7/18 Cubs (Wells) @ Nationals (Zimmerman) 6:05PM WGN

[CyHawk_Cub]

man we had better win this game in 9 because our bullpen is boned otherwise.

 

Who's left? Samardzija is all I can think of.

 

Is Stevens still here?

 

I don't even know who that is.

 

Neither does Lou

[Soul]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

They are expecting their closer to have much better stuff.

 

Like Wood?

 

Gregg has been fine this year.

 

Like, better than Gregg.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Fukudome grounded out to second, 4-3

[Guest]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

They are expecting their closer to have much better stuff.

 

Like Wood?

 

Gregg has been fine this year.

haha - no. he's been fine - I want great.

[Bruno7481]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry.

 

The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Theriot            AB    R    H   2b   3b   HR  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS  BABIP  P/PA   IsoD   RBI%
bases empty       214   28   62   11    2    4    4   18   31  0.290  0.350  0.416  0.766  0.324  3.68  0.061  0.000
Late (7th on)     106    8   24    3    0    0    3    7   20  0.226  0.278  0.255  0.533  0.279  3.79  0.052  0.057
1 out             136   22   36    5    0    2    8   13   19  0.265  0.331  0.346  0.677  0.296  3.72  0.066  0.146
CUBS leading      105   15   27    3    1    3   12   12   18  0.257  0.333  0.390  0.724  0.286  3.89  0.076  0.148
This series         7    0    1    1    0    0    2    1    1  0.143  0.222  0.286  0.508  0.167  4.56  0.079  0.500
last 10 games      38    5   14    4    0    0    3    3    3  0.368  0.405  0.474  0.878  0.400  3.59  0.036  0.250
July               55    8   20    4    0    0    3    4    4  0.364  0.400  0.436  0.836  0.392  3.62  0.036  0.150
Road              167   19   42    6    0    2   11   16   28  0.251  0.324  0.323  0.648  0.292  3.77  0.073  0.123
Nite              177   20   50    9    0    4   16   14   21  0.282  0.342  0.401  0.743  0.303  3.52  0.059  0.162
vs Left            67   11   21    7    0    2    8    5    5  0.313  0.373  0.507  0.881  0.317  3.74  0.060  0.231
vs Beimel           0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0  0.000  0.000  0.000  0.000  0.000  0.00  0.000  0.000

season totals     338   48  100   17    2    7   32   26   52  0.296  0.350  0.420  0.771  0.333  3.72  0.055  0.175

[illiniguy]

man we had better win this game in 9 because our bullpen is boned otherwise.

 

Who's left? Samardzija is all I can think of.

 

Is Stevens still here?

 

I assume yes, because Dibble mentioned him. I haven't been following the transactions.

Dibble also thought Keishnick dropped the flyball to cost us the Wildcard in 98 against Milwaukee during yesterday's telecast. I wouldn't trust him.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Theriot grounded out to third, 5-3

[Fred Hornkohl]

D Lee              AB    R    H   2b   3b   HR  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS  BABIP  P/PA   IsoD   RBI%
bases empty       148   23   42    5    0   10   11   12   26  0.284  0.342  0.520  0.862  0.286  3.98  0.058  0.333
Late (7th on)      87   10   24    1    0    5    9    8   19  0.276  0.333  0.460  0.793  0.302  3.63  0.057  0.098
2 outs            106    6   25    4    0    4   19   13   21  0.236  0.319  0.387  0.706  0.259  3.96  0.083  0.211
CUBS leading       87   11   22    9    0    4   16   13   16  0.253  0.347  0.494  0.841  0.269  4.01  0.094  0.231
This series         8    1    4    1    0    1    1    0    1  0.500  0.500  1.000  1.500  0.500  4.50  0.000  0.000
last 10 games      34    5   11    3    0    4   10    1    5  0.324  0.343  0.765  1.108  0.280  3.83  0.019  0.353
July               50    9   15    3    0    7   19    1    9  0.300  0.327  0.780  1.107  0.235  3.75  0.027  0.414
Road              134   13   36    6    0    5   18   19   26  0.269  0.355  0.425  0.780  0.301  3.89  0.086  0.183
Nite              140   15   40    7    0    7   22   19   26  0.286  0.373  0.486  0.858  0.308  3.97  0.087  0.208
vs Left            51    5   15    3    0    2    7   11    8  0.294  0.422  0.471  0.892  0.317  4.11  0.128  0.167
vs Beimel           0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0  0.000  0.000  0.000  0.000  0.000  0.00  0.000  0.000

season totals     290   40   83   15    0   18   58   32   58  0.286  0.358  0.524  0.882  0.304  3.93  0.072  0.241

[CubColtPacer]

man we had better win this game in 9 because our bullpen is boned otherwise.

 

Who's left? Samardzija is all I can think of.

 

Is Stevens still here?

 

He is since he's the guy who will likely go down tomorrow for Hart (although with the bullpen tired from the last two nights, they might send down Fuld instead). Those are the two remaining.

 

Samardzija needs to not pitch tonight since he's the only guy who can really go multiple innings tomorrow if need be with Hart on the mound. With Gregg likely unavailable either way tomorrow, might as well pitch him for the 9th.

[Guest]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry.

 

The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done.

well, you asked what we wanted and that's what I want.

[Soul]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry.

 

The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done.

 

Try to project out a little bit. Gregg is a 3 run jack in the playoffs just waiting to happen. He'll get owned by the better hitters in the NL, in a playoff situation, with a ton of pressure brought to bear.

 

People are rightfully worried about his abilities.

[Bruno7481]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

They are expecting their closer to have much better stuff.

 

Like Wood?

 

Gregg has been fine this year.

 

Like, better than Gregg.

 

In what regard are you basing Wood's performance this year better than Gregg's?

[Soul]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

They are expecting their closer to have much better stuff.

 

Like Wood?

 

Gregg has been fine this year.

 

Like, better than Gregg.

 

In what regard are you basing Wood's performance this year better than Gregg's?

 

I didn't even mention Wood. I just don't think Gregg is very good.

[Fred Hornkohl]

TOP OF THE NINTH INNING

 

Beimel in to pitch for Washington

Fukudome grounded out to second, 4-3

Theriot grounded out to third, 5-3

D Lee grounded out to short, 6-3

 

0 runs 0 hits 0 errors 0 men left on base

 

                1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9              R  H  E
CUBS            0 0 2 0 0 3 0 1 0              6 11  1
Washington      2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1                5 10  1

 

Home runs:

CUBS: Soriano (15), Fontenot (7)

Washington: none

 

CUBS           IP  H  R ER BB  K HR PIT
Wells         5.0  7  4  4  1  1  0  85
Guzman        0.7  1  0  0  1  0  0  22
Marshall      0.7  1  0  0  1  0  0  20
Marmol        0.7  0  0  0  0  0  0  14
Heilman       0.3  1  1  1  2  0  0  18
Gregg         0.7  0  0  0  1  0  0  16

 

Washington     IP  H  R ER BB  K HR PIT
J Zimmermann  5.3  6  5  4  1  8  1 100
Burnett       0.7  1  0  0  0  0  0   8
Bergmann      2.0  4  1  1  0  2  1  37
Beimel        1.0  0  0  0  0  0  0  13

[Guest]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

They are expecting their closer to have much better stuff.

 

Like Wood?

 

Gregg has been fine this year.

 

Like, better than Gregg.

 

In what regard are you basing Wood's performance this year better than Gregg's?

no one is walking into your trap . . . let it go.

[Fred Hornkohl]

San Francisco  0
Pittsburgh     2  F

Milwaukee      4  8
Cincinnati     1

Arizona        4
St. Louis      2  F

Houston        0
Los Angeles    0  9:10

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I didn't even mention Wood. I just don't think Gregg is very good.

 

Why compare Gregg to Wood if you weren't even going to mention him? :)

[TruffleShuffle]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry.

 

The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done.

 

Try to project out a little bit. Gregg is a 3 run jack in the playoffs just waiting to happen. He'll get owned by the better hitters in the NL, in a playoff situation, with a ton of pressure brought to bear.

 

People are rightfully worried about his abilities.

 

well we're not in the playoffs and he's doing fine now, so i'm not going to worry about it too much. plus marmol can't throw strikes, guzman hasn't been great lately, heilman has blown for a year and a half now, and marshall is okay... so there aren't exactly a lot of options down there.

[Bruno7481]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry.

 

The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done.

 

Try to project out a little bit. Gregg is a 3 run jack in the playoffs just waiting to happen. He'll get owned by the better hitters in the NL, in a playoff situation, with a ton of pressure brought to bear.

 

People are rightfully worried about his abilities.

 

My argument is not that there aren't better closers out there than him. Sure, there are plenty. I'm just making a counter argument that he's done a solid job this year. I trust him more than Marmol at this point.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Harris flied out to left field

[Soul]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry.

 

The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done.

 

Try to project out a little bit. Gregg is a 3 run jack in the playoffs just waiting to happen. He'll get owned by the better hitters in the NL, in a playoff situation, with a ton of pressure brought to bear.

 

People are rightfully worried about his abilities.

 

well we're not in the playoffs and he's doing fine now, so i'm not going to worry about it too much. plus marmol can't throw strikes, guzman hasn't been great lately, heilman has blown for a year and a half now, and marshall is okay... so there aren't exactly a lot of options down there.

 

That's true. But I've been thinking playoffs since last year particularly. I can definitely see this entire pen being a nightmarish blowup if we do get there. Think of how you will feel getting swept again, 3 years in a row.

 

I'm not saying I don't root for these guys, but I do think there's some very well-founded concern out there. Gregg is part of that.

[TruffleShuffle]

wait was this guy just the attorney general?

[CubColtPacer]

I don't know what people expect from Gregg. He has been solid and did a good job that inning not giving into Dunn and battling Willingham.

 

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry.

 

The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done.

 

Try to project out a little bit. Gregg is a 3 run jack in the playoffs just waiting to happen. He'll get owned by the better hitters in the NL, in a playoff situation, with a ton of pressure brought to bear.

 

People are rightfully worried about his abilities.

 

Gregg has shown most of the year that it's not really the quality of hitters that is a big deal to him. He's gone through lots of quality hitters just fine in his dominant stretch. When he blows up (like he has a couple of times this year) just about anybody can hit him hard.

 

Gregg doesn't look like he has great stuff, but the results and the good strikeout numbers say otherwise. And he's not a control pitcher (like Howry was for so many years) to where he hits precise spots to be successful, so he has to have good stuff to get the results he does.

[Bruno7481]

What trap? My god.

 

I read his post the wrong way, big deal.

 

Is it that outlandish to argue the positives of Gregg?