Brewers at Cubs -- Monday, August 18 @ 1:20 p.m.: Freddy Peralta (2.90 ERA, 3.74 FIP) vs. Cade Horton (3.07 ERA, 3.74 FIP)

[treego14]

[treego14]

Their FIP's are even ...

BUT 

Cubs only win if the umps are thieve-en !!!

[crossface2311]

Get the 1st game. Then the pressure is on the Cubs. Only gotta win 1 of the next 4 and everything is good. Obviously anything more than that would be fantastic. 

 

[HarveysWBs]

This series is pretty simple. The goal is #1, health, and #2, stomp out any remaining embers of hope the Cubs have of winning the division.

To that end, the following results would be:

- 0 or 1 wins, unacceptable

- 2 or 3 wins, passable

- 4 or 5 wins, outstanding

I would prefer no fewer than 3 wins, of course, as winning the single and season series and a nine game lead would be a nice nail in the coffin with only about a month left. To that end, it starts with getting at least a split of the doubleheader, and it might as well start in game one.

Let’s go get ‘em.

[BruisedCrew]

Based on weather forecasts today’s games could be threatened by thunderstorms, especially starting later this afternoon. 

[Frisbee Slider]

Horton has pitched very well lately. 1 ER allowed over last 28.1 IP.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

2 hours ago, BruisedCrew said:

Based on weather forecasts today’s games could be threatened by thunderstorms, especially starting later this afternoon. 

Came here to say this... the silver lining (if there is one), is that we have three more days with the Cubs... so we could end up with back to back double headers Tuesday and Wednesday.  A day of rest today wouldn't hurt, though that makes the next two days a bit hairy

[Brian]

7 minutes ago, TwinsBrewersWorldSeries said:

Came here to say this... the silver lining (if there is one), is that we have three more days with the Cubs... so we could end up with back to back double headers Tuesday and Wednesday.  A day of rest today wouldn't hurt, though that makes the next two days a bit hairy

I think we will get in the early first game but the second one looks a little dicey. 

[adambr2]

just some perspective that even after the loss yesterday, the reactions here really weren’t that bad or over the top.

[liveforoctober]

3 hours ago, BruisedCrew said:

Based on weather forecasts today’s games could be threatened by thunderstorms, especially starting later this afternoon. 

Random thought, do we know the rules if we play Gm 1 and get rained out in Gm 2 and try again tomorrow for a double header in terms of the extra pitcher? Does it have the be the same guy or can we bring up a new arm tomorrow?

I don't want to get too cute but wonder if we should throw Patrick in the first game and then swap him with another bullpen arm if GM2 were to get rained on. I am pretty sure Henderson is eligible to come off the IL tomorrow?

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

1 minute ago, liveforoctober said:

Random thought, do we know the rules if we play Gm 1 and get rained out in Gm 2 and try again tomorrow for a double header in terms of the extra pitcher? Does it have the be the same guy or can we bring up a new arm tomorrow?

I don't want to get too cute but wonder if we should throw Patrick in the first game and then swap him with another bullpen arm if GM2 were to get rained on. I am pretty sure Henderson is eligible to come off the IL tomorrow?

Going to guess they'll try quite hard to get both games in today. Most likely outcome is probably a lightish but consistent rain starting mid-afternoon. With night games Tuesday/Wednesday, I would think they'd be okay playing into the night tonight. 

Not sure if folks saw Counsell claiming to have never seen a George Webb restaurant (https://www.si.com/mlb/brewers-fans-reporters-catch-craig-counsell-lying-about-teams-burger-promotion), but I think there's a great marketing opportunity to deliver a whole platter of burgers to the home clubhouse on Wednesday.

[BruisedCrew]

I don’t know the rule but my guess is that the second day would be a separate event so the second day could be a different player.

Whatever the rule is I would want Peralta in the first game if it looks like the rain will be later. 
 

The last thing you want is to have the second game start and be subject to long delays and end up wasting Peralta after just a few innings 

[liveforoctober]

1 minute ago, BruisedCrew said:

I don’t know the rule but my guess is that the second day would be a separate event so the second day could be a different player.

Whatever the rule is I would want Peralta in the first game if it looks like the rain will be later. 
 

The last thing you want is to have the second game start and be subject to long delays and end up wasting Peralta after just a few innings 

This is a great point. If it happens and we get a new arm tomorrow... might as well let it be Patrick who gets yanked around a little. I didn't think about the up and down aspect of Gm2.

[treego14]

Oh, oh ... Wrigley Field forecast for Monday ...

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Will be nice to see Collins back. And appears that Patrick is getting the spot start in game #2 today. Hoping he can give the team 5 solid innings.

 

[dlk9s]

My cousin reports that she saw a sliver of sun in Chicago, so the Cubs should probably call the game off right now.

[willie key]

I will check back in on Friday and you can let me know what happens this week

this won’t be a fun a series if we don’t win a game or two right off the bat 

 

[Bulldogboy]

Collins back helps. Black has looked better so sorry to see him go. Rather see him instead of Siegler who hasn't shown anything really. 

[dlk9s]

So much angst among the Brewers fandom about winning a game in this series. Last I checked, the Cubs are the ones who are 8 games back and the Brewers are the ones who have the best record in baseball and are coming off a 14-game winning streak.

[BuckyBrewer61]

12 hours ago, HarveysWBs said:

This series is pretty simple. The goal is #1, health, and #2, stomp out any remaining embers of hope the Cubs have of winning the division.

To that end, the following results would be:

- 0 or 1 wins, unacceptable

- 2 or 3 wins, passable

- 4 or 5 wins, outstanding

I would prefer no fewer than 3 wins, of course, as winning the single and season series and a nine game lead would be a nice nail in the coffin with only about a month left. To that end, it starts with getting at least a split of the doubleheader, and it might as well start in game one.

Let’s go get ‘em.

I'd argue it's more:

0 wins:  Bad and the only "unacceptable" outcome

1 win:  Bummer...but even 1 win leaves us squarely in the driver's seat for the division going forwards (would still be 5 games up).

2 wins:  Unsatisfying...but should still be enough to all but close out the division (7 games up with 34 to play)

3+ wins:  Starting printing the division championship gear

[HarveysWBs]

10 minutes ago, BuckyBrewer61 said:

I'd argue it's more:

0 wins:  Bad and the only "unacceptable" outcome

1 win:  Bummer...but even 1 win leaves us squarely in the driver's seat for the division going forwards (would still be 5 games up).

2 wins:  Unsatisfying...but should still be enough to all but close out the division (7 games up with 34 to play)

3+ wins:  Starting printing the division championship gear

Mathematically, I won’t quibble with you. I live in Cub (and Cardinals) country, however, so my taste trends more towards the Conan the Barbarian approach to playing one’s rivals.

[duewizard]

35 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

Collins back helps. Black has looked better so sorry to see him go. Rather see him instead of Siegler who hasn't shown anything really. 

Siegler is only here because of the insane defensive versatility. The bat doesnt seem to play in the majors, which is a shame because he was mashing in Nashville

[liveforoctober]

41 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

Collins back helps. Black has looked better so sorry to see him go. Rather see him instead of Siegler who hasn't shown anything really. 

In the last week Siegler has come to the plate 15 times and has reached base safely in 8 of those trips.

[Jim French Stepstool]

What I'm looking at this week is Yelich. How often do we get the hit-three-balls-hard Yelich, as opposed to the swing-at-any-breaking-ball-no-matter-where-it's-located-and-be-behind-on-fastballs Yelich? Seems lately it's one or the other. It's looking like he can be entrenched in the DH role now as we get back closer to full strength, which is good.

 

[BruisedCrew]

15 hours ago, HarveysWBs said:

This series is pretty simple. The goal is #1, health, and #2, stomp out any remaining embers of hope the Cubs have of winning the division.

To that end, the following results would be:

- 0 or 1 wins, unacceptable

- 2 or 3 wins, passable

- 4 or 5 wins, outstanding

I would prefer no fewer than 3 wins, of course, as winning the single and season series and a nine game lead would be a nice nail in the coffin with only about a month left. To that end, it starts with getting at least a split of the doubleheader, and it might as well start in game one.

Let’s go get ‘em.

I'd go at it differently.

For one thing, I wouldn't use the word "unacceptable" because whatever happens we'll have to accept it,and move on.

I would say:

5-0: so incredible coming on the heels of the 14 game winning streak that I would really wonder if this is all real

4-1: Exceptional

3-2: Excellent. Pick up a game, win the season series, and leave the Cubs with no more head to head opportunities.

2-3: OK, but missing a chance to put the Cubs in a huge hole.

1-4. Concerned A 5 game lead with 34 games left sounds good, but you don't want to get there by losing 4 games off your lead in 5 days. A reminder that the Brewers hot streak is over and there is a lot of season left.

0-5; Alarm. the appearance of a historic collapse in progress. It would present a major challenge to the confidence shown by this relatively inexperienced team.

As always, win one first then go from there to knock the worst case scenarios off the table.