List ‘Em and Learn Episode 11 – Stackable

It’s Thanksgiving once again, and for the second year in a row, you’re being surprised with a wrestling podcast that’s going to be the talk of the wrestling world, and set download records. And then after you listen to the new “Art of Wrestling” episode, you can be one of the 5 people to hear the brand new Thanksgiving edition of List Em and Learn. On this episode, Justin Shapiro joins Matt to list the top 10 things they’re most thankful for in wrestling. They interpret the topic completely differently, so things get pretty confusing. That’s okay though, because these two really talk turkey and they give tribute to all sorts of amazing aspects of wrestling. From men to ladies to stacks of things to gifs to multiple websites, this show is a tour de force. There’s also singing, so there may be dancing when you play this show for your entire family at the Thanksgiving dinner table. It’s a podcast you can listen to while eating turkey, so check it out!!!!!!

To listen to this show, right click to download. You can add the show to your music player of choice via it’s RSS feed: http://www.thecubsfan.com/cat/list-em-and-learn-2/feed/ You can also find the show on iTunes.

You can find Matt and Justin on Twitter

11: Stackable (the top 10 things they’re most thankful for in wrestling)
10: List ‘Em and Pizza (top 10 worst booking issue)
9: The Ring Not Taken (top 10 What Ifs)
8: Top 10 WWE Angles 2000-2015
7: These Ain’t No Holograms (top 10 greatest ECW matches)
6: Life-Affirming Life (top 10 WCW matches of the 1990s)
5: Looking Up (at) the Star(s) (ratings) (top 10 WWE PPVs since 2000)
4: Ladders and Laundry (top 10 WWF matches of the 1990s)
3: Microchips and Mood Music (Top 10 NES Games)
2: A LOT OF SAND (The Top 10 TV Dramas from 2000-2014)
1: Episode 1 (Part 1 & Part 2)

JUSTIN SHAPIRSHOW Episode 18 – Jumping Bomb Angles Number 2

Todd Martin, Alan Counihan.

NWO, Y2J, WON HOF.

A show so check it out.

To listen to this show, right click to download the mp3 file here. You can add the show to your music player of choice via it’s RSS feed: http://www.thecubsfan.com/cat/justin-shapirshow/feed/ . You can also find the show on iTunes.

You can find Justin, Todd, and Alan on Twitter

Previous Episodes
18: Jumping Bomb Angles Number 2
17: Labor Day Cesaro Section
16: Bank Teller
15: Jumping Bomb Angles
14: Booyaka Booyaka 519
13: Thirtysomething
12: Assed Reigns
11: E! BOLA
10: Shoots and Ladders
9: Dean Dogless
8: 30 Talk
7: Royal Pains with Matt Feuerstein
6: Survivor Queries
5: The Biggest Parody of the Summer
4: New York Meets
3: Dwarf Tosser
2: State of the Union of People You Oughta Respect, Shane
1: Survivors Guilt

Game 9 (NLCS 4): Mets 8 – Cubs 3

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This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Borrowing that lines seems like a cliche, but if it’s really meant to be a reference to Guy Fawkes’s being caught, tortured and executed, then I can’t think of anything more accurate. The Mets didn’t beat the Cubs, they cut of their head. This was a four game sweep where not a single game felt close at the end, where it barely felt competitive most of the way. People are going to point the finger at specific individuals – that’s probably Jason Hammel’s last appearance in a Cubs uniform – but they weren’t one player away. The Mets had better hitting, better baserunning, better pitching, and better fielding. The Cubs didn’t get many breaks, hit the ball very hard right at people, but were the own biggest obstacle. This was not close.

So what now? The last three months felt like maybe the Cubs could sneak out a surprise win and just needed to add a piece or two to be favorites. Now, the distance between them and a 2016 championship seems bigger than it was even when the season started. Does the front office react more to the last week, or the season which came before?

This was probably the last time Starlin Castro is a Cub. Something is going to give with him and Baez this offseason, and they may need a new second baseman when it’s all done. Fowler is going to get a lot of money somewhere else (and that’s the right move), but Austin Jackson as every day CF doesn’t seem like a great idea. David Price or some other starter is probably coming in – all the moves shouldn’t be budget reducing (and they should have room to expand over this year.)

Maybe the best move is having 4 months off to forget about the last 4 games.

Game 8 (NLCS 3): Mets 5 – Cubs 2

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2 runs, 1 run, 2 runs. That’s not going to work. Two more home runs, which are great, but no one on for them again.

postseason home runs
1 run homerun 10 (Fowler, Schwarber, Castro, Rizzo, Fowler, Rizzo, Schwarber, Schwarber, Schwarber, Soler)
2 run homerun 4 (Schwarber, Soler, Bryant, Soler)
3 run homerun 1 (Baez)

 

Some of that is just luck of when are people getting up. Some of it’s just people not getting on, especially on the bottom of the order.  There’s also a lack of ability to get free baserunners this time aorund.

BB per game
2 Pirates
2 NLDS1
4 NLDS2
5 NLDS3
4 NLDS4

3 NLCS1 (1 IBB)
1 NLCS2
1 NLCS3

There were bad defensive plays, but it was also a matter of time before those showed up. Soler isn’t a good outfielder, Schawber isn’t an outfielder, and they had been doing well to not have it happen so far. They also were there to help the offense, and they were the offense. They were a net positive last night, it’s everyone else who’s a problem.

One more chance. Again, it feels like the Cubs still have at least a shot if they could win one of these two game and they’ve got one more shot. Matz is not at the level of the guys they’ve faced before. This isn’t over unless everyone gives up. It feels like maybe the fans have given up, but not so much the players.

Game 7 (NLCS 2): Mets 4 – Cubs 1

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thoughts I had as this game was going on

1: the carriage is turning back to a pumpkin awful quickly

2: I wonder if tickets for Game 5 have dropped in price? (A bit! Hmmm.)

3: the great Tommy La Stella is 0 for 7 with 3Ks in the playoffs.

4: Starlin Castro went from never playing SS even as a backup to being the guy finishing out every game at SS. I’m going to miss him next season.

5: Everyone’s talking about the pitchers giving up 4 runs. They’ve given up 4 runs before. It’s more you’re not going to win games scoring 2 and 1 runs.

6: Really, the power covered up the problems with not getting enough base runners; six home runs in one game only producing eight runs is kind of not good in a way.

7: The silver lining to going down 3-0 in a series is seeing the Kitchen Sink game, with the Cubs trying crazily to win game 4 at any cost. Lester coming back on short rest is in play. Three inning starter is in play. Fernando Rodney starting and batting fifth is in play. Just having Jason Hammel pitch six innings probably not  in play.

8: That might also happen in this game. The Cubs dipped into the bullpen in Game 2, but everyone’s probably as rested and ready to go as they can be. Hendricks will be pulled at the first sign of trouble. Rondon hasn’t pitched in a week, so he’s going to be in at some point tonight. This’ll probably look a lot like Game 4 of NLDS; it’s all about the offense scratching something out.

9: if the Cubs can find a way to win one of the next two games, then Lester and Arrieta come up again and maybe they’ll find a way to be better, and anything is possible in a game 7. I don’t feel like it’s over even with a loss tonight.

Game 6 (NLCS 1): Mets 4 – Cubs 2

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This game never felt like it was really in doubt, even though the score indicated otherwise. Harvey was dominant and the Cubs couldn’t do much with him. His line (7.2 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 9 K) is not indicative of how he looked and hurt by the Mets unwillingness to use any one out of the bullpen besides their closer. (That was a bit of a culture shock having been watching team that’ll use anyone at any time.) It was dependent on Lester matching zero against zeros, he could not, and that was that.

There’s nothing much you can do when a starter is pitching that well. The disappointing thing is how quickly the Cubs went down against Familia. Bringing him in for four outs in the first game suggests he’s going to pitch a lot in the series and any pitch they got him to throw last night might mean a worse one later on. Bryant forced him to throw eight pitches, but he got thru next five batters throwing only thirteen more pitches. Twenty one is not a long night for a closer, not something that’s going to prevent him from coming back out a day later.

The talk after the game is about the two outs at the plate, and really mostly the Castro send. I didn’t like it at first – Castro is not fast, Cesepedes is really good – but felt more ok when I realized Ross and Lester were next. And that’s the problem with Ross as Lester’s personal catcher in postseason, you’re stuck with hard gambles and worse at bats to make someone feel more comfortable. When more comfort still leaves the the team 4 runs after 6.2 IP, that doesn’t seem like a great tradeoff. I presume Ross will be back out there in Game 5 and it’ll still not be a good deal for two plate appearances.

Tonight is Arrieta and it feels like a near must win. 2-0 holes are escapable, but the Mets getting wins over the Cubs two best starters (with Hendricks and Hammel on deck) is a big one to climb out. If the Cubs do win, they’ve split in New York and everyone’s feeling much better about the chances.

Game 5 (NLDS 4): Cubs 6 – Cardinals 4

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Just a bit late. I stopped doing back in the day because

  • the team was too boring to write about daily
  • other things were more interesting to write about daily
  • other people were mote interesting to write about the Cubs daily

These Cubs are very interesting, but the other two remain an issue. But, I started doing these things and I’m going to try and finish.

The Schwarber home run was fairly great. It’s seems impossible TV didn’t have an angle of where it landed. It’s kind of cute that it’s top of the scoreboard, but it’s also going to look very silly if they don’t finish this out. It was very much filling a need for something to talk about for a few days. Everyone was so excited about the Cubs advancing, on their home field even!, and then they had no next opponent to talk about for days. Obsessing about that ball filled one of them.

The thing they should’ve been talking about – and maybe just wore out in the hours after that game – was that bottom of the 2nd. The whole series turned on Lackey throwing Hammel a hittable pitch, and by throwing Javier Baez anything in the strike zone. Baez has looked better since coming back up in September and looked good in this series – he may be having his own Soler moment – but he still seems like a guy who will get himself out. Lackey broke in the moment, and that was huge. The Cardinals tied it back up over Cahill (the only bad night from some improbably good reliever) but that was most of the Cubs offense over two at bats.

I think there’s some talk about the Cardinals fading next year, and maybe they won’t win 100. They looked like an aging team in times during this series, but they’re still in good shape if Molina is fine next spring and Wainwright can taking his place back in the rotation. (He was pretty great out of the pen.) The order might change, but it’s going to be a three way dogfight between the same teams in the Central again in 2016.

It’s amazing how a few games can change perceptions of the team, if those games come in the playoffs. The talk coming into the Wild Card game was about the domination pitching of Arrieta & Lester. The talk the last few days has been the Mets pitching against the Cubs hitting, with the possible Cy Young winner being an afterthought. Arrieta did not look himself in his last start and I liked the idea of bumping him to Game 2 to give him an extra day of rest, but one bad start doesn’t counterbalance thirteen good ones. If he’s back to normal and the Cubs hit the Mets like they hit against the Cardinals, no one’s beating them. (The trouble is no one hits that well for long.)

What else? Berry got added to the roster! I’ve gotten a lot of well deserved taunting texts after insisting Soler was going to get benched for Berry last round, so I’m crossing my fingers he actually has a moment this round. I was a little surprised they didn’t add Herrera this round, because they’re shallow in the middle infield. Baez starts at SS, Castro can will move over there in a emergency, La Stella can cover second, and that’s just about it. Maybe Coghlan plays an inning or two at 2B again. Maybe Bryant gets eligibility at another position. Herrera can’t hit at all, but he could’ve allowed more movement. Berry can’t hit either. He can play outfield, but so can half this team. Maybe this is a trade off for more catcher swapping? They’re starting Ross tonight, that’d be the time.

I feel weirdly confident and not all nervous about this. There’s nothing to feel angst about, this is found money on top of found money. I’m not too worried even when they’re tied or down late, like I was the last few times. I don’t know what that means.

Game 4 (NLDS 3): Cubs 8 – Cardinals 6

A little out of order!

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All season, the Cubs had problems leaving runners in scoring position. It works easier when you just make home plate scoring position! The big picture strategy for draft (/signing Latin players at a much younger age than would be allowed if they were American) is power hitters, power hitters, and more power hitters. People projected Jon Gray to the Cubs for balance in 2013, and any number of people in 2014, but the Cubs went after hitters. Hitting seems a bit more predictable, a little less injury prone, and a little quicker to advance in the system. (Maybe no one thought it’d be THIS quick.) Power’s costs a premium to acquire, but it looks pretty great when it’s all together. There’s a lot of luck in it working out, and working out all one day, but this an incredible lineup if they can live up to their Baseball America rankings.

Arrieta didn’t look great. He got 9 Ks and his line doesn’t look horrible days later, but he was missing the sharpness he had before. There’s fair concern about his inning count increase from last year. It’d be a surprise if it all came at once and everyone is entitled to one bad day. Rondon struggled, which would be concerning if he wasn’t better the next time out. He’s been much more up and down. The one really good sign was Strop shutting down his nemesis. Just glad he didn’t have to go back to St. Louis to do it.

Game 3: Cubs 6 – Cardinals 3

2015-10-10 18.40.48

I made the trip. I do a lot of planning of trips I never make and thought a lot about ways to get to Pittsburgh, didn’t find a way to make it work. St. Louis just lined up perfectly – mid afternoon game, so I could easily leave in the morning and get back almost the same day. I had nothing to do Sunday so I could just crash (and I mostly did, which is why you’re reading this Monday.) It was cheaper to buy a ticket and pay for gas for 500 miles than to go to Wrigley, all it took was doing a monotonous task for a long period of time. That’s my skill set!

Busch Stadium III is a nice play to see a baseball game. I really liked how the skyline sat beyond the stadium, looking nice and making it feel part of the city. The views of the field were great from the 200 level I was on. The concourses were spacious and had plenty of places to hang out away from your seats before the game. There’s far too many fan prompts to cheer – not quite as bad as the Chicago Bulls but not far off – and it was rare the fans actually started doing things on their own. The stadium was about 10-15% Cubs fans, who did try starting their own chants at times. The first time they tried, the stadium operations clue immediately disrupted them with music. It was kind of hilarious. Everyone was friendly and there was no real tension between fans, but a lot of high fiving of similarly dressed strangers after the game. Someday there will be a Cubs/Brewers game in Milwaukee and that’ll be a bit amazing. I’d definitely go back to this stadium another time.

This was a great game, one that didn’t feel completely safe even up five runs. Travis Wood and Trevor Cahill were dominant, but it felt like they had to be. The Cubs could do very little outside that one really big inning, and the Cardinals chipped away at the lead and threatened until the end. No Cubs game against the Cardinals ever feels comfortable and being a postseason game (down 1-0!) just ratcheted it up. They played it like a postseason game too – the two relievers were up and ready to come in earlier, and I’d guess Maddon wished he did make the move a few batters earlier even though Hendricks was just striking out everyone.

Jorge Soler finally was the Jorge Soler everyone was projected coming out of spring training. The home run was massive, putting an exclamation point on an half inning where the Cubs did everything right and the Cardinals seemed to do everything wrong. It was the later plate appearances which impressed me more, where Soler laid off some very close pitches to draw a couple of walks. He had that command of the strike zone last season, but lost it and was just getting beat by pitches low and away for months. It’d be easy to go right back to that after a lot of time on the bench, and it’s a big advantage for the Cubs if he can find that old form.

Everyone leaving the stadium was doing the series math: the Cubs stealing this game means it’s 1-1 going into an Arrieta start, which feels almost like 2-1 already. That’d give the Cubs two chances to win one game. They just had two chances and won one game. This could be a pivotal win.

Tsuyoshi Wada getting cut from the team was the only real news story of the off day. I thought it was very strange, but none of the beat writers had anything to say about except what was in the press release. Wada was a disappointment and wasn’t going to be brought back, but those kind of guys are usually dumped all at once after the World Series. There’s no advantage into putting Taylor Teagarden on the 40 man – he’s also a guy who’ll be cut right after the season. I think he’d have to be on the 40 man to be added to the postseason roster, but there’s no sign any of the catchers are hurt and need a replacement. There’s seems to be some story with Wada that isn’t being told – he was only used once when he was called up again, not even used on the days where the Cubs were unloading the entire bullpen – but who knows if has to do with the move. Teagarden got dropped off the roster for a short time because of lack of space, maybe getting him back on the 40 man now gets him an extra payday for being a good organizational solider? It probably doesn’t matter, but it’s strange.

Monday’s 5pm start is a bizarre time for a Cubs home game. Shadows! Arrieta really didn’t need the help, but thanks national TV.