4/17 Dusty Baker's Reds (Volquez) @ Cubs (Lilly) 1:20 WGN

[UMFan83]

"Glass is half full" game reaction:

 

1 - The Cub hitters were exceedingly patient today, forcing Volquez out after 5 with 112 pitches, and forcing Red pitchers overall to throw 190 pitches in the game.

2 - DeRosa and Johnson each reached base 4 times.

3 - Lilly had his longest outing of the year and lowered his ERA.

4 - Wuertz had a good inning.

 

I think all 4 of Reed's hits were against Righties too, am I correct?

[mopapa]

 

 

BE HURT RIOT

 

 

That's going waaaaaaay too far.

 

If he were writhing in pain I wouldn't have said it. But a knick or ding allowing someone else to get in there wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

 

Because his .357 OBP is really killing this team.

 

 

Yeah, like that's going to continue.

 

And his defense is hurting the team.

 

And nobody else's defense has ever hurt the team? If I remember correctly, just within the last couple of weeks Cedeno made an error and 3 runs scored afterwards.

[XZero771679666304]

"Theodore" is sucking up the joint.

 

Hopefully he finds his missing velocity, because I don't think he's going anywhere, at least for long.

 

It's not even velocity so much as it's the location of his pitches. Everything is on the upper half.

 

 

True, but the velocity can mask some of that. Missing up at 92 mph is a lot better than missing up at 87 mph. Lilly wasn't exactly a surgeon last year, either.

[bukie]

"Glass is half full" game reaction:

 

1 - The Cub hitters were exceedingly patient today, forcing Volquez out after 5 with 112 pitches, and forcing Red pitchers overall to throw 190 pitches in the game.

2 - DeRosa and Johnson each reached base 4 times.

3 - Lilly had his longest outing of the year and lowered his ERA.

4 - Wuertz had a good inning.

 

I think all 4 of Reed's hits were against Righties too, am I correct?

 

Yes, all righty pitchers for the Reds today.

 

Might as well counter it with the "Glass is half empty" game reaction:

 

1 - Lilly is still giving up too many hard hit balls with low velocity up in the zone.

2 - Lieber doesn't miss many bats, so the ones he hits can't be hit as hard as they were today.

3 - Blanco and Fontenot both left 7 men on base and only manged to knock one in between them.

4 - Fukudome, despite averaging 6 P/PA today, didn't hit a ball hard and struck out twice.

[XZero771679666304]

 

 

BE HURT RIOT

 

 

That's going waaaaaaay too far.

 

If he were writhing in pain I wouldn't have said it. But a knick or ding allowing someone else to get in there wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

 

Because his .357 OBP is really killing this team.

 

 

Yeah, like that's going to continue.

 

And his defense is hurting the team.

 

And nobody else's defense has ever hurt the team? If I remember correctly, just within the last couple of weeks Cedeno made an error and 3 runs scored afterwards.

 

Come on. Theriot's lack of range/arm has an effect nearly every game. It's not just about errors, it's about not getting to balls that most SS would get to, and not having much arm. And in a month or two when his OBP is .325 or lower, the effect will be even greater.

[David]

 

 

BE HURT RIOT

 

 

That's going waaaaaaay too far.

 

If he were writhing in pain I wouldn't have said it. But a knick or ding allowing someone else to get in there wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

 

Because his .357 OBP is really killing this team.

 

 

Yeah, like that's going to continue.

 

And his defense is hurting the team.

 

And nobody else's defense has ever hurt the team? If I remember correctly, just within the last couple of weeks Cedeno made an error and 3 runs scored afterwards.

 

The irony here is that Theriot would've never gotten to that ball and there would've been no error to be made. It would've just been another hit.

[Outshined_One]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

[CubColtPacer]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

 

I can understand the other things (agreeing with them to varying degrees), but why Henry Blanco? Lou has only started him 3 times out of 15 games. That's normal for a backup catcher, and if you take Blanco away from Lou that only means that Lou will have Koyie Hill for those 3 games.

[XZero771679666304]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

 

I can understand the other things (agreeing with them to varying degrees), but why Henry Blanco? Lou has only started him 3 times out of 15 games. That's normal for a backup catcher, and if you take Blanco away from Lou that only means that Lou will have Koyie Hill for those 3 games.

 

More than any other position (except pitcher) catcher is the one where you can't run the same guy out there every game without killing him.

 

If Geo starts 135+ games, I'll be happy.

[Outshined_One]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

 

I can understand the other things (agreeing with them to varying degrees), but why Henry Blanco? Lou has only started him 3 times out of 15 games. That's normal for a backup catcher, and if you take Blanco away from Lou that only means that Lou will have Koyie Hill for those 3 games.

 

I think keeping Blanco was a mistake. He's not a very good backup catcher in terms of what he provides from an offensive and defensive standpoint. Soto needs his rest, but, at the same time, I'd like to see a guy back him up who can either get on base or who is a plus defender behind the dish. I don't think Blanco is either.

[Flames24Rulz]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

 

I can understand the other things (agreeing with them to varying degrees), but why Henry Blanco? Lou has only started him 3 times out of 15 games. That's normal for a backup catcher, and if you take Blanco away from Lou that only means that Lou will have Koyie Hill for those 3 games.

 

Lou had Soto catch the next day after catching all 15 innings the day before. Then he sits Soto for two games in the next couple of days for Blanco. It doesn't make sense.

 

And yeah I realize that good backup catchers are hard to come by. I'd complain more about Blanco if the backup catcher was our only legitimate problem. Unfortunately, we have quite a few problems that we have to try to solve that are more important than the backup catcher slot.

[rawaction]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

 

I can understand the other things (agreeing with them to varying degrees), but why Henry Blanco? Lou has only started him 3 times out of 15 games. That's normal for a backup catcher, and if you take Blanco away from Lou that only means that Lou will have Koyie Hill for those 3 games.

 

I think keeping Blanco was a mistake. He's not a very good backup catcher in terms of what he provides from an offensive and defensive standpoint. Soto needs his rest, but, at the same time, I'd like to see a guy back him up who can either get on base or who is a plus defender behind the dish. I don't think Blanco is either.

 

Blanco is typically a pretty good defensive catcher. Not so far this year, though.

[jersey cubs fan]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

 

I can understand the other things (agreeing with them to varying degrees), but why Henry Blanco? Lou has only started him 3 times out of 15 games. That's normal for a backup catcher, and if you take Blanco away from Lou that only means that Lou will have Koyie Hill for those 3 games.

 

I think keeping Blanco was a mistake. He's not a very good backup catcher in terms of what he provides from an offensive and defensive standpoint. Soto needs his rest, but, at the same time, I'd like to see a guy back him up who can either get on base or who is a plus defender behind the dish. I don't think Blanco is either.

 

Clearly it was a mistake, but the mistake was Hendry's contract offer. There's not much you can do now. A competent GM would have given his manager a minimum wage backup catcher who would do the same things Henry does, if not more.

[YearofDaCubs]

The following things need to be taken away from Lou:

 

Ryan Theriot

Mike Fontenot

The Hit & Run Sign

Henry Blanco

Mark DeRosa in the OF

 

It's not to say that DeRo is bad in the OF, but any time he plays there, that ups the probability that Fontenot and Theriot will both be in the game.

 

I can understand the other things (agreeing with them to varying degrees), but why Henry Blanco? Lou has only started him 3 times out of 15 games. That's normal for a backup catcher, and if you take Blanco away from Lou that only means that Lou will have Koyie Hill for those 3 games.

I'd rather have Koyie Hill and his contract as a backup over Blanco and his ridiculous contract. Blanco just isn't good anymore, he never was.