2018-09-08: Giants (Stratton) at Brewers (Gonzalez) 6:10 PM CDT [Brewers win, 4-3]

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Well, we ALMOST made it through an entire IGT without a snarky "I told you so" post.

 

It was a great night in the IGT nonetheless.

 

And I know that his post is directed at me, and I don't care. It's really nice that my faith in the team throughout the bumps is being rewarded right now. I haven't been right often when it comes to this team this year, so that's my win

[pacopete4]

My post wasn’t towards anyone. I promise that.

[82brewcrew82]

I think I used nonetheless right. So that’s a win.

You won with the Gonzalez thread. I can't top that.

[82brewcrew82]

Nats making it a game. Frustrating that Washington DC is considered my "home territory".

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Nats making it a game. Frustrating that Washington DC is considered my "home territory".

 

It's nice seeing Hamels finally get knocked around a little bit. Having these weather issues has to be rough on the Cubs right now. Started the game, only to have a rainout last night, followed by playing a doubleheader with several weather delays today, and the chance for more bad weather tomorrow. The Brewers will likely get a pretty weary team when they get to Chicago on Monday. The key is taking advantage.

[wibadgers23]

What a disaster for St Louis - losing back to back walk-offs to Detroit. I absolutely love it.

[Fear The Chorizo]

What a disaster for St Louis - losing back to back walk-offs to Detroit. I absolutely love it.

 

I just looked at their remaining schedule - talk about a tough road...

 

13 of their remaining 20 come against the Dodgers, Braves, Brewers, and Cubs. They've been hot overall, no question - but actually are scuffling in Sept at 2-5 thus far.

 

Cubs up 5-3 and getting late, but 9 outs is a long way to go...

 

Edit, 5-4 now, and by the looks of it Maddon is well on his way to having to empty out the whole reliable portion of his bullpen again to crawl out of there with a W.

[82brewcrew82]

Nats go up on the Cubs with a Harper home run.

[82brewcrew82]

This is an interesting dichotomy. Maddon is essentially doing the anti-Counsell in that he is using his primary relief pitchers as often as possible but using them for shorter stints. It seems that the Cubs pen is the one that is wearing down. One of you numbers guys can verify that but that seems to be what is happening.

[homer]

Nats go up on the Cubs with a Harper home run.

 

 

Woo hoo! Almost feels like we should have a separate IGT for all non-brewer games as we move into the stretch run. Thoughts on that?

[82brewcrew82]

Nats go up on the Cubs with a Harper home run.

 

 

Woo hoo! Almost feels like we should have a separate IGT for all non-brewer games as we move into the stretch run. Thoughts on that?

I approve!

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Nats go up on the Cubs with a Harper home run.

 

 

Woo hoo! Almost feels like we should have a separate IGT for all non-brewer games as we move into the stretch run. Thoughts on that?

 

For sure. I wish MLB Network was showing Cubs/Nats instead of this boring Yankees/mariners game.

[Fear The Chorizo]

This is an interesting dichotomy. Maddon is essentially doing the anti-Counsell in that he is using his primary relief pitchers as often as possible but using them for shorter stints. It seems that the Cubs pen is the one that is wearing down. One of you numbers guys can verify that but that seems to be what is happening.

 

Regardless of how it gets managed, when you basically have to play everyday for a month straight due to early season rainouts your pen is going to suffer at the end of it. That's what the Cubs are dealing with now. Not getting Morrow back really has gassed the group of arms the Cubs rely on to lock down games. They've been able to slug their way to a few wins and get some solid starting pitching overall during this stretch, otherwise the division race would already be a toss-up between the Cubs and Brewers at this point.

 

Just not having a day off where a team doesn't have to even show up to the park and think about picking up a baseball makes a huge difference.

[brewmann04]

Just win another series win guys this is fun

[brewmann04]

nice start by Gio tonight pleasant to see.

[mtrebs]

It’d really be great to finally get a sweep tomorrow, which has seemed to elude the Crew for most of the season.

[adambr2]

Hahaha Nats and Cubs in another rain delay. How about another 3 hour delay then just call it for the Nats?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Hahaha Nats and Cubs in another rain delay. How about another 3 hour delay then just call it for the Nats?

 

Followed by a Nats 5-4 win in 16 innings tomorrow

[82brewcrew82]

This is an interesting dichotomy. Maddon is essentially doing the anti-Counsell in that he is using his primary relief pitchers as often as possible but using them for shorter stints. It seems that the Cubs pen is the one that is wearing down. One of you numbers guys can verify that but that seems to be what is happening.

 

Regardless of how it gets managed, when you basically have to play everyday for a month straight due to early season rainouts your pen is going to suffer at the end of it. That's what the Cubs are dealing with now. Not getting Morrow back really has gassed the group of arms the Cubs rely on to lock down games. They've been able to slug their way to a few wins and get some solid starting pitching overall during this stretch, otherwise the division race would already be a toss-up between the Cubs and Brewers at this point.

 

Just not having a day off where a team doesn't have to even show up to the park and think about picking up a baseball makes a huge difference.

I see your point but I'm not sure I'm buying that theory given that rosters have been expanded for over a week now.

[KeithStone53151]

What a disaster for St Louis - losing back to back walk-offs to Detroit. I absolutely love it.

 

I just looked at their remaining schedule - talk about a tough road...

 

13 of their remaining 20 come against the Dodgers, Braves, Brewers, and Cubs. They've been hot overall, no question - but actually are scuffling in Sept at 2-5 thus far.

 

Cubs up 5-3 and getting late, but 9 outs is a long way to go...

 

Edit, 5-4 now, and by the looks of it Maddon is well on his way to having to empty out the whole reliable portion of his bullpen again to crawl out of there with a W.

 

Hang on, the cubs currently have reliable bullpen pitchers? Did you intend that to be in blue?

[KeithStone53151]

This is an interesting dichotomy. Maddon is essentially doing the anti-Counsell in that he is using his primary relief pitchers as often as possible but using them for shorter stints. It seems that the Cubs pen is the one that is wearing down. One of you numbers guys can verify that but that seems to be what is happening.

 

Regardless of how it gets managed, when you basically have to play everyday for a month straight due to early season rainouts your pen is going to suffer at the end of it. That's what the Cubs are dealing with now. Not getting Morrow back really has gassed the group of arms the Cubs rely on to lock down games. They've been able to slug their way to a few wins and get some solid starting pitching overall during this stretch, otherwise the division race would already be a toss-up between the Cubs and Brewers at this point.

 

Just not having a day off where a team doesn't have to even show up to the park and think about picking up a baseball makes a huge difference.

I see your point but I'm not sure I'm buying that theory given that rosters have been expanded for over a week now.

 

Honestly the cubs are just having a rough week or 2. Some of their best pitchers are losing command and the offense stagnated a bit. Also many of their aaa nobodies with average at best stuff finally stopped inexplicably posting good results. Injuries have hurt for sure but their list of injuries is no worse than average compared to everyone else. I'll also remind that they played garbage teams for a full month.

 

I do fully expect once maddon can get guys some rest they'll bounce back. I wouldn't be surprised if they split the first 2 games with us, that maddon punts game 3 by giving many regulars 2 full days of rest with the Thursday offday. Would be a wise move. Theoretically take 1step back to take 2 steps forward.

[82brewcrew82]

Maddon isn't punting anything against us.

[Fear The Chorizo]

They actually might just call tonight's game after 8 innings - rain starting to build again and it looks like if they can't get back on the field in the next hour, they won't be able to for a long while.

 

Tomorrow looks bleak for them to even get their game started. It would be pretty cool for MLB to schedule a possible makeup game for this coming Thursday - both the Cubs and Nats are supposed to be off, and it could line up nicely with Scherzer's next turn in the rotation if the Nats so choose.

[82brewcrew82]

They actually might just call tonight's game after 8 innings - rain starting to build again and it looks like if they can't get back on the field in the next hour, they won't be able to for a long while.

 

Tomorrow looks bleak for them to even get their game started. It would be pretty cool for MLB to schedule a possible makeup game for this coming Thursday - both the Cubs and Nats are supposed to be off, and it could line up nicely with Scherzer's next turn in the rotation if the Nats so choose.

Works for me.

[Fear The Chorizo]

This is an interesting dichotomy. Maddon is essentially doing the anti-Counsell in that he is using his primary relief pitchers as often as possible but using them for shorter stints. It seems that the Cubs pen is the one that is wearing down. One of you numbers guys can verify that but that seems to be what is happening.

 

Regardless of how it gets managed, when you basically have to play everyday for a month straight due to early season rainouts your pen is going to suffer at the end of it. That's what the Cubs are dealing with now. Not getting Morrow back really has gassed the group of arms the Cubs rely on to lock down games. They've been able to slug their way to a few wins and get some solid starting pitching overall during this stretch, otherwise the division race would already be a toss-up between the Cubs and Brewers at this point.

 

Just not having a day off where a team doesn't have to even show up to the park and think about picking up a baseball makes a huge difference.

I see your point but I'm not sure I'm buying that theory given that rosters have been expanded for over a week now.

 

That's true, but the extra arms that they brought up have basically pitched in only two games - the 11-1 Brewer blowout and today's 10-3 drubbing against Scherzer. The other games in September have largely been close wins or losses for the Cubs. Heck, even the 8-1 and 7-1 Cub wins against the Phils saw Wilson, Chavez, Rosario, and Kintzler pitching in them.