it away after Orton has the ball stripped out of his hands and he has to fall on it. Probably a step up from what would've happened had Grossman been in there though.
9:36: PEANUT! BRIGGS! After a Marvin Harrison catch, Peanut Tillman strips the ball from him, Briggs picks it up and takes it in for 6. They're reviewing the play now. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be upheld. In the meantime I'm gonna watch Spiderman on Toon Disney. I don't remember this arc with Captain America.
9:40: UPHELD. 22-13 Bears. First big play from the Bears D this year. Getting big turnovers have been their MO since 2001, really. Too many commericals. Back to Spiderman.
9:45: Tom Thayer says the Colts are getting away with holding on Dusty Dvorchek.
9:47: Colts have used 2 timeouts in the 3rd. Could come back to bite them if the Bears can hold the lead until late.
END OF 3RD QUARTER
BEARS 22, COLTS 13
9:49: Nick Fury's in this Spiderman episode. This is pretty badass. Captain America just decked the Red Skull. I don't think I've heard Spiderman have a line of dialog let. This is like a Marvel crossover event in the guise of a Spiderman episode. Crap, Bears are back on. Reggie Wayne almost had a huge catch. Fortunately incomplete.
9:54: Colts going for it on 4th and 1 from midfield... STOPPED. Ogunleye destroyed Rhodes.
9:57: On 3rd and 2 with pressure coming, Orton finds Forte for a little dump off in the flat for the first down. Forte's doen everything he's had to. Nearly had another first down on the next play. Up near 120 yards now. 11:20 left to play...
10:01: 1st & Goal at the 2 after Orton finds Desmond Clark! Bears just ran a play out of the wishbone... that didn't work but.... next play Jason McKie finds the endzone. 29-13 Bears! If the Bears can do like 50% of what they've done tonight they'll actually have a pretty damn good season. I think the offense has actually outplayed the defense, though the defense certainly hasn't been bad at all. 8:56 to go.
10:13: Alex Brown sacks Manning, backing the Colts up after they meandered their way into Bears territory. Using a lot of flock though. About 5 minutes left.
10:14: Another 4th down attempt for the Colts, this is pretty much the game for them. No good! Manning's pass is low to some guy named Robinson who came in for Dallas Clark who got hurt. Bears ball with 4:19 to play.
10:17: Orton update: 13-21, 150 yards. Not gonna get anyone a huge fantasy performance (why would they start Orton anyway?), but certainly more than good enough on a night when Matt Forte was excellent.
10:22: Kevin Jones has 11 carries for 38 yards. Not bad.
10:29: Bears win!!
BEARS 29, COLTS 13
7:26 CT: Lance Briggs already shaken up. Inauspicious start.
7:28: Manning throws one just out of the hands of whoever he was throwing to on 3rd & 13. Colts punt from their own territory, which I'm pretty sure makes that defensive series for the Bears better than any of the series the first team defense had in the preseason. Hester had a return of like 25-30 yards. Nice.
7:34: In absolutely shocking news the Bears went 3 and out on their first drive.
7:41: Urlacher just got flagged for breathing on Peyton Manning. Colts driving. Briggs seems to be fine.
7:56: 3-0 Colts as the Bears held them to a field goal.
7:57: MATT FORTE! 7-3 Bears after a touchdown run from Matt Forte from near midfield. Did Cedric Benson even have 50 yards in a game last season?
8:03: A minute ago they showed a graphic showing that Walter Payton had 8 carries for 0 yards in his first game prompting Al Michaels to say, "So Forte has already had a better beginning than Walter, good luck having a better ending." I know what he meant, but probably not the best way to phrase that given that, you know, he's dead. Madden hasn't said anything dumb yet almost 12 minutes into the first quarter which has to be some kind of a record.
8:09: Matt Forte looks really good.
END OF 1ST QUARTER
BEARS 7, COLTS 3
8:12: Madden says the whole NFL is devastated that Brady's out for the year. Watching the coverage of this is probably going to be brutal. ESPN will probably have a mock funeral for him.
8:14: Kyle Orton flying high with 2.4 yards per pass attempt so far.
8:16: I wonder if Sarah Palin is qualified to be commissioner of the More Taste League, apparently she's qualified to be vice president.
8:22: Colts get another field goal. 7-6 Bears. Defense doesn't look spectacular, but they're keeping them out of the endzone to this point.
8:27: The new Spike Lee joint Miracle at St. Anna looks really good.
8:33: Orton finds Dallas Clark on a 3 step drop for 19 yards on a passing play that looked, dare I say, good.
8:36: Robbie Gould hits a field goal to make it 10-6 Bears. Bears have 143 yards of offense thus far which is a downright huge output by Bears standards.
8:39: 1st Bears sack of the year is by rookie Marcus Harrison. And a safety on the next play! 12-6 Bears. Maybe the Bears got all the mistakes out in the preseason, as they say.
8:50: Inside 2 minutes in the first half Orton finds Marty Booker down the field. Into Colts territory again. I'm starting to dare to dream of a W in this one. Matt Forte is up to 97 yards.
8:52: There's 100 yards for Forte. Bears on the edge of field goal range right now. Orton got sacked which hurt them.
8:53: Orton finds Greg Olsen down the sideline! Arg, almost managed to get in for the score, btu the Bears have to spike it with 4 seconds left. Gould comes on and kicks another FG.
HALFTIME
BEARS 15, COLTS 6
9:09: Okay, Devin Hester is great at what he does, but he's not too bright. He tried to act as if he was going to take a knee, stand around in the endzone for a couple seconds, and then run out. Didn't work. Got tripped up at the 3.
9:16: Orton update: 7-14, 91 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 sack. Not horrible.
9:17: The ref just called "Prior to the snap, illegal contact." Uhh... what? Colts driving again.
9:20: TD Manning to Wayne. D: I must reiterate that Hester is dumb. Switched over to Jeff Joniack and Tom Thayer on the radio and they're just ripping him for it. 15-13 Bears.
9:26: Forte gets his 2nd reception and makes a guy miss after the catch. He's really fast. 1st Bear with 100+ yards in his debut, sez NBC. Bears outgaining the Colts by some 50 yards at the moment.
9:33: Argh, Bears have to punt it away after Orton has the ball stripped out of his hands and he has to fall on it. Probably a step up from what would've happened had Grossman been in there though.
9:36: PEANUT! BRIGGS! After a Marvin Harrison catch, Peanut Tillman strips the ball from him, Briggs picks it up and takes it in for 6. They're reviewing the play now. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be upheld. In the meantime I'm gonna watch Spiderman on Toon Disney. I don't remember this arc with Captain America.
9:40: UPHELD. 22-13 Bears. First big play from the Bears D this year. Getting big turnovers have been their MO since 2001, really. Too many commericals. Back to Spiderman.
9:45: Tom Thayer says the Colts are getting away with holding on Dusty Dvorchek.
9:47: Colts have used 2 timeouts in the 3rd. Could come back to bite them if the Bears can hold the lead until late.
END OF 3RD QUARTER
BEARS 22, COLTS 13
9:49: Nick Fury's in this Spiderman episode. This is pretty badass. Captain America just decked the Red Skull. I don't think I've heard Spiderman have a line of dialog let. This is like a Marvel crossover event in the guise of a Spiderman episode. Crap, Bears are back on. Reggie Wayne almost had a huge catch. Fortunately incomplete.
9:54: Colts going for it on 4th and 1 from midfield... STOPPED. Ogunleye destroyed Rhodes.
9:57: On 3rd and 2 with pressure coming, Orton finds Forte for a little dump off in the flat for the first down. Forte's doen everything he's had to. Nearly had another first down on the next play. Up near 120 yards now. 11:20 left to play...
10:01: 1st & Goal at the 2 after Orton finds Desmond Clark! Bears just ran a play out of the wishbone... that didn't work but.... next play Jason McKie finds the endzone. 29-13 Bears! If the Bears can do like 50% of what they've done tonight they'll actually have a pretty damn good season. I think the offense has actually outplayed the defense, though the defense certainly hasn't been bad at all. 8:56 to go.
10:13: Alex Brown sacks Manning, backing the Colts up after they meandered their way into Bears territory. Using a lot of flock though. About 5 minutes left.
10:14: Another 4th down attempt for the Colts, this is pretty much the game for them. No good! Manning's pass is low to some guy named Robinson who came in for Dallas Clark who got hurt. Bears ball with 4:19 to play.
10:17: Orton update: 13-21, 150 yards. Not gonna get anyone a huge fantasy performance (why would they start Orton anyway?), but certainly more than good enough on a night when Matt Forte was excellent.
10:22: Kevin Jones has 11 carries for 38 yards. Not bad.
10:29: Bears win!!
BEARS 29, COLTS 13
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Batman Redux
The Dark Knight review that I started a long-ass time ago is finally completed. I don't know if I touched on everything there was to be touched on, but I touched on a lot. I haven't watched a new movie in a while now. I want to see Burn After Reading but that's still 10 days away. I'll see what I can fill up this blog with in the meantime. I never did review the end of Venture Brothers Season 2...
Mama Said There'd be Days Like These
The Cubs lost their 4th straight last night in 11 innings by a 9-7 score at home to the Astros. The 4 game losing streak ties their longest for the season. I haven't been paying much attention to sports radio as of late, but I'm going to venture a guess and say that a lot of Cubs fans are having Platoon style flashbacks of 1969 and are ready to jump off of a bridge. Meanwhile, however, the Brewers-- also losers in extra innings to the Mets last night--haven't really taken advantage of the Cubs' skid and still sit 4 1/2 back in the division. The Brewers themselves are maintaining a 4.5 game lead in the wild card. As much as people are going to play up the CUBS: Completely Useless by September and billy goat curse stuff, it really is nigh impossible for the Cubs to miss the playoffs. For the rest of the regular season there's no cause for alarm. Quote that. Bookmark that. Whatever. I'm quite confident in that.
Of actual cause for concern may be the health of Carlos Zambrano, who left after 5 innings and 86 pitches last night. Z had already been pushed back two days on what was initially just called a tired arm, but now it appears that a real physical problem is there. Zambrano was to see the doctor today, and to my knowledge there hasn't been any news yet on his prognosis. Lou, as you might expect, has been pretty matter-of-fact about it, but that's likely to do little to ease the worry of neurotic Cubs fans everywhere. As amazing as their offense has been, the prospect of a playoff rotation of Zambrano/Harden/Dempster or some combination thereof is perhaps the best thing the Cubs have going for them heading into the postseason. If Zambrano's injury is serious, it would certainly make the road to the World Series significantly tougher.
Bob Howry was awful last night, facing five batters and retiring none of them. He left several pitches out over the plate that got absolutely smoked into the outfield. The outing ballooned his ERA to 5.63, and its an even worse 8.50 after the All-Star break. Michael Wuertz, who was demoted earlier in the year, is back up with the September call-ups and has already pitched twice. I would personally much rather see Wuertz on the playoff roster than Howry, who just doesn't seem to have it this year.
Amidst the doom and gloom (at least relative to how the rest of the Cubs' best season since at least 1984 has gone to this point) there are still some individual guys performing well. Mark DeRosa homered again and got his 80th RBI on the year, and Geovany Soto homered as part of a 3-hit game as he continues to solidify his Rookie of the Year resume.
Of actual cause for concern may be the health of Carlos Zambrano, who left after 5 innings and 86 pitches last night. Z had already been pushed back two days on what was initially just called a tired arm, but now it appears that a real physical problem is there. Zambrano was to see the doctor today, and to my knowledge there hasn't been any news yet on his prognosis. Lou, as you might expect, has been pretty matter-of-fact about it, but that's likely to do little to ease the worry of neurotic Cubs fans everywhere. As amazing as their offense has been, the prospect of a playoff rotation of Zambrano/Harden/Dempster or some combination thereof is perhaps the best thing the Cubs have going for them heading into the postseason. If Zambrano's injury is serious, it would certainly make the road to the World Series significantly tougher.
Bob Howry was awful last night, facing five batters and retiring none of them. He left several pitches out over the plate that got absolutely smoked into the outfield. The outing ballooned his ERA to 5.63, and its an even worse 8.50 after the All-Star break. Michael Wuertz, who was demoted earlier in the year, is back up with the September call-ups and has already pitched twice. I would personally much rather see Wuertz on the playoff roster than Howry, who just doesn't seem to have it this year.
Amidst the doom and gloom (at least relative to how the rest of the Cubs' best season since at least 1984 has gone to this point) there are still some individual guys performing well. Mark DeRosa homered again and got his 80th RBI on the year, and Geovany Soto homered as part of a 3-hit game as he continues to solidify his Rookie of the Year resume.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)