Another Memorable Game

Last night's game was another well-played gem and a fitting close to the season. Lester was in complete control until two outs into the 7th when things got almost too cute for comfort.

The weekend series became kind of a tribute to David Ross. Ross has become more or less an unofficial mascot for the fans and the younger players. He was greeted with standing ovations all night and rewarded the faithful with a home run that put the Cubs in the lead and brought the house down. 

Lester seemed to lose a bit of focus after Ross came out, but Edwards came in to get out of the inning. After an adventurous 8th with Grimm on the hill, Chapman came on to nail it down. 

All in all a good game and a fitting end to the season. As I have said before, I do not like the idea of playing the Cards in the NLDS and I hope they get eliminated. 

Post-season Prospects

The Cubs look like they are going to lose to the Cards today, which will even up the season series with one game remaining between them.  The Cubs are likely to win that one with Lester on the mound, but I was rather hoping they would sweep and move St. Louis closer to wild card elimination.  Frankly, I do not like the idea of playing them in the first round.  They play so often in the regular season that there is a risk of the same thing happening to the Cubs as happened to the Cards last year, although last year the teams were more evenly matched.

Hammel today pretty much pitched himself off the post-season roster.  You cannot afford to get blown out early in any post-season game.  That's the risk with him, and it is a risk they cannot afford to take.

It is going to be a challenge to stay sharp through the last week of the season and intonthe mini-break that comes after with the wild card games.  Maddon has been clever at manipulating the team sobfar, but it is a factor.

A final thought on the batting order for the playoffs, one the network guys made today.  Ibreally do not like Zobrist batting cleanup.  He should be hitting second even though he hits a lot of grounders.  The other thing the Cubs are going to have to consider is not playing Heyward against lefties.  He is a great outfielder, but his season so far is a little like having Sam Fuld in the lineup every day.  Cannot afford to concede an out every time he hits.

At the Game

The Cubs clinched something or other Tuesday night, home field for NLDS, which I thought they had already done, but anyway, some meaning was derived from the win.  Lester was in complete control throughout his appearance.  Indeed Lester this year, and especially since the All-Star break, has been the guy the Cubs expected when they signed him to the big contract.

I really like the Cubs approach as well.  They were patient and worked the counts.  I think they had the Reds starter well over sixty pitches by the third inning.  All in all, a good night at the ballpark.

Actually waited around to try to get a shot of the harvest moon rising by the scoreboard, but the game ended before it happened.  Next time.

Flying the "W" flag from the Deck Tonight

Quite a ride this season.  Today's game was pretty impressive.  The Cubs overcame a two run deficit in the bottom of the ninth and added a walk-off home run by Montero to win it in the tenth, all with none or nearly none of the regulars in the starting lineup.

Magic Number Down to Three

I have to confess that the success of this team is a little frightening for old-line Cubs fans like myself.  Monday's game was like watching a highlight reel.  The only disappointment was seeing Hendricks lose the no-hitter in the bottom of the ninth.  A tough break for sure.  On that subject, I do not know why - and I was not at the game, but just watching on TV - I just felt that Hendricks had special stuff more or less from the beginning.  As I have said, watching this team day in and day out just makes you wonder at how good they are and how good they might become.  Scary stuff.

Magic Number Down to Five

Which means it is possible the Cubs can clinch the Division as early as Wednesday afternoon, as they play the next three games in St. Louis.

The Cubs had their hitting shoes on Sunday night after a week of rather lackluster offensive performances.  They built up a 9-0 lead in the first four innings and cruised home thereafter.

The only real concern that I had was Arrieta's performance.  He was dominant through five innings.  Actually, he didn't have to pitch in any real sense with the big lead and spectacular defense.  He came a cropper in the sixth inning though, and that can be cause for some worry with the playoffs approaching.

Arrieta clearly has not been the same pitcher he was through the latter half of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.  Somehow or other, when he gets in trouble and has to really bear down, he is either over-throwing his pitches or not finishing them.  Hitters are laying off borderline stuff when he is in a jam.  The result is a lot of deep counts and walks and wild pitches.  Some observers had supposed some of these issues were the result of Contreras' inexperience, but on Sunday, David Ross was the catcher and the same thing happened.

That sixth inning was a bit of a nightmare.  Maddon was right to take him out when he did even with the big lead.  There was no point in adding to his obvious frustration at that point.

Mini-Slump

The Cubs are in a bit of a batting funk lately, especially with men on base.  This past week, they went 3-3 and averaged only 2 runs per game, their biggest output being 5 runs in a losing cause in the Hammel game last Wednesday.  I suppose it is a testament to the quality of their pitching, with the aforementioned Hammel game taken into account, that they were able to split the 6 games.

Lackey pitched very well again, though his temper proved his own worst enemy.  After a disputed pitch call, he worked himself into such a lather that he walked two guys and gave up a second and ultimately deciding run.  When he was a Cardinal, the Cubs managed to exploit this tendency in the NLDS.  Something to watch out for at the least.

Hammel!!!

I think we know who will not be in the playoff rotation after tonight's performance.

Streak Ends

Listening to Maddon's post-game remarks, how he likes their intensity, etc., I kind of felt I had watched a different game.  Actually, all these games against the Giants, like those against LA last weekend, had a kind of playoff intensity, or a playoff preview intensity.  In this game, though, the Cubs left the bases loaded twice late in the game.  Arrieta also let Crawford walk to third base and then threw a wild pitch to allow him to score what turned out to be the decisive run.  Also, Rizzo made an inexcusable base-running error in the ninth inning to get himself picked off second base on a successful sacrifice.

Actually, I really thought this game was played a lot sloppier by both teams than the first two games of the series.  Two of the Giants runs scored on Cubs misplays and the other was tainted as well by the wild pitch.  On the Giants side of the ledger, although Baez scoring on the infield hit was a marvelous display of alertness, it should never have happened.

On the subject of Arrieta, I saw an interesting piece on Fangraphs.  It is full of a lot of analysis and statistical stuff, but the gist of it is that Arrieta is having trouble commanding his slider, especially against left-handed hitters, because of a recently developed mechanical flaw.  I cannot speak to the validity of the claim, but Arrieta since July has not, by and large, been the same pitcher he was last year or earlier in the season.  He has a lot less command of his pitches, is getting the pitch count way up early in many of his starts, and he is just over-throwing some of his pitches in key situations.  Hence all the wild pitches that have really hurt his performance.  It cannot all be the result of the inexperience of Contreras.  Hopefully, he can right the ship before the playoffs.

Sweep

The Cubs secured a series sweep Wednesday night, staggering into an agonizing 6-5 win that featured some less than stellar performances by Chapman and the challenged back end of the bullpen.  Wood, in particular, looks gassed after what seems like several hundred appearances.  If the Cubs had to rely on the current lot of bullpen arms, they might be in big trouble, but they are likely to get Rondon back soon and Strop by mid-September.

Hammel looked better last night than he did in Colorado and LA.  He did, however manage to pitch himself into trouble in the 5th.  Hammel always seems to give opponents a shot in the middle innings.  Maybe that's when he starts over-thinking.  Last night he managed to walk a bunch of Pirates despite the umpire's mile-wide strike zone.  He got away relatively unscathed, but he did cost the bullpen an extra inning of work which ultimately made the came a nearer thing than it should have been.

That being said, the Pirates look like a team that has lost its bearings and knows it.  Marte and McCutcheon seem to be endlessly amused by being outplayed and emarrassed at the plate and in the field.  I especially noticed the Pirates seem to always align their outfield defense shallow and pilled around to left field.  This led to taking bad angles to several balls and having a number of hits go over their heads.

As for the Tuesday game, this one was all about Hendricks who continues his impressive season.  This guy knows how to pitch.

The Giants come in tonight for four games.  Should be an interesting series and possible post-season preview.  Smart money would look for a split inasmuch as the Giants are playing for survival.  After the SF series, the Cubs can look to coasting home to October against a set of mostly also-rans and non-contenders save for St. Louis.