If it comes down to a one-game playoff on Monday, I might have to skip class and try to see the game at Shea.
There were lots of Cubs fans there, and apparently the Brewers fans had started leaving in the top of the 9th.
I watched the Cubs game. Fielder pops one up to shallow right center and the fielders* absolutely fail. In the 8th, he pops it up to shallow left center and epic fail. Wow. Felt like a Mets game, with a New York native spreading gasoline all over the field. *- no pun intended On a nitpicky note, that Kennedy guy on the FOX postgame said the following: "I think CC will come up big tomorrow and I think Odalis Perez will come up big tomorrow." (IOW, there will be a game on Monday) They'll try as hard as possible to get the game in tomorrow, but if they can't, I guess a day-night doubleheader? (in case the Mets and Brewers were still tied after the first game) Brewers would have to fly in in case they had to play the game. Also, HUGE for Johan today. I saw the Daily News mention 9 days ago about the potential dilemma for today (with Johan going on three days rest instead of Niese or another guy). It was lurking, and Johan delivered. We're screwed whatever happens now, though. With Lidge getting that double play, we end up going to Chicago, who will have everyone well rested. They played garbage today (Pie batted cleanup, Fukudoma led off) and they'll do the same tomorrow, I assume. Automatic win for the Brewers with CC going against Pie, McGehee, etc. If the Cubs play to win, then maybe... I saw CC becoming the first pitcher in 5 years to go 5 starts in a row on 3 days rest. Something like that. Assuming he pitches tomorrow and maybe counting Game 2 of the playoffs as well? He's been abused since they got him in July. Tons of pitches, a ton of starts. Very risky FA proposition. How many innings will he total for the season? An absurd amount, as well as pitches.
That would still only make 4 starts in a row on 3 days rest (tomorrow is the third), so presumably they're also assuming a game 5 NLDS start. I think everyone should take pity on him and just end Milwaukee's season tomorrow. He pitched almost as many innings last year for Cleveland, by the way, so the accusations of Milwaukee abusing him seem somewhat overblown; if he hadn't had to start tomorrow, his workloads in 2007 and 2008 would have been almost identical.
Sabathia against any lineup is not good for the opposition. It's easy to forget that after his first 4 starts people were declaring Sabathia finished and ruining his chance at a big payday. He had back to back starts where he gave up 9 ER. Since then he's given up 49 ER in 226 IP with a WHIP of just under 1 and 230 Ks. It's not quite Pedro 00 but still pretty damn dominant.
It's probably been a LONG time since a pitcher was used as much in a short span as Sabathia is for the Brewers. I don't know if anyone has numbers on total pitch counts, but it's mind-blowing. They have been pitching his arm off because they have no intention of bringing him back. Kudos to him for not complaining.
He's thrown a little over 100 more pitches then he did for the Indians last year in the regular season. He also pitched in 3 postseason games last year though too.
it's nicknamed "Wrigley North" for a reason. The fairweather Brewers fans left after the Cubs rallied in the 8th, and the Cubs had a lot of fans there anyway.
After he pitches tomorrow, I'm going to look at the number of innings he's pitched since the trade. It's staggering. No other MLB pitcher has pitched as many innings since the trade. I'm pretty sure of that.
