Brewers-Cubs NLDS Game Two Thread

[Frisbee Slider]

I trust @Brock Beauchamp and team will make a fancier version. Until then:

Shota Imanaga has a career ERA of 5.73 and 1-3 record in 22 IP against Milwaukee.  Imanaga allowed at least 3 earned runs in each of his final six regular season starts. Shota allowed 2 ER over 4 IP in the game two loss against San Diego.

Neither team officially announced a starter for tomorrow. Maybe Counsell plans to bullpen?

I assume the Cubs lineup will be identical to how it has been throughout the postseason.

[82brewcrew82]

I think the Cubs have to go to Imanaga.  That is a result of going with Boyd in game one and losing anyway, it put them in a box.  Not sure I'm bold enough to predict another trouncing but the advantage lies on the Brewers side despite some suggestions of the opposite.  I have a feeling the Brewers go with Quintana.

[Frisbee Slider]

8 minutes ago, 82brewcrew82 said:

I have a feeling the Brewers go with Quintana.

Let Priester benefit from the home crowd. Quintana will be fine on the road. My thought.

Goodness, we can also string together multiple two inning appearances from anyone on the staff in game three, too.

[liveforoctober]

25 minutes ago, 82brewcrew82 said:

I have a feeling the Brewers go with Quintana.

Quintana has a ton of experience in Wrigley and in the playoffs. If we have a starter who won't be phased in a hostile environment... it is him. Priester's first taste of the playoffs, give him the home crowd. We shouldn't overthink this one IMO.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I would be SHOCKED (and think it's the wrong choice) if Q goes tomorrow. Ground ball pitcher at home against an offense fueled by homers? No brainer. Doubly so when it's a guy who has been as good as Quinn.

[bm1090]

27 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

I would be SHOCKED (and think it's the wrong choice) if Q goes tomorrow. Ground ball pitcher at home against an offense fueled by homers? No brainer. Doubly so when it's a guy who has been as good as Quinn.

Completely agree. Anything different would feel like overthinking.

[markedman5]

Confirmed 

 

[RobertCrawley]

2 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

I trust @Brock Beauchamp and team will make a fancier version. Until then:

Shota Imanaga has a career ERA of 5.73 and 1-3 record in 22 IP against Milwaukee.  Imanaga allowed at least 3 earned runs in each of his final six regular season starts. Shota allowed 2 ER over 4 IP in the game two loss against San Diego.

Neither team officially announced a starter for tomorrow. Maybe Counsell plans to bullpen?

I assume the Cubs lineup will be identical to how it has been throughout the postseason.

Imanaga had a good outing the last time he faced the crew. He gave up 2 runs on three hits through 7 innings. We'll need to be better if he throws tomorrow.

 

 

[markedman5]

 

[markedman5]

 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Just now, markedman5 said:

 

Hadn't thought of that, but Priester's had openers before, so I'd imagine that's the plan. Ashby for 1-2, then Quinn.

[82brewcrew82]

8 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

 

I'm guessing he won't start tomorrow either way, but who knows.

[hoosier]

Assuming no Chourio tomorrow, I would almost rather see Yelich in LF and Jansen at DH instead of Collins starting in left. Collins is a little better from left side, Jansen's been hitting of late and Collins has not. Only thing that suffers a little with that model is LF defense, but it's not a huge difference. 

[Patrick425]

48 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

 

At this point its hard to argue with the probable 2 time manager of the year. However,  I'm not sure I understand this. Priester has had an opener before, but for the most part he has just been starting games and the Brewers have had a lot of success in his starts. Why fix something that is not broken.

Also, did not understand the comments at all about maybe Quintana starting tomorrow. I'm very glad that is not the case. Why would you "save" Priester for game 3? Let just focus on game 2 and set it up to put the Cubs backs to the wall down 2-0.  If we don't win tomorrow, then basically the Cubs will have the home field advantage in what becomes a best of 3 series. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I think, if you're going to use an opener, do it at home. That top of the 1st matters a lot. And, look, maybe Ashby struggles. But you've got trust in him, and it's not a totally new thing for Priester. If Ashby struggles, you got a lot of game to make it up, and Priester can still throw for a while. If Ashby is good, suddenly you might only need to cover 22 or 24 outs instead of 27.

Seems like a good gamble.

[markedman5]

3 minutes ago, Patrick425 said:

At this point its hard to argue with the probable 2 time manager of the year. However,  I'm not sure I understand this. Priester has had an opener before, but for the most part he has just been starting games and the Brewers have had a lot of success in his starts. Why fix something that is not broken.

Also, did not understand the comments at all about maybe Quintana starting tomorrow. I'm very glad that is not the case. Why would you "save" Priester for game 3? Let just focus on game 2 and set it up to put the Cubs backs to the wall down 2-0.  If we don't win tomorrow, then basically the Cubs will have the home field advantage in what becomes a best of 3 series. 

My guess is they want to take away him having to face the top of the order an extra time……. Ashby is a much better matchup against Busch, Tucker etc.

When they have used an opener for him it’s been against left handed hitting heavy top of the order lineups……like the Phillies.

[Patrick425]

4 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

I think, if you're going to use an opener, do it at home. That top of the 1st matters a lot. And, look, maybe Ashby struggles. But you've got trust in him, and it's not a totally new thing for Priester. If Ashby struggles, you got a lot of game to make it up, and Priester can still throw for a while. If Ashby is good, suddenly you might only need to cover 22 or 24 outs instead of 27.

Seems like a good gamble.

 

3 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

My guess is they want to take away him having to face the top of the order an extra time……. Ashby is a much better matchup against Busch, Tucker etc.

When they have used an opener for him it’s been against left handed hitting heavy top of the order lineups……like the Phillies.

Good points. There are definitely arguments to be made to do this. In Murph we trust I guess!

[TURBO]

10 minutes ago, Patrick425 said:

At this point its hard to argue with the probable 2 time manager of the year. However,  I'm not sure I understand this. Priester has had an opener before, but for the most part he has just been starting games and the Brewers have had a lot of success in his starts. Why fix something that is not broken.

Also, did not understand the comments at all about maybe Quintana starting tomorrow. I'm very glad that is not the case. Why would you "save" Priester for game 3? Let just focus on game 2 and set it up to put the Cubs backs to the wall down 2-0.  If we don't win tomorrow, then basically the Cubs will have the home field advantage in what becomes a best of 3 series. 

Agreed, I don't know why the playoffs is a time to try new stuff, and this seems like it could backfire.  It's like Counsell starting Boyd on 3 days rest, how did that work out?

I'd start Priester, then go to Ashby if necessary later.

I don't like messing with what has got us here.  I want nothing more than to be wrong, but this just seems like Murphy is doing something different just to be doing something different.

[Patrick425]

I was at game 1 and will be there tomorrow as well. I didn't look at the game thread from Game 1, and I'm assuming some of this was discussed in that thread.

- I've seen a lot of discussion back and forth about SSHs that choose to sell tickets to these games. Back in 2008 and 2011 I did sell tickets to a few games. I know that is a bit different than selling tix to playoff games vs the Cubs. However, I'm not going to totally fault any SSH that does this. The price of the entire strip is more than double the total cost of a 20 game SSH package. Everyone has different financial situations.  Just because you are a SSH does not mean you are "rich".  My situation is a bit better now than it was 10-15 years ago. My wife and I now a dual income empty-nesters. So, at this point we can swallow the cost of these tix a little better without having to subsidize the package by selling tix to some games. 

- Having said that, It appeared that the crowd was no more than 15% Cubs fans (20% at the most).  As someone predicted in a different thread, post season games will not be as infiltrated with Cubs fans as much as regular season games for various reasons. This definitely seems to be the case. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

6 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Agreed, I don't know why the playoffs is a time to try new stuff, and this seems like it could backfire.  It's like Counsell starting Boyd on 3 days rest, how did that work out?

I'd start Priester, then go to Ashby if necessary later.

I don't like messing with what has got us here.  I want nothing more than to be wrong, but this just seems like Murphy is doing something different just to be doing something different.

I think CC starting Boyd yesterday was really different. That move involved a guy doubly out of his routine, going on three days rest AND having warmed up in the bullpen just the two days before. Plus, the Cubs had TWO guys, in Rea and Asad who had both pitched awfully well at times this year AND an overworked bullpen. Truthfully, the Cubs could've started Rea, had Asad back him up, and lost the game, and then had Imanaga/Boyd in whatever order you wanted on full rest. And Boyd had struggled against the Brewers this year. The only good thing about it (from the Cubs perspective) was allowing for Boyd/Imanaga to start 4 of the 5 games. It's pretty obvious those are the guys CC trusts most right now.

I think this decision has more logic behind it, especially because it isn't out of Priester's routine. I also imagine it's something they've been discussing quite a bit. 

Now, if Priester ends up NOT being the bulk guy after Ashby, that'll be something I second-guess (unless it's like 6-0 Cubs or something). This should be his game as much as possible.

Is it a gamble? Yup. But at least this one has a payoff. The Boyd decision really didn't. The only good thing about it (from the Cubs perspective) was allowing for Boyd/Imanaga to start 4 of the 5 games. But now there's no way the Brewers will be intimidated by Boyd in Game 4, and I imagine there will be pressure for a quick hook. Of course, he could come back and dominate. It's baseball. But Boyd was CC really, really trying "new stuff." Ashby opener for Priester isn't "new stuff" at all. It's a risk. But one you can justify pretty easily.

[Patrick425]

I would also hope that if a game 4 and 5 are necessary, that it would be Peralta in game 4 and Priester in game 5. It would be normal rest for both of them. Anything other than that would be very frustrating to me. On top of that, Peralta pitching Thursday instead of Saturday would make him available by at least game 2 in the next series (instead of not being available until possibly game 3) 

[yfinn6]

Interesting discussion regarding Ashby. He's really been throwing well lately with great stuff and it may have been a plan for him to be more involved in the playoffs, I'm not sure. I do like the idea of getting through the lineup and lefties one time before Priester comes in with a completely different look and potentially the ability to almost finish the game off, if things go to plan. Big IF.

 

[Team Canada]

39 minutes ago, Patrick425 said:

I would also hope that if a game 4 and 5 are necessary, that it would be Peralta in game 4 and Priester in game 5. It would be normal rest for both of them. Anything other than that would be very frustrating to me. On top of that, Peralta pitching Thursday instead of Saturday would make him available by at least game 2 in the next series (instead of not being available until possibly game 3) 

Yeah, I doubt Q was considered for game 2 for that reason. You want Priester pitching 2 games in this series if necessary. Starting with Ashby makes sense with some of the lefties they have. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

4 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

I trust @Brock Beauchamp and team will make a fancier version. Until then:

Shota Imanaga has a career ERA of 5.73 and 1-3 record in 22 IP against Milwaukee.  Imanaga allowed at least 3 earned runs in each of his final six regular season starts. Shota allowed 2 ER over 4 IP in the game two loss against San Diego.

Neither team officially announced a starter for tomorrow. Maybe Counsell plans to bullpen?

I assume the Cubs lineup will be identical to how it has been throughout the postseason.

I may try something different this time around, creating an article and then linking to this in it. I'm experimenting with different approaches, not sure what I like best.

[willie key]

This opener crap better work