Cubs Are 0-10 in 1 and 2 run ball games

[killthegoat06]

All of the cubs losses (except for yesterday's extra innings 3-run loss) have been by two runs or less except for 2 games.

[abuck1220]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

[Chocolate Milk]

I like that it's the same as getting blown out in 10 games but it's just that much more painful for the fans.

 

 

God bless the Cubs.

[Magnetic Curses]

you should have seen this coming. i did, but i didn't care.

 

cursed.

[Sammy Sofa]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

I think it has more to do with the Cubs' offense randomly and repeatedly deciding to forget to show up.

[bhogg]

I like that it's the same as getting blown out in 10 games but it's just that much more painful for the fans.

 

 

God bless the Cubs.

 

 

amen. at least with a blow out, I have sense enough to change the channel. As for these type games, I watch. . . God bless me, but I watch :(

[dbeider]

It's a function of bad relief pitching. Teams often go late into games an far into extra innings games wtihout scoring much. Fact of the matter is they had enough runs to win the game with 4. Relief blew the game again. Eyre is responsible for at least 3 losses this year.

[CubmanPi]

I couldn't stick around past the first inning. Aside from the Ramirez hr, I didn't miss anything and I'm glad I didn't sit through it. This is getting ridiculous.

[sunnydoo]

positive: bullpen has 3.57 era

 

negative: 0-6 (one of only 4 pens w/o a win- Fla, Philly, and LA of Ana), 50% save opportunity, and absolutely no consistentcy other than Wuertz and Cotts.

[RichHillIsABeast]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

It's pretty hard to hide them when your ace only goes 5.1 innings.

[Sarcastic]

positive: bullpen has 3.57 era

 

negative: 0-6 (one of only 4 pens w/o a win- Fla, Philly, and LA of Ana), 50% save opportunity, and absolutely no consistentcy other than Wuertz and Cotts.

 

If you define consistent as never having blown a lead, I guess. But Dempster has been strong, and Howry has been decent. Even Ohman has only been so terrible because he was being horribly misused. The only big disappointment in the pen is Eyre.

[abuck1220]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

It's pretty hard to hide them when your ace only goes 5.1 innings.

 

zambrano, eyre, howry and soriano are the people most deserving of blame for this mess.

 

izturis and miller are both complete disasters, but everyone knew that was going to happen.

[Rob]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

It's pretty hard to hide them when your ace only goes 5.1 innings.

 

zambrano, eyre, howry and soriano are the people most deserving of blame for this mess.

 

izturis and miller are both complete disasters, but everyone knew that was going to happen.

 

To be fair, a lot of us were none too enthused over the prospect of paying good money for Howry.

 

And a lot of us were curled up in the fetal position sucking our thumbs when we found out what we were paying for that chump Eyre.

 

Just think... if we weren't paying the contracts for Eyre, Howry, and Dempster, we could have afforded to trade for Abreu last year when the Phillies would give him to anybody with a couple warm bodies who didn't want them to pick up the contract.

 

If I were the GM, I'd never pay more than about 2 mil to any reliever... if that even.

[VanceJergins]

positive: bullpen has 3.57 era

 

negative: 0-6 (one of only 4 pens w/o a win- Fla, Philly, and LA of Ana), 50% save opportunity, and absolutely no consistentcy other than Wuertz and Cotts.

 

If you define consistent as never having blown a lead, I guess. But Dempster has been strong, and Howry has been decent. Even Ohman has only been so terrible because he was being horribly misused. The only big disappointment in the pen is Eyre.

 

Yeah, and Guzman was great before getting sent down. In sunnydoo and abuck's defense, Eyre has sucked enough for 2 bullpens, but the Cubs' bullpen has mostly been pretty good. A lot of blame has to be on the offense for not putting games away when they have the chance.

[sunnydoo]

zambrano, eyre, howry and soriano are the people most deserving of blame for this mess.

 

kurkijan and gammons have been talking about z's new motion from his 2nd outing on. it is so noticeable now that even Steve Phillips has stopped chasing women to comment on it. now if we only had someone to go out there and fix it.

 

while we are just 4.5 out now and its not exactly panic time yet, this mess is being brought to you by the architect of all the previous disasters- Jim Hendry.

 

He should have been fired last year, but definitely will be this year if the team doesnt pull out of it and new ownership is on board.

[Fred Hornkohl]

I only come up with 0-8 in games decided by 2 runs or less.

 

Team record by run differentail

CUBS are 0-5 in games decided by 1 run 
CUBS are 0-3 in games decided by 2 runs 

 

 

Gm#    Date       Opponent         Score  Starter         Opp Starter
 1  Mon 04/02  @ Cincinnati        1- 5  Zambrano        Harang        
 2  Wed 04/04  @ Cincinnati    N   4- 1  Lilly           Arroyo        
 3  Thu 04/05  @ Cincinnati        2- 5  Marquis         Lohse         
 4  Fri 04/06  @ Milwaukee     N   9- 3  Hill            Bush          
 5  Sat 04/07  @ Milwaukee         6- 3  Zambrano        Sheets        
 6  Sun 04/08  @ Milwaukee         4- 9  Miller          Capuano       
 7  Mon 04/09    Houston           3- 5  Lilly           Williams      
 8  Tue 04/10    Houston           2- 4  Marquis         Sampson       
 9  Fri 04/13    Cincinnati        5- 6  Zambrano        Harang        
10  Sat 04/14    Cincinnati        7- 0  Hill            Arroyo        
11  Sun 04/15    Cincinnati        0- 1  Lilly           Lohse         
12  Mon 04/16    San Diego     N  12- 4  Marquis         Hensley       
13  Tue 04/17    San Diego         3- 4  Miller          Maddux        
14  Wed 04/18  @ Atlanta       N   6- 8  Zambrano        Davies        
15  Thu 04/19  @ Atlanta       N   3- 0  Hill            Redman        
16  Fri 04/20    St. Louis         1- 2  Lilly           Looper        
17  Sat 04/21    St. Louis         6- 0  Marquis         Reyes         
18  Sun 04/22    St. Louis         9-12  Miller          Wainright     
19  Mon 04/23    Milwaukee     N   4- 5  Zambrano        Vargas     

 

But, I could have missed something.

[RynoRules]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

I think it has more to do with the Cubs' offense randomly and repeatedly deciding to forget to show up.

 

QFT

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The Cubs have had a myriad of problems that have led to this record. You can pin some on the bullpen and some on an offense that erupts for runs one day and then doesn't show the next.

 

I'm not worried as much about the offense. If we score runs, we'll be ok there. This team has shown it can score runs.

 

The bullpen issues concern me. We had a 4-0 lead at one point and even chased their starter after four innings. That's a game we should win.

 

I'm not sure what to do with Eyre. A change of scenery might do him good. Rather than shipping Ohman off to Detroit or Cleveland, why not try to trade Eyre?

[C.C.]

zambrano, eyre, howry and soriano are the people most deserving of blame for this mess.

 

kurkijan and gammons have been talking about z's new motion from his 2nd outing on. it is so noticeable now that even Steve Phillips has stopped chasing women to comment on it. now if we only had someone to go out there and fix it.

 

while we are just 4.5 out now and its not exactly panic time yet, this mess is being brought to you by the architect of all the previous disasters- Jim Hendry.

 

He should have been fired last year, but definitely will be this year if the team doesnt pull out of it and new ownership is on board.

 

The same thing happened last year and it took Z and Rothschild a month to correct.

[cl smooth]

I'm not sure what to do with Eyre. A change of scenery might do him good. Rather than shipping Ohman off to Detroit or Cleveland, why not try to trade Eyre?

 

were the cubs shopping eyre during the off-season or was that more of the fans wanting it to happen?

[TheDude]

The bullpen issues concern me. We had a 4-0 lead at one point and even chased their starter after four innings. That's a game we should win.

 

Absolutely. The bullpen needs to hold that lead, no question. But the offense also needs to score two runs in that 7th inning when you have runners on 2nd and 3rd with zero outs. Not scoring even one run in that situation is inexcusable.

[TruffleShuffle]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

It's pretty hard to hide them when your ace only goes 5.1 innings.

 

zambrano, eyre, howry and soriano are the people most deserving of blame for this mess.

 

Howry has not been good but hasn't been horrible either. I believe he'll still pitch well this year. The Eyre signing was a complete mistake and it continues to be compounded.

 

I still am puzzled by the bashing of Howry. Is he overpaid? Probably. But who would the Cubs have had in the bullpen last year if not for him? Somebody who was awful. Who would be there instead of him this year? Cherry? Yeah he didn't do anything wrong last night. Kerry Wood? His arm fell off again. Walrond? Sucks. Marmol? Sure sucked last year. Rapada, O'Malley, Mathes? No, no, no.

 

The way people talk on here, it's like you can just go to the magical baseball factory and pull a league-average bullpen pitcher out of your butt. It doesn't work that way. Whoever took Howry's spot in the bullpen would be considerably worse than him.

 

Signing veteran bullpen help is like signing free agents at any other position. You don't sign guys to big contracts when they have numbers completely out of line with performances in other seasons (see Eyre, 2006). You don't sign guys with bad peripherals (Eyre's entire career except 2005). You don't sign guys who are getting really old (Remlinger). But, you can sign pitchers who have been good, have had good peripherals for multiple years, and who aren't over the hill.

[cubweiser03]

I dont know how long you can expect this to happen but this is the opposing teams bullpen Vs the Cubs.

 

IP=64 2/3

ERA=1.81

WHIP=1.17

 

They are having an awfully hard time scoring later in the game against the other teams lesser pitchers. 1.81 ERA, how long can that last.

[Keener98]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

It's pretty hard to hide them when your ace only goes 5.1 innings.

 

Rich Hill didnt pitch last night, he pitches tonight. Z is FAR FAR Far from being an Ace. An ace doesnt average less than 6 innings per start. Or walk 4 batters per game.

[Pushfrog98]

that happens a lot when you throw terrible, terrible relief pitchers into close games.

 

It's pretty hard to hide them when your ace only goes 5.1 innings.

 

Rich Hill didnt pitch last night, he pitches tonight. Z is FAR FAR Far from being an Ace. An ace doesnt average less than 6 innings per start. Or walk 4 batters per game.

But Z is the self-proclaimed ace of the staff. Even going into this season, we all agreed with that. I think that's what he was being sarcastic about.