Umm, who took my Chicago Cubs and replaced them with a good baseball team? After an April spent on the bottom rung of the NL Central, the Cubs have surprisingly played pretty darn good baseball the last 2 days. Blowing out the Rangers on Monday, and squeaking by the Cardinals last night for a 2-1 victory. Timely clutch hitting, a 2 out single by Soriano followed by a Schierholz homer, rock solid starting pitching, and an actually effective bullpen have made this team look more like contenders than also rans. At least for the last two days. All I can think is that the severed Goat Head sent to Tom Ricketts at the beginning of the season is finally starting to have the magical effect it was intended to have. There really couldn't be any other possible explanation, right?
Or could it be that these Cubs aren't as bad as our record shows? I've been saying all year that if a few plays had gone differently, if the wheels didn't totally come off the bus sometimes, and if we had played more solid fundamental baseball, we could easily be a .500 team, if not better. You could sense the tension in the crowd last night when Sveum went to the bullpen in the 7th to replace Travis Wood with Carlos Marmol. The fans booed Sveum (I was one of them), then clapped for Wood's strong performance, and then they booed Carlos Marmol (I was not one of them). I can't really say that Marmol did well either, he gave up a walk and 2 hits in an inning and a third. And but for a base running error by Yadier Molina, where Marmol caught Molina trying to steal, we could have easily been "Marmoled" once again. He's blown many a ball game for us this year, and as much as I used to love watching him pitch, I really don't ever want to see him pitching during a tight game ever again. I mean ever. I understand Sveum is trying to work out some of Marmol's head problems by putting him out there day after day. But why not let him work it out on Monday when we won 9-2, and the damn game isn't on the line. Honestly, he almost blew the game again last night, and the blame would have been on Sveum. It was almost as if Sveum was trying to lose. Why use James Russel, our hottest hand in the pen on Monday night in a blowout, and Marmol, a guy that's lost at least 4 games for us with terrible performances in a 1 run ball game? I just don't get it.
What else happened? Well, Castro made a great play up the middle, and then proceded to drop the ball for his 6th error of the season. He's only one behind the league leader, National, Ian Desmond who has 7. Welington Castillo has 5 errors, and the Cubs are also one error behind the league leading Marlins with 28. Besides shoddy relief, this has been the Cubs biggest problem this year. Makes you feel as if the wheels could come off at any second with just one poorly executed play. We also lead the league in Wild Pitches with 20, which is a reflection on our Misser...ummm....I mean Catcher as well. Hey...at least Castillo can hit and has the best batting average on the team, which is more than I can say about Castro, who's batting a paltry .277. They shoved Castro in our face as a superstar, but he hasn't really done anything too spectacular yet. Sure...he makes some flashy amazing plays, but he's not clutch, and it all goes to hell in a hand basket on a two hopper straight at him. I say trade him while his value is decent. I really don't think he's the future of this team. Darwin Barney went 0-3 last night too, lowering his average to .147. Umm...wassup with that? It's like we have two pitchers up there! Hey at least I can take a whizz and buy a beer in the third and not miss anything.
Side note, Luis Valbuena hit a screamer 10 feet over my head onto Waveland Avenue in the second inning. I was leaning up against the fence in terrace reserved, right field. And it looked as if the ball was coming straight for my face. I don't think my heart stopped thumping until the 7th.
But we won yesterday! We freaking won!! We tried to lose, but the Cardinals gave us one and it felt good. I know my blog posts are overwhelmingly negative, even when we won the game. I'll try and be more positive, but it's frustrating to think how many more games we could have won this year if it wasn't for these major flaws in the Cubs game plan.
Well, it's gonna be another tough one today as we face Jake Westbrook with "the Stache", Carlos Villanueva. Westbrook has a 1.07 ERA, so he's damn tough. As I said yesterday, we have to, have to, have to get to their bullpen, it's surprisingly the worst in the majors. So come on boys! Let's work some counts, lets foul off pitches for days. Anything to tire the guy out. Going to the game with Mom, who I don't think has seen the Cubs win in the last 5 years. So let's get one for her, she's freakin 75!
Check out the Son Ranto Podcast here!
Go Cubbies!!
No comments:
Post a Comment