4/18 Cubs (Z) at Braves (Davies) 6:35 p.m. CT CSN+

[Flames24Rulz]

So, have the "it's still early" people gone away now?

 

no, 14 games and I'm still very optimistic. 3 of the 5 pitchers have been solid and tonight proves that this team can score runs when the weather is conducive to offense. I wish Z would stop sucking and Guzman was the fifth starter though. Right now, I'm more confident about Angel getting into the rotation...

 

I know it's early. But it's hard to be optimistic after games like this. We blowout win 10 runs up. We loose freaking ONE to ZERO. We lose FIVE to EIGHT. FOUR to FIVE. And so on. Dammit it just seems like. . I don't know.

 

-------------------------------------------

 

I am optimistic because they are 5-9 and only 3 games out of first place. In another division this would be an early grave.

 

Well, the good thing is we won't be seeing any Wild Card threads this year. There's a real good chance that the NL Central winner will have a worse record than the Wild Card winner. I'm almost certain of that.

[Omar]

Today sucks. Bulls lose, Cubs lose, Sox have a no-no, Urlacher fined $100k.

 

GAH.

[98navigator]

So, have the "it's still early" people gone away now?

 

no, 14 games and I'm still very optimistic. 3 of the 5 pitchers have been solid and tonight proves that this team can score runs when the weather is conducive to offense. I wish Z would stop sucking and Guzman was the fifth starter though. Right now, I'm more confident about Angel getting into the rotation...

 

I know it's early. But it's hard to be optimistic after games like this. We blowout win 10 runs up. We loose freaking ONE to ZERO. We lose FIVE to EIGHT. FOUR to FIVE. And so on. Dammit it just seems like. . I don't know.

 

-------------------------------------------

 

I am optimistic because they are 5-9 and only 3 games out of first place. In another division this would be an early grave.

 

Well, the good thing is we won't be seeing any Wild Card threads this year. There's a real good chance that the NL Central winner will have a worse record than the Wild Card winner. I'm almost certain of that.

 

I agree.

 

The Cubs schedule will allow them to make up some games very quickly (within the week) if they can take advantage of it.

 

The weather in Chicago over the weekend should allow for more offense. Let's hope the pitching is decent and the bats are ready to go.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Teh cobs woun't loose anuther gaem.

[Sosa21MVP]

So, have the "it's still early" people gone away now?

 

It's still early. But the Cubs need to kick it into gear pretty quickly, you don't want to get much farther below .500 this early. Nothing says "crappy summer" quite like the prospect of having to cheer for this team to just get back to the break-even point for a few months.

 

Z's struggles aside, the pitching of Hill, Lilly and Marquis has me still fairly optimistic about the Cubs chances the remainder of the season. Pie is exciting to watch, maybe Soriano's little hamstring injury will be a blessing in disguise in hindsight.

 

But yeah, this team has once again become mad geniuses at finding ways to lose. That is at least the 5th truly frustrating loss that really should have been a win. A little early to pile up that many "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" moments.

 

That's about it. I'll keep watching. 8-)

[soccer10k]

Teh cobs woun't loose anuther gaem ohn Aprul 18, 2007.

 

Fixed.

[VanceJergins]

Looks like I made the right decision to go watch Lost at a friends house. There are some very easy decisions this team needs to make. Get rid of freaking Eyre, Ohman, Izturis, Miller, and Jones. Trade them for whatever you can get, release them, or send them to A ball. Put Guzman in the rotation, bring up Cherry and another minor leaguer for the bullpen. Have Murton/Floyd/Pie share time in the outfield, either move DeRosa to SS and put Theriot at 2B or just put Theriot at SS, or use the junk players to trade for a decent SS. With just that the team would be very much improved.

 

...and the Cubs ARE cursed. Hendry hasn't been around for 99 years.

[brinoch]

 

...and the Cubs ARE cursed. Hendry hasn't been around for 99 years.

 

It feels like it.

[98navigator]

Sullivan /Tribune

 

"What did us in [Wednesday night] was a real tired bullpen, and we didn't get the real good performance we were looking for from Zambrano," Piniella said.

 

"The guys battled. We just didn't hold them. That's really the story."

 

"Our hitters are making comebacks, and right now I'm not helping a whole lot," Eyre said. "Every time I seem to make a mistake, it costs us. [Wednesday night] was no different."

 

Said Piniella: "The only fresh pitcher I had in the bullpen was Scottie Eyre. He just didn't get the job done."

 

"I told him to try to hold his composure on the mound, quit fighting himself and concentrate on the hitter," Piniella said.

 

Zambrano agreed with Piniella.

 

"I wasn't feeling good the first inning. I wasn't hitting my spots," he said. "That's why I was fighting with myself. But I came back and did my job and shut the door."

 

Huh, isn't this the time where Z is conciliatory and talks about letting his team down? Oh yeah, the door wasn't shut after the 1st because they scored another run in the 5th inning. :roll:

 

The Braves stacked the lineup with five left-handed hitters... They combined to go 6-for-14... and left-handed hitters are batting .378 off Zambrano this season. He limited lefties to a .247 average in 2006.

[slieb85]

Sullivan /Tribune

 

"What did us in [Wednesday night] was a real tired bullpen, and we didn't get the real good performance we were looking for from Zambrano," Piniella said.

 

"The guys battled. We just didn't hold them. That's really the story."

 

"Our hitters are making comebacks, and right now I'm not helping a whole lot," Eyre said. "Every time I seem to make a mistake, it costs us. [Wednesday night] was no different."

 

Said Piniella: "The only fresh pitcher I had in the bullpen was Scottie Eyre. He just didn't get the job done."

 

"I told him to try to hold his composure on the mound, quit fighting himself and concentrate on the hitter," Piniella said.

 

Zambrano agreed with Piniella.

 

"I wasn't feeling good the first inning. I wasn't hitting my spots," he said. "That's why I was fighting with myself. But I came back and did my job and shut the door."

 

Huh, isn't this the time where Z is conciliatory and talks about letting his team down? Oh yeah, the door wasn't shut after the 1st because they scored another run in the 5th inning. :roll:

 

The Braves stacked the lineup with five left-handed hitters... They combined to go 6-for-14... and left-handed hitters are batting .378 off Zambrano this season. He limited lefties to a .247 average in 2006.

 

 

So you wouldn't take 1 run over 4 innings? He threw a terrible hanger to francouer and paid for it and otherwise pitched an ok game. His control has sucked so far but look no further back than last april as he was terrible then too and ended up winning 16 games for this pathetic team. He'll get it back and will be very good the rest of the year.

[98navigator]

Sullivan /Tribune

 

"What did us in [Wednesday night] was a real tired bullpen, and we didn't get the real good performance we were looking for from Zambrano," Piniella said.

 

"The guys battled. We just didn't hold them. That's really the story."

 

"Our hitters are making comebacks, and right now I'm not helping a whole lot," Eyre said. "Every time I seem to make a mistake, it costs us. [Wednesday night] was no different."

 

Said Piniella: "The only fresh pitcher I had in the bullpen was Scottie Eyre. He just didn't get the job done."

 

"I told him to try to hold his composure on the mound, quit fighting himself and concentrate on the hitter," Piniella said.

 

Zambrano agreed with Piniella.

 

"I wasn't feeling good the first inning. I wasn't hitting my spots," he said. "That's why I was fighting with myself. But I came back and did my job and shut the door."

 

Huh, isn't this the time where Z is conciliatory and talks about letting his team down? Oh yeah, the door wasn't shut after the 1st because they scored another run in the 5th inning. :roll:

 

The Braves stacked the lineup with five left-handed hitters... They combined to go 6-for-14... and left-handed hitters are batting .378 off Zambrano this season. He limited lefties to a .247 average in 2006.

 

 

So you wouldn't take 1 run over 4 innings? He threw a terrible hanger to francouer and paid for it and otherwise pitched an ok game. His control has sucked so far but look no further back than last april as he was terrible then too and ended up winning 16 games for this pathetic team. He'll get it back and will be very good the rest of the year.

 

NO, I wouldn't. IMO, you're looking at this wrong; he's not a 4th or 5th starter. Giving up 4 runs in the first inning was just plain bad and allowing another run to score in the 5th was terrible. It wasn't a matter of a few bad pitches, he was escaping trouble in almost every inning. We're talking about 5 ER, 8 H and 5 BB in 6 IP. That's a 7.50 ERA and 2.17 WHIP.

 

I know he has a good track record but I'm calling him out because he has clearly been the weak link among the 4 regular starters. In fact, it isn't even close!

 

BTW, I don't know if he will rebound. We all assume he will because he did so last year but players can have uncharacteristically bad seasons.

Edited April 19, 2007 by 98navigator

[Brian]

yeah giving up 1 run over innings 2-6 isn't so bad.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

yeah giving up 1 run over innings 2-6 isn't so bad.

 

It just gets really overshadowed by the horrific 1st.

[98navigator]

It's not about 1 run it's about 5 runs.

 

Z was not this bad last April. This is worse than anything he's gone through previously.

[A New Era]

In a time when (april) we want to get out to a good start. April is the WORST month to have bad months. Any month is really. But when we need him to be the stopper, he is not there for us. That's not what you want to pay $90 million dollars for.

 

I don't like hearing his nonchalant attitude in the post games. He should be honest. He is pitching terribly and he needs to do better. That's the end of story.

[98navigator]

It's pretty obvious Z's mechanics are all screwed up. It's the same thing that happened last year and it took Rothschild a month to figure it out.

I can't believe Rothschild still has a job.

 

I don't really think Rothschild is to blame for Z being a [expletive] headcase. Just sayin...

 

And one could argue that Dusty's overuse may have more to do with Z's start than anything Larry has done. If Lilly, Marquis and Hill are examples of what Larry is capable of, then bravo. Especially if Marquis can hold it together...even the great Dave Duncan couldn't keep that guy pitching well.

 

But he started the same way last year...

 

He was bad last April, but he wasn't this bad.

 

ERA

 

2004 - 3.55

2005 - 4.31

2006 - 5.35

 

As of this writing, he is at 8.10 so far this year.

 

It's 7.77 after this start. He has two more starts this month (including the Brewers on the 23rd and we know they'll have something to prove). I'm willing to bet that his ERA for April will continue it's upward trend!

 

Frankly, I don't see how things are going to miraculously change when the calendar turns to May. It took a long streak of really good games to return him to respectability last year. His walk rate continues to rise and that's a big part of the problem.

 

 

side note: Z has pitched 22 innings and given up 19 ER thus far. Therefore, he can pitch 18 innings of shutout ball over the next 2 starts and still end the month with an inflated 4.27 ERA. That would be a vast improvement but I don't see it happening. :cry:

[Fred Hornkohl]

It's not about 1 run it's about 5 runs.

 

Z was not this bad last April. This is worse than anything he's gone through previously.

 

You can make the argument that this April is worse than April 2006, and I guess, technically, that's correct. But I contend that both months are of the same order of magnitude of suckiness. So what if this year is a little worse.... it still sucks !!!

 

April 2007           IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PC  BB/9   K/9  HR/9  WHIP   ERA
Zambrano           22.0   25   19   19   16   16    6   401  6.55  6.55  2.45  1.86  7.77

April 2006           IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PC  BB/9   K/9  HR/9  WHIP   ERA
Zambrano           33.7   33   23   20   25   38    6   648  6.68 10.16  1.60  1.72  5.35

[Vinestal]

Honestly Id like to see Z traded around the allstar break if he has gotten back to his normal self. I dont think he's an ace. He's a 2 or a 3. If we can get another 2 or 3 back pluss a prospect or 2 they need to do it. I dont think he's going to sign with us anyway.

[C.C.]

It's not about 1 run it's about 5 runs.

 

Z was not this bad last April. This is worse than anything he's gone through previously.

 

It's kinda funny when Marquis had a similar outing people on this board was trashing it as a terrible start. Now it's good because it's Z? No, it's bad because it's Z. He lost the game in the 1st inning. You had a tired team looking for a lift from their Ace, and he spotted the Braves 4 runs right off the bat. Not good.

[TruffleShuffle]

you guys suck

[C.C.]

you guys suck

 

Spoken for the truth.

[Andy]

When's Garwilly planning on putting up a game thread? :wink:

[gflore34]

From today' Sullivan piece:

 

Matt Diaz followed with a routine grounder to shortstop Cesar Izturis, who double-clutched as Diaz reached on an infield hit.

 

Someone remind again why Izturis is wasting a roster spot?

[CubmanPi]

From today' Sullivan piece:

 

Matt Diaz followed with a routine grounder to shortstop Cesar Izturis, who double-clutched as Diaz reached on an infield hit.

 

Someone remind again why Izturis is wasting a roster spot?

RGIs, dude. He had one in that game! (Too bad we needed him to have 3 more.)

[YearofDaCubs]

From today' Sullivan piece:

 

Matt Diaz followed with a routine grounder to shortstop Cesar Izturis, who double-clutched as Diaz reached on an infield hit.

 

Someone remind again why Izturis is wasting a roster spot?

RGIs, dude. He had one in that game! (Too bad we needed him to have 3 more.)

Izturis has no business on this team. I'd like to see Theriot out there instead.