Bauer was not very good, but he's not the reason we lost.

he did contribute to the result, though

The group psychology looks kind of weird after the fact, but you two did successfully thwart the no-hitter.

I think we were all aware before the series started that "all America wants the Cubs to win", if for no other reason I suppose than to get Chicago fans to finally shut up about their darned curse.

civ ollilavad wrote:he did contribute to the result, though

J.R. wrote:Bauer was not very good, but he's not the reason we lost.

I do think that his extending the top half of the innings affected the tribe considerably. As cold and and miserable as it was. Him taking almost 20 minutes per half inning caused our hitters to be less effective. Then our guys being on the bench for less than the 5 it took for our three outs in the bottom half, then back on the field......yeah I think that was not a small factor.

On the other side, they were sitting there in the heated dugout for their 20 minutes being nice and toasty and warming up. Their pitcher was in a better mindset, their hitters were getting ample time to prepare.

It may not have been a factor in the first 2 or even 3 but by the time it was the 4th inning on....you could visibly see the difference in the two benches, whenever Fox could spare the time to take the camera to our dugout.

Not to take away a dominating pitching performance from their side....dude was on. Bauer and co were not.

And it think Shaw should never come in again without a 3+ advantage. He's fine in that role, but when he comes in and we are losing or down. May as well be throwing gasoline on a grease fire.

civ ollilavad wrote:The group psychology looks kind of weird after the fact, but you two did successfully thwart the no-hitter.

I think we were all aware before the series started that "all America wants the Cubs to win", if for no other reason I suppose than to get Chicago fans to finally shut up about their darned curse.

Yeah, see how well that worked with the Red Sox!

J.R.:

My point was I just don't like the match up. Against the Cubs you need consistent breaking stuff for strikes and pinpoint control.

At times Bauer has a great curve, but few and far between since the 14 inning marathon he won against Blue Jays. And his 94 mph fastball with so so control is a recipe for disaster..

He did good to keep it at two runs, I'll give him that.

I like the match up of Kluber and Tomlin with them.

If Merritt could repeat his Toronto performance he'd be a great match up too.

And at least with Salazar you're looking at a 97 mph fastball instead of 94. And maybe he could find his good change up he had earlier.

So I like any of those match ups better.

Look, obviously Tito has forgotten more than I know and he's been pushing all the right buttons. I just didn't like the match up last night. Been bugging me since it was released. Especially after spending Miller in game one. Felt almost like he was willing to give one or something, which is ridiculous I know. But honestly, who the hell did like that match up last night? Certainly no analyst I watched yesterday.

Unfortunately, after Kluber, it's pretty much a crap shoot now. Obviously, Tito was hoping for the "good" Bauer to show up. He was pretty quick to yank him, but, maybe b/c we were facing Arrieta, he brought in the "B list" relievers.
He saves Miller and Cody for when he thinks we have a good shot. He even brought in Salazar.

Hillbilly wrote:Look, obviously Tito has forgotten more than I know and he's been pushing all the right buttons. I just didn't like the match up last night. Been bugging me since it was released. Especially after spending Miller in game one. Felt almost like he was willing to give one or something, which is ridiculous I know. But honestly, who the hell did like that match up last night? Certainly no analyst I watched yesterday.

I think our problem was we couldn't get any offense going. Had Santana connected in the 8th, It would have been a 1 run game. Gotta score runs.

Hendricks and Lester are good too. Had better years didn't they? Don't follow NL as closely so may be wrong about that.

Bauer is a bad match up against any of them though.

Tribe in five.

Hell, if Carrasco and Salazar were available to start, goes without saying Bauer wouldn't be starting and might even be at risk of being left of Series roster.

So given how shorthanded the starting staff is, it actually wouldn't surprise me at all if Tito somewhat "threw" that game. Figured he might get lucky.

Again with Carrasco/Salazar, the whole ridiculous situation never happens.

Salazar was rusty with his command last night, obviously, 2 walks, but his stuff looked good. Was hitting 97 on gun too.

So given how shorthanded the starting staff is, it actually wouldn't surprise me at all if Tito somewhat "threw" that game.

Yup, could be.

Well it's official, Kluber, Bauer, and Tomlin all going on 3 days rest and only SPs we'll see. Here's hoping Bauer has his good curveball next game. Maybe on short rest he'll have a better feel for it.