Dale Sveum's Brain Fell Out With his Hair!

What can you say about a game in which your starting pitcher, Matt Garza gives up 0 runs through 7, and you're about to sweep the lowly Met's in NYC, winning 3-0. Then in the 9th inning, your idiot manager, Dale Sveum brings in Carlos Marmol, a pitcher who's been decent in ANY other inning but the 9th, and promptly gives up a Home Run, and then a walk.  Now, right here at this juncture, every Cubs fan in America know's the Cubs will lose if Marmol isn't yanked.  He doesn't have his stuff, and he will now explode the ball game like some sort of baseball terrorist.  But instead of going to the pen.  Dale leaves him in there, to give up another hit, and then the only out recorded, a give away, runners moving bunt. And then the big boom.  A 3 run homer.  Cubs lose 4-3.  Defeat yanked from the jaws of victory.

Listening to a bit of Cubs talk radio after the game.  Everyone.  And I mean everyone who called, and the hosts, all said exactly what I just said.  Fine.  Use Marmol, but not here, and when he doesn't have his stuff, yank him.  The hosts of the show were quick to point out that the Cubs are most likely trying to showcase Marmol in order to shop him for a trade.  Well, guess what?  Not only did Marmol have 0 trade value before this game, but now, you'd be lucky to get a team to take him for some rusty nails, and a dead penguin.

This is NOT Marmol's fault however.  He is trying his hardest.  He just stinks now, especially in the 9th.  This is Dale Sveums fault.  Seriously Dale?  How could let down the other 8 players on that field, who came so close to grinding out a sweep, by bringing in, and KEEPING in Carlos Marmol after you KNOW he doesn't have his stuff and is about to get rocket hard?  Your job is to win baseball games Dale.  Period.  You're an idiot, you should be fired, and I understand fully why Robin Yount shot you.

Now, to give a voice to those diehard fans, who's Father's day was ruined by Carlos and Dale.  Here are some twitter rants about yesterday's fiasco.  

Carlos Marmol ruins Father's Day for the #Cubs, allowing four runs in the bottom of the 9th to send the Cubs to a 4-3 loss.— Between the Vines (@CubsStories) June 16, 2013

sveum was just saying he hoped not to use marmol as closer again. i mean, he had no one else in his pen?!?
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 16, 2013

This is 100% on Dale Sveum. He knows Marmol can't close and he leaves him out there. I'm not even (cont) pic.twitter.com/yGmGTaJLuH
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) June 16, 2013

I don't always scream YOU RUINED FATHERS DAY.....but when I do, Carlos Marmol enters the Cubs game.
— Jill Jedd (@JillDawsonJ) June 16, 2013

Carlos Marmol is making $9.5M this year. If you wanted to feel really bad about yourself today.
— Adam Brown (@SouvenirCity) June 16, 2013

Please Lord ..don't let the Cubs put Carlos Marmol in the game .. I beg you http://t.co/e5pJpWDOhZ
— Vegas Experts (@Vegas_Experts) June 17, 2013

I just want to take this moment to remind Carlos Marmol that ALL #Cubs fans, Baseball fans, & humans on planet earth think he should retire
— Chris Coleman (@Colemerica) June 17, 2013

I'd be entirely okay if Carlos Marmol lost his right arm in a freak accident sometime in the next day or so.
— LJWJ (@BaseballByDay_) June 17, 2013

#Dale #Sveum cannot leave #Marmol in after a home run and a walk! I understand they are trying to get trade value, what happened to common ¢
— Greenberg59 (@swooner2002) June 17, 2013

Nothing Theo does will make up for being too full of himself to hire Sandberg to manage the @Cubs instead of Sveum. Are you proud now? #fool
— Andrew Avery (@aavery25) June 17, 2013

On resume: who is more guilty and more asshole, Sveum or Marmol?
— Gustavo Rodriguez (@cubbieforever) June 17, 2013

Sveum says they know marmol has trouble with the last 3 outs, but he still uses him? I hope Sveum gets hit by a bus
— John Davidson (@jjd61882) June 17, 2013

@tonyadragna Sveum is as awful as Marmol and both can leave anytime now. The sooner the better.
— Matt Loveless (@mal46227) June 17, 2013

Yes, Dale, everyone in freaking Chicago and beyond thinks you're a moron.  Got anything to say to that Dale?  Defend yourself!



Oh I forgot...you're a total idiot....ughh....seriously Dale?  Marmol has trouble with the last 3 outs?  Tell me something I've known for 2 years now.  Really Dale?  He doesn't have the slider he used to?  Wow!    I thought that it was still amazing like 4 years ago!  I didn't realize that his 6.08 era was worse somehow than in 2010 when it was 2.55.   God Dale, a monkey could manage this team better.

Well, off to St. Louis for me...like right now....I hope I don't get stabbed by my Airbnb host.  And would it kill you to not make me look bad in enemy territory?  Tonight the Cubs throw up Travis Wood, 5-5, 2.65 vs.  Shelby Miller, 7-4, 2.21.  Travis vs Shelby.  Two of my least favorite names going at it!  Go cubbies!

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Cubby Broom Time in NYC!

What kind of broom should we sweep the Mets with today?  

This Old Tymey one?  Or This Broom would be fun to sweep with!  Not!!

But I'm partial to sweeping the Mets with Orlando Broom.

Whichever broom we pick, it'll be nice to finally sweep a 3 game road series.  

Now about yesterdays game....Cubs Win!  5-2!!  But...and this is a huuuuge but, the Cubs, individually speaking, left 35 men on base.  35!!!!  Starlin Castro left 9 on himself!  Though he did drive in two with a bases loaded double in the 8th.  He also struck out 3 times, thus the 9 left on base.  Wouldn't it be great if it was exciting to see Castro come up with the bases loaded?  Like it was when Aramis Ramirez or Derek Lee?  Ahh... the many faces of Starlin Castro's Strikeouts....

"The Pout"

"The Bat Break Fake Out"

"The Mic Drop"

Oh, Starlin...will you ever hit again?

The Cubs were 3-18 with runners in scoring position, so basically the final score should have been 12-2.  So great, Cubs win!  But it just didn't quite feel right.  Good thing Scott Feldman was killing it yesterday, 7 innings, 2 hits, 1 run.  The thing that gets me, is as soon as a guy is doing really well, everyone on Twitter wants to trade him for some prospects.  Do you know how many prospects end up being busts?  At least 50% of them.  Probably more.  Also, don't factor out the intangible element of playing together as a team, and just simply knowing one another over a period of time.  If you have constant roster shakeups, and trade away all your players that are having decent years, you're ensuring a lot more losses after August, and a furthering of the Cubs losing culture.  So, don't trade Feldman, or Garza.  We have a great pitching staff, and you know that at least one of them is going to get injured  and be out for the rest of the year.  Y'all ready for Brooks Raley again?  

This game also saw a crazy play in the 9th, where the Cubs almost got triple played, except for the Mets ineptitude at turning it.  The centerfielder Lagares caught the ball, but it was ruled a trap.

The Cubs runners froze, Lagares then threw to second. The umpire ruled "Safe", but there was a force out from first, so the umpire was wrong.  Again. 

 The force is now off at third and home because of the out at second.  They threw home, thought there was an out there.  There wasn't.  Then threw to third where David Wright thought he had another force out.  He didn't.  Wellington Castillo was stupidly standing off the bag at third, so if Wright tags him, it's another out, but David Price whispered in his ear to get back on the base, which he did in the nick of time.  

Why in the hell would you be standing off a base?  Ever?  Just dumb.  

So, bases loaded, no outs, and the Cubs don't score.  I saw that happen in Pittsburgh in a 1-0 loss.  That also was terrible.  I hate it.  

However, Castillo did upend Jordany Valdespin, who has a great fashion designer name if the baseball thing doesn't work out. 

Good hard clean baseball!

Let the sweeping commence!  Matt Garza pitches today, and hopefully it goes better than last time when he got shelled by the Reds for 9, count em 9 runs!

And the Cubs hitters are up against Jeremy Hefner, who is 1-6 with a 4.11 ERA.  This idiot went to Oral Roberts University, so I think I probably hate him.  I hope the Cubbies send him to kingdom come!  Which this moron probably believes he's going to when he dies.  The fool!  At least he's a righty, so we don't have to watch Scott Hairston try and hit in Dale's crappy lefty lineup.  He's been better, but still pretty awful

Tomorrow, I head to St. Louis to watch the Cubbies in enemy territory!  I'm scared.  Won't you please use the amazon search bar at http://www.sonranto.com to help me with tickets, pepper spray, gas and beer?

Also, check out my article on Bleed Cubbie Blue!

Really appreciate it!  Go Cubbies!!

Cubs Not Fun When They Lose

Ok.  Who's to blame on the Cubs for losing 2 of 3 to the lowly Mets at home?  Friday was probably the most boring game of the season in a 3-2 loser fest, where the Cubs couldn't get anything cooking after the first inning.  Saturday was awesome!  With the Bleachers full of Met fans, the Cubbies explode for 8 runs, and it would have been a shutout too if our bullpen wasn't so damn shaky.  Dolis gave up a 2 run shot in the 9th to tarnish the day a bit.  And then Sunday, the Cubs can't get anything going except for a 2 run homer from the pitcher, Travis Wood, and a solo shot from the new guy, Sweeney, and once again, the bullpen gets the loss.

Who's to blame?  Well, lets take Sundays game for example.  4 doubles by the Cubs.  All of them hit with nobody out, and only one of the runs scores, and that was because the pitcher hit a homerun.  This has been the problem the entire year!  And the main culprits of failure?  There are 3, Starlin Castro 0-4, Anthony Rizzo 0-4, and Darwin Barney 0-3, with a total of 7 left on base.  And unfortunately, they are who we are building our team around.  I'm a broken record here!!! The Cubs as a team had just gotten over .200, and out of the cellar, with runners in scoring position, and then they pull 1-10 garbage on Sunday.  Castro also went 0-5 in Saturday's slugfest,  and committed an error.  Actually, Castro booted 3 balls this weekend, and incredulously, only one was called an error.  Maybe the scorer is the same guy that got him off that sexual assault charge last year.  It was hilarious, however, when a guy wearing a Castro jersey in Terrace Reserved dropped a foul ball, and some guy yelled, that's your third error today Castro!  Yes.  Hilarious.  If it didn't suck so bad.  And Darwin Barney?  Listen, the guys a great fielder, but he just can't hit.  In fact, he's a worse hitter than just about any player on the team.  It's like we have 2 pitchers at the bottom of the order!

Currently the Cubs have only one hitter batting above .300,  Ryan Sweeney, who only has 18 AB's this season.  Fine, we have great starting pitching, 5th in ERA in the whole Major Leagues!  But we have no relief. We can't hit in pressure situations, and we continue to commit errors, throw wild pitches, and lose.

I looked into going to the Cubs/Sox series next week. On Stub hub, and from the Sox, it's 50$ to go.  If you think anybody gives a rats ass about 2 crappy teams going at it for bragging rights to the best in chicago of the two worst teams in the majors?  You have another thing coming Reinsdorf/Ricketts.  Sorry, there is no such thing as a premium game when you can't even beat the Mets.  With the starters the Cubs and Sox both have, we should be .500 teams.  Neither are.  It's embarrassing.

Finally.  I did not go to the game Sunday, or watch it til this morning, because I went to the Schaumburg Boomers game and they won 2-1!  But the hot dogs sucked, the pop was out of syrup, and how do I put this?...  There was a group at the ballpark from a home for the mentally challenged, and I couldn't tell who were the fans and who were the staff.  In positive news, I got my first foul ball ever!  Unfortunately, I got it because it ricochetted off a wall and into my nieces chest, and almost brained my mother who was at a drinking fountain at the time.  They took my niece to the first aid with her grandma, but she was fine.   I was sitting there with my buddy Chris thinking... the Boomers were gonna give us free tickets, t-shirts, food...etc....but you know what she got?  Nothing but An ice bag for her chest.  At least it resulted in an hilarious new nickname, "the cooler".  Get it?  Ice Chest?  Cooler?  Anyway, I told her if anything like that happens again, to turn on the water works and cry loudly, so we can get some free crap.  Hey, uncles are put on this earth to teach you the important things in life that the kids parents can't say without feeling like they suck at parenting.  I do not have that concern.  I'm a professional Druncle.

So what's on tap?  Pittsburgh and Cincy!  Hoping to catch some of these games on the road, but the Check Engine light is on in my car, so it might not be the most astute move.  But we shall see....

Oh...and Garzas back tomorrow night.  Not sure if I should be happy about this or not.  I guess we shall see....

In the meantime, help me with my broken Car by using the Amazon Search bar at http://www.sonranto.com

New Podcast tonight or tomorrow! 

Go Cubbies!

Boring Cubs Game Results in Loss to Mets

A word of advice to those of you who love watching the Cubs score runs.  Don't show up in the second inning if you want to actually see any runs scored.  Well, at least when Matt Harvey of the Mets is pitching.  Harvey looked shaky in the first inning and then cruised to victory with 6.1 more innings of scoreless baseball.  The Cubs did nothing for the other 8 innings, while Edwin Jackson pitched well enough, giving up 3 runs, two of them on solo homers.  Struck out 4, walked one....blah blah bored.  The only actual play worth mentioning is when with one out in the 8th and Darwin Barney on second,  David DeJesus singled sharply, ostensibly driving in the winning run, but David Bell, our fearless third base coach, waved Barney around third, which was in hindsite a terrible move, because ex Cub Marlon Byrd threw him out by about 10 feet!  It looked bad.  So, instead of 1st and 3rd, one out, we had two outs and a man on second.  Cub Rally Fail!

Dale Sveum, when asked about the Barney play said "these things happen".  Duh!  Of course they happen.  But Barney was rounding 3rd when Byrd got the ball.  He shouldn't have been sent.  Period.  I don't know if we score that run anyway, but we certainly weren't going to score it this way.  Ugh.  Just lame.  Boring.

The Cubs also committed two errors, but neither resulted in a run, so whatevs....We now have 33, but luckily the Nationals still stink at fielding too, and have consistently had two more than us.  I really do hope the fielding can improve.  It's going to cost us a lot more games if they can't get their act together.

All in all, it was a boring boring game.  Almost as boring as this blog post.  So I'll just stick to my main tenants.  Fire Sveum.  Spend money on good players.  No scoreboard.  No Wave at Wrigley.
So what's happening today you ask?

Well, the lovable Lou Sears and I will be attending todays early game 12:05 start.  It'll be Jeremy "Hugh" Hefner 0-4 with a 4.61 ERA vs. Scott "formerly known as Chinstrap" Feldman 3-3 with a 2.53.  Hoping for a better result to this one, or at least a game that's not as boring as yesterdays.

Check out the New Podcast here!  Trust me.  It's more exciting than watching the Cubs Highlights from yesterday!

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Go Cubbies!