Thoughts about last night

[Schwarber Fan]

Even though they couldn't complete the rally, I'm really proud of how the Cubs got back into that game. They had no business doing so against the O's best relievers but they were patient and got some timely hits. (Edmonds, wow) I would have let Edmonds bat against Sherril though just because he had been hot and had HRed off a lefty on Saturday, and Murton has been terrible but would have been a better option in the 9th.

 

As far as the 9th, we ran into a bad spot in the lineup after we loaded the bases. Cedeno has been pretty bad lately, looking like the 2006 Ronny. That AB was one of the worst I've ever seen. Kosuke was just overmatched by a tough lefty, and after his AB I don't blame Lou for PHing Blanco, the only RH option he had left. If we had Lee/Ramirez coming up, I think we win last night. Hopefully they are pissed off and come out strong tonight.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The problem is, once we loaded the bases, I was sure that we were going to capitilize. I was all braced for extra innings at least. Of all people, Ronny was due. Not so much. The I was expecting a Kosuke single to drive in 2, and then E-Patt could have righted his wrong doing. Obviously, neither of those things happened. Kosuke struck out, and E-Patt wasnt given a chance. I know Lou loves the lefty/righty matchups, but wouldnt you have rather had a guy at the plate who may be a lefty, but knows that he screwed up big time with an error vs. a guy whose been incompetent at the plate?

[TheDude]

The problem with last night's game was the defense and Marshall's inability to recover from not getting border line calls. The young guys made some mistakes, but nothing alarming overall.

[Schwarber Fan]

The problem is, once we loaded the bases, I was sure that we were going to capitilize. I was all braced for extra innings at least. Of all people, Ronny was due. Not so much. The I was expecting a Kosuke single to drive in 2, and then E-Patt could have righted his wrong doing. Obviously, neither of those things happened. Kosuke struck out, and E-Patt wasnt given a chance. I know Lou loves the lefty/righty matchups, but wouldnt you have rather had a guy at the plate who may be a lefty, but knows that he screwed up big time with an error vs. a guy whose been incompetent at the plate?

 

The "incompetent guy" was batting .291 coming in, and over .300 vs lefties, it wasn't a terrible choice.

[abuck1220]

can't believe i'm saying this, but i would not have ph murton for edmonds.

[USSoccer]

can't believe i'm saying this, but i would not have ph murton for edmonds.

 

Me neither.

[Little Slide Rooter]

can't believe i'm saying this, but i would not have ph murton for edmonds.

 

Me neither.

 

In hindsight, with 2 out the worst Edmonds could have done was what Murton did, and Murton would have been available in the 9th, and I would have rather him than Cedeno or Blanco in that situation.

[Schwarber Fan]

can't believe i'm saying this, but i would not have ph murton for edmonds.

 

Me neither.

 

In hindsight, with 2 out the worst Edmonds could have done was what Murton did, and Murton would have been available in the 9th, and I would have rather him than Cedeno or Blanco in that situation.

 

Agreed, as I said in my original post.

[abuck1220]

and i wouldn't pinch hit blanco for anybody unless they died jogging into the dugout after the previous half inning.

[UMFan83]

Sherrill's last 3 year splits:

 

vs. LH: .151/.220/.259/.479

vs. RH: .257/.370/.342/.712

 

Like it or not it was the right move. We just picked a horrible time to have 2 lefties coming up. Cedeno's AB was inexcusable however.

 

This is the first game I feel like injuries really killed us. In the 8th, it would have been awesome to have lefty killer Reed Johnson in there to PH and at least give us the chance of a game tying XBH. Instead we have Matt Murton, who looks like he stopped eating his Wheaties a long time ago. And as bad as Zambrano has been lately, its hard to imagine he would have pitched as poorly as Marshall last night during his regularly scheduled rotation spot. Obviously, having Soriano in the lineup would have been awesome all game as well. While you can't assume that all things would have remained the same, but if he was up in that spot instead of Fukudome, we have a better shot of getting a hit IMO.

 

We are basically treading water, at 6-5 since Soriano went down....which is probably to be expected with everything that's gone on.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

You've gotta pinch hit for Edmonds there. Lefties make him look stupid. Even if you want to say Edmonds hit a HR off one on Saturday, Murton was 2 for 3 against them in his previous 2 appearances. It's the right move.

 

Blanco for Patterson, I'm not so sure about. I see the logic(Blanco's splits, Sherrill's splits, Patterson with no ABs v. LHP thus far), but I would've let Eric hit. Blanco had one at bat since the Tampa series, and Patterson had been swinging a hot bat with good plate discipline(plus he OPSed .910 against LHP in Iowa this year).

[Soul]

I'm not going to jump on one guy or the other. We just need to make sure it doesn't turn into a losing streak. Need to come back strong today and win.

 

Because in case you haven't noticed, Milwaukee and St. Louis don't lose games anymore.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I'm not going to jump on one guy or the other. We just need to make sure it doesn't turn into a losing streak. Need to come back strong today and win.

 

Because in case you haven't noticed, Milwaukee and St. Louis don't lose games anymore.

 

Milwaukee is a streaky team. Right now they're red hot, but the bottom can fall out without warning, especially with 7 road games coming up vs. Minnesota(the 1 team in baseball thats hotter than they are) and Arizona. The Demon Birds, on the other hand have been playing consistantly good ball since the begining, and show no signs of slowing, and thats with argueably the best player in the league injured and no pitchers anyones ever heard of. Now Phat Alberts coming back Thursday, and they're 4 games into their 6 game road trip in Boston and Detroit, which was supposed to be the beginning of their demise, and the worst they can do now is go 3-3.

[Soul]

I'm not going to jump on one guy or the other. We just need to make sure it doesn't turn into a losing streak. Need to come back strong today and win.

 

Because in case you haven't noticed, Milwaukee and St. Louis don't lose games anymore.

 

Milwaukee is a streaky team. Right now they're red hot, but the bottom can fall out without warning, especially with 7 road games coming up vs. Minnesota(the 1 team in baseball thats hotter than they are) and Arizona. The Demon Birds, on the other hand have been playing consistantly good ball since the begining, and show no signs of slowing, and thats with argueably the best player in the league injured and no pitchers anyones ever heard of. Now Phat Alberts coming back Thursday, and they're 4 games into their 6 game road trip in Boston and Detroit, which was supposed to be the beginning of their demise, and the worst they can do now is go 3-3.

 

I don't see how you can draw that big a distinction between the chickadees and the drunks when they sit 1.5 games apart in the standings, and are actually both 2 of the better teams in baseball. They're both pretty darn good baseball clubs. We just happen to have found ourselves in one of the stronger divisions in baseball this year. If we want to win this thing, we're going to have to claw and scratch our way to it just like anyone else would have to. I don't see any 10-game margins in the standings any time soon, as some have predicted.

[UMFan83]

As much as I complain about the Cardinals flukiness, as Cubs fans we can't complain that we are in a harder division considering we've managed to make 3 playoff appearances in the last 10 years despite 1989 being the last year we've won 90 games (in 162 games). We won the freaking division with 85 wins last year, and right now 85 wins looks like it will be good for 3rd place in the division.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The Cedeno AB was the bad one. He has to put the ball in play there. Instead, he looked completely over matched and showed no patience whatsoever.

 

The decision to go with Murton over Edmonds was the right call. As as been pointed out, Edmonds looks bad against most lefties. Sherrill is brutal on lefthanders, as was seen on how he made a normally patient Fukudome look in the ninth. Murton ususally hits well against Sherrill. Murton's AB against Sherrill was not a bad one. He worked a full count and got a pitch to hit. He got under it. That will happen to a lot of hitters.

 

Blanco over Patterson is the only questionable move of the night.

 

It was frustrating not to get those runs across in the ninth. Sherrill's control was getting shaky, and Cedeno went up there hacking. He needed to realize his job wasn't to be the hero, just extend the inning with a good AB. He didn't come close to doing that.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I'm not going to jump on one guy or the other. We just need to make sure it doesn't turn into a losing streak. Need to come back strong today and win.

 

Because in case you haven't noticed, Milwaukee and St. Louis don't lose games anymore.

 

Milwaukee is a streaky team. Right now they're red hot, but the bottom can fall out without warning, especially with 7 road games coming up vs. Minnesota(the 1 team in baseball thats hotter than they are) and Arizona. The Demon Birds, on the other hand have been playing consistantly good ball since the begining, and show no signs of slowing, and thats with argueably the best player in the league injured and no pitchers anyones ever heard of. Now Phat Alberts coming back Thursday, and they're 4 games into their 6 game road trip in Boston and Detroit, which was supposed to be the beginning of their demise, and the worst they can do now is go 3-3.

 

I don't see how you can draw that big a distinction between the chickadees and the drunks when they sit 1.5 games apart in the standings, and are actually both 2 of the better teams in baseball. They're both pretty darn good baseball clubs. We just happen to have found ourselves in one of the stronger divisions in baseball this year. If we want to win this thing, we're going to have to claw and scratch our way to it just like anyone else would have to. I don't see any 10-game margins in the standings any time soon, as some have predicted.

 

Im just saying the Brewers are less likely to stay as hot. Right now, they're getting great production from guys like Branyan and Torres, who are less than likely to keep it up. Braun and Fielder are the only sure things on that team. Everyone else comes and gos on as they please.

 

If the Cards do end up falling off, it will be due to pitching, not offense. They have a team full of gritty little pests, who surround a few power hitters, and the biggest power hitter of all is coming back in a few days. Dont expect the Royals to repeat last week.

 

It was frustrating not to get those runs across in the ninth. Sherrill's control was getting shaky, and Cedeno went up there hacking. He needed to realize his job wasn't to be the hero, just extend the inning with a good AB. He didn't come close to doing that.

 

Theres really no reason to keep Cedeno on this team. We have 4 middle infielders in DeRosa, Theriot, Fontenot, and now Patterson. If we need another somewhere down the road, we could try Andres Blanco, who cant be any worse. The only reason they wont let him go is becuase he doesnt have an option, and some team will take him on. I say, let them have him. Right now, his only value to us is as a part of a package trade, and that value dwindles every time he does anything.

Edited June 25, 2008 by Little Slide Rooter

[Soul]

I'm not going to jump on one guy or the other. We just need to make sure it doesn't turn into a losing streak. Need to come back strong today and win.

 

Because in case you haven't noticed, Milwaukee and St. Louis don't lose games anymore.

 

Milwaukee is a streaky team. Right now they're red hot, but the bottom can fall out without warning, especially with 7 road games coming up vs. Minnesota(the 1 team in baseball thats hotter than they are) and Arizona. The Demon Birds, on the other hand have been playing consistantly good ball since the begining, and show no signs of slowing, and thats with argueably the best player in the league injured and no pitchers anyones ever heard of. Now Phat Alberts coming back Thursday, and they're 4 games into their 6 game road trip in Boston and Detroit, which was supposed to be the beginning of their demise, and the worst they can do now is go 3-3.

 

I don't see how you can draw that big a distinction between the chickadees and the drunks when they sit 1.5 games apart in the standings, and are actually both 2 of the better teams in baseball. They're both pretty darn good baseball clubs. We just happen to have found ourselves in one of the stronger divisions in baseball this year. If we want to win this thing, we're going to have to claw and scratch our way to it just like anyone else would have to. I don't see any 10-game margins in the standings any time soon, as some have predicted.

 

Im just saying the Brewers are less likely to stay as hot. Right now, they're getting great production from guys like Branyan and Torres, who are less than likely to keep it up. Braun and Fielder are the only sure things on that team. Everyone else comes and gos on as they please.

 

If the Cards do end up falling off, it will be due to pitching, not offense. They have a team full of gritty little pests, who surround a few power hitters, and the biggest power hitter of all is coming back in a few days. Dont expect the Royals to repeat last week.

 

Oh no, I certainly do not expect the Royals to repeat last week.

[Old Style]

I questioned the Murton move immediately. I was OK with Hank hitting for Patterson. Cedeno couldn't have looked much worse up there. Horrible AB.

[NCCubFan]

I'm not going to jump on one guy or the other. We just need to make sure it doesn't turn into a losing streak. Need to come back strong today and win.

 

Because in case you haven't noticed, Milwaukee and St. Louis don't lose games anymore.

 

Milwaukee is a streaky team. Right now they're red hot, but the bottom can fall out without warning, especially with 7 road games coming up vs. Minnesota(the 1 team in baseball thats hotter than they are) and Arizona. The Demon Birds, on the other hand have been playing consistantly good ball since the begining, and show no signs of slowing, and thats with argueably the best player in the league injured and no pitchers anyones ever heard of. Now Phat Alberts coming back Thursday, and they're 4 games into their 6 game road trip in Boston and Detroit, which was supposed to be the beginning of their demise, and the worst they can do now is go 3-3.

 

I don't see how you can draw that big a distinction between the chickadees and the drunks when they sit 1.5 games apart in the standings, and are actually both 2 of the better teams in baseball. They're both pretty darn good baseball clubs. We just happen to have found ourselves in one of the stronger divisions in baseball this year. If we want to win this thing, we're going to have to claw and scratch our way to it just like anyone else would have to. I don't see any 10-game margins in the standings any time soon, as some have predicted.

 

Im just saying the Brewers are less likely to stay as hot. Right now, they're getting great production from guys like Branyan and Torres, who are less than likely to keep it up. Braun and Fielder are the only sure things on that team. Everyone else comes and gos on as they please.

 

If the Cards do end up falling off, it will be due to pitching, not offense. They have a team full of gritty little pests, who surround a few power hitters, and the biggest power hitter of all is coming back in a few days. Dont expect the Royals to repeat last week.

 

It was frustrating not to get those runs across in the ninth. Sherrill's control was getting shaky, and Cedeno went up there hacking. He needed to realize his job wasn't to be the hero, just extend the inning with a good AB. He didn't come close to doing that.

 

Theres really no reason to keep Cedeno on this team. We have 4 middle infielders in DeRosa, Theriot, Fontenot, and now Patterson. If we need another somewhere down the road, we could try Andres Blanco, who cant be any worse. The only reason they wont let him go is becuase he doesnt have an option, and some team will take him on. I say, let them have him. Right now, his only value to us is as a part of a package trade, and that value dwindles every time he does anything.

No, that's not the only reason (although it may be a reason). He's the only one of the backup infielders that plays SS.

[Soul]

Here's the ultimate thought about last night:

 

 

DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.

 

 

 

Done.

[sethuel1]

it was amazing, but we shouldn't talk about it since that would ruin the vibe

[jersey cubs fan]

The Cedeno AB was the bad one. He has to put the ball in play there. Instead, he looked completely over matched and showed no patience whatsoever.

 

Putting the ball in play isn't the goal there. Brenly was begging for him to strikeout to limit the damage. I think he went up with a swing hard in case you hit it attitude. But his eye was horrible. A groundout would be even worse than the K, and the only fly ball that scores a run is a very deep one with pudgey on third.

 

Had he not swung at all he would have been better off.

[jersey cubs fan]

I didn't question the Murton move, it was the right one. The closer dominates lefties and Edmonds sucks vs lefties. It was the best hope to make something happen, and at the very least Murton nearly drew a walk.

[BigbadB]

The Cedeno AB was the bad one. He has to put the ball in play there. Instead, he looked completely over matched and showed no patience whatsoever.

 

Putting the ball in play isn't the goal there. Brenly was begging for him to strikeout to limit the damage. I think he went up with a swing hard in case you hit it attitude. But his eye was horrible. A groundout would be even worse than the K, and the only fly ball that scores a run is a very deep one with pudgey on third.

 

Had he not swung at all he would have been better off.

 

Exactly. Cedeno swung at ball 1, ball 2 and ball 3 in his at bat. Sherrill was already wild before the Cedeno at bat. As good as Cedeno has been this year at pitch recognition, that all went out the window on that at bat. Horrible, horrible at bat. That at bat gave me Dusty nightmares last night.