Last Night's Game = Frustrating

[RyCubsFan]

Did anyone else find last night's game particularly frustrating?? I had a really bad night! lol I found it frustrating for the following reasons:

 

1. Glavine was given a very big strike zone. He was getting calls on pitches that simply were not strikes. As a result, it forced out hitters to swing at pitches that weren't strikes. Both Lee and DeRosa made outs on pitches that normally they wouldn't have swung at. It really made it tough to beat Glavine...and I think it was unfair.

 

2. Soriano's injury came at a time when we finally had a scoring chance. We had strung together two hits and DLee was coming to the plate. Could the inning have been a repeat of the two out rally against Maine the previous day? We'll never know. It was a free out for Glavine.

 

3. Defense from our catcher and CF. Pagan made two errors essentially in CF that cost us. Kendall has no throwing arm and the Mets were running at will. Why this was frustrating? We have Soto and Pie ready in AAA.

 

4. Ohman's performance. We finally had some momentum...we had cut the lead from 5-0 to 5-3. Ohman comes in and gives up 3 straight hits. Why was Piniella even pitching him with Ohman's recent struggles?

 

5. Luck on balls in play. We had several line drives off of Glavine that simply couldn't find holes. David Wright made several nice snares, and there were also a few hard hit balls to center. Every ground ball that the Mets hit though (including Glavine's) seemed to find holes.

 

....but that's the thing about baseball I guess. It can be a very frustrating game! Here's hoping the Cubs rebound today.

Edited August 6, 2007 by RyCubsFan

[C.C.]

What I found frustrating was Glavine was throwing up meatballs that we should've been hitting 400 feet.

[Derwood]

Point #1 didn't frustrate me because Glavine has been getting those calls his entire career. If hitters don't know that by now.....

[TheDude]

The only thing frustrating for me the last several games has been Ohman, Dempster, and Eyre. Twice the Cubs rallied back from large deficits, only to have the bullpen blow it by giving up runs as soon as the Cubs close the gap to 1/2 runs.

 

The offense dangles the carrot of hope and the bullpen fricking eats it.

[RyCubsFan]

The only thing frustrating for me the last several games has been Ohman, Dempster, and Eyre. Twice the Cubs rallied back from large deficits, only to have the bullpen blow it by giving up runs as soon as the Cubs close the gap to 1/2 runs.

 

The offense dangles the carrot of hope and the bullpen fricking eats it.

 

The bullpen by and large though has been very good. You can find several examples of how they held the opposition scoreless. What I questioned last night was Piniella using Ohman in that situation. You play the hot hand...Ohman has not been hot recently. I would never have put him in there.

[RyCubsFan]

I will say that I found great relief from my frustration in Wood's relief. That was certainly great to see!

[TheDude]

The only thing frustrating for me the last several games has been Ohman, Dempster, and Eyre. Twice the Cubs rallied back from large deficits, only to have the bullpen blow it by giving up runs as soon as the Cubs close the gap to 1/2 runs.

 

The offense dangles the carrot of hope and the bullpen fricking eats it.

 

The bullpen by and large though has been very good. You can find several examples of how they held the opposition scoreless. What I questioned last night was Piniella using Ohman in that situation. You play the hot hand...Ohman has not been hot recently. I would never have put him in there.

 

I think Piniella has his faults with bullpen 'roles'. Eyre and Ohman have more or less been designated as the "we're losing, don't give 'em more" guys, or situational lefties only. I would much rather have seen Marmol or Howry in the 8th, but that only happens when they're up by 2, not down by 2.

[kente777]

I will say that I found great relief from my frustration in Wood's relief. That was certainly great to see!

 

That was absolutely the only positive thing from last night's game.

[Sammy Sofa]

Lou bringing in Ohman when he did was beyond stupid. People can gripe and moan about how LOOGY's shouldn't exist, but bottom line, that's what Ohman is. Throw him up against a bunch of right-handed batters and you're going to pay, period. I have no idea why he didn't flip Wuertz and Ohman.

 

And it's easy to crap on the bullpen when you ignore that our starting pitching is hauling their butts out of the game by the 6th at the very latest these days, and even that is pretty rare if the pitchers aren't named "Lilly" and "Zambrano." Like I said in another thread, the bullpen is gonna drop dead by the end of this week.

 

Oh, and then Lou lets Jacque hit against a lefty with guys on base while Murton rides the pine. BRILLIANT.

[CubColtPacer]

Lou bringing in Ohman when he did was beyond stupid. People can gripe and moan about how LOOGY's shouldn't exist, but bottom line, that's what Ohman is. Throw him up against a bunch of right-handed batters and you're going to pay, period. I have no idea why he didn't flip Wuertz and Ohman.

 

And it's easy to crap on the bullpen when you ignore that our starting pitching is hauling their butts out of the game by the 6th at the very latest these days, and even that is pretty rare if the pitchers aren't named "Lilly" and "Zambrano." Like I said in another thread, the bullpen is gonna drop dead by the end of this week.

 

Oh, and then Lou lets Jacque hit against a lefty with guys on base while Murton rides the pine. BRILLIANT.

 

As far as the Jacque Jones thing, did you really want to burn Jones there? With the Soriano injury, they had already used Fontenot. If you burn Jones without even an at-bat, now you've used your top 3 hitters off of the bench in the 7th inning.

When the pitcher's spot comes up again (which might be in a big spot), you only have Ronny Cedeno and Koyie Hill left on the bench.

[Derwood]

Lou bringing in Ohman when he did was beyond stupid. People can gripe and moan about how LOOGY's shouldn't exist, but bottom line, that's what Ohman is. Throw him up against a bunch of right-handed batters and you're going to pay, period. I have no idea why he didn't flip Wuertz and Ohman.

 

And it's easy to crap on the bullpen when you ignore that our starting pitching is hauling their butts out of the game by the 6th at the very latest these days, and even that is pretty rare if the pitchers aren't named "Lilly" and "Zambrano." Like I said in another thread, the bullpen is gonna drop dead by the end of this week.

 

Oh, and then Lou lets Jacque hit against a lefty with guys on base while Murton rides the pine. BRILLIANT.

 

As far as the Jacque Jones thing, did you really want to burn Jones there? With the Soriano injury, they had already used Fontenot. If you burn Jones without even an at-bat, now you've used your top 3 hitters off of the bench in the 7th inning.

When the pitcher's spot comes up again (which might be in a big spot), you only have Ronny Cedeno and Koyie Hill left on the bench.

 

this is true. Jones was announced before Randolph went to the pen

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I say you burn Jones there. There's likely to only be one more PH opportunity, so you're probably better off getting the best possible hitter up with 2 on and 1 out than saving him for whatever situation comes up later when the game is possibly out of reach(actually happened) and the bottom of the order is setting up the PH(no one on actually happened).

[CubColtPacer]

I say you burn Jones there. There's likely to only be one more PH opportunity, so you're probably better off getting the best possible hitter up with 2 on and 1 out than saving him for whatever situation comes up later when the game is possibly out of reach(actually happened) and the bottom of the order is setting up the PH(no one on actually happened).

 

Kendall was on 2nd when Murton pinch-hit in the 9th.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I say you burn Jones there. There's likely to only be one more PH opportunity, so you're probably better off getting the best possible hitter up with 2 on and 1 out than saving him for whatever situation comes up later when the game is possibly out of reach(actually happened) and the bottom of the order is setting up the PH(no one on actually happened).

 

Kendall was on 2nd when Murton pinch-hit in the 9th.

 

True, my bad. Either way, one man on while down 5 in the 9th is a lower leverage situation than 2 on with 1 out down 4 in the 7th.

[jjgman21]

6. Delgado and LoDuca both have swings where their rear end goes the opposite direction of their bat, and manage to hit the ball hard. fricken wonder swings up there with Russell Branyans HR in the Lee-Young brawl game.

 

7. Matt Murton is not allowed to play baseball. the 'take down Jones v. let Jones hit' debate should not even be occurring because Murton should have immediately been inserted into the game upon Soriano's injury. a true outfielder (whether it's Floyd or Murton in right) probably takes a better route on Green's line drive and catches the ball.

[USSoccer]

Lou has had issues with the pen all season long. Marmol and Howry's performances in June and July hid a lot of those flaws, but he still has some very bad management issues there.

 

It's something that needs to improve going into the stretch run.

[Elrhino]

The only thing frustrating for me the last several games has been Ohman, Dempster, and Eyre. Twice the Cubs rallied back from large deficits, only to have the bullpen blow it by giving up runs as soon as the Cubs close the gap to 1/2 runs.

 

The offense dangles the carrot of hope and the bullpen fricking eats it.

 

The bullpen by and large though has been very good. You can find several examples of how they held the opposition scoreless. What I questioned last night was Piniella using Ohman in that situation. You play the hot hand...Ohman has not been hot recently. I would never have put him in there.

 

I think Piniella has his faults with bullpen 'roles'. Eyre and Ohman have more or less been designated as the "we're losing, don't give 'em more" guys, or situational lefties only. I would much rather have seen Marmol or Howry in the 8th, but that only happens when they're up by 2, not down by 2.

 

At the current rate of usage, we'll be lucky if Marmol or Howry have any gas left in the tank by September. They're both in the NL Top 12 for appearances in the last 30 days.

 

While many fans never seem to look past the game at hand, managers have to allocate innings with the entire season in mind. Yeah, it would be nice if they could only pitch Eyre and Ohman in non-close games, but with this offense non-close games will be/are few and far between. Unless you want future arm problems for Marmol, everyone in the bullpen has to eat a share of innings, especially since the rotation can't seem to pitch out of the 5th inning. The bullpen is taking all the heat, and no one is talking about the real elephant in the room ... 3/5 of our rotation isn't pulling their weight, and the bullpen is having to take all the burden.

[Fro]

It was frustrating that we couldn't get any momentum going until Kerry took the mound. Soriano getting hurt sucked the air out of the ballpark.