Evaluation of the Marlins series

[Soul]

yesterday the Cubs swung at the first pitch 14 times...but so did the Marlins. in fact, the Marlins swung at the first pitch far more often than the Cubs did this series.

 

You'd swing at a patented 85 mph Trachsel-meatball grooved down the middle, too.

 

that's lame. you'd swing at a 91 mph, flat, straight, Scott Olsen grooved fastball as well. same can be said of a pitch from Whatever Barone. not a single first pitch swing by the Marlins against Trachsel resulted in a man getting on base.

 

the constant attempts to compartmentalize every bad inning and every loss into a function of whatever one thinks is the Cubs major weakness is far more annoying than the imaginary 'excuse making' the Cubs and their broadcasters allegedly engage in.

 

if Marquis and Trachsel are blamed for their losses, why isn't Lilly and Marmol equally to blame? if first pitch swinging is the problem, why did the Marlins have three straight victories? if patience is the problem, why did the Cubs lose all three games when they saw far more pitches in each game of the series? if Kendall is to blame when he hits two rockets for outs with men on base, why isn't Soto to blame for a couple horrible ABs this series with men on base?

 

for the most part this series was equally played. the Marlins have a strong offense and a strong bullpen. the key to the series was the Marlins got virtually all the breaks, ie bloop hits or the lack thereof, line drives right at em, long flies that are HRs in any other park, bounces off the rubberized track, borderline/bad calls all going against the Cubs, etc etc. it all comes out looking like the Cubs played horribly, and while they didn't play as well as they are capable of, it certainly wasn't only a couple of players or a lack of whatever philosophical approach we may wish the Cubs had.

 

Well, if you want to know what the bottom line problem is, it's that we aren't all that great a baseball team.

[NCCubFan]

Well thanks to the Brewers we aren't all having heart transplant surgery right now.

For those of us who would have survived long enough to actually make it into surgery, that is.