7/12 - Giants (Corriea) @ Cubs (Harden) 12:05, CSN TV

[UMFan83]

Lou's reasoning for keeping Marmol in: He has tremendous success against right handers.

 

Yay, use numbers from April and May!

 

Seriously. Why doesn't someone ask him why he believes Marshall is a LOOGY when he's a SP and faces plently of RH.

 

Ding Ding Ding

 

I was the original one to make the point, but to play Devil's Advocate:

 

Career vs. RHB = .271 BAA

Career vs. LHB = .235 BAA

 

The numbers are almost equal this year, but his OPS against is better vs. LHB

 

Of course they are. I would think just about every LHP not named Mike Remlinger has a better BAA/OPSA against LH than RH, but that doesn't mean bad Marmol should pitch instead of Marshall. This is directed at the devil's advocate, not you. I'm pretty sure you agree with me.

 

I do. Even if Righties are hitting .300 against Marshall, its much better than Marmol throwing the ball all over the place, giving up contact and making bad decisions out there.

[17 Seconds]

Holy hell. I didn't see the game and I just saw that Marmol was left in for 36 pitches? Jesus Christ Lou what are doing? Seriously, this is Dusty Baker territory right here.

 

EFF YOU LOU

[Omar]

Harden with a big small when asked about the crowd

 

He's taken a couple of light shots at the A's fans, although I'm pretty sure he is trying to me more complimentary of the Cubs fans than dissing the A's fans.

 

You can't blame him. A's rank 24th in total home attendance, 25th in home attendance %, and 26th in average home attendance.

[erik316wttn]

Holy crap. I leave for the 3 pm showing of Hancock secure in a 7-1 lead, and I find out that we barely eeked it out and Marmol gave the game away?

 

Geez. Marmol is broken and needs to be fixed. I don't know what the hell is wrong with him, but it's gotta be something bad. He's a key part of that pen and he needs to figure it out.

[Brian]

Do you guys realize that a lot of people are pissed off right now about the managing of a game

 

- that the Cubs won

 

- that put them 20 games over .500 1 game before the all star break

 

- that was started by Rich Harden

 

 

I know the overall issue is troubling, but you have to admit life is pretty good right now.

[David]

Finally someone asks it. And the response is baffling. Seriously? You couldn't even make up something better than that?

 

He seemed to search for something to say for like 30 seconds. Weird.

 

Is he hiding something here?

 

Hiding something or feeling responsible?

 

Do you guys really thing that he would be pitching if he was truly injured and they knew it? Wood's "blister" has me more worried.

 

It's not about him actually having some sort of tangible injury. It's about his arm being tired to the point that his stuff is rendered ineffective.

[erik316wttn]

I stand by this: Lou either really, really likes Marmol and has zero confidence in the rest of the pen, or really really hates him and wants to destroy his arm and wreck his career. There is ZERO middle ground here. It's one or the other.

[XZero771679666304]

Do you guys realize that a lot of people are pissed off right now about the managing of a game

 

- that the Cubs won

 

- that put them 20 games over .500 1 game before the all star break

 

- that was started by Rich Harden

 

 

I know the overall issue is troubling, but you have to admit life is pretty good right now.

 

 

The fact that we are all irate after a win speaks to how well things have gone.

 

Even when the crap hits the fan we're still in good shape.

[XZero771679666304]

I stand by this: Lou either really, really likes Marmol and has zero confidence in the rest of the pen, or really really hates him and wants to destroy his arm and wreck his career. There is ZERO middle ground here. It's one or the other.

 

I am pretty sure that Lou thinks that Carlos just needs to pitch it out, like a basketball player just needs to shoot through their slump.

[FergieJ31]

Do you guys realize that a lot of people are pissed off right now about the managing of a game

 

- that the Cubs won

 

- that put them 20 games over .500 1 game before the all star break

 

- that was started by Rich Harden

 

 

I know the overall issue is troubling, but you have to admit life is pretty good right now.

 

Absolutely agree.

 

btw, did anyone notice the camera briefly cut to Wood in the dugout when Marmol started getting into trouble? Wood seemed to look annoyed or bothered by the blister, then disappeared into clubhouse.

[PrimeTime]

I hope the Cubs don't notice that theyre 20 games over..Because then they'll lose..someone needs to tell them theyre 18 over.

[Derwood]

last i checked in here the crap was only starting to hit the fan. i didn't expect total meltdown. thank jebus they won

[Coach C]

I stand by this: Lou either really, really likes Marmol and has zero confidence in the rest of the pen, or really really hates him and wants to destroy his arm and wreck his career. There is ZERO middle ground here. It's one or the other.

 

I am pretty sure that Lou thinks that Carlos just needs to pitch it out, like a basketball player just needs to shoot through their slump.

 

I sure wish one of our favorate reporter (Paging Bruce Miles, Mr. Miles, please report to the game thread) would bring up the issue that Marmol is being abused as it's has been mentioned on here numberous of times that Marmol has pitched way the hell too much for a reliever, not to mention that there are other pitchers to use, noteably Lieber, Howry, etc.

 

Come on, give Marmol some days off, especially this whole week. If Marmol gets tanked or injured, well then, we just lost our set-up man.

[17 Seconds]

So was Harden's velocity back up today or what? I haven't gotten a chance to watch the game yet.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Johnson            AB    R    H   2b   3b   HR  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS  BABIP  P/PA   IsoD   RBI%
scoring pos        53   11   20    3    0    2   29    5    6  0.377  0.422  0.547  0.969  0.400  3.77  0.045  0.338

 

 

thats best on the team isn't it Fred? hmm I thnk i said something about Reed Johnson being good with RISP. The bunt would have been good if it worked, it didn't and Reed still comes through.

 

scoring pos        AB    R    H   2b   3b   HR  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS  BABIP  P/PA   IsoD   RBI%
Soriano            58   10   19    3    0    5   29   11   13  0.328  0.432  0.638  1.070  0.350  3.57  0.105  0.300
Johnson            53   11   20    3    0    2   29    5    6  0.377  0.422  0.547  0.969  0.400  3.77  0.045  0.338
Edmonds            40    6   13    3    0    2   16    7    6  0.325  0.417  0.550  0.967  0.344  3.90  0.092  0.246
Fukudome           81   17   26    7    0    3   31   20   18  0.321  0.447  0.519  0.965  0.383  4.46  0.126  0.241
Ramirez            85   17   26    6    0    5   43   12   12  0.306  0.400  0.553  0.953  0.309  4.04  0.094  0.292
DeRosa             89   21   28    5    0    4   41   14   24  0.315  0.393  0.506  0.898  0.393  4.27  0.078  0.259
Fontenot           39    8    9    2    0    3   15    8    6  0.231  0.375  0.513  0.888  0.200  3.86  0.144  0.185
D Lee              85   15   27    6    0    1   35   11   16  0.318  0.384  0.424  0.807  0.382  4.00  0.066  0.254
Soto               97    9   24    6    0    5   41   15   26  0.247  0.336  0.464  0.800  0.288  3.89  0.089  0.226
Ward               21    0    5    2    0    0    6    4    4  0.238  0.360  0.333  0.693  0.294  4.40  0.122  0.207
Theriot            68    5   19    2    0    0   18   11    6  0.279  0.383  0.309  0.692  0.306  3.99  0.103  0.182
Hoffpauir           3    1    1    0    0    0    1    0    2  0.333  0.333  0.333  0.667  1.000  4.00  0.000  0.333
Cedeno             36    4    8    2    0    1   18    3    9  0.222  0.282  0.361  0.643  0.269  3.54  0.060  0.266
Murton             14    2    3    1    0    0    6    1    1  0.214  0.313  0.286  0.598  0.231  3.88  0.098  0.231
E Patterson        12    2    3    0    0    0    5    2    3  0.250  0.333  0.250  0.583  0.333  3.93  0.083  0.227
Blanco             19    2    4    0    0    0    3    3    6  0.211  0.318  0.211  0.529  0.308  4.05  0.108  0.091
Pie                22    1    3    0    0    1    7    2   12  0.136  0.200  0.273  0.473  0.222  3.60  0.064  0.146

totals w/RISP     884  132  250   49    1   32  354  133  196  0.283  0.373  0.449  0.822  0.332  3.93  0.090  0.235
season totals    3237  497  911  188   11  106  466  374  681  0.281  0.359  0.445  0.804  0.329  3.91  0.078  0.190

[CubsNSkers07]

So was Harden's velocity back up today or what? I haven't gotten a chance to watch the game yet.

 

 

I think I heard in the 4th inning when he struck out Aurilia he hit 98..... I dont know if that is true or not though. I'll see what gameday has to say.

 

Gameday says 97 on the pitch to Aurilia in the 4th when he struck him out. Pulled back for a little extra on that one he threw 93 the first pitch to him in the at bat and 94 on strike 2 of the at bat the 3rd pitch.

[UMFan83]

Some numbers

 

To finish....record

 

81-81....24-44

85-77....28-40

90-72....33-35

-------------------play .500 ball rest of way record 91-71-------

93-69....36-32

95-67....38-30

----------------------Current pace 98-64--------------------------

100-62....43-25

103-59....46-22

105-57....48-20

110-52....53-15

116-46....59-9

Edited July 12, 2008 by UMFan83

[imb]

So was Harden's velocity back up today or what? I haven't gotten a chance to watch the game yet.

 

He punched it up to 96, 97, 98 a few times, but it was his disgusting changeup that did the most damage. Ive seen him pitch a handful of times, but I apparently didn't pay enough attention, because that is a filthy pitch.

 

Harden sat at 91, 92 for most of the game, but dialed it up when he went up in the zone. I have a feeling that his changeup being so untouchable allows him to not have to bring it 98 every time he throws a fastball. Since he still has the ability to ramp it up to 98 whenever he wants, though, it makes that pitch even more unhittable. A 98mph fastball will begin to look not as impressive after 90 pitches, but when you can run between 91-98 and then toss in an 81mph change that sweeps all the way across the plate, youve got a hell of a repetoire.

 

Seriously, 5 1/3 innings and its easy to tell why this guy is undefeated in his career when his team scores 4 runs in a game.

[TruffleShuffle]

So was Harden's velocity back up today or what? I haven't gotten a chance to watch the game yet.

 

He punched it up to 96, 97, 98 a few times, but it was his disgusting changeup that did the most damage. Ive seen him pitch a handful of times, but I apparently didn't pay enough attention, because that is a filthy pitch.

 

Harden sat at 91, 92 for most of the game, but dialed it up when he went up in the zone. I have a feeling that his changeup being so untouchable allows him to not have to bring it 98 every time he throws a fastball. Since he still has the ability to ramp it up to 98 whenever he wants, though, it makes that pitch even more unhittable. A 98mph fastball will begin to look not as impressive after 90 pitches, but when you can run between 91-98 and then toss in an 81mph change that sweeps all the way across the plate, youve got a hell of a repetoire.

 

Seriously, 5 1/3 innings and its easy to tell why this guy is undefeated in his career when his team scores 4 runs in a game.

 

either len or bob mentioned that his fastball had a bigger range of velocities than most pitchers. like watching galllagher last night, almost all of his pitches were in the 92-94 range. i saw some fastballs from harden that were around 90-92, and then a few he dialed up into the 95-98 range. that's unusual.

[PrimeTime]

Rich Harden > Mark Prior

[imb]

So was Harden's velocity back up today or what? I haven't gotten a chance to watch the game yet.

 

He punched it up to 96, 97, 98 a few times, but it was his disgusting changeup that did the most damage. Ive seen him pitch a handful of times, but I apparently didn't pay enough attention, because that is a filthy pitch.

 

Harden sat at 91, 92 for most of the game, but dialed it up when he went up in the zone. I have a feeling that his changeup being so untouchable allows him to not have to bring it 98 every time he throws a fastball. Since he still has the ability to ramp it up to 98 whenever he wants, though, it makes that pitch even more unhittable. A 98mph fastball will begin to look not as impressive after 90 pitches, but when you can run between 91-98 and then toss in an 81mph change that sweeps all the way across the plate, youve got a hell of a repetoire.

 

Seriously, 5 1/3 innings and its easy to tell why this guy is undefeated in his career when his team scores 4 runs in a game.

 

either len or bob mentioned that his fastball had a bigger range of velocities than most pitchers. like watching galllagher last night, almost all of his pitches were in the 92-94 range. i saw some fastballs from harden that were around 90-92, and then a few he dialed up into the 95-98 range. that's unusual.

 

Really. As a batter, what do you do? Just guess? I mean, youre looking at a 20mph differential in three pitches that look exactly the same coming out of his hand. Could be 80, could be 91, could be 98 and you dont know until youve swung the bat.

[Sammy Sofa]

What an awesomehorriblecrazysexycool game to have been at.

 

I'm tired. If it had ended up being at my 8th(!!!!!!!!!!!!) Cubs home loss this season, I would have fought the train.

 

And yes, the train would have won.

 

Welcome to Chicago, Rich Harden. The standing ovation he got was awesome. Marshall, too.

[FergieJ31]

It was hilarious seeing Rich get hitting lessons from Z in the dugout after he K'ed.

[17 Seconds]

Derosa and Theriot looked so awkward on the celebration right after Derosa scored. They both went to slap hands and instead kind of went into an accidental hug.

[imb]

Derosa and Theriot looked so awkward on the celebration right after Derosa scored. They both went to slap hands and instead kind of went into an accidental hug.

 

Don't judge post-win bromancing.

 

Not to OMC this thread, but a friend of mine drilled a buzzer-beating game-winner in OT over our arch rival on their home court from about 10 feet outside of his range and my first reaction was to run over to him and punch him in the face. Why? I don't know!