2007 NLDS: Cubs vs. Diamondbacks

Game 4 is the battle of the hittin' pitchers ain't it. I know zip about the NL so this is totally based on just thinking the Cubs are ultimately still the Cubs so the Diamondbacks in 5.

Oh yeah. Cubs in 4.

CHI-5

Game 1: Diamondbacks 1, Cubs 0
Game 2: Cubs 9, Diamondbacks 2
Game 3: Cubs 8, Diamondbacks 3
Game 4: Diamondbacks 5, Cubs 4
Game 5: Diamondbacks 3, Cubs 2

Series MVP: Brandon Webb

Advantage: Byrnes

Cubs in 5. Doug Davis is 103-0 against the Cubs.

Watch Dempster in this series. He's been awful in August and September. His poor performance has been masked somewhat by Lou using him more in non-save situations--only one blown save in the last two months. But he hasn't lost the closer job, at least not that I know of.

AZ in 4

blingbacks in 5, and yeah dumpster blows at least 1

AZ in 4

Cubs in 4

Series MVP Aramis Ramirez

First, I have to know where Bartman's seat is.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holloween_kook2/1397518650/

I mean where he's sitting for THIS series!!!

D-backs in 4.

D-backs, unless the worst team in the playoffs is gonna go all the way again

So the D'backs in either case?

I dint say the worst PYTHAGOREAN team!

Haha. Maybe I'm unreasonably optimistic about this matchup. I wouldn't like the Cubs chances as much against any other team.

Cubs in 4.

Do you think any of the Phoenix games will start at 10pm ET?

Aisle 4, row 8, seat 113, first row on the 3rd base side of Wrigley Field in Chicago where Steve Bartman sat in 2003 changing the course of Chicago Cubs history forever. He allegedly touched a foul ball that with the Cubs five outs away from the world series.

sure, allegedly.

For some sadistic reason I re-watched the ESPN video of him getting led out of the stadium. Ugly stuff, I still feel badly for him.

No one remembers K-Gonz booting the inning-ending double play ball right after Bartman.

Is Soto on the Cubs playoff roster?

I'm pulling for the Cubs, but I think Arizona's pitching should be tough.

The thing about the D-backs when I look at that lineup, I wonder who is going to be the guy to drive in some runs. Their lineup reminds me too much of the Padres for the last couple of years, good enough to win the division, but bad enough to get held down to 1 or 2 runs in the playoffs.

Livan Hernandez has had some big games in the playoffs and got clocked one year while out in SF.

xpost

Game times announced.

Game 1, Wednesday: Cubs at Diamondbacks, 10 pm EST
Game 2, Thursday: Cubs at Diamondbacks, 10 pm EST
Game 3, Saturday: Diamondbacks at Cubs, 6 pm EST
Game 4, Sunday: Diamondbacks at Cubs, 1 pm EST
Game 5, Tuesday: Cubs at Diamondbacks, 10 pm EST

LOL, tiredness.

cubs in five

cubs in 4!

The Astros didn't make the playoffs, but at least their uniform colors did.

AZ in 5.

Cubs in 5... total drama. keep an eye on Derrek Lee who chose the right time of the year to get hot.

I think Cubs in 4, but I would love to see the Arizona starters pitch out of their minds and get r done for the Snakes.

I hope that Webb schools the Cubs in Game 1, Davis gets shelled in Game 2 to tie things up, Game 3 is won by the Dbacks in a close pitchers duel, then Zambrano comes back on 3 days rest and gets shelled. Dbacks in 4.

The thing about the D-backs when I look at that lineup, I wonder who is going to be the guy to drive in some runs.

That would be Micah Owings!

Owings is fifth on the team in offensive VORP. Livan Hernandez in 10th (ahead of Stephen Drew).

Oh god, Nate Silver uses numbers to predict a Cubs sweep.

the Secret Sauce points to a Cubs-Boston WS!

^^^I called that out like 6 weeks ago BTW!

neyer suggests the cubs might be the best team on the NL side of the playoffs coin this year. i think he's nuts BUT i still hold out hope. i don't like their chances against either the phils or the rox.

Is Soto on the Cubs playoff roster?

He's not only on the roster, Lou just said he's starting game 1.

Would love the Cubs to win but I gotta say D-Backs in 4.

you guys ron darling is doing commentary on this series

I always thought he was white.

Augie Ojeda 2-3, figures.

What was that dude shining behind the plate??!!

I think it was the ATHF bomber.

It looked like an illuminated Cubs logo with a red neon light around it.

What an idiot. He should have been ejected.

At least he dropped his drink.

I was furious watching that guy not get kicked out, sitting around on his cellphone like the douche he is.

It's never too early to worry about game four.

Should the Diamondbacks win the next two (or if Zambrano is horrible in game four), Piniella = nu-Bartman

how?

Perhaps it's overreaction (haven't read any Chicago press), but Piniella pulled Zambrano after six innings and 85 pitches because Zambrano's supposed to start game four on three days' rest. Understandable if the Cubs had been up or behind by a few, but not when the score was 1-1 in a best-of-five series.

oic, I only heard the last inning on radio. That is dubious.

Defensive, much?

"I'm not accused of anything, sir. I've got a good bullpen here, OK, and I trust my bullpen. I'm bringing back a pitcher on three days' rest on Sunday, and I took a shot with my bullpen. It didn't work today. They've done it all year. I've got confidence in them. Period, end of story."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2007/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=3048576

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mariotti/587966,CST-SPT-jay04.article
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=50786

Keith Law: (1:06 PM ET ) They have a good middle relief corps and there wasn't any specific reason to expect Marmol to give up a run. Zambrano has also been a lot less effective after 75-80 pitches or so, and it might just be that Piniella realizes that and, in a tight game, wanted his best reliever out there because he thought it was a better bet to get the next three outs.

I was furious watching that guy not get kicked out, sitting around on his cellphone like the douche he is.

-- polyphonic, Thursday, 4 October 2007 06:38 (11 hours ago) Link

YES

Zambrano threw plenty of pitches this year (most in MLB, close 2nd in Pitcher Abuse Points to Matsuzaka) so I think it's unlikely that Piniella suddenly realized, in Game One of the NLDS, that he is less effective after 75-80 pitches. He was thinking about Game Four, plain and simple.

Joe Sheehan: "Beating up Piniella for this is ridiculous. It’s results-based analysis. On a per-inning basis, Marmol pitched circles around Zambrano this season, and the difference between a fresh Marmol and a six-innings-in Zambrano is greater than their statistics indicate. By making the switch, Piniella was upgrading the pitcher on the mound and setting up the back of the series. That it didn’t work out is just one of those things, but the decision was not only defensible, it was optimal."

Stephen Drew and Chris Young suddenly hitting like PECOTA expected!

Man, the Cubs look abysmal.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/playoffs/2007-10-02-dreamoctober_N.htm

(Goren = President, Fox Sports)

Goren says the ultimate drama would be a showdown between the Cubs and Red Sox.

"Now that the Red Sox have won," Goren says, "the Cubs are the missing piece.

"We're in the middle of football (on Sunday), and someone says, 'Wouldn't it be great to see the Red Sox and Cubs in the World Series?' I turned around and said, 'If that happened, what would I have left in life?' I would have to retire. You want that at some point, but do you want all of that now?

"And then," Goren says, "there are some sick people that can see the Red Sox and Cubs go down to the ninth inning of Game 7, something goes wrong, and the World Series is canceled.

"Could you imagine?"

That image of Lilly throwing his glove to the ground after the Young homer is a keeper.

Livan is going to get torn up tonight.

Mr Goren, I wish you CLE - COL/ARI

Joes Sheehan:

Dick Stockton and Ron Darling couldn’t help themselves. After Young’s home run, Stockton said, “A key at-bat in this inning was Doug Davis, laying down a sacrifice bunt.” Darling followed with more praise for Davis, whose bunt did absolutely nothing to add runs to the inning. I’m used to a certain level of denial about the relative values of big ball and small ball, but when a sacrifice bunt in front of a three-run homer is called a “key play,” I start to wonder if someone’s playing a practical joke.

Joeks Sheehan

Put up a fight Cubs, come onnnnnnnnn.

otm. I really hate the Rockies and the Diamondbacks and wish them ill for all eternity.

jesus christ, aramis.

The Wheels of Byrnes

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT

Could the Cubs blow any more opportunities? It's just like I'm watching the Giants again.

Why take a bases loaded BB when you can turn that low fourth ball into an inning-ending DP?

and with that, the final nail in the coffin for an otherwise respectable Cubs season. best of luck next year dudes.

Freeballin'

So many dudes left on base, it's unreal.

And ANOTHER double play.

Does that count the four eliminated by DPs?

xpost

Well it looks like the Cubs ARE still the Cubs.

Thanks for killing my fucking fantasy team all year, Drew. Ugh.

That's not silence from the crowd, Mr. Stockton.

CHI-5

-- Rock Hardy, Sunday, September 30, 2007 8:15 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Link

roffle. Did anybody get it right?

And I mean, like, ANYONE.

Doubtful.

Zambrano rested and ready.

I was close!

Post Season RBIs:

Soriano: 0
Ramirez: 0
Lee: 0

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/tools/med/2007/10/ipt/1191717594.jpg

http://web2.airmail.net/willdogs/pics/moe_mike2.jpg

I said AZ in 4 so I got half!

haha, cubs suck.