Game 149 Thread / Brewers @ Cubs (1 of 3)

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:03 pm

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SP *C.C. Sabathia
 SP Ryan Dempster
(NL)
 9-0, 1.59, 102 K, 21 BB, 102 IP
15-6, 3.02, 173 K, 74 BB, 190.2 IP
       
CF
 Mike Cameron
 LF
 Alfonso Soriano
2B
 #Ray Durham SS Ryan Theriot
3B Ryan Braun 1B
 Derrek Lee
1B *Prince Fielder
 3B
 Aramis Ramirez
SS
 J.J Hardy
 C Geovany Soto
RF Corey Hart RF Mark DeRosa
3B *Craig Counsell
 CF Reed Johnson
C
 Jason Kendall
 2B Ronny Cedeno
P *C.C. Sabathia
 P Ryan Dempster

 

The last homestand of the regular season and the Cubs will be looking to clinch a spot in the playoffs in front of their home fans and secure their second straight division crown. Dempster goes tonight hoping to take sole possession of the Cubs win lead over Ted Lilly, who tied him yesterday with 15 (Zambrano has 14).

New Brewers manager Dale Sveum leads the troops into Wrigley and will get to send Sabathia and Sheets in the first two games. That should make him look like a geniuis. Sabathia has started 13 games for the Brewers, all good enough to be considered quality starts. The Cubs though are 28-14 versus lefties this year and 14-5 at home. My, how times have changed for our Cubs.

As I mentioned earlier, if the Cubs sweep the Brewers, they'll need the Marlins to win at least one versus the Astros over the next  3 games to clinch. If they can take two out of three, that'll give them the weekend to finish the job before they have to head out on the road again.

Tags
Ryan Dempster
Gameday Open Thread

Comments

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:56 pm

Cheers to Rob G the only one smart enough to know that Astros need to lose also for Cubs to clinch. Jeers to all Chicago media who believe a sweep alone wins the division.

Submitted by George Altman on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:29 pm

This may be a stupid question, but if the Brewers don't make the wild card and Mets/Phillies join the Cubs/Dodgers do the Cubs play the NL East wild card in the NLDS?

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:59 am

The rule makes sure that two teams from the same division don't have to play eachother until the championship series. Here's why that is a good idea: Those teams quite often play themselves at end of the season (MLB schedule makers try to make that happen, at least). You want the Cubs to end the season with 3 at Milwaukee, to then play 5 more versus Milwaukee? Say you have a division that's top two heavy, and the bottom is crap, sort of like how the AL East has been over the last 10 years, and other division where winner comes out of a dogfight of a bunch of 90 win teams. Or this year, he two best teams in the league are in the same division but some other team has a cakewalk through their crappy division (Red Sox, Rays, Angels), the Red Sox or Rays would get punished by having to play eachother in the first round.

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Submitted by Doug Dascenzo on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:55 am

I think we should go back to just having an NL East and NL West. Make the schedule unbalanced in terms of East/West so we get more games against more teams, rather 500 series against the Pirates. Then take the top two teams from each division and re-seed according to record for the playoffs. Personally, I'm sick of the NL Central. It sucks that we have more teams than the other divisions, and I'm sick of playing the Pirates and Reds 36 times a year (despite padding our record). The Cardinals and Brewers are both nice rivalries, but it would be nice to establish/renew some new/old ones as well. Also, it's not like the travel schedule would be much different considering every team in the East is at most a 2.5 hour flight away.

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:26 pm

Howry booed off the field again. Since the trade Eyre has 11 IP and a 1.64 ERA, in 10.2 IP Howry has a 6.75 ERA. I'm not sure there is even a reason to put him on the playoff roster at this point.

Submitted by CA-Phil on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:50 pm

From Rob Neyer's Chat Today: Josh DC: Clearly the Cubs are the favorites in the NL right now, but who do you like to challenge them in October? Dodgers? Mets? Phillies? Brewers? What will be their biggest obstacle? Rob Neyer: Rich Harden's body. If that doesn't get in their way, the Cubs may breeze into the World Series Ok, we now know who to blame if we don't get there...

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:04 am

best thing besides the win tonight was handing CC what will likely be his only lost of the season. Although kind of a BS loss when he gives up 3 runs but his team scores 4. Yes, I know the rule, but just one of the many reasons that W-L totals for pitchers are sketchy.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:39 am

Well the season isn't over yet, but the thing that makes them 'slam dunks' ironically is their win/loss records. Webb showed us how to cough up a Cy Young over a period of 6 days, let's see if these two guys can finish the deal. Lincecum versus Johnson, Thursday night should be a good watch for you leftist coasters. DBacks will be trying to get Webb back in contention by knocking Lincecum around, pitching with four days rest after a 138 pitch start. At least with Prior the Cubs were in contention.

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:12 am

Bob Howry, 7th inning of a one-run game... Knock it the fuck off Lou.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:39 am

the answer I so often used with Dusty....anyone else.

Guzman or Samardzija would be my top choices...but honestly, anyone else. I don't give a fuck anymore. Howry's been shit all season, please get the Steve Eyre treatment.

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Submitted by Timmer on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:21 am

To even be considered for the playoff roster, Guzman needs to prove he can throw two days in a row. But Lou doesn't seem inclined to give him a chance. Guzman pitched an inning on 9/2 and another 2 innings on 9/5, so he hasn't seen the mound in 8 games. Maybe with a 9 game lead, we'll start to see more of him. I'd like to see him get a chance to pitch his way onto the playoff roster.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:21 am

It's not 'proving' he can throw two days in a row, it's being allowed to throw two days in a row. Not sure I agree with having to be able to pitch on consecutive days to make the playoff roster anyway. There are a lot more off days during the playoffs. Wood, for example, was on the post season roster last year.

Submitted by tbone on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:21 am

They should use Guzman in these games coming up. it seems like the Golden Domer is 2-0 to every batter. Guzman had better control in the minors. See if it can translate to the majors. And Real Neal, I don't care who owns the stock, if a business gets big enough to have a major ripple effect if it fails, it knows it can count on the government to bail it out. That, combined with the outrageous salaries of CEOs, CFOs etc., takes risk out of the endeavor for the decision makers. Might be one of the reasons the American car companies lag so far behind in innovation and stayed addicted to the crack of the SUV for so long. Don't worry, Washington will be bailing them out too soon. Sorry to go off on an economic rant. I'll banish myself to a virtual corner for a while.

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Submitted by big_lowitzki on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:58 pm

I'd be very interested in hearing how the average Fortune 500 CEO is any more greedy than the Scott Boras's and Arods of the world Who said CEOs were more greedy? Nice strawman. Though, to be fair to athletes, athletes are at least much more limited in terms of the number of years that they can earn money, at least in that specific career. And the vast majority of professional athletes, even in the major sports, will not become anywhere close to the mega-millionaires that Arod, Boras, or Fortune 500 CEOs do.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Thu, 09/18/2008 - 09:28 am

Some things that may have eluded you, Dave. This is a baseball blog. If you're going to complain about greedy millionares, it would be more appropriate to complain about the ones involved in baseball here, right? You should figure out what 'Strawman' means before you start throwing the term around like a 4th grade spelling bee champion. Speaking of Strawmen, though, there average MLB player makes more in his career than the average CEO/CFO. But don't let me confuse facts with your typical socialist drivel, rant on!

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Submitted by big_lowitzki on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 09:33 am

This is a baseball blog. For being a baseball blog, you sure bring up politics a lot. You should figure out what 'Strawman' means before you start throwing the term around like a 4th grade spelling bee champion. WTF? I know exactly what it means. The definition of a straw man:
A "straw man" is an informal fallacy which is committed whenever someone argues against a position which the other person does not actually hold.
Which is exactly what you did. You shot down an argument that was not made in order to make some kind of point that Alex Rodriguez and Fortune 500 CEOs are similar. Speaking of Strawmen, though, there average MLB player makes more in his career than the average CEO/CFO. First, I was explicitly referring to Fortune 500 CEOs, was I not? But good job at changing that to all CEO/CFO's. And, by the way, that would be another strawman. It is always easier to argue against arguments that are not made. And do you have a source for your statement? Because the average length of an MLB career is 5.6 years (source). The average salary in MLB this year was around $3 million (source). Very roughly, we can say that the average current MLB player will make about $15 million in his career. That is very rough, but I would argue that it would be fairly accurate. The average CEO pay, in 2005, was $11.8 million per year (source). That would mean that a CEO would have to just work 2 years as a CEO to make more than the average player in MLB. But don't let me confuse facts with the ignorant bull shit that you make up.

Submitted by billybucks on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 09:14 pm

Random thoughts: - In the 2 big games against the unbeatable monster that was CC, Sori was huge. Big leadoff hits in both games to set the tone and shatter his aura of invincibility. I was at the ballpark last night: - Prince's first HR was the hardest-hit HR I have seen live. Holy mackeral. - Fukudome's AB against CC may have been the worst MLB AB I have ever seen, live or otherwise. What's worse than "compeltely overmatched". Heard the first smattering of Fukky boos last night. - Wrigley on a perfect September night, great ballgame, crowd buzzing, great defense by both teams, Wood vs. Prince to end it -- can't beat it.

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