After spending 9 of the last 10 days in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field, missing only the cold and wet Friday game against the Reds, I can truly say that for the first time in my life, I'm glad the Cubs are on the road for a 3 game set against the Nationals. The Cubs were 4-6 on this homestand, splitting a 4 game series with the Padres, swept by the Reds in 3, they clobbered the Rangers in a makeup game, and then split the 2 game series with Cardinals to finish it off. Besides the obviously exhausting problem of drinking too much, talking too much, and eating too much at these 9 ball games, I am actually hung over from the Baseball itself. Once again, as in earlier series this year, we were close in almost all of these games, but ended with a losing record for the homestand. Why can't this team get over the hump? Why do they make stupid errors? Why is Carlos Marmol given the ball in close games? Why do we allow teams 5 outs an inning due to misplays? And most importantly, why is Dale Sveum still the manager?
Let's take yesterday's 5-4 loss to the Cardinals, a game we were winning until the 7th inning, and didn't go behind until the 8th. The Cubs starter, Carlos "the stache" Villanueva had 2 outs in the 7th, and was due up second in the bottom of the inning. Sveum pulls him after 101 pitches, because his arm was tired from twirling his mustache between innings, and in comes James Russel, who has been great, until yesterday, gives up a double and a single. Tie game. Now I'm not a big fan of the whole lefty/righty match up thing, especially with Villanueva due up second in the inning, it makes no sense to use your lefty in the 7th for one batter, Matt Carpenter, when the next 4 Cardinals are switch hitters, or righty's. Russel gives up the double to Carpenter, and then Beltran, a switch hitter, brings him home with a single. Russel then stays in to get the final out against righty Holliday. So what's the point of the lefty match up, when Russel comes in and faces two righty's anyway? Stupid.
Sveum, then pinch hits Borbon in the 7th for Russel, who attempts to bunt Cody Ransom to second, but runs to first base on the grass side of the baseline, and is called out on interference. Ransom goes back to first. DeJesus comes up, grounds into a double play, inning over. Why the hell doesn't Borbon run in the damned baseline?! The man has been in and out of the big leagues since 2009, but can't do something simple like run down to first base! Why?! Sloppy play= crappy coaching.
Then in the 8th inning, Michael Bowden come in for the Cubs, and the Cardinals take the lead because of a single, a wild pitch (our league leading 21st), and another single. Why all the wild pitches? They don't score without a wild pitch! We have 2 Missers....I mean Catchers that can't catch or block the damn ball. Your called a Catcher! What you are supposed to do is in the damn job title! I don't know if these are pitch crossups, lack of communication, sheer ineptitude, or a combination of the 3. But I do know, when something negative happens enough in your game play, that you must work to fix said negative problem. Once again...sloppy play=crappy coaching.
So, that's how we lost yesterdays game, but what did we do to not win it? Well, ground into 4 double plays for one. Two of them reflecting on coaching or management in my opinion. The first one that bugged me was Dioner Navarro's DP in the 6th inning. With men on first and third. Navarro, who is visibly fat, hit a 2 bouncer to second. Just about every other player on the team would have beat that out, but not Sir Chuggington Navarro. He is listed as 5'9" 205 lbs. Which is the exact weight and height same as me. And I'm fat. About 25-30 lbs overweight. How is this guy a professional athlete, and allowed to stay this rotund? The run from third would have scored had he been able to leg it out. Maybe I can shame him into losing weight by sitting near the first base line, and yelling Boom Babba Boom Babba Boom as he runs down the line. Don't these guys have dietitians and conditioning coaches? Why is nobody demanding this guy get fit? He gets paid millions of dollars to play a kids game! Ever hear of Seattle Sutton's healthy eating? They're a freakin Cubs sponsor for Crissakes! But do you think Dale Sveum went up to Navarro and told him, "you know you would have beaten that out if you weighed 15 lbs less". No. Probably not. Sloppy Body=Crappy Coaching.
The other Double play I will second guess Sveum on happened in the 8th inning. Now granted, Nate Schierholz has been one of the best players on the Cubs this year. But he rarely plays against leftys. In fact, he's had only 9 at bats and 1 hit against lefty's this year and is batting .111. The Cubs have first and third, one out. Now, Sveum has Alfonso Soriano on the bench, and all we need is a sac fly to tie the game. Soriano is batting .421 against leftys. Yes, .421 vs. .111 with the game on the line in the 8th inning against the hated Cardinals. What does Sveum do? Nothing. Schierholz bounces into the Cubs 4th double play of the day. Inning over. Chance squandered. Cubs go 1-9 with men in scoring position and......Ugh... Soriano did end up making an appearance in the on deck circle in the bottom of the 9th where he would have faced a righty though. As I said, I'm not a fan of the lefty righty thing. Maybe Schierholz would be better against leftys if he actually got to face them once in a while, but Sveum loses the lead by using a lefty matchup with James Russel, and then fails to do the exact same thing on offense an inning later. This team is inconsistent. Dale Sveum is among the most inconsistent. Actually, I take that back. He is incredibly consistent, at losing baseball games.
Further reasons why Sveum sucks and should be canned. Even though we beat the Cards on Tuesday, why was Marmol allowed into that game? We were only winning 2-1, and Marmol gave up a walk and 2 hits in an inning and a third. We were lucky that the Cardinals Molina made a stupid base running play and was picked off. Marmol needs to work out some kinks, yet he didn't pitch in the blowout against the Rangers on Monday. It would have been the perfect time to let him get out there with no pressure. Because under pressure, he blows it. Every time. Yet, we did see James Russel, our lefty specialist in the blowout. Why? What was the point of that? Bad decisions. Bad coaching. Yesterday, Rizzo tries to steal third with 2 out in the first. Why? He's already in scoring position! What's the point? Dumb Dumb Dumb. Bad Coaching.
So, yeah. I'm calling for Sveums head. These young players who apparently don't know the simple fundamentals of baseball like running in the baseline, or not stealing a base when it's unnecessary, or being fit enough to run, need a manager like Bobby Cox, or Piniella in his hey day. Someone old school who will teach them how to play the game right. Why they already don't know that at this point, as professional millionaire ball players is beyond me. I guess jocks are dumb. But the Cubs make me feel like I'm at the blackjack table, and someone next to me keeps taking my Ace, by hitting on 16 when the dealer has a bust card. They're just playing the game wrong, and it's killing us.
Well...what's on tap? A new podcast with the Lovable Lou Sears for one. Check out the expiring one here.... You can follow us on Soundcloud or subscribe on itunes! And you will be notified accordingly...
In the meantine...check out http://www.Sonranto.com and Go Cubbies!
Let's Kill dem Nats in DC!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment