Cole Hamels to start Saturday vs the Brewers

[jjfanec]

I am more than happy Cole Hamels is starting this series.

 

It will give me great pleasure each and every time the Brewers offense lays a beatdown on him until he accepts the bitter Brewers/Cubs rivalry as a reality.

 

Why do you care so much whether or not Cole Hamels thinks Brewers/Cubs is a rivalry?

 

That is fine you dont care but Hamels obviously said it to rile people up last year. It was obviously a rivalry and he came off like a tool. Also he hadnt been there long enough to know if it was a rivalry.

[timpep]

I am more than happy Cole Hamels is starting this series.

 

It will give me great pleasure each and every time the Brewers offense lays a beatdown on him until he accepts the bitter Brewers/Cubs rivalry as a reality.

 

Why do you care so much whether or not Cole Hamels thinks Brewers/Cubs is a rivalry?

 

That is fine you dont care but Hamels obviously said it to rile people up last year. It was obviously a rivalry and he came off like a tool. Also he hadnt been there long enough to know if it was a rivalry.

 

Yeah! That comment still makes me want to beat Hamels more than anyone else. I'm glad we get the chance!

[adambr2]

Cole Hamels' opinion means nothing to me. That's all I'm saying. I don't really care what he says about it. Yes he's a goober and yes it's obviously a rivalry, but insisting on it makes it feel like we have little brother insecurities.

[Brewcrewin07]

I’m not buying into the deep hatred theory, but I do think it isn’t a coincidence that Hamels is returning against the Brewers. I looked at the Cubs injury report before last weekend’s series and it said Hamels was on rehab and, if things went well, he would start on Sunday. That didn’t happen, so then I looked again on Monday and it said Hamels would be throwing a bullpen session and would start on Saturday if that went OK.

 

I think Maddon realizes that the Brewers are extremely left handed and have trouble with left handed pitchers, and that has just gotten more pronounced with Aguilar’s departure. Using Hamels against the Cardinals doesn’t give the Cubs any advantage over using Hendricks or Darvish because the Cards’ biggest power hitters (Goldschmidt, Martinez, DeJong) are right handed.

 

It’s also not a coincidence that Maddon gave Quintana a few extra days between starts so he could pitch Sunday and Friday against the Brewers. I’m also not totally convinced that Lester was really pulled from his scheduled start against the Giants due to illness. That illness might have come up suddenly when Maddon knew that Hamels wouldn’t be ready for the Brewers and he wanted two lefties in the series. I know Maddon said that Lester’s illness was one reason he removed him from Friday’s game while he was sailing along, but that might have been a convenient way to deflect the criticism he was getting.

 

Don’t kid yourself. Maddon, like all managers, plans his starting rotations to get favorable matchups if he can. I don’t see that as a sign of irrational hatred. I see it as a sign of respect and playing the percentages.

 

+1000...You nailed it totally. Maybe he doesn't have a hatred for the Brewers, but he WILL do things(and has shown he will) to try to get who he thinks his best arms are against the Brewers. Hamels COULD have started at least a few days ago already. Again, don't for one second think that the fact Quintana never misses series against the Brewers is by coincidence. Especially when he has done things(extra rest etc), to assure that he does pitch against the Crew in an upcoming series. Maybe it's not hatred, but I do feel like there's a little bit of "I will show you! to it...Here, hit Quintana, your kryptonite, let me know how that goes".

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I’m not buying into the deep hatred theory, but I do think it isn’t a coincidence that Hamels is returning against the Brewers. I looked at the Cubs injury report before last weekend’s series and it said Hamels was on rehab and, if things went well, he would start on Sunday. That didn’t happen, so then I looked again on Monday and it said Hamels would be throwing a bullpen session and would start on Saturday if that went OK.

 

I think Maddon realizes that the Brewers are extremely left handed and have trouble with left handed pitchers, and that has just gotten more pronounced with Aguilar’s departure. Using Hamels against the Cardinals doesn’t give the Cubs any advantage over using Hendricks or Darvish because the Cards’ biggest power hitters (Goldschmidt, Martinez, DeJong) are right handed.

 

It’s also not a coincidence that Maddon gave Quintana a few extra days between starts so he could pitch Sunday and Friday against the Brewers. I’m also not totally convinced that Lester was really pulled from his scheduled start against the Giants due to illness. That illness might have come up suddenly when Maddon knew that Hamels wouldn’t be ready for the Brewers and he wanted two lefties in the series. I know Maddon said that Lester’s illness was one reason he removed him from Friday’s game while he was sailing along, but that might have been a convenient way to deflect the criticism he was getting.

 

Don’t kid yourself. Maddon, like all managers, plans his starting rotations to get favorable matchups if he can. I don’t see that as a sign of irrational hatred. I see it as a sign of respect and playing the percentages.

 

+1000...You nailed it totally. Maybe he doesn't have a hatred for the Brewers, but he WILL do things(and has shown he will) to try to get who he thinks his best arms are against the Brewers. Hamels COULD have started at least a few days ago already. Again, don't for one second think that the fact Quintana never misses series against the Brewers is by coincidence. Especially when he has done things(extra rest etc), to assure that he does pitch against the Crew in an upcoming series. Maybe it's not hatred, but I do feel like there's a little bit of "I will show you! to it...Here, hit Quintana, your kryptonite, let me know how that goes".

 

In case you haven't noticed, pretty much every team has started any crap lefty they can dig up against this team because they are extremely LHH dominant, and the guys who are in the lineup to destroy lefties (Braun and Aguilar) haven't. That's just good game planning, and crappy roster management by the Brewers.