I think Hendry (and Lou) saw this coming...

[UMFan83]

All offseason last year, and during the season this year, Jim Hendry has craved so badly for a middle of the order left handed hitter. Jim Edmonds was a nice piece, but he isn't causing other teams to stop throwing RH after RH at the Cubs. Jim thought he got his man in Fukudome, but when they realized what they were getting, he spent the next few months trying to find that LH bat within the organization and outside (Raul Ibanez). When he couldn't land one and we had to go with what we had, I think he pretty much knew that if we got the right matchup (the Mets) we could win it all. If we got the wrong matchup (the Dodgers) we would have to hope that our pitching shutdown the other team.

 

The Dodgers were the worst possible matchup for the Cubs in the playoffs. In the entire series, a left handed pitcher threw exactly 0 pitches against the Cubs. They killed us with probably the best right handed pitching in baseball. The Cubs can hit righties, but in the playoffs, they aren't throwing Ian Snell at you, they are throwing Derek Lowe at you. Imagine if the Cubs were able to face Oliver Perez in one of the first 3 games? Even Johan would have been a better matchup than Lowe (injured knee or not).

 

Imagine if the Cubs had gotten Ibanez at the deadline?

 

Against righties:

Soriano, R

Fontenot, L

Lee, R

Ibanez, L

Ramirez, R

Edmonds, L

Soto, R

Theriot, R

 

Against lefties:

Soriano, R

Theriot, R

Lee, R

Ramirez, R

Ibanez, L

Johnson, R

Soto, R

DeRosa, R

 

Anyways, just my thoughts. If the Cubs had one weakness this year, it was that our lineup was too right handed. The Dodgers were the perfect team to exploit that. BTW, they will get killed by Philly.

[Guest]

You want a lefty bat, UMF? Go young, go after Jeremy Hermida.

[UMFan83]

You want a lefty bat, UMF? Go young, go after Jeremy Hermida.

 

I would do it. His H/R splits look favorable.

[JeffH]

You want a lefty bat, UMF? Go young, go after Jeremy Hermida.

 

Yes. Buy low.

[Guest]

You want a lefty bat, UMF? Go young, go after Jeremy Hermida.

 

Yes. Buy low.

 

Oh man, I expected you to respond to me by saying, "No offense to him personally, but CaliforniaRaisin is a dope."

 

:)

[The Other 15]

I think you summed it up pretty well. The Dodgers were the worst case scenario with their pitching and how they've fared against the Cubs.

 

Clearly, after Fukudome fell off, they were a different team that started to rely on power more than playing baseball as the season went along. Teams like that can be stopped by good pitching.

 

Unfortunately, Lou chose the wrong SP to open the series. I like Torres choice of Lowe who was his hottest pitcher but not his best. I know it's hindsight, but I was never comfortable with Demp in game one. He was leaking oil for over a month when BB's were concerned. When he finally blew up in the 5th inning (hes was flirting with danger all game) it put the team on the defensive and they never recovered. Obviously it's not all on Ryne, but they never seemed to get comfortable after that and only got tighter as each inning in the series passed by.

[Twiggy]

You want a lefty bat, UMF? Go young, go after Jeremy Hermida.

 

I'd love to see the Cubs grab Hermida but I don't see that happening.

[Backtobanks]

All offseason last year, and during the season this year, Jim Hendry has craved so badly for a middle of the order left handed hitter. Jim Edmonds was a nice piece, but he isn't causing other teams to stop throwing RH after RH at the Cubs. Jim thought he got his man in Fukudome, but when they realized what they were getting, he spent the next few months trying to find that LH bat within the organization and outside (Raul Ibanez). When he couldn't land one and we had to go with what we had, I think he pretty much knew that if we got the right matchup (the Mets) we could win it all. If we got the wrong matchup (the Dodgers) we would have to hope that our pitching shutdown the other team.

 

The Dodgers were the worst possible matchup for the Cubs in the playoffs. In the entire series, a left handed pitcher threw exactly 0 pitches against the Cubs. They killed us with probably the best right handed pitching in baseball. The Cubs can hit righties, but in the playoffs, they aren't throwing Ian Snell at you, they are throwing Derek Lowe at you. Imagine if the Cubs were able to face Oliver Perez in one of the first 3 games? Even Johan would have been a better matchup than Lowe (injured knee or not).

 

Imagine if the Cubs had gotten Ibanez at the deadline?

 

Against righties:

Soriano, R

Fontenot, L

Lee, R

Ibanez, L

Ramirez, R

Edmonds, L

Soto, R

Theriot, R

 

Against lefties:

Soriano, R

Theriot, R

Lee, R

Ramirez, R

Ibanez, L

Johnson, R

Soto, R

DeRosa, R

 

Anyways, just my thoughts. If the Cubs had one weakness this year, it was that our lineup was too right handed. The Dodgers were the perfect team to exploit that. BTW, they will get killed by Philly.

 

It would be great to have another lefty bat, but RH hitters should be able to hit RH pitchers too. Most ML hitters have faced RH pitching 85-90% of the time from Little League, Pony League, HIgh School, College, and the minor leagues. I'll give you that Lowe can be hard to hit, but that doesn't explain games 2 and 3.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

All offseason last year, and during the season this year, Jim Hendry has craved so badly for a middle of the order left handed hitter. Jim Edmonds was a nice piece, but he isn't causing other teams to stop throwing RH after RH at the Cubs. Jim thought he got his man in Fukudome, but when they realized what they were getting, he spent the next few months trying to find that LH bat within the organization and outside (Raul Ibanez). When he couldn't land one and we had to go with what we had, I think he pretty much knew that if we got the right matchup (the Mets) we could win it all. If we got the wrong matchup (the Dodgers) we would have to hope that our pitching shutdown the other team.

 

The Dodgers were the worst possible matchup for the Cubs in the playoffs. In the entire series, a left handed pitcher threw exactly 0 pitches against the Cubs. They killed us with probably the best right handed pitching in baseball. The Cubs can hit righties, but in the playoffs, they aren't throwing Ian Snell at you, they are throwing Derek Lowe at you. Imagine if the Cubs were able to face Oliver Perez in one of the first 3 games? Even Johan would have been a better matchup than Lowe (injured knee or not).

 

Imagine if the Cubs had gotten Ibanez at the deadline?

 

Against righties:

Soriano, R

Fontenot, L

Lee, R

Ibanez, L

Ramirez, R

Edmonds, L

Soto, R

Theriot, R

 

Against lefties:

Soriano, R

Theriot, R

Lee, R

Ramirez, R

Ibanez, L

Johnson, R

Soto, R

DeRosa, R

 

Anyways, just my thoughts. If the Cubs had one weakness this year, it was that our lineup was too right handed. The Dodgers were the perfect team to exploit that. BTW, they will get killed by Philly.

 

It would be great to have another lefty bat, but RH hitters should be able to hit RH pitchers too. Most ML hitters have faced RH pitching 85-90% of the time from Little League, Pony League, HIgh School, College, and the minor leagues. I'll give you that Lowe can be hard to hit, but that doesn't explain games 2 and 3.

 

Billingsley is better than Lowe, for Game 2.

[mcgoobs]

For 161 games in the regular season, the Cubs were virtually the same very good offensive team against right vs left handers:

 

Cubs 2008 vs RHP: .274/.350/.443/.793

Cubs 2008 vs LHP: .288/.366/.442/.807

 

Of all NL teams this year, the Cubs had the second highest OBP and OPS against RHP, the Cardinals percentage points higher at .287/.353/.443/.796.

 

The idea that the Cubs couldn't hit right-handed pitching is media-created nonsense.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

For 161 games in the regular season, the Cubs were virtually the same very good offensive team against right vs left handers:

 

Cubs 2008 vs RHP: .274/.350/.443/.793

Cubs 2008 vs LHP: .288/.366/.442/.807

 

Of all NL teams this year, the Cubs had the second highest OBP and OPS against RHP, the Cardinals percentage points higher at .287/.353/.443/.796.

 

The idea that the Cubs couldn't hit right-handed pitching is media-created nonsense.

 

As pointed out above, certain right-handed pitchers have better splits than others.

 

Although *unproven* at this point, it's possible that the Cubs' offense could struggle against exceptional right-handed pitching and clean up against weak right-handed pitching.

[manbearcub]

Although *unproven* at this point, it's possible that the Cubs' offense could struggle against exceptional right-handed pitching and clean up against weak right-handed pitching.

 

http://jeweledplatypus.org/pixels/other/nowai.jpg

[Warren Brusstar]

All offseason last year, and during the season this year, Jim Hendry has craved so badly for a middle of the order left handed hitter. Jim Edmonds was a nice piece, but he isn't causing other teams to stop throwing RH after RH at the Cubs. Jim thought he got his man in Fukudome, but when they realized what they were getting, he spent the next few months trying to find that LH bat within the organization and outside (Raul Ibanez). When he couldn't land one and we had to go with what we had, I think he pretty much knew that if we got the right matchup (the Mets) we could win it all. If we got the wrong matchup (the Dodgers) we would have to hope that our pitching shutdown the other team.

 

The Dodgers were the worst possible matchup for the Cubs in the playoffs. In the entire series, a left handed pitcher threw exactly 0 pitches against the Cubs. They killed us with probably the best right handed pitching in baseball. The Cubs can hit righties, but in the playoffs, they aren't throwing Ian Snell at you, they are throwing Derek Lowe at you. Imagine if the Cubs were able to face Oliver Perez in one of the first 3 games? Even Johan would have been a better matchup than Lowe (injured knee or not).

 

Imagine if the Cubs had gotten Ibanez at the deadline?

 

Against righties:

Soriano, R

Fontenot, L

Lee, R

Ibanez, L

Ramirez, R

Edmonds, L

Soto, R

Theriot, R

 

Against lefties:

Soriano, R

Theriot, R

Lee, R

Ramirez, R

Ibanez, L

Johnson, R

Soto, R

DeRosa, R

 

Anyways, just my thoughts. If the Cubs had one weakness this year, it was that our lineup was too right handed. The Dodgers were the perfect team to exploit that. BTW, they will get killed by Philly.

 

I don't. If they knew New York was a favorable matchup, they certainly could have done a better job the last week of trying to generate that matchup.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

But to be honest, another lefty wasn't going to be the difference between winning in the series and scoring 6 runs in 3 games.

 

I still suspect our right-handed lean is a weakness, but it's not a decisive one in a series like this.

[UK1679666180]

For 161 games in the regular season, the Cubs were virtually the same very good offensive team against right vs left handers:

 

Cubs 2008 vs RHP: .274/.350/.443/.793

Cubs 2008 vs LHP: .288/.366/.442/.807

 

Of all NL teams this year, the Cubs had the second highest OBP and OPS against RHP, the Cardinals percentage points higher at .287/.353/.443/.796.

 

The idea that the Cubs couldn't hit right-handed pitching is media-created nonsense.

 

It's not the matchup itself that's the difference it's how each team would use their RH'ers that made the difference. STL would challenge them inside and would pay for it, LA stayed away and the Cubs wet their pants trying to pull HRs into LF.

[mul21]

For 161 games in the regular season, the Cubs were virtually the same very good offensive team against right vs left handers:

 

Cubs 2008 vs RHP: .274/.350/.443/.793

Cubs 2008 vs LHP: .288/.366/.442/.807

 

Of all NL teams this year, the Cubs had the second highest OBP and OPS against RHP, the Cardinals percentage points higher at .287/.353/.443/.796.

 

The idea that the Cubs couldn't hit right-handed pitching is media-created nonsense.

 

It's not the matchup itself that's the difference it's how each team would use their RH'ers that made the difference. STL would challenge them inside and would pay for it, LA stayed away and the Cubs wet their pants trying to pull HRs into LF.

 

In my mind, this is the biggest key. The few hard hit balls the Cubs did have in the series were all to the opposite field or up the middle. They never made the adjustment to dink and dunk to the opposite field to get a rally going.

[mcgoobs]

For 161 games in the regular season, the Cubs were virtually the same very good offensive team against right vs left handers:

 

Cubs 2008 vs RHP: .274/.350/.443/.793

Cubs 2008 vs LHP: .288/.366/.442/.807

 

Of all NL teams this year, the Cubs had the second highest OBP and OPS against RHP, the Cardinals percentage points higher at .287/.353/.443/.796.

 

The idea that the Cubs couldn't hit right-handed pitching is media-created nonsense.

 

It's not the matchup itself that's the difference it's how each team would use their RH'ers that made the difference. STL would challenge them inside and would pay for it, LA stayed away and the Cubs wet their pants trying to pull HRs into LF.

 

Then would being less right-handed by having Ibanez or another left-handed outfielder have made much of a difference? And then is the correction for what LA pitching did to us not be more left-handed but to have Perry work with existing right-handers (maybe something as simple as working on taking the outside pitch to the opposite field)?

[Backtobanks]

For 161 games in the regular season, the Cubs were virtually the same very good offensive team against right vs left handers:

 

Cubs 2008 vs RHP: .274/.350/.443/.793

Cubs 2008 vs LHP: .288/.366/.442/.807

 

Of all NL teams this year, the Cubs had the second highest OBP and OPS against RHP, the Cardinals percentage points higher at .287/.353/.443/.796.

 

The idea that the Cubs couldn't hit right-handed pitching is media-created nonsense.

 

It's not the matchup itself that's the difference it's how each team would use their RH'ers that made the difference. STL would challenge them inside and would pay for it, LA stayed away and the Cubs wet their pants trying to pull HRs into LF.

 

Then would being less right-handed by having Ibanez or another left-handed outfielder have made much of a difference? And then is the correction for what LA pitching did to us not be more left-handed but to have Perry work with existing right-handers (maybe something as simple as working on taking the outside pitch to the opposite field)?

 

Good hitters don't need coaching to "hit the ball where it's pitched". Ramirez, Lee, Theriot, etc. hit the ball to center or right on an outside pitch. Soriano couldn't hit the ball to right if you offered him a million bucks. The bottom line is that the Cubs slumped at the wrong time for the second year in a row.

[JeffH]

The bottom line is that the Cubs slumped at the wrong time for the second year in a row.

 

The bottom line is that we weren't good enough.

[UK1679666180]

For 161 games in the regular season, the Cubs were virtually the same very good offensive team against right vs left handers:

 

Cubs 2008 vs RHP: .274/.350/.443/.793

Cubs 2008 vs LHP: .288/.366/.442/.807

 

Of all NL teams this year, the Cubs had the second highest OBP and OPS against RHP, the Cardinals percentage points higher at .287/.353/.443/.796.

 

The idea that the Cubs couldn't hit right-handed pitching is media-created nonsense.

 

It's not the matchup itself that's the difference it's how each team would use their RH'ers that made the difference. STL would challenge them inside and would pay for it, LA stayed away and the Cubs wet their pants trying to pull HRs into LF.

 

Then would being less right-handed by having Ibanez or another left-handed outfielder have made much of a difference? And then is the correction for what LA pitching did to us not be more left-handed but to have Perry work with existing right-handers (maybe something as simple as working on taking the outside pitch to the opposite field)?

 

It would not have made a difference in this series b/c didn't the Cubs didn't pitch well or play good defense either, but unless there is an overhaul, for next year having a LH'ed stud in the order as well as someone to bring what Fukudome should've brought would be an important difference.

 

To me, they still a #1 starter as well. They're set-up to be a good regular season team and not a good post-season team. Harden would be that #1 starter, but you can't count of 30+ starts. Dempster despite this year is prob. a #2 starter and Z has been a #1 starter, but he wasn't this year.

 

They can pound mediocre teams like STL and the bad ones like Pitt. because they can win enough battles with their best hitters and not have to worry in a 3 or 4 game series about facing 3 good starters in a row who can spot the outer 3rd consistently.

 

The thing about working with Perry is hitters that are consistenly pitched away are all veteran hitters and if AZ them shut down in '07 and LA shut them down in '08, Perry, Lou, and everyone else in that dugout knows that this is the case.

[Soul]

But to be honest, another lefty wasn't going to be the difference between winning in the series and scoring 6 runs in 3 games.

 

I still suspect our right-handed lean is a weakness, but it's not a decisive one in a series like this.

 

True, the right handed-ness of our lineup didn't cause Dempster to melt down in game 1, or the defensive meltdown in game 2.

 

I'd still look for a big lefty bat, a real leadoff hitter, and then move Soriano down in the order, maybe Lee too. But that doesn't mean it would solve all our problems.

[gflore34]

As many have said the Cubs have a lot good to above average hitters but, not that one hitter that teams plan around. There isn't anyone who the opposing team views as the hitter they won't let them beat them. Is there a Cub hitter you wouldn't pitch to in a game situation? No.

[Backtobanks]

As many have said the Cubs have a lot good to above average hitters but, not that one hitter that teams plan around. There isn't anyone who the opposing team views as the hitter they won't let them beat them. Is there a Cub hitter you wouldn't pitch to in a game situation? No.

 

How many hitters like that are there in the Majors? Not many (Manny, Pujols, ARod, etc.)!

[Backtobanks]

The bottom line is that the Cubs slumped at the wrong time for the second year in a row.

 

The bottom line is that we weren't good enough.

 

I stand by my statement. Any team that wins 97 games during the season is good enough to beat another team in a 5 game series. Which team is hot or when a team is going to slump are factors that are impossible to calculate.

[JeffH]

The bottom line is that the Cubs slumped at the wrong time for the second year in a row.

 

The bottom line is that we weren't good enough.

 

I stand by my statement. Any team that wins 97 games during the season is good enough to beat another team in a 5 game series. Which team is hot or when a team is going to slump are factors that are impossible to calculate.

 

Any team that wins 60 games during the season is good enough to beat another team in a 5 game series.

 

The way our club played in this particular series shows that something is missing.