Postgame 4-7-09

[Little Slide Rooter]

I didn't like the fact that Theriot batted 2nd and Fontenot batted 8th. I thought that should have been reversed. Let's just hope we can win tonight and take 2 out of 3.

 

Fontenot cant hit lefties to save hs life. If he hadnt had a nice game monday, Miles would have been in there anyway.

[Banedon]

Soto went out after the fifth with discomfort in his right shoulder and figures to miss at least one game. The Cubs can't afford to lose him for long, so they have to hope it's not a lingering problem.

 

"I don't think [it will be]," Soto said. "As long as I stay in good shape and do my exercises, it won't happen again all year."

 

Asked who was the backup to back up Koyie Hill, Piniella jokingly replied: "Me."

 

Man I hope Geo's right and it's just a little nothing.

[cubbinalltheway]

wait, marmol is hurt because he didn't pitch in the 2nd game of the season? that might be one of the dumbest notions i've yet to read on here. wow.

 

tough loss. they happen. can't win 'em all. win today (or is it tomorrow??) and we win the series. mission accomplished.

[Guest]

So are most people assuming Lou called for Theriot to run with Bradley at the plate and 2 outs in the 8th or that Ryan went on his own?

I'm assuming he got the green light and made the decision to go on his own, as opposed to getting the "must steal" sign.

 

This reminds me of something I saw that was rather stupid in game one.

 

Houston had Bourne batting 8th. He gets a lead off single. Oswalt bunts him to 2nd. That's it. Done.

 

I'm sorry, but what is the point of even having that guy in the big leagues at all if he can't steal a base.

 

Wouldn't it have made a lot more sense to have Oswalt bunt him to 3rd after Bourne stole 2nd?

 

This leads me back to Theriot. Let Theriot bat 8th and steal all he wants while batting in front of the pitcher. With the heart of the order coming up, however, unforced errors are rather stupid.

[Tracer Bullet]

So are most people assuming Lou called for Theriot to run with Bradley at the plate and 2 outs in the 8th or that Ryan went on his own?

I'm assuming he got the green light and made the decision to go on his own, as opposed to getting the "must steal" sign.

 

This reminds me of something I saw that was rather stupid in game one.

 

Houston had Bourne batting 8th. He gets a lead off single. Oswalt bunts him to 2nd. That's it. Done.

 

I'm sorry, but what is the point of even having that guy in the big leagues at all if he can't steal a base.

 

Wouldn't it have made a lot more sense to have Oswalt bunt him to 3rd after Bourne stole 2nd?

 

This leads me back to Theriot. Let Theriot bat 8th and steal all he wants while batting in front of the pitcher. With the heart of the order coming up, however, unforced errors are rather stupid.

 

I don't know about that. If Theriot gets on base in front of the pitcher and gets bunted over, there's a good chance Soriano drives him in. If he gets caught stealing, Soriano comes up with 2 outs.

[CubColtPacer]

I've got my writeup complete on the front page. Here's a direct link.

 

Nice article Tim.

 

I liked to see Fontenot start as well as you mentioned. Not necessarily because I want to see him against a ton of left-handers if he proves he has problems with them, but because the fact that Lou has started him against both a right-hander and a left-hander shows a lot of faith in Fontenot. So Miles might take the left-hander bats eventually, but Lou likes Fontenot enough to keep him playing most of the time.

 

I'm pretty sure Cotts stayed in during the 10th specifically to turn Berkman around. He murders right-handers and is pretty human against left-handers so it's not really a terrible decision to try to base your moves around trying to keep him down as he was easily the biggest threat left in the Astros lineup. My guess is that even if Cotts had gotten Rodriguez and Berkman to start the inning that Lou would have summoned Gregg anyway to face Michaels.

[CubColtPacer]

So are most people assuming Lou called for Theriot to run with Bradley at the plate and 2 outs in the 8th or that Ryan went on his own?

I'm assuming he got the green light and made the decision to go on his own, as opposed to getting the "must steal" sign.

 

This reminds me of something I saw that was rather stupid in game one.

 

Houston had Bourne batting 8th. He gets a lead off single. Oswalt bunts him to 2nd. That's it. Done.

 

I'm sorry, but what is the point of even having that guy in the big leagues at all if he can't steal a base.

 

Wouldn't it have made a lot more sense to have Oswalt bunt him to 3rd after Bourne stole 2nd?

 

This leads me back to Theriot. Let Theriot bat 8th and steal all he wants while batting in front of the pitcher. With the heart of the order coming up, however, unforced errors are rather stupid.

 

I don't know about that. If Theriot gets on base in front of the pitcher and gets bunted over, there's a good chance Soriano drives him in. If he gets caught stealing, Soriano comes up with 2 outs.

 

Soriano is such a heavy fly ball hitter though that getting Theriot to 3rd base with only 1 out gives you a good chance of a run on a sac fly (certainly better than the chance of Soriano getting a base hit). The only big problem is that the defense when the pitcher is up can cheat a little bit which could lessen Theriot's chances to steal past even the lower break-even point that would be needed for that situation.

[Soul]

Go back out there, get the win today, and chalk up the series victory.

 

Only thing you can do.

 

A positive note: I thought Demp was solid.

[Tracer Bullet]

Soriano is such a heavy fly ball hitter though that getting Theriot to 3rd base with only 1 out gives you a good chance of a run on a sac fly (certainly better than the chance of Soriano getting a base hit). The only big problem is that the defense when the pitcher is up can cheat a little bit which could lessen Theriot's chances to steal past even the lower break-even point that would be needed for that situation.

 

I understand, but the chance of a CS with Theriot seems to be getting higher. Giving up an out with the pitcher at the plate and Soriano on deck kills almost any chance of scoring. Heck, with Soriano's power, I think I'd rather have Theriot on 1B with Soriano up and 1 out (i.e., pitcher doesn't get the bunt down) than have Theriot trying to steal lately. Soriano doesn't seem like a great risk to hit into a DP, so even if he doesn't drive Theriot in from first, you're probably looking at a runner on first with 2 outs or runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. And in either case, your #2 hitter is up.

[CubbieBum]

Batting someone that had a .410 OBP against lefties last year at 8 in favor of someone who is woeful against lefties makes no sense whatsoever. Plus Theriot getting caught stealing 30-40% of the time isn't go to help much even if he can do it twice as often by batting 8th. Finally hitting in front of the pitcher completely changes 1 out of 5 games for us because of Zambrano.

[Keener98]

Ryan Freaking Theriot needs to quit thinking hes Vince Coleman on the base paths with our number 4 hitter at the plate. Seriously Ryan QUIT STEALING YOU ARENT GOOD AT IT!

 

I find it hard to believe that Theriot's running was entirely of his own volition.

 

Today's loss was a frustrating one. We couldn't hit Rodriguez in MMP again, and the crummy 2/3 of the Astros lineup beat us with seeing eye singles and bloops. Hopefully Soto is alright.

 

As for Lou, the only thing he did wrong was send the runners, and leave Miles in the game. We gave up at least 1 out(maybe 2) with the heart of the order up because of the running. As for leaving Miles in the game, he's an awful defender at short. Theriot is no wizard, but he's better at everything than Miles, and shouldn't have been removed unless he hurt himself running. The rest of Lou's moves were the right ones, he pinch hit Miles at the right time, and used the bullpen in the correct order. Adding Kosuke for defense in the 10th is a good idea too.

 

EDIT: Whoops, I missed the first couple batters of the 10th, I didn't realize he had Cotts face Rodriguez and Berkman. Bad idea. Not worth it when you can go to Gregg at the beginning of the inning.

The 1st time with the double steal Ill give you that one not being on Theriots own, but the 2nd time with Bradley up in the 8th, I 100% believe that was on Theriots own. He thinks hes a basestealer, and hes not, hes not even close to being one.

[Roast]

Lou sucks.

Milton Bradley and Derrek Lee (despite his RBI today) have been non-factors thusfar.

 

Discuss.

 

LOL What? It's been two games and he had an RBI last night. But we're supposed to ignore the fact that he was, in fact, a factor and decide that he's been a non-factor after two days? By that logic Soriano, despite his two homers thus far, has sucked this year.

[cubsfan26]

A positive note: I thought Demp was solid.

 

Yeah he was really good the first four innings, giving up just one hit and walking just one(I believe). He wasn't nearly as effective in the 5th and 6th inning, but he held the Astros two runs in those innings, so overall it was a good performance. I seen him pitch pretty much this same game a bunch of times last year. So far he looks very simliar to 08 Dempster.

[jersey cubs fan]

Lou sucks.

Milton Bradley and Derrek Lee (despite his RBI today) have been non-factors thusfar.

 

Discuss.

 

LOL What? It's been two games and he had an RBI last night. But we're supposed to ignore the fact that he was, in fact, a factor and decide that he's been a non-factor after two days? By that logic Soriano, despite his two homers thus far, has sucked this year.

 

Well, if a guy sucks, then he's a factor, a negative factor. Being a non-factor suggests you haven't sucked or stood out in a positive fashion. 1 RBI in 2 games, on pace for an 81 RBI season, fits that. I guess.

[treebird]

Lou sucks.

Milton Bradley and Derrek Lee (despite his RBI today) have been non-factors thusfar.

 

Discuss.

 

LOL What? It's been two games and he had an RBI last night. But we're supposed to ignore the fact that he was, in fact, a factor and decide that he's been a non-factor after two days? By that logic Soriano, despite his two homers thus far, has sucked this year.

 

Well, if a guy sucks, then he's a factor, a negative factor. Being a non-factor suggests you haven't sucked or stood out in a positive fashion. 1 RBI in 2 games, on pace for an 81 RBI season, fits that. I guess.

 

if derrek lee plays 162 games and ends up with 81 rbi, that almost certainly means he hit like 250/325/415 this year. that'd be a negative factor.

[Guest]

Lou sucks.

Milton Bradley and Derrek Lee (despite his RBI today) have been non-factors thusfar.

 

Discuss.

 

LOL What? It's been two games and he had an RBI last night. But we're supposed to ignore the fact that he was, in fact, a factor and decide that he's been a non-factor after two days? By that logic Soriano, despite his two homers thus far, has sucked this year.

 

Well, if a guy sucks, then he's a factor, a negative factor. Being a non-factor suggests you haven't sucked or stood out in a positive fashion. 1 RBI in 2 games, on pace for an 81 RBI season, fits that. I guess.

 

if derrek lee plays 162 games and ends up with 81 rbi, that almost certainly means he hit like 250/325/415 this year. that'd be a negative factor.

 

Why?

 

He had a line of 317/400/513 in 2007 and had 82 RBI in 150 games.

He had a line of 291/361/462 in 2008 and had 90 RBI in 155 games.

 

I don't see why his overall production would have to drop off that much (nearly 100 points of OPS) just because he had a couple less RBI

 

I'd also add that the players hitting in front of Lee haven't changed either. I could see if the Cubs went from having two guys with a .300 OBP in front of Lee to two guys who have .380+ OBP's in front of him.

[forbez18]

Lou sucks.

Milton Bradley and Derrek Lee (despite his RBI today) have been non-factors thusfar.

 

Discuss.

 

LOL What? It's been two games and he had an RBI last night. But we're supposed to ignore the fact that he was, in fact, a factor and decide that he's been a non-factor after two days? By that logic Soriano, despite his two homers thus far, has sucked this year.

 

Well, if a guy sucks, then he's a factor, a negative factor. Being a non-factor suggests you haven't sucked or stood out in a positive fashion. 1 RBI in 2 games, on pace for an 81 RBI season, fits that. I guess.

 

if derrek lee plays 162 games and ends up with 81 rbi, that almost certainly means he hit like 250/325/415 this year. that'd be a negative factor.

 

You are coming up with stat lines for a guy after two games, and coming up with estimates on the production of the two games for the rest of the year? So Milton Bradley will have 0 RBI's all year, but the Cubs will be okay because Soriano will have 162 HR's? Lee is a fine hitter, is he a 3rd hitter? That is debatable, would I rather see him batting 5th with Ramirez batting 3rd, yes! But, to say that he is a negative factor is an overblown statment by and measure.

[Rob]

Our team is fine.

 

The only thing I'm concerned about is all the idiots with ridiculous concerns.

[TruffleShuffle]

The only thing I'm concerned about is all the idiots with ridiculous concerns.

 

i'm actually NOT concerned about those people at all.

[Rob]

The only thing I'm concerned about is all the idiots with ridiculous concerns.

 

i'm actually NOT concerned about those people at all.

 

Enough idiots shout loudly enough, and it will make at least some impact.

 

Even the media was all over Kosuke after a weak showing opening day. Today bought him some credit, but a slow start and we might see the idiots try to push him out of town.