June 2008
That’s More Like It
| – J. Edmonds homered to deep left |
| – M. Fontenot homered to deep left |
| – G. Soto grounded out to shortstop |
| – R. Theriot walked |
| – J. Marquis singled to right, R. Theriot to second |
| – K. Fukudome singled to right, R. Theriot scored, J. Marquis to third |
| – E. Patterson singled to right, J. Marquis scored, K. Fukudome to third |
| – D. Lee singled to center, K. Fukudome scored, E. Patterson to third |
| – A. Ramirez homered to deep left, D. Lee and E. Patterson scored |
| – B. Logan relieved J. Contreras |
| – J. Edmonds homered to deep left center |
| – M. DeRosa flied out to center |
| – G. Soto struck out looking |
|
9 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors Good to see the offense back on track. Even if only for one big inning. I’ll be in the house to see the Northsiders attempt to sweep that other team from Chicago tomorrow night. Should be a good one. |
Ouch
| - C. Marmol relieved S. Gallagher |
| – W. Aybar walked |
| – D. Navarro walked, W. Aybar to second |
| – G. Gross hit by pitch, W. Aybar to third, D. Navarro to second |
| – A. Iwamura hit by pitch, W. Aybar scored, D. Navarro to third, G. Gross to second |
| - S. Eyre relieved C. Marmol |
| – C. Crawford homered to deep right, G. Gross, D. Navarro and A. Iwamura scored |
| – B.J. Upton tripled to deep center |
| – E. Hinske doubled to deep right, B.J. Upton scored |
| – E. Hinske stole third |
| – E. Longoria hit sacrifice fly to left, E. Hinske scored |
| – C. Floyd doubled to deep left |
| - J. Lieber relieved S. Eyre |
| – W. Aybar grounded out to first, C. Floyd to third |
| – D. Navarro lined out to left |
| – End of Inning (7 Runs, 4 Hits, 0 Errors) |
If you’re gonna have your first 3-game losing streak of the year, might as well do it in style. What an inning.
The Bunt
Two outs, top of the 9th. Cubs trail by a run with men on 1st and 3rd. The opposing pitcher has just given up 2 hits and a walk. Reed Johnson steps to the plate, and on the first pitch…he bunts???
Now I love the squeeze play, and I think trying to bunt for a base hit and catch the 3rd baseman offguard with a surprise is a good idea, but not with 2 outs in the 9th. In my inexperienced opinion, there is a never a time on the field where the players are more aware of what’s going on in a close game like yesterday’s.
As good old Rosey (Steve Rosenbloom) pointed out, maybe he beats it out on grass instead of turf, but the key word there is maybe. Why not take a few pitches and maybe Percival walks him or uncorks another wild pitch? (Yes, I know it was a passed ball, but you get the idea). Maybe he was trying to be the hero to make up for getting thrown out
trying to steal 3rd with 2 outs as the tying run in the 7th. Point is, when you lay down a bunt, unless the other team makes a mistake, everyone moves up a maximum of one base, and the ball never leaves the infield. By bunting, Reed only gave us a chance to tie the game with 2 outs, whereas a gapper (or a homer) might have given us the win.
I’m just sayin.
On the Road…Again
After a
2-week absence, the CubBlog makes its triumphant return. So what did I miss?
The Cubs
played 13 games in 14 days, winning 9 and dropping 4, bringing them to
a season high 20 games over .500 at 45-25.
The stretch included a 3-0 record at home, and more importantly, a 6-4
record on 2 road trips. The Cubs have 13
of their next 19 on the road (3 on the Southside), so keeping up their winning
ways away from Wrigley will be extremely important.
So what did we learn from these past two weeks?
1. The rotation is improving
Behind
Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster, the rest of the rotation had been a bit
suspect through the first 2 months of the season. Ted Lilly opened the season with an ERA near
10, Jason Marquis couldn’t get past the 5th inning, and the 5th
starter spot was a mess until Sean Gallagher claimed it in late May. Since then, Marquis has gone 3-0, Lilly is
2-1 (his only loss was a 2-1 defeat), and while Gallagher has gone 0-2, he has not
allowed more than 3 runs in any start. The
Cubs are considering going after another starter (I’ve heard anywhere from C.C. Sabbathia to Randy Wolf to Greg Maddux) in the event that Rich Hill
doesn’t make it back to the majors this year, but if the back 3 of the rotation
continue to pitch this well, it may not be necessary, although you can never
have too much pitching.
2. Jim Edmonds reads my blog
Seriously, there is no other explanation. Since I blasted him in an entry on May 29th, (Here) all he has done is gone 18-for-44 (.409), with 2 big HRs and 14 RBIs, while starting 12 games. More importantly, he’s only struck out 3 times in that span. I still have trouble cheering for the guy, as I’m convinced he’s just waiting to drop a crucial fly ball in October and then rip off his Cubs uni to display a Cardinals shirt, but it’s hard to be unhappy when he hits a game-tying opposite field HR in the 9th inning of a game that the Cubs go on to win.
3. Marmol and Wood have pitched a lot
And I mean A LOT. Marmol has appeared in 37 of the Cubs 70 games this year. For those of you who like math, that’s more than half. Bet you thought I was gonna give you a percentage. Well I am, it’s 52.9%. Anyway, in those 37 games, he’s gone 43 innings already. To compare, in all of last season he threw in 59 games, recording just 69 1/3 IP, meaning he’s nearly 2/3 of the way to both games and innings pitched totals from last year.
The comparisons to last year don’t really apply to Woody because he didn’t return from the DL until August 5th. (Editor’s Note: I was at that game and got chills just thinking about it.) But it should be noted that it’s his first full season as a RP, and his 35 appearances this season are more than he has ever made in his career. Yes, he’s only thrown 37 innings, and has done very well in nailing down 18 of 22 save chances. But you have to wonder why he’s made 35 appearances with only 22 save chances. Occasionally a 2-run lead will become a 4-run lead, and there will be the extra-inning game where he needs to pitch in a tie game, but 13 of them already? Seems like a lot.
All this is just to say that while the back end of the bullpen has been outstanding thus far, Lou needs to (and he is) keep an eye on the use of these star relievers so they last into September (and hopefully October).
4. The Cubs will miss Fonzie
Not his defense of course, but his bat. In 38 games since returning from the DL on May 1st, Soriano was batting .323, with 13 HRs, 35 RBIs, and most importantly, 5 SBs, including 3 in his final 7 games leading up to the injury. While that will obviously be missed in the lineup, the Cubs have Lee and Ramirez to pick up the power slack, and Reed Johnson, Ryan Theriot and maybe even Kosuke to fill in at the top.
The silver lining behind this, if we must look for one, is that Soriano will be able to rehab his legs for 6 weeks while recovering from the broken hand. He clearly came back early from his first stint on the DL, and only in the last week did he look like he was regaining his form. Now he has a chance to concentrate on his legs for at least a month, which will hopefully make him a threat on the bases when he returns.
5. The Cubs are never out of any game
I know the immediate thought is of the 10-9 comeback win against Colorado that happened before the 2-week absence, but the Cubs have come back from behind against Atlanta and San Diego in the past two weeks, and had a chance to win every game with the exception of the complete game shutout thrown by Kuroda of the Dodgers. It’s a great feeling to go into the 9th inning with thoughts of a comeback win rather than being resigned to a defeat.
The Cubs are in Tampa tonight for the first of 3 against the AL Wild-Card leading (too early?) Rays. A good matchup tonight between Ryan Dempster and Scott Kazmir will set the tone for the series. After that, the Cubs welcome the Sox for 3 and the Orioles for 3 at Wrigley before finishing up interleague play against those same White Sox at the Cell.
7 For 7
Now I’m not the oldest of Cub fans, but in all my years as a Cubs fan I cannot remember a homestand of this length where the Cubs won them all. (Editor’s Note: It last happened in 1970). Coming off two tough extra inning losses the week before in Pittsburgh, the Cubs played well in sweeping the Dodgers and then took it to the reeling Rockies. Now they take their 7-game win streak with them to the West Coast for 3 against the Padres and 4 against those same Dogers. 23 of the Cubs’ next 32 games are on the road (although 3 of those are on the Southside), so this will be an important stretch for the team with the best record in baseball. Now I’m not trying to get ahead of myself, but the last time the Cubs had the best record in baseball on June 1st was the year 1908. Just makes me excited all over to think about that.
Today’s game saw Derrek Lee get his first full day off in 2008, and Micah Hoffpauir started in his place, both at 1st base and at the 3 spot in the order. I found it interesting that Lou didn’t take Lee’s absence as a chance to try a new lineup, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It was a close game all around, with the Cubs getting contributions from nearly every man on the roster in this one. As much as it pains me to say it, Jim Edmonds is improving at the plate, coming up with a big RBI double in the 4th and an even bigger bases loaded walk in the 5th. After loading the bases with none out, Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez struck out Fukudome and Soto, before issuing the run-scoring walk to Jimmy. Watching Kosuke and Geo strike out from up in Section 421 made me feel like I was watching the Cubs of old, but we were able to come through with 2 outs thanks to the good eye of Edmonds. And just for good measure, Soriano blasted a hanging Manny Corpas breaking ball onto Waveland to make sure the Cubs completed the sweep.
On the other side of the ball, Sean Gallagher appears to have sewn up the 5th spot in the rotation. He looked masterful at times, striking out 8 (including 4 in the first 2 innings), but was a bit wild at times, hitting 2 batters. He left after 5 2/3, and the bullpen shakily took it from there, with only an inherited run scoring off of Michael Wuertz in the 6th. KWood looked good in the 9th, and even though he got to a couple of 3-ball counts and nearly hit ANOTHER batter, he got the job done 1-2-3.
The Comeback
Yes the wind was blowing out, yes the opponent was the
injury-plagued Colorado Rockies, and yes, Manny Corpas is terrible right now,
but that was still one of the more amazing and improbable comebacks in recent
memory. While it seems obvious, it’s
important to remember that in order to come back from down 9-1; the Cubs still
had to score 9 runs. Scoring 9 runs in a
single game is difficult enough, and the Cubbies were able to do it in 2
innings. Amazingly, Aramis Ramirez, Ryan
Theriot, Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto were all out of the game by the time the
comeback started in the 6th inning.
The Cubs came through using contributions by Kosuke, Micah,
Blanco, DeRosa, and of course, the day after I thoroughly bash him, Jim
Edmonds. Kosuke and Jimmy hit back-to-back
HRs from in the 6th, Blanco took his turn with a HR in the 7th,
and following a 2-run double by Edmonds, DeRosa hit a lazy fly ball that the
20+ mph wind took into the 3rd row of the bleachers in left to put
the Cubs up for good. It is an extremely
comforting feeling to see the bench players come through in the clutch, as they
will be pinch hitting when it counts come September (and hopefully October).
Another important aspect of Friday’s game which should not
be lost among the comeback was the work of the Cubs bullpen. Ted Lilly was atrocious, and yes part of it
was due to the wind and close calls on the basepaths, but he made the bullpen
go to work early. Jon Lieber ate a bunch
of innings, Scott Eyre pitched to the most batters he could (1) and got the
win, Marmol was nasty (more on him shortly), and Kerry Wood overcame a leadoff
walk and a 3-0 count to the next batter to get out of the 9th
unscathed. One rally by the Rockies in
the 7th, 8th, or 9th would have made the
incredible comeback all for nothing, and the Cubs relievers did an outstanding
job of holding them down, especially considering the conditions.
Back to Marmol. He
needed just 10 pitches to strike out the
side in the 8th inning on Friday. The first pitch he threw was a ball, and then
came 9 straight strikes, only 1 of which was a foul ball. I don’t think that Seth Smith ever got the
bat off his shoulders while watching 3 sliders in a row buckle his knees. A team can be extremely susceptible to giving up a big
inning coming off one their own, and Marmol made sure there was no
chance of that occurring. I don’t think
it’s a stretch to say that he is one of the best pitchers in the game right
now. To put his dominance into numbers,
righties are batting just .088 against him this year. .088!!!
There are some who might think that it would be wise to imitate what the
Yankees are doing with Joba Chamberlain, and convert Marmol into a starter, and
there are some who believe he should be closing instead of Wood. Yes he would be good in either of those
spots, but there is no way the Cubs would have the best record in baseball if
it wasn’t for Marmol’s flexibility in the bullpen. He can come in to start an inning or in the
middle, he can come in with the bases empty or loaded, and he can pitch to both
righties and lefties. There aren’t many
other relievers in the game who can do that with the success rate that Marmol
does. And as I often say, “It doesn’t matter
who closes if you can’t get him the ball in the 9th with the
lead”. Kerry has had a few struggles in
the 9th (all the HBPs jump to mind), but he has still nailed down 13
saves in 17 attempts, and opponents (both righties and lefties) are batting
.190 against him, which is not too shabby.
Marmol in the 8th and Woody in the 9th is a great
combo.
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