Overlooked in last nights game (Aardsma)

[BeerHere]

With the DLee and Eyre injuries it seems lik,e everyone is overlooking Aardsma. He looked terrible last night, totally reminding me of Wuertz with his lack of control.

 

2/3rd of an inning

1 hit

3 walks

2 earned runs

 

Way too Wuertz-esque

[LoneStarCubFan]

It's his first appearance with the Cubs, I'll cut him a little slack. If anything it looked like he was overthrowing. Too hyped up probably.

 

Plus, either he or Novoa will be back in DM when the first pitcher comes off the DL.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

First big league stint since 2004, I'll cut him a little slack too. If he does it next time out, I'm grabbing my torch and pitchfork.

[BeerHere]

meh

 

Sucks that Dusty had to use him in a tight game. It would have much better if his first appearance was in a blowout.

 

Slack cut

[badger1679666666]

With the DLee and Eyre injuries it seems lik,e everyone is overlooking Aardsma. He looked terrible last night, totally reminding me of Wuertz with his lack of control.

 

2/3rd of an inning

1 hit

3 walks

2 earned runs

 

Way too Wuertz-esque

 

Dusty was his usual idiotic self for putting Aardsma into a high pressure situation in a tie game for his first outing. Never should have happened when we had Howry, Eyre, and Williamson.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I couldn't tell from where I was sitting, but it looked like he had poor control on his curve - much worse than Marshall's lack of control. Was this right or was he also missing with his FB?

[BeerHere]

I was in and out, but it seemed like he was missing with the offspeed stuff mostly.

[jjgman21]

how Repko laid off those two curveballs with two strikes was a freak of nature. furthermore, either of those two curveballs could have been called strikes.

 

further furthermore, some of the criticism has to go to Rothschild, who refuses to let young pitchers throw any pitch that is not on the outside corner in the late innings of a close game. if you didn't see linedrives to the opposite field coming from Mueller and Alomar, you were blind. you can only throw so many consecutive fastballs on the outside corner to ML hitters before they are going to drive that pitch over the infielders heads the other way.

 

see Mitre's brilliant start that was soiled by Farnsworth in Atlanta in early 2004.

 

Also of note, every pitch by Marshall was called from the dugout. I know this may be a tangent, but please stop blaming Michael Barrett for his game calling (not that anyone did last night) when half the time he isn't calling the game.

 

as for Aardsma, definite slack.

[jjgman21]

I couldn't tell from where I was sitting, but it looked like he had poor control on his curve - much worse than Marshall's lack of control. Was this right or was he also missing with his FB?

 

developing my post further, those two to Repko were by far his best placed curves. he was a little shaky locating the fastball too, though.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Also of note, every pitch by Marshall was called from the dugout. I know this may be a tangent, but please stop blaming Michael Barrett for his game calling (not that anyone did last night) when half the time he isn't calling the game.

 

But jigman (honest question), is Rothschild calling the game from the dugout if it's Maddux, Z or Rusch?

[jjgman21]

Also of note, every pitch by Marshall was called from the dugout. I know this may be a tangent, but please stop blaming Michael Barrett for his game calling (not that anyone did last night) when half the time he isn't calling the game.

 

But jigman (honest question), is Rothschild calling the game from the dugout if it's Maddux, Z or Rusch?

 

couldn't tell you with Rusch. with Maddux, it appears Michael is calling the game this year, but I recall the calls in Maddux games often came from the dugout last year. Z worked mostly with Blanco last year, but Barrett called the game the other night.

 

I do know that last year and the year before, nearly every pitch a bullpen pitcher threw when Barrett was catching came from the dugout.

 

edit: well the pitch didn't literally come from the dugout...you know what I mean

[soccer10k]

Also of note, every pitch by Marshall was called from the dugout. I know this may be a tangent, but please stop blaming Michael Barrett for his game calling (not that anyone did last night) when half the time he isn't calling the game.

 

But jigman (honest question), is Rothschild calling the game from the dugout if it's Maddux, Z or Rusch?

 

couldn't tell you with Rusch. with Maddux, it appears Michael is calling the game this year, but I recall the calls in Maddux games often came from the dugout last year. Z worked mostly with Blanco last year, but Barrett called the game the other night.

 

I do know that last year and the year before, nearly every pitch a bullpen pitcher threw when Barrett was catching came from the dugout.

 

edit: well the pitch didn't literally come from the dugout...you know what I mean

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Maddux called his own games. Or at least worked with Barrett to teach him how to call a game. I'm not sure though. But Maddux is the only pitcher I would trust to call a game.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Also of note, every pitch by Marshall was called from the dugout. I know this may be a tangent, but please stop blaming Michael Barrett for his game calling (not that anyone did last night) when half the time he isn't calling the game.

 

But jigman (honest question), is Rothschild calling the game from the dugout if it's Maddux, Z or Rusch?

 

couldn't tell you with Rusch. with Maddux, it appears Michael is calling the game this year, but I recall the calls in Maddux games often came from the dugout last year. Z worked mostly with Blanco last year, but Barrett called the game the other night.

 

I do know that last year and the year before, nearly every pitch a bullpen pitcher threw when Barrett was catching came from the dugout.

 

edit: well the pitch didn't literally come from the dugout...you know what I mean

 

It's not to say that I don't think Rotschild does or doesn't call the games for the veterans (I think Maddux at least would have the leeway to call his own game) - it's just that I'm not sure who is to fault (and don't want to rush to blame) at the sometimes questionable pitch selection.

[soccer10k]

With the DLee and Eyre injuries it seems lik,e everyone is overlooking Aardsma. He looked terrible last night, totally reminding me of Wuertz with his lack of control.

 

2/3rd of an inning

1 hit

3 walks

2 earned runs

 

Way too Wuertz-esque

 

I'll cut him a little slack, but not very much. First of all, he started the inning and created all of the trouble himself. Second, since when is the sixth inning pressure packed? I know it's a close game, but it's not like Dusty put him in in the eighth to hold the lead. He needs to pitch better in his next outing though. I'm not going to criticize him a lot, but I'm not letting him off the hook yet.

 

And what is it with Cubs pitchers walking everybody?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Wuertz is good.

[badger1679666666]

Wuertz is good.

 

He is?

[ltb]

Wuertz is good.

 

He is?

 

2005: 75.7 IP, 89/40 K/BB, 3.81 ERA (112 ERA+)

 

but yeah, why don't we just look at his stats from 2006? much better sample.

[Blueheart05]

With the DLee and Eyre injuries it seems lik,e everyone is overlooking Aardsma. He looked terrible last night, totally reminding me of Wuertz with his lack of control.

 

2/3rd of an inning

1 hit

3 walks

2 earned runs

 

Way too Wuertz-esque

 

Dusty was his usual idiotic self for putting Aardsma into a high pressure situation in a tie game for his first outing. Never should have happened when we had Howry, Eyre, and Williamson.

 

 

It's a no win for Dusty. He's roasted if he sits the guy for an extended period or if he puts him in the fire (unless, of course, Dave does his job and gets the outs). It seemed safe to ask Aardsma to work a scoreless inning considering the way he had been pitching leading up to the appearance.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Wuertz is good.

 

He is?

 

Yes.

[srbin84]

Wuertz is a solid pitcher who is great 5th or 6th man in the bullpen, which is/was his role on this team.

[BigbadB]

Aardsma's breaking ball broke too soon, which gave Dodger hitters time to lay off. It had as much break as Williamson's breaking ball, but Williamson's broke later, which got the Dodger hitters to commit.

 

His fastball was pretty much money. He was spotting it pretty well, also. Unfortunately, he had to rely on it too much because he couldn't rely on his breaking ball.

[MPrior]

Does anyone know why Dusty pulled Marshall? He was only at 80 pitches or so, if I'm remembering correctly, and looked like he was really settling down in the previous couple of innings. I know that Dusty is trying not to overwork his arm, because he didn't get enough innings in spring training, but by now he should be able to go past 80 pitches.

[ChiCubsFan]

Does anyone know why Dusty pulled Marshall? He was only at 80 pitches or so, if I'm remembering correctly, and looked like he was really settling down in the previous couple of innings. I know that Dusty is trying not to overwork his arm, because he didn't get enough innings in spring training, but by now he should be able to go past 80 pitches.

 

I believe he was at 86. If he went another inning he would have most likely gone over 100. I think Dusty wants to keep his pitch count down and confidence up. It's better to take him out an inning too soon than an inning too late. That said, I wouldn't have cared if Dusty threw him out there for one more. As you mentioned, he was settling in nicely.

[Geech]

Wuertz is a solid pitcher who is great 5th or 6th man in the bullpen, which is/was his role on this team.

 

He's struggled lately, but he can really be more than that.

[goonys evil twin]

Does anyone know why Dusty pulled Marshall? He was only at 80 pitches or so, if I'm remembering correctly, and looked like he was really settling down in the previous couple of innings. I know that Dusty is trying not to overwork his arm, because he didn't get enough innings in spring training, but by now he should be able to go past 80 pitches.

 

I believe he was at 86. If he went another inning he would have most likely gone over 100. I think Dusty wants to keep his pitch count down and confidence up. It's better to take him out an inning too soon than an inning too late. That said, I wouldn't have cared if Dusty threw him out there for one more. As you mentioned, he was settling in nicely.

 

Dusty talked about how Marshall has pitched well, but he's had endurance issues that led to bad 5th innings. I don't know how true that is since I was away for his previous starts, but I was not surprised he took him out when he did. I think it was the right move. Dusty is often very late to pull a guy, waiting for trouble to happen instead of avoiding it.