Thanks to the CLTV Sports Feed folks for having me on last night to talk Cubs-Nationals in my fancy suit. I’ll admit now that I was pretty nervous for that one, but it seems to have gone off well enough. It’s always nice to have things like that to show family and friends who might not otherwise entirely “get” what it is that I do.
The Wife was very complimentary of the appearance, and she sent me a video of the big kiddos watching, too, which is pretty awesome. She was also pretty excited to share that my “skin looks so good!” since I recently agreed to try out her, like, official skin care regimen (which, OK, I’ll admit – originally I started a couple months ago just to be a dutiful husband and support her … but it really is the best my skin has been since before I was an awkward teenager. So thanks, dear!).
If you didn’t see the appearance live, you can watch the videos here. As far as I can tell, I succeeded in not picking my nose.
What an incredible pitching match-up today, eh? The probable Cy Young winner in Max Scherzer against the big name trade acquisition for the Cubs in Jose Quintana.
Having never been through this before, and having to make that playoff debut in Wrigley Field of all places, Joe Maddon concedes that he does have one concern for Quintana (MLB.com): “My only concern with a guy like him is that he’s going to try to do too much, too soon and you don’t want to leave it out there and all of a sudden have to come back. If he can get out there and get into that original rhythm, spotting it up, that kind of rhythm, he has a really good chance to pitch as well as you saw him.” That over-eagerness seemed to show up in a few of Quintana’s early starts with the Cubs, but he’s settled into such a nice rhythm lately that hopefully that will take over.
For his part, Quintana says he’s just going to try to stay focused on going pitch-by-pitch (NBC). Hey, being over-amped is the fans’ job, right?
(Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)
Given Max Scherzer’s extreme splits (just for one example, he strikes out nearly 45%(!!!) of the righties he faces), I really hope Joe Maddon overloads with lefties today. I hate seeing guys like Javy Baez and Willson Contreras sitting, but I think it might be worth having Tommy La Stella and Alex Avila in there, together with an all lefty outfield of Kyle Schwarber, Jon Jay (or Ian Happ), and Jason Heyward. Then Baez and Contreras could always come into the game later on.
I love seeing this, and I hope we get to see a whole lot more of it around, say, 6 pm:
Joe Maddon doesn’t understand why his bench coach, Dave Martinez, doesn’t get more opportunities to interview for managerial positions/actually get a managerial job (Sun-Times).
In that same Sun-Times piece, Theo Epstein says Jake Arrieta’s latest side session gave him no issues with his hamstring, so perhaps he’ll be fully, truly, totally ready to go tomorrow? We shall see.
It makes me very sad to see what has become of Dexter Fowler’s time in St. Louis:
Chapman is back to himself throwing a five-out save last night … after the Cubs’ heavy workload last year of asking him to do the same? Mmkay. (PS: there’s zero chance he’s not better prepared to do it this postseason precisely BECAUSE he was tasked with doing it last season.)
The cold brewer I use to make my coffee (and that I brought to Chicago with me because it is so (1) good and (2) easy) is on sale at Amazon again – just $18.99 – so I gotta give it a plug here. I can choose whatever coffee I want, I make it once and it lasts me about five days in the fridge, and I save a ridiculous amount of money over trying to get Starbucks all the time.
Big day in the Chicago sports world, eh? With the Cubs and the Nats going in Game Three, and then Bears unveiling their shiny new toy on Monday Night Football, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t reiterate that I’d love the football fans among you to check out what we’re doing at The Ten-Yard Line. It’s just like BN, but, you know, about the Bears. Give us a follow on Twitter, and like us on Facebook:
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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